I help to coordinate a Dean Meetup on the North side of Chicago...
3 weeks ago, a local alderman (city councilman) wrote me and the other coordinator, asking for a couple of minutes to speak with the group during the Meetup. The alderman is slated to be a delegate for Dean, and he is leading 300 volunteers to go to Iowa this weekend, which is amazing, in my opinion.
So last night the alderman spoke for a couple of minutes, his campaign staffers hung out for more than an hour, and they all seemed pretty impressed with the turnout (about 35 on a cold night.)
At the end of the night, a woman came up to me and said she was running for Judge in the district, and could she bring campaign materials to the Meetup next time...
-------
Whatever you want to say about Howard Dean the candidate, you cannot deny this about his campaign -- every month, he has 1000 goldmines (captive potential volunteers and donors) scattered across the country for local and state and national politicians to find. If the Dean team can grow that number to 3000, as they have said they'd like to by November, what Democrat wouldn't be benefitted? In fact, for the primaries, what Democrat wouldn't get an immediate boost by taking part in the Deanfest?
This is what electable is, folks.
A nationwide campaign, volunteers, cash, and a clear mission.