Every so often, I see someone make the assumption that even if Dean is not the nominee, his operation can somehow be coopted by the Democratic party or by the non-Dean nominee. This presupposes that the Dean operation (and even those who don't like the man can't realistically dis the operation) is separable from Dean himself. The question is, is it? This is not an idle question. The Democratic party is still looking for new ways to win. The last new way--being a moderate and going against liberal Democratic dogma--worked only until (Borglike) the Republicans retooled to defeat it. Also, if winning is tied only to particular persons (a la Clinton), this makes the row that much harder to hoe when that person is no longer available.
The short answer is, maybe. The process Dean created is dependent on having inspirational people and ideals as a focus. Without the inspiration, the Internet fundraising and whatnot are all just pretty tools, but not particularly effective. Just look at how the other candidates (including Bush) suddenly discovered blogs and meetup--and found that their success with these media still fell far short of Dean's. Dean, warts and all, is the driving force for this new way of campaigning.
If you do go to Dean's blog (it might be way too treacly for non-Dean supporters, but Deanblog devotees know what I mean) there is indeed the self-congratulation, the starry eyed groupies (I met the gov...I shook his hand...I heard his speech and I'm crying etc.) and whatnot that seems to sicken supporters of other candidates. But the other thing you'll see are that the Deanies are working their collective ass off for their guy. Flyering at farmer's markets, converting co-workers and Republican family members and clerks at the grocery store, plastering signs on their cars, houses and selves, handwriting letters (my God, even I wrote some letters and I'm really lazy--I only did it because they made it really easy to do), running food drives, diaper drives, painting schools, having bake sales, ebay sales, house party fundraisers, Internet fundraisers, booths at every fair and function, giving up lattes for Dean, eating ramen and donating the savings to Dean, wrapping up the change found in the couch for Dean. This is not just a campaign--it's like the WWII war effort combined with the Grateful Dead--or something. My point is that these people are expending a lot of energy and they want something in return. Dean is giving it to them. I suspect people would have worked this way for Wellstone. They might have done it for Clinton if he had asked--not sure about that. So, I don't think the operation is transferable unless the person or party at the center gives as much to the people as it expects in return, and Democrats--if you want this operation, it's not for the faint of heart--you've got to give these people a reason to work for you as well as as the tools to make it easy. Will these people vote ABB without Dean? The majority will. Will they continue to work so hard? Not unless someone else can inspire them to do it.
P.S. I can't get my username to show up after "by" in the preview. Is this normal? HELP!
JMS