Local People

A couple of key grafs first from TNR:

For example, the idea of flying thousands of twentysomethings into Iowa to help organize the state for Dean--Trippi's so-called "perfect storm"--proved to be a colossal, money-draining failure. As Ryan Lizza has reported, these twentysomethings turned out to be incompetent amateurs who got their hats handed to them on caucus night--not only by the professional organizers of rival campaigns, but by these campaigns' more dedicated volunteers. Worse, the perfect stormers probably scared off a significant number of Iowans, who took one look at their nose-rings and their died hair and decided that they had nothing to talk about. In retrospect, it would have obviously been wiser for Trippi et al to rely on local volunteers to beef up his Iowa ground game--something that worked reasonably well in New Hampshire (at a fraction of the cost).

And second this reply to a Dean letter that Craigorian Chant chief UK reporter Chris C-B wrote to a South Carolina Democrat , :

Subject: post card

You and Howard Dean have lost your minds. My dog wouldn't vote for
Howard Dean, and I hope you stay in Scotland with your anti-American
ideas.

I think when the full history of the Dean campaign is written the "remote campaign" will be shown to be a no go. I just don't think it works to have people from halfway across the county try and persuade people to vote for Dean. You can convince your neighbors to vote for someone, you know the issues, what people talk about. Lets say the unnamed Dem in SC above lived in a town where a plant closed. A local Deaniac could talk about jobs, trade, whatever would reach them. A campaign can't focus it's internet supporters on a local. You have take your internet supporters and use them where they are. Use your Iowa Deaniacs in Iowa, your New Mexico Deaniacs in New Mexico and so on. If Dean people have blue hair and piercing then they should be on college campuses getting dragging apathetic 20-somethings to the polls.