Show Me State - Howard Dean "Meetups" increase, draw a politically diverse lot

Jeff Asbed, a 40-something lawyer from Glendale, voted three years ago to elect George W. Bush. Wendy Dickson, a homemaker from Manchester, cast her presidential ballot "reluctantly for Al Gore."

Former Webster Groves Mayor Terri Williams had backed the Green Party's Ralph Nader.

But last week, all found themselves crammed into a Kirkwood tavern with about 70 other people who share a common attraction: Howard Dean.

All told, more than 700 Missouri residents showed up at one of the 10 Meetups held Wednesday around the state.

"We started in January with two people sitting at a bar in the West End," said Dyan Ortbal, a local telecommunications manager who's now Dean's volunteer coordinator in St. Louis. The Bevo Mill hosted the only area Meetup until this month, when supporters added four others because they'd outgrown the Bevo quarters.