You have to imagine it in Patton's voice

This is the full text of the speech I ended up only giving part of at tonight's Meetup.

First of all, let's keep some things in mind. I've been saying this for a while now, and then the other day I saw it on the blog, so I think they stole it, but here it is: We came into 2004 thinking it would be a sprint. We'd win Iowa and New Hampshire and sweep mini-Tuesday and that would be it. But, as it turns out, this is a marathon. And right now, Howard Dean is in second place in that marathon. Period. Don't listen when they say he's done, don't believe them when they say he's out of money--since he isn't--and ignore them when they say he's just a new Jerry Brown.

Fact is, Kerry right now has barely 10% of the delegates he needs by Boston. Ten percent. There are as many delegates at stake between now and our Wisconsin primary on February 17 as have been awarded to this point. And Howard Dean is in the best position to win more delegates than any other non-Kerry candidates between now and Super Tuesday. Period.

I’ve been doing this now for a year. This would be my twelfth Meetup, except for one month when a death in the family kept me away. And I don’t say that to brag or to lord it over anyone. I say that because I remember a time when supporting Howard Dean looked pretty foolish. And there are some who today say that supporting Howard Dean looks pretty foolish again.

But I am here tonight because Howard Dean has fundamentally changed who I am. And I’ll give you an example.

This morning--this very morning--I woke up as I usually do and I read the news (online, I won’t pay for the paper anymore). And I did something that is now common for me but which a year ago I would never have done. I wrote a letter--an email, actually--to state representative Gary Sherman, from way up north somewhere. I’ve never met him, never been in his district, wouldn’t know him if I saw him. But his was the critical vote yesterday in our state Democrats’ successful blocking of the override attempt on Governor Doyle’s veto of the concealed carry bill. I wrote him, and I said, “Look, I know today you’re gonna hear from a lot of people, and you’re gonna take a lot of crap today, but I just wanted you to know that you have support even down here in Milwaukee.”

Gary Sherman showed some Democratic backbone yesterday. Over the last year, we’ve been seeing that over and over again in Democrats all across the country. And I trace a lot of that backbone back to Howard Dean. Now, I don’t know if Sherman knows the first thing about Howard Dean. But you can see the influence of Dean and us Dean supporters everywhere in Democratic politics today.

In fact, as I have listened to the other presidential candidates over the past six months, what I hear them saying is what I was hearing Howard Dean saying a year ago.

But I’m here tonight because I want the voice, not the echo.

If I want a candidate who says that the war in Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time executed badly, I want Howard Dean, not some guy who was on CNN last April talking about how well the war was going.

If I want a candidate who says that it’s time to start talking about health care and jobs and education instead of those things that divide us into two Americas, then I want Howard Dean, not some Johnny-come-lately trial lawyer.

If I want a candidate who says it’s time to take America back from the special interests, the I want Howard Dean, not some guy who has taken more special interest money than any other senator in the last fifteen years--Republicans included!

I want the voice, not the echo.

That’s why I’m here tonight. I know that Wisconsin is Howard Dean’s last chance. It’s Normandy. It’s Gettysburg. I don’t want it to be Waterloo.

I also know that I can’t win Wisconsin for Howard Dean by myself. (My wife reminds me of that on a regular basis.) We here in this room can’t win Wisconsin by ourselves, either. But we--and all the people at all three dozen Meetups around the state--are the beginnings of that victory.

Go Wisconsin. Go Dean. Go vote!