Welcome to the Dean Army

LOVE this article from the Village Voice, which examines the open-source campaign of Howard Dean. There's several quotes from the grassroots which - IMO - correctly summarise how vested we are in this campaign and why we're all willing to work so hard to get Howard elected.

From the outside, Dean's great innovation appears to be his willingness to trust; certainly the network of activism that cradles him depends heavily on it. From the perspective of the Dean HQ, this means relying on the activists to faithfully echo his positions on the issues. That shouldn't be difficult—the Internet is Dean's indispensable confederate, and his disciples say it not only provides them a community and a voice, but also all the tools—like posters and position papers—that they need to become, in the words of one supporter, "Dean franchisees."
Dean's side of the bargain is, on the surface, even simpler: His supporters count on him to dethrone George W. Bush. "This campaign is about hope and change," said Thomas Chew, speaking as he passed out Dean flyers at a gathering of activists near Prospect Park last weekend. "It's about hoping to change the president." If that sounds scripted, it wasn't.

Imagine that - a campaign that trusts the grassroots! However, as the campaign progresses, I can understand a need to tighten up the message. We each have our own way of expressing what it is about this campaign that has renewed our hope for the future, and that has carried us thus far. But when the general election rolls around, the message will most likely need to be refined and communicated in a more unified way. What challenges do we face as we approach the primaries? How can we refine the message while still empowering the grassroots? These are questions that we should be thinking about. Ideas?