The Left's Mr. Right?

Consider two voters motivated to contribute to Howard Dean's presidential campaign: one is a supporter; the other is a... "supporter." Kevin O'Connor, a 53-year-old investment banker, went to Denver's first gathering of Dean supporters in early February at a small downtown coffee shop, drawn by a posting on Meetup.com. Eight people showed. Now the group has to keep changing the venue to fit the 100-plus people who turn out every month, one of more than 600 Dean "Meetups" across the country. So far, O'Connor has contributed $500 to the campaign and plans to give more. "Washington Democrats have a failed strategy on dealing with President Bush," he says. "Howard Dean is going to draw the line."

Then there's Tom Bevan, a 38-year-old former advertising executive from the Chicago area with a conservative bent. He wrote a $25 check to Dean last week after seeing him surge. "The further left he goes and the Democrats go, the better for my man Bush," Bevan says. "Some of the more centrist candidates would present more of a challenge to a Republican."

It's hard to know how much company Bevan has, but the operational head of his party, a Mr. Karl Rove of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, agrees. At a Fourth of July parade in Washington, D.C., Rove saw a dozen "Deanyboppers" marching in their DEAN FOR AMERICA T-shirts. "Heh, heh, heh. Yeah, that's the one we want," Rove said, according to a curbside bystander quoted in The Washington Post. "Come on, everybody! Go, Howard Dean!"

He's going. The diminutive family doctor from Vermont with the brusque political bedside manner is the hottest thing in the Democratic Party. Dean is now in statistical dead heats for first place among likely caucus attendees in Iowa (with Rep. Dick Gephardt) and primary voters in New Hampshire (with Sen. John Kerry), and has a decent shot of picking up some of the John McCain-style independents he covets. He is revolutionizing political fund-raising with his clever cyberstumping, and the proceeds are going to build a sturdy grassroots organization that should help sustain him when the hype subsides.

Take last week's stunt. After hearing that Vice President Dick Cheney was traveling to Columbia, S.C., at the end of July to raise $300,000 for the Bush-Cheney campaign at a $2,000-a-plate fund-raising luncheon, the Dean campaign posted a digital picture on its Web site of the candidate eating a $3-a-plate turkey sandwich while sitting at a computer. The appeal to stand up to wealthy interests raised more than $500,000 in three days, beating the Bush-Cheney juggernaut (for one weekend at least) and bringing Dean's Internet booty to more than $5 million, by far the most ever raised by a politician online, though he's amassed less than a third of Bush's war chest so far.

It's a new kind of political movement. While Dean's last financial report shows him trailing both Kerry and John Edwards in overall cash, the Deanites say they now have 230,000 "registered activists online," with more than half having made at least a small contribution (whatever the motivation). In another twist, more than 30,000 of the activists wrote handwritten notes--some for the first time in years--to 60,000 undecided voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. After years when the so-called party of the people trailed Republicans badly in the number of small donors, all this is a breakthrough for Democrats, whatever Dean's fate.