Joe Trippi just posted to his new blog that he felt obligated to inform Dean supporters who were working on electing Dean delegates in upcoming primaries that they are unlikely to succeed (Vermont being an exception).
http://www.changeforamerica.com
Joe writes that it's fine to try to elect Dean delegates, but not to be disappointed when Dean only gets 3-8% of the vote (15% is needed to elect delegates) given he's not actively campaigning.
This sounds pretty similar to the Geto memo in New York state in terms of discouraging a Delegate campaign.
One person who replied to Joe's posting, commented that he (Steve in SF) believes that a delegate campaign in San Francisco could be successful. I then replied wondering if progressive districts really are going to do better than Joe's projected 3-8%. It seems to me that areas where most of the residents are Democrats and Greens are also areas where most of the people are ABB; they aren't necessarily more tuned in to the details of the presidential primary and understand the complexity of Dean leaving his name on the ballot and what delegates can accomplish at the national convention. And, I know there are lots of very well organized Kucinich folks in some of the progressive districts in California, and the "send a message to the Party" concept isn't going to sound that different than the Kucinich folks (even though I think the Dean argument is much stronger given the total number of Dean delegates, etc.), which could further dilute the Dean vote.
Obviously, the question is can Dean grassroots folks educate enough voters in time? With ad campaigns (radio ads through Truth and Hope, newspaper ads through California Women for Dean), flyering (Miles of North Bay for Dean's flyer on electing Delegates), and free media (through the press release some Dean volunteers are working on as part of the Dean grassroots UNITY project) will add more votes for Dean. But, can these efforts get 15% in any of the districts? It seems like it's the same question the campaign has faced again-- grassroots versus the mainstream media...
The mainstream media has written top headlines for news and editorials like "Dean Drops Out" and "Dean's Legacy." How many people can the grassroots realistically reach in 10 days to counter this?