So much to do, so little time...The legacy will live on.

With the nomination now off the table for Governor Dean, there are new possibilities and new efforts for others involved in the campaign.

Don't be surprised to hear of a few new faces coming out from inside the ranks this fall....

Nothing there yet, but anticipate a move to http://www.onefatherfor.com at some point in the next few months (this is for transfer to new blog software, NOT a wavering of my endorsement of Governor Dean for the nomination)....plus some new blogroll enities as we look to November and beyond....

I was on site for Joe Trippi's keynote to the Digital Democracy Teach-In portion of the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference yesterday. Reporters at the event included the San Jose Mercury News' Dan Gillmor, Toronto's The Globe and Mail, and Noah Schactman from Wired Magazine (hmmmm...did I really say that? I know I meant it; thanks NS), plus several other bloggers.

Later on yesterday a small consortium of volunteer technologists associated with the grassroots of several Democratic campaigns started the conversation I'd anticipated: how do projects like DeanSpace, Clark Community, et al. take their next steps in developing movement / campaign / emergent project cycles toward a further re-invigorated democratic process. It was a good first share....

(to be continued)

This mornings dazy hazy revelation: that presidential politics is very similar to a yacht race....

- it takes a LOT of money, often a syndicate, to make an initial go of it based simply on the infrastructure needs
- with the money, you need world-class expertise to develop high performance tools: hulls, sails, etc.
- with the money, you need a world-class skipper and crew

....but despite all this...

- one tack, one start, can often win a day's race and subsequently the cup
- the weather, the environment, the wind, sometimes contrary to the typical, can often decide the cup

The Dean campaign has showed the way for all Democrats to tack in prepration for racing with George Bush...
The Dean campaign has showed how to match a syndicate in money...
The Dean campaign has showed that the media weather can influence an election...
The Dean campaign has showed that the electorate weather is often local and subject to change...

As I sit in the lobby of the Westin in downtown San Diego, eagerly awaiting tomorrow's chance to meet many of the Dean technology folks, including Joe Trippi himself, I'm a firm believer that there are great days ahead....

Governor Dean started a wave that all Democrats are riding right now...and only one gets to be the Big Kahuna, riding the pipe toward Boston this summer.

There are lessons to mull over, progress to be planned and new ideas to push. Call it rose-colored glasses, but I truly think that Candidate 1.0 will be much better than the Beta...

TomPaine.com's Steven Rosenfeld warns off thoughts of symbolic fights within the context of Convention Politics.

I have to say, I completely agree. With a few caveats...

If/when Governor Dean is mathematically eliminated from contention for the nomination, I would hope to see his supporters move on in two paths, neither mutually exclusive. One is to support the nominee of the party and his team's girding up for the November election. But, as is seen in the article, this support will likely come at arm's length because the the platform and organization will be that of the winner, not those of the next best finisher(s).

Advice and advocacy from the Dean grassroots, in this case, would need to be re-directed in a positive / parallel coalition with the nominee - the primary goal of a non-GWBush White House is still a short term target.

So I'd assume that this second path is to drive toward the formation of a 527-style organization that would perform grassroots issue, organizational and media advocacy, similar to MoveOn.org but working from the local Dean teams / Meetup structure to continue the political change communities beyond this year's elections. No longer a one time affair like Jerry Brown's shadow convention, but a long term, local organizing force with the interest in continuing to press for real results and change: within the Democratic Party, with new Democratic primary challengers in Congress, with the Congress and Presidency as a whole.

Would it work? It all depends what the Deanroots think and want to do.....

Michael Cudahy and Jock Gill at GreaterDemocracy write up another analysis of the structural problems of Governor Dean's local campaigns in IA and NH, and why the Perfect Storm turned into passing cloud-cover....

David Brooks in the NYTimes (reg. required) points to the cycles of the Democratic nomination process, and who's the Big Kahuna now (yet again)....

Positive feedback loops (like those driving the progression from Kerry to Dean to Clark to Dean to Kerry) always seem to end in chaos, but the resulting transformation into a new state can be a net positive. Governor Dean is back to his original position as outsider, critical of go-along-get-along leadership in Washington Dems, running on his record of success in VT, still outraising all but Kerry from the citizen patriots of the Dean Brigade.... This and yet: 1) he knows the lead position, 2) he's proven his mettle to come back from loss, and 3) he's still still standing. Pretty good selling points for electability, if you ask me....

The current Dean strategy is very "Revolutionary" indeed: snipe from behind the fences, trees and stone walls of Feb. 3 states at a well formed column of Kerry Regulars, picking off a few delegates here and there, taking a surprise finish here and there, and preparing for the longer more meaningful battles looming ahead (interesting that at the time of Lexington and Concord, only 1/3 of the population believed in breaking from Britain; coincidence that a Dean's portion of upstart Dems has been similar?)....Tested by the snows of Valley Forge, another leader and President made headway under difficult circumstances, too....

Despite the unheralded media pressure, despite losing the "mo" of IA and NH while swinging for the fences, despite rumors of push-polling by someone (foe or compatriot), despite the tendency in 2004 to "go with the flow of current electability"....the Governor continues to engender fortitude and courage within his base (to the tune of $1.35 million in just one week), while honing his depth of message to close the deal with the Great Democratic Unfaithful of this election season....

If the media does its "job", they'll be back....