Mar-Dean-Gras

Michael McCord writing for the Democratic Underground -- which has not been a hot-bed of support for Dean I hasten to add -- turns in this report on Dean from the campaign trail:

A year ago the notion of a "Dean Juggernaut" would have been fantasy. Even six months ago, the concept was a punch line in the making but today with the New Hampshire primary fast approaching, it's a sobering - no make that horrifying - fact for the rivals of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. "Every day I wake up sick," a staffer from a rival campaign responded when asked about Dean. "They (the Dean campaign) act like it's Mardi Gras every day and we're just dressing for a funeral." The candidate who couldn't afford a pollster at the start of his campaign is now at the top of primary opinion polls. [...]

The place [in Rochester, NH] was mostly filled with more than 375 Dean fans and potential supporters who waited patiently as Dean ran almost an hour late from a previous campaign stop. The patience of his audience was one thing - the fact that they were there at all on a Friday night in November (the night life in southeastern New Hampshire is actually quite lively) speaks volumes about his current star quality.

At this and other rallies I've witnessed, Dean's support cuts across class and cultural lines and includes the young and old, independents who voted for John McCain, liberals who supported Al Gore and Bill Bradley, environmentalists, stray Republicans, blue collar workers and professionals of all stripes. And the collective mood is like a trip to a political Disneyland where it's a small world after all and all things are possible. [...]

The Dean campaign man on the spot was James Moore, 26, a New Hampshire native who a few months earlier quit his job as a grass roots organizer at Greenpeace in Washington, D.C. "For two years I saw how things are done in D.C. I'd had enough of Bush and what he was doing especially his systematic unraveling of 30-year of environmental laws," Moore told me. "I decided I had to do something. I packed everything I had in the car and moved up here." Moore joined the campaign as an area coordinator, working 80 to 100 hours a week, and it's been an enlightening baptism as he's never worked for a political candidate before. He has been leading as many as 11 house meetings a week, he says, educating scores of engaged voters. "They range from students to housewives to everyone. What's interesting is how many have never been this involved before, Some have never registered or voted before. And we are seeing this throughout the state."

The article often veers negative, as if McCord is in full accord with the beltway pundits who criticize Dean. McCord can't decide whether to agree with them or deride them, but as I've stated before: love him or hate him, folks can't quit talking about Dean, Dean, Dean. Thanks to Heath for the link.