All entries from the campaign trail are cross-posted at the Dean campaign blog.

Gov. Dean enters as U2’s “Beautiful Day” plays. The crowd chants. Dean starts strong. After saying that the Sheriff estimates the crowd at 4,000, he says: “The president is sleeping comfortably in Crawford tonight. And while he’s sleeping, we’re going to take our country back.”

I’m not going to blog his entire speech. But it’s good. It’s focused on issues, with passing funny jabs at Bush. But, more important, he’s doing a good job of flipping the cliched expectations. For example, he warns us that the Republicans just don’t know how to handle money: “Borrow and spend, borrow and spend.” And he goes after the idea that the Republicans are tough on defense and Democrats aren’t; “North Korea is about to become a nuclear power because President Bush won’t sit down and talk with someone he doesn’t like.” He says that he won’t hesitate to send American soldiers into battle but not without telling us the truth about why.

He talks about balancing the budget, about providing educational and child services. He talks about Martin Luther King’s dream and says “This president played the race card” with regard to affirmative action, “and for that alone he deserves to be sent back to Crawford, Texas.” He talks about the make-up of the Supreme Court. He talks about being a world leader not just through military strength but also by being respected around the world.

He urges people to sign up on the Internet. “We won’t spam you … except for the last three weeks of every quarter when we’re trying to raise money.”

“The reason we’re going to beat this president is that we’re going to give the 50% of Americans who’ve given up on the political process a reason to vote again.”

The Governor has connected with this crowd, and it seems to me that he’s connected beyond issues and politics. And that’s exactly what he has to do.

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