Recently, I got the following email:

”Fellow blogger here. Why were there no printed Dean signs at the convention? Or at least, few to be seen.”

I responded:

I don’t know. I do know that people from Mass for Dean were at the Convention handing out stickers saying “Thank You, Howard Dean”. They were in great demand and the people got to stay for the convention. A couple of my friends were with that group and came up to visit the Blogger’s Roost.

That said, I’m not sure I would have wanted there to be Dean signs there. Gov. Dean has repeatedly spoken about the campaign being about us and not about him. I don’t see what benefit the Dean signs would have been.

The note I got back said:

“It’s just that every other major speaker had signs, as seen here. http://www.takeyourcountryback.com/DFA/DNC_signs.htm. I think that a lot of supporters wanted to see the blue Dean signs out there as a final homage.”

Well, this particularly got me going. Final Homage? I wrote the following:

With the exception of Graham, who is important because his home state, Florida is a big battle ground state, and Edwards, who is the VP candidate, there were more Dean signs than any of the other former presidential candidates. If we keep our eye on the ball, getting Bush out of office, then I think that is completely appropriate.

In addition, I sure don’t want any final homage to Gov. Dean. There is the old saying that what the caterpillar views as the end, the butterfly sees as just the beginning.

This week, Gov. Dean was visible everywhere he needed to be. It wasn’t as a see of blue signs paying final homage to an unsuccessful bid for the White House. It was rally after rally where he told people that voting isn’t enough. Where he told people that if all you do is vote, you get a D. More importantly, he was in the hearts and minds of people who have become awakened to the political process and are now talking about their plans to run in municipal elections in 05 or in bigger elections in 06.

If you want a fitting homage to Gov. Dean, don’t look for blue signs at a convention, get down to your local Democratic Party Headquarters and get involved.

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