Dean's army goes offline

[pruner]

Aware that the computer-geek vote will not be enough to elect Howard Dean, the front-runner's supporters are fanning out to organize minorities, blue-collar workers and retirees.

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By Farhad Manjoo

Sept. 9, 2003  | Steve Chaffin, an attorney who is the unofficial coordinator of presidential candidate Howard Dean's campaign in Ohio, has been working in Democratic politics for about 20 years. He doesn't remember ever seeing a candidate attract the kind of people who come to Dean. "They're all intellectuals," Chaffin says. "They're lawyers, doctors, engineers, very creative people."


Chaffin considers this a generally positive thing, but he worries that because Dean has relied greatly on the Web as a campaign tool, the candidate's message has not been widely received by "blue-collar people" and minorities. This concern, which has popped up repeatedly in the media, is shared by many other Dean supporters, including Richard Hoefer, a San Francisco filmmaker who believes that the campaign has been too "blog-centric." Asked if he thinks there's a homogeneity to Dean's base, Hoefer responds, "You mean whitey?"

<snip>

Kreiss-Tomkins maintains a database of the more than 500 online discussion groups focused on Dean, and manages a private online discussion of the leaders of all these groups. He has emerged as a key grass-roots organizer for Dean. He says he was motivated to work for Dean because "I believe our country is in a dire state. The economy is in the dumps, we're attacking countries, I believe healthcare needs to be improved, the environment is horrible horrible horrible."

But Kreiss-Tomkins keeps his love for Dean mostly secret from his friends, and he won't be voting for Dean anytime soon. That's because he's 14 years old -- a high-school freshman who, when not busying himself with politics, spends much of his time practicing oboe, cello, acoustic bass and piano. "My social image is quite a bit different," he says. But Dean's campaign allows him to contribute a lot of effort from the privacy of his own room. "Online you can work out for him to your heart's content," he says.

http://salon.com/tech/feature/2003/09/09/dean_outreach/index.html

[E_Zapata]

1. just say it! Just say it!

Dean's army is WHITE - very, very WHITE.

[liberalnurse]

3. And Dean's army desires all races to join him.....

The door is wide open, it's free, its warm and fuzzy and offers hope. Come one, come all.......I'ts not Dean's fault....there are no barriers .....All are invited; all races, sexes, and party affiliations. We all need to work together to take back America.

[meegbear]

2. Thank God ...

It'll be nice not be hit with 10 dean posts per hour here.

[liberalnurse]

4. Oh, I can change that if you wish to engage in your.

identified hobby......

[Democat]

5. Dean is doing some good things for Democrats

Howard Dean is out there slamming Bush in the media, like our idiotic elected leaders should have been for the last few years.

I haven't really picked a candidate yet (I'm waiting to see what Clark does) but I think so far Dean has been good for the party and good for America.

[Larkspur]

6. Dean's grassroots are the adaptable and innovative sort

Grass-roots movements are not unusual in presidential politics, but Dean's supporters seem to have a level of organizational, technological and media sophistication that is probably unprecedented; when they discover a problem, they're remarkably nimble in addressing it. Their devotion to Dean ought to scare many of his Democratic opponents -- and it should keep Karl Rove up at night, too.

Loved this part.