DENVER - The biggest reaction from Washington's delegate breakfast today came, hands down, from the surprise arrival of Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, the former Vermont Governor.

Dean gave a very Washington-centric address as he touched on the party's emphasis to regain the votes of rural America, which he said had been destroyed by eight years of Republican policies.

"Rural America is really hurting so this is a real opportunity in Washington, and Christine Gregoire's re-election depends on this. We've asked you to knock on twenty-five doors three times," Dean challenged the delegation to do between now and November. "Oregon is doing forty doors four times. You can do forty doors in one weekend. That is just four weekends."

He also implored the delegation not just to go around leaving literature, but to "keep going back until you meet them" and make a personal connection that carries more weight than "Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly."

Dean called it part of a "39 county strategy" for Washington state, a play in the "50 state strategy" he employed upon becoming the DNC chair in February, 2005 to try to elect Democrats all over America, not just in traditionally liberal areas.

Similarly, he said that Washington Democrats needed "to begin to build [their] base in rural Washington. You have an immediate dividend. Every extra vote you get out in Eastern Washington is a vote for Chris Gregoire. It is a long term benefit as well. These people haven't voted for a Democrat in a long time. As soon as you get these folks to think about voting for a Democrat again, they start t consider voting for state legislature candidates. That is how you turn the country blue.

"We are going to turn Eastern Washington blue."

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