After the 2004 election, the Republican Party held the White House, both houses of Congress, twenty-eight governorships, and a majority of state legislatures. One-party rule, it seemed, was here to stay. Herding Donkeys tells the improbable tale of the grassroots resurgence that transformed the Democratic Party from a lonely minority to a sizable majority. It chronicles the inside story of Howard Dean’s visionary yet deeply controversial fifty-state strategy, charting his unpredictable journey from insurgent presidential candidate, to front-running flameout, to chairman and conscience of the Democratic Party in an unexpected third act. Ari Berman reveals how the Obama campaign built upon Dean’s strategy when others ridiculed it, expanding the ranks of the party and ultimately laying the groundwork for Obama’s historic electoral victory—but also sowing the seeds of dissent that would lead to legislative stalemate and intraparty strife.Revelatory and entertaining, in the vein of Timothy Crouse’s The Boys on the Bus and Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland, Herding Donkeys combines fresh reportage with a rich and colorful cast of characters. It captures the untold stories of the people and places that reshaped the electoral map, painting a vivid portrait of a shifting country while dissecting the possibility and peril of a new era in American politics.
"Berman's book is the Howard Zinn version, the story of the people who were pushed out of the frame."—David Weigel, Slate
"[A] lively book . . . The story of how Dean, the hero of Berman's book, used his celebrated 'fifty-state strategy' to make the Democratic Party competitive in places where the local parties had all but quit even having bake sales is likely not a tale that many liberals are now in a mood to read. And yet it is instructive, in some ways especially now. The story provides a reminder that even with the pummeling of November 2, today's Democratic Party is in fact competitive in more states and districts than it was in 2004."—Michael Tomasky, The New York Review of Books"Berman’s voluminous reporting, based on interviews with campaign insiders, tracks how Dean first embraced this 'netroots' strategy as chairman of the Democratic National Committee."—Chuck Leddy, The Boston Globe
"Berman’s book is a worthwhile document of a American political revolution."—Justin Moyer, The Christian Science Monitor
"Berman approaches his subject with a measured objectivity, digging into local political divides and peculiarities with a gumshoe’s just-the-facts approach."—Baltimore City Paper“The resurgence of the Democratic Party in the past two election cycles is one of the most important—and least understood—political stories of the new century. Ari Berman tells that tale with reportorial verve, a keen eye, a sharp pen, and a wealth of fresh insight. If you want to understand the grassroots revival of progressivism in America, and also the new challenges and aching disappointments that have come along with it, this is the book to read.”—John Heilemann, national political columnist for New York magazine and coauthor of Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of Lifetime“Ari Berman has written a political narrative so revelatory and exhilarating it kept me up nights reading. Herding Donkeys is some of the freshest and incisive political reporting out there, and Berman, who has the keen eye of a novelist, is one heck of a storyteller.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America“Herding Donkeys is essential to understanding how the Democratic Party came back from the dead in 2006 and 2008. But it’s especially good at explaining what happened to all of Barack Obama’s grassroots energy. This is a hopeful but also sobering tale, told with strong inside reporting.”—Jonathan Alter, author of The Promise: President Obama, Year One“Herding Donkeys is political reporting at its finest. In his spirited debut, Ari Berman takes readers inside the back rooms and living rooms where politics actually happens, but his novel vantage point doesn’t prevent him from rendering the tough but fair judgments every great political reporter needs to make. This is a ripping account of the Democratic Party through an intense period of historic transformation.”—Michael Tomasky, author of Hillary’s Turn: Inside Her Improbable, Victorious Senate Campaign“With a keen appreciation of political strategy as well as an eye for telling anecdote and amusing detail, Ari Berman tells the amazing story of the Democratic party’s revival. Berman’s reporting vindicates the fifty-state strategy of Howard Dean and the determined organizing of Barack Obama—and shows why grassroots activism is still the most potent force for change in America.”—Joe Conason, author of Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth“Ari Berman tells the rollicking and rousing story of the fight for the soul of the Democratic party that has reshaped American politics. Full of riveting revelations, vivid reporting, and a cast of colorful characters, Herding Donkeys captures the exhilaration of the grassroots insurgency that Howard Dean launched—and Obama seized—to realign our political map. At a time of disillusionment with establishment politics, this book is solace for the soul. It is a timely reminder that the grit of tenacious organizers and antiestablishment politicians in red, blue, and purple states alike offers Hope 2.0.”—Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation"While a scoop-rich tome like John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's Game Change can tell us a lot about how campaigns are won and lost from the top down, Berman's more thoughtful book is equally good fun in telling the story of the election from the bottom up."—Dana Goldstein, The American Prospect“An intriguing behind-the-scenes look at how the Obama campaign built on the grassroots movement that had catapulted Dean to prominence . . . Engaging and balanced—a stand-out book.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Berman plumbs the roots of Barack Obama's 2008 victory, reaching back four years to a failed Democratic presidential campaign that left loyalists dispirited—and White House, Congress, and a majority of state legislatures in Republican control. Berman, a correspondent for the Nation, describesthat how the drama and sordidness of the Clinton years left many Democrats feeling that 'their party had lost its compass, and just maybe its soul.' Enter insurgent upstart candidate Howard Dean, who revived a fifty-state campaign strategy taht failed to net him the White House, but energized a populist political base and harnessed its energy with the Internet and a 'plethora of new tools that would fundamentally change political campaigns and the nature of public communication.' Obama ran using a similar blueprint, and the book's accounts of Democratic revival in traditional Republican strongholds are well, making political organizing an exciting, inspiring process . . . Berman covers the tactical and strategic shifts within the Democratic party that have reconfigured the national political calculus, to the point where the GOP must mimic their approach in the coming congressional elections." —Publishers Weekly
Ari Berman is a political correspondent for The Nation and an Investigative Journalism Fellow at the Nation Institute. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, and he is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and National Public Radio. He lives in New York City.
The video was produced by Sam Graham-Felsen, former new media impresario on the Obama campaign. The stirring score is by Matt Abeysekera.
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