Because the World of Kos still doesn't begin when people arrive here and because it is now about year eleven of this particular adventure, I want to review what I remember about the beginning.
It all began for me, not with Howard Dean's speech to the California State Democratic Convention on March 15, 2003, which, living as I was in Georgia, I obviously didn't attend, but with his subsequent appearance on C-SPAN, of which I was an avid watcher back then.
They replayed snippets and I was impressed. I too wanted to know what Dean was asking. So, I went looking for an address, I suppose so I could write him. What I remember is that there was no web site and definitely no blog. It's my guess Dean for America was up and running and the blog had gotten underway by the time I met him in person in Dover, New Hampshire. He blocked my mom's wheel chair with his foot, so it wouldn't roll down the drive while we introduced ourselves.
His speech in Dover was a watered down version of his spiel and, of course, ended with an ask for donations. I suspect the phenomenal success of the blog garnering millions in a matter of days had not yet taken off. But the Dean community on the blog was steadily growing, so much so that the instigators spun off. At least, that's how I remember the genesis of Kos, where I signed up, on November 2, 2003, but didn't much blog at first. That was probably about the height of the Dean campaign and I know had me nattering about a candidate peaking too soon.
The last rally I attended in Rye, where Scott Brown now resides on the other side of the tracks, was a circus. The refurbished hotel Wentworth was swarming with hucksters and the rope line was chaotic. I kept my distance and tried to generate some interest in souvenir plates.
Clik here to view.
