Another Meetup Success
or, How Many Iowans Did You Adopt Tonight?

There are going to be great Meetup stories told far and wide over the next week; I just thought I would write mine tonight while I'm still buzzing from the success!

Our Meetup was voted to be at the Milwaukee Ale House, which turned out be just about right for the occasion. I wish that the other half of the patio had not been taken up by a birthday party (although we sang along at the right time); but the weather was nice, we were right on the river, and most people reported that they didn't have too many parking problems. (Yeah, but they didn't have to haul the paperwork back and forth from my car!)

It was great to see so many people out despite competition from Summerfest, July 4th things, and the worst possible location in town for parking. We got underway about 7:15, and I started by recapping the last ten days' worth of great news, from Dean's announcement right up through his $7.5 million take in Q2.

Then we took some time for a few volunteers to speak about why they support Dean. Obviously, we could not do all 70 people there, so six spoke--several veterans of the campaign here and several newcomers, including Barry, who had written on his name tag, "Former Republican." Everyone mentioned the great feeling they get from Dean, and how wonderful it is that someone is finally standing up for what they believe in!

A few other announcements, and then we were off with the letters. Almost all of the 68 pages of names got written to, and Mrs. Folkbum and I will be handling the remaining few tomorrow. That means 204 letters to Iowans. People stressed everything from Dean's stances on civil unions and the Iraqi war to their own frustration at the politics as usual of the other campaigns. But the letters were all great.

Even better is that all 68 sheets of "take-home" names got taken home, all by people I trust to actually write those letters. So, 408 letters from Milwaukee this week!

There was a reporter there from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who spoke to a number of us about what we were up to and why we supported Dean. (I admit, though, I'm a little worried, as he asked one woman, "How can you be against the war when we won?" But I'm reserving judgment until I see an article. UPDATE: That article is here.)

I had done a phone interview earlier with the Wisconsin Radio Network, but that story seems not to have run yet, if it will run at all.

My favorite part of the evening is when one attendee approached me, heatedly, and asked, "Is there anything being done about the accusation today?" I was taken aback, as I try to keep up on the news and the campaign and hadn't heard anything at all about any accusations. I had all sorts of worries in my head about what it could be--drugs? criminal behavior? marital infidelity? singing at a campaign event?--when I asked what he meant. "The accusation in 'Doonesbury!'" he exclaimed. I couldn't believe it, as I'd been reading the strip this week, and I knew that GB Trudeau was an old friend and big-time supporter of Dean. So, as Jon Stewart would say, "Whaaaa?" "That Dean's a spammer," the guy said.

(If you haven't been following "Doonesbury" lately, you can do so here. The idea is that Alex Doonesbury is a Deanista, and she's explaining it to her dad. Wednesday's strip humorously played on the Dean campaign's internet usage, and implied that it was "spam.")

He made a valid point that irony and satire is often lost on those most opposed to spam (though you'd think they'd all be free-market capitalists, wouldn't you?). I figure that those are the people who skip "Doonesbury" for "Mallard Fillmore" anyway.

Some people went above and beyond tonight, writing at least six letters. I want to especially thank Katie and Dan, who were Milwaukeeans back in town from their universities in Syracuse and St. Paul, who each took six names. The letter writing didn't end until after 9:30!

Also of good news was that three people took our inaugural "I Want My Country BackPacks," which were really totebags because no one could come up with spare backpacks. These had clipboards, literature, sign-up sheets, and more that people check out for a week and return. It's a great idea for retail-level campaigning that Deanistas everywhere should adopt. Thanks to Rochelle, Bridget, Carin, Todd, and Carrie for helping put them together.

Also thanks to Michael for manning the education table with our matching iBooks (go Apple!). And a big thanks to Erik, who came through with two big wads of Dean stickers. Finally, thanks to everyone else who came out. You were fantastic.

UPDATE: How could I have forgotten to thank Lynn, our server? She was awesome! And Cobbie with the stamps, too. Plus, another great moment from the night was when on my way back to the car, I ran into the four guys from the Bean Head Cafe, who very often play host to us at Milwaukee for Dean, who were headed over to Summerfest after closing up their place for the night. They asked where we'd been meeting--I explained it wasn't our choice of venues, even though the Bean Head would have been way too small for us--and asked how it went. I think we're making an impression on them . . .