As campaign struggles, backers say Dean's value lies online

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

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If Dean isn't the nominee, they still want his issues, his organization and his Internet donor network.

Often there is not much left for the vanquished other than an endorsement for the victor, an occasional speech and maybe a bit of prime-time exposure at the national convention.

Some Dean backers hope for a peace dividend of sorts if the former Vermont governor drops his campaign for the Democratic nomination. They want Dean to convert his campaign, with its unprecedented Internet fund-raising success, into an organization to help the eventual nominee.

The idea would be to keep Dean supporters interested — and donating — through the November election.

Internet fund-raising The Dean campaign says it has raised about $20 million in contributions over the Internet, mostly through small donations, amounting to about half of the $41 million Dean raised last year. Contests coming up Today: Nevada and Washington, D.C., caucuses Tuesday: Wisconsin primary Feb. 24: Hawaii and Idaho caucuses and Utah primary

Last year, Dean raised about $41 million from more than 95,000 people, about half of that through online donations. Supporters posted more than 314,000 comments on Dean's Web log last year, according to the campaign, and 180,000 people used Meetup.com to organize and find Dean meetings around the country.

As of yesterday, the campaign said, 638,121 people have registered on the Dean Web site, www.deanforamerica.com

As Dean continues to fall further behind Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in the race for the nomination, his former campaign manager, Joe Trippi, says Dean should protect his franchise and not share his coveted e-mail address list. Other supporters say Dean needs to assume charge of a new, less Dean-centric organization.

"He has had the ability to not only fund-raise but to tap into young people and new voters," said Kim Cook, president of Local 925 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The Seattle-based local represents about 10,000 workers, mostly classified school employees.

Cook is a member of the executive board of the 1.6 million-member SEIU, which voted in November to endorse Dean. She envisions a partnership between the Dean campaign and his remaining union backers "to capture that excitement and energy."

"That is the difference with Dean. He isn't just going to walk away and say, 'I'm out of here,' " Cook said. "I think he really believes in changing the Democratic Party and changing the country, and he'll stick with us if we commit to provide the resources and the people to help make that happen."

The union made its November endorsement in tandem with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). It was a major boost for Dean, then on his ascendancy. It effectively split union supporters between Dean and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, who quit the race last month after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses. The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades also endorsed Dean.

SEIU says it will stick with Dean at least through the Wisconsin primary Tuesday, where Dean hopes to do well and reverse his 14-state losing streak. AFSCME, though, has retreated. The union withdrew its endorsement last Saturday after Dean lost by large margins in caucuses in Washington and Michigan.

AFSCME president Gerald McEntee issued a statement saying he and Dean had a "candid and wide-ranging discussion" that day, but neither side has offered any details.

Chris Dugovich, an AFSCME international vice president in addition to heading the union's city and county unit in Washington, praised Dean's campaign organization and said, "The Democrats are going to want to use that through the general election.

"I think that's always been in the background, that he has some new machinery that certainly should be used," Dugovich said.

Early in the campaign, Dean said he would endorse congressional candidates and use some of his money to help those fellow Democrats. He made only a few endorsements, and Dugovich said, "Dean should use that money for some purpose for defeating Bush."

Officials with SEIU and other Dean backers are not conceding that he will be out of the race. They expressed varying degrees of confidence that he could still turn around his campaign before front-runner Kerry secures the nomination.

"I hope he keeps on going," said Chad Smith, political director for the painters' union Washington local.

Defeated candidates usually play minimal roles in the subsequent campaign.

In 2000, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley endorsed his Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore, but kept a relatively low profile. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigned for George W. Bush and was a draw on the campaign trail, but seemed at times somewhat reluctant and less than fully enthusiastic.

But Dean has not been a typical candidate, nor has he run a typical campaign. He raised more money than any of his opponents with record success over the Internet. He also built a cyber community of sorts with volunteers and staff trading messages on the campaign Web log and gathering in person through meetings set up through Meetup.com, another Internet campaign phenomenon Dean pioneered.

Trippi, the man behind much of Dean's Internet success, said at a California technology conference this week that Dean should protect his e-mail list and not turn it over to the Democratic Party or the eventual nominee.

"I'm not sure I would turn it over to the nominee, because I don't believe the nominee has a relationship with these people," Trippi said, according to The Associated Press.

"The one thing about the Internet is having that relationship. I think the relationship is between Howard Dean and that individual."

Just how tight that relationship is, however, is in question, particularly since Dean hasn't been able to translate his network into wins in a primary or caucus.

"I don't know the extent they're his people as opposed to he was their candidate," said George Washington University professor Michael Cornfield. His book, "Politics Moves Online," will be published this month.

Cornfield says a lot of people who donated to Dean, attended a Meetup or posted something on the blog do not qualify as loyal to Dean.

"They're shoppers," he said. "Just like they are in other aspects of life the Internet has permeated. 'I don't want the entire CD, I want this song.' 'I don't want this entire portfolio, I want this stock.'

"People are making decisions through the Internet with a great deal more selectivity and a lack of commitment."

And if Dean supporters were drawn to him by his message — anti-war, tough opposition to Bush and critical of Democratic establishment — they are likely going to want to see what the nominee's message is before signing on to any effort aimed at the general election. It may not be enough to offer them a new blog or regular Meetups.

"I think you can concentrate sometimes too much on the medium. Sometimes it really is the message," Cornfield said.

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com

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