$1 Million from the Net

Howard Dean has raised $1 Million from the Internet -- making him the first contender in the 2004 cycle to do so. But we need to double that.

Why?

Because the critics are already pooh-poohing. Larry Sabato, master academic of the old-style campaign, is already dismissing the accomplishment:

The one-time governor, like other relatively unknown candidates before him, had little choice, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. In 2000, Republican John McCain raised $1 million over the Internet in 48 hours.

"They can't afford high-priced consultants. They can't afford direct mail, which eats up sometimes 80 percent of what it raises," Sabato said. "So they have to depend on person-to-person fund raising, and that's the Internet. There's almost no overhead with Internet fund raising."

On the other hand, the Kerry campaign was smart enough to not attack this time around:

Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan said he had no reason to doubt the Dean campaign's statements about its Internet grass-roots activity.

"We'll all see in the long run what if any difference it makes in terms of votes," Jordan said. "We're using our Web site fully for fund raising, for message dissemination, for organizing."

Regardless, if you've got a little extra money sitting in your checking account, get it into the campaign.

It doesn't matter how much we volunteer if Dean can't afford to go up on the air.