The psy-ops (pronounced "si-ops", short for psychological operations) have started...

Between an ultra-conservative magazine/newspaper reporting that John Kerry is digging for dirt on the Governor (exactly why do they care, now?) and Karl Rove stumping for Howard Dean at parades, there is an over-confidence that smacks of fear here...

Through this, Karl gets to rib the rest of the Beltway Democrats...and also gets some boost in his ability to spin because Dean will stand and fight....but regardless of the nastiness incited, there's still no Democrat besides Howard Dean who is both broadening and rallying the Democratic base.

What may be slightly good for the Rove, is massively good for us, too....

...I'm sure fellow Dean supporters would wish this were true, although many events seem to outstrip expectations....

...the reasoning behind this Grand Experiment...Many thanks to Brad DeLong

...and let's make sure we're ALL in the lab....

Remembering reading these strips in Doonesbury Collection books as a kid, I hope to see a few more than just this week on Dean....and that my daughter gets to read them when she gets a bit older...

Oh, that Onion,....

Don't they know the War on Criticism has already been won?....

From ABC's News.com's "The Note", yesterday:

[...In the The Boston Globe], Gephardtian Steve Elmendorf is nearly dismissive: Dean's success is a "'problem for Kerry, rather than for us'" and later adds "'I think you can overanalyze this … If Dean raises $15 million on the Internet in the next quarter, then we'll reevaluate.'"

If double is what he wants, then double is what he (and the Governor) will get....

If every small donor starts now, planning to double their Q2 contribution over the next three months (and most are likely in a position to do so with the average Dean Internet contribution being under $74.14 in Q2), then...Voila: we'd raise almost $6.7 million alone over the Internet, close to the $7.5 million Q2 amount....and just from current contributors.

I've been $25 a month in the last quarter, now I'm moving up to $50 a month: not at all easy for me, but well worth it....

I've also seen word around the Dean Nation of plans for "Garage Sales For Dean", "Loose Change For Dean", "Quit Smoking For Dean", etc. (or maybe I just made up that last one? For some reason visions of the movies "Cold Turkey" and "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" dance in my head....)

But, it all adds up...if you start now.

Yes, the emails keep coming and we keep on giving....

Two versions, one abridged and one long.....

Just another in the series on Howard Dean (we get a whole week, maybe? wow...)

Reading between the lines, this is an off-hand major media consecration of the Dean Netroots Machine and the awesome fundraising results in the last 8 days, let alone Monday's Dean-record setting performance.

We'll take it....

One major hurdle for the DNC and many of the current Democratic candidates is they still aren't standing for anything that will motivate small givers,....while our dear Governor Dean is.

The reason small contributors give to the Republican Party is likely because they are True Believers, not because they're getting more back in tax cuts....

To re-phrase an old mantra in updated terms (for the Dem candidate crew):

"You can lead'em to a website, but you can't make'em click..."

....Another great post at the Whiskey Bar, commenting on the Governor's take in recent days (and still climbing toward $7 million as of this posting)....

Dean's Light Brigade or not, we ARE changing the landscape: no longer any doubt about that....

Money talks.

I like the idea of the "young voter" getting it.....

We need all voters, young and young at heart, to think this way....

From Senator Biden's appearance on Fox News, this Sunday:

"SNOW: OK. You've got Howard Dean saying that he's — let me just play a quick Howard Dean clip for you. I want to get a quick reaction to that.

BIDEN: Sure. OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stood up against what this administration was doing, even when 70 percent of the American people supported the war, and I believed that the evidence was not there. I refused to change my view. And as it turned out, I was right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Do you think that ought to be the view of the Democratic Party?

BIDEN: No.

SNOW: So do you — do you think you would like to see somebody challenging him a little more vigorously on the hustings?

BIDEN: Oh, I think it's hard for anybody to challenge anybody right now. No one's listening. And the difficulty all the candidates now have, as you know, Tony, there's no bar over which they can jump to demonstrate anything right now. It's kind of a doldrum period, and so we play things — I'm not being critical — we play things like Howard Dean's assertion that he was right. What was he right about?"

There are plenty of people listening to Howard Dean: 21,000 people to the tune of $3.1 million in contributions in one week.

They obviously think the Governor's right....

When the rules change, shift to a new paradigm, those who play the same old game are in a tough spot.

As some Democratic leaders in Congress have decided staying in power was more important than speaking truth to power and leading a vigorous opposition, they now look like Al Gore attempting to be both a populist by wearing plaid while speaking from hay bales and a Latin lover by laying a big smacker on Tipper at the 2000 Convention. It's just...not that genuine.... (**Note: Al Gore should have won going away: of that, there is no doubt...)

Getting raked over the coals hard and, despite this, having the gravitas to admit you don't have all the answers (but do have importantrant ones) on Meet The Press? That's real... as George Bush proved with the kid gloves treatment back in 1999, answering even fewer military questions with considerably less depth than Governor Dean showed.

Weren't some of us Democrats responding to our "I'd have a beer with that guy" instincts back then? Why isn't the Gov's obvious appeal to a broad cross-section of Greens, Dems, Independents and Rockefeller Republicans even more true, then?

A new era of Reality Politics? I guess I finally have some small reason for which to thank Survivor, Road Rules, The Real World, Big Brother, American Idol, et al.

And aside from the Texas Dems, Senator Leahy and those keeping the filibuster flame alive, there's not been much "there" there when it comes to facing the full court press of the Reactionary Right.

I fully agree: it may be true that the current crop of semi-Democratic legislators will fall further behind in the Congressional seat count should Governor Dean get the nomination.

The better question is, with their current lack of consistent opposition and socially moral outrage with the direction of the current Executive-In-Residence: Does It Really Matter?

Last I checked, there's 16 months left before Congressional elections: plenty of time to study up and get with it:

Get with the Governor.

I'm such a poli-geek these days, but I just can't get enough of the Whiskey Bar: when Billmon gets deep into it, there's no better short history lesson around the blogosphere.... Yesterday's post about a potentially major change in the offing in our political lives makes sense. It's in the air....

Not to be too End-Times Millenialist about it: politics do cycle, this we know.... Which way will they cycle? Well, that's the $64 trillion dollar deficit question...

I personally think the Dean phenomenon is in there, somewhere, as a leading indicator of liberal/progressive restlessness with the Democratic Party Leadership and general cross-political restlessness with our current administration. I believe the Governor can win, and despite the challenges of a dangerous world, an opposition Congress and entrenched interests, quite possibly succeed in "Taking Back America".

But only if we, The People, take our power to make change occur seriously. That will mean holding the Governor to his promises and ours, and continuing the fight if/when this isn't so. Maybe this will be the crux of our Fourth Republic, instead of One-Party Rule.

Most of us have forgotten: politics, like life, is never over. It's messy, it's hard, it stinks, it's painful, it sucks - but you need to get up every day and get back on the horse. Because it's actually a beautiful day, in a great place, with great opportunity and possibilities, if we make it so.

Kind of like parenting, huh? Or stewardship, coaching, education....

Be sure you play a part in the production: do SOMETHING to educate yourself, support a candidate, support an issue - whatever. It's all good...for us, our children and democracy.

And....presto: $6 million and counting for Dean's Q2 fundraising number, $2 million alone in Internet contributions, something rumored to have been possible from whispers by other campaigns....

Can we reach $7 million in the next 44 hours? Tune in to see...