The Dean Internet Campaign

Washington Post -- For six months now, former Vermont governor Howard Dean has been running an ever-expanding grass-roots campaign online, raising millions of dollars and bringing 128,000 passionate cybersupporters to his underdog presidential campaign.

Political experts and academics ... see the effort as a unique test case of the new power of online grass-roots politics and whether armchair techno-supporters can make a difference for a back-of-the-pack candidate.

"Our theory is that we are experiencing the 'perfect storm of democracy' today for this to work, "said Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. "It's the confluence of the right candidate, the growth of the Internet and our willingness to give up control and allow people to organize themselves. . . . It's a bottom-up approach -- the way this country was built."