-- Encourager of the Blogosphere

Dean Ponders Bid to Become DNC Chairman
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=696&e=1&u=/ap/20041108/ap_on_re_us/dean_dnc

Indeed I do recall "way back when" Howard Dean was first nominated. And the birth of the "blog" campaign. Initially, the blogs were to be used as a campaign funding device and mechanism while the Partisan MSM did the "newsie" stuff in support of the Democrats.

The Deaniac bloggers were funded by the Democrats. More and more activists wanted in on the funds for "blogging". After a time, it became clear that Deaniac Bloggers were having so much more fun getting paid to write than doing the actual nuts and bolts of campaigning -- which is, the hard work -- door to door canvassing, face to face interaction.

Dean Campaign manager publically lamented that for Dean to win, more than "good vibes" were necessary from supporters.

From April 7, 2004: UK Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1187596,00.html

Dean but not out

I think he's still figuring out what Democracy for America really means," says Nancie Kosnoff, who after a stint as Dean's Seattle office manager, threw herself into the Iowa campaign. She was standing a few metres from the infamous scream, and is still angry at the ensuing media-driven ridicule it provoked.
...
She also believes that, apart from doing everything possible to help
Kerry and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to beat Bush, it is
vital that the Deaniacs use their leverage - the 640,000-person email list that Democrat central command is keen to own - to keep something distinct and genuinely progressive.
...
"It's a paradox, because the whole point is that there's nothing really cohesive. We joke now about seeing 'Dean people' on the street, like the line from the movie The Sixth Sense, where the boy says he sees dead people. It's a total affinity-group: the point is that no one has power over you. It's about giving people responsibility," she says. To win the presidency takes more than just activists and a committed "vibe".
...
"John Kerry was the biggest gift the Democratic party could have given George Bush," she says.