"I can't do this anymore," he told himself. "I can't pretend to be away from it." By May Herman was back in the U.S., and within weeks he'd moved to Burlington, Vermont, where he gladly puts in grueling 16-hour days as national database administrator for Howard Dean's surging presidential bid.
Herman's mom--67-year-old Barbara Eickhoff of Kirkland, a retired University of Washington secretary--was so inspired by her son's example, and by Dean's liberal revivalist campaign, that she has donated several hundred dollars to it in small installments: $19.71 (spelling out the year of her son's birth) one time, $55 on Dean's 55th birthday, and so on. She penned personal, handwritten letters to undecided voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, asking them to support Dean--72 so far. Later this month she plans to travel at her own expense to Iowa, and in January to New Hampshire, to volunteer for the campaign.
Stories similar to Herman's and Eickhoff's are surprisingly common. With more than half a million web supporters--and more than 200,000 contributors--Dean has succeeded in building a near-fanatical core of dedicated Deaniacs (including dozens in Washington State) willing to donate not only money but also invaluable chunks of their time and energy to his campaign. Many say they have never been politically active before, but are willing to disrupt their lives and travel the country, often at their own expense, to help elect Dean. With his innovative use of the Internet and his message of grassroots empowerment, Dean has built what appears to be as much a decentralized political movement as a traditional political campaign.
Take Stacy Pederson, 20, a sophomore at Western Washington University. Pederson was also initially drawn to Dean by his opposition to the Iraq war. She will travel to Iowa for 10 days before the state's first-in-the-nation January 19 caucuses; there, she says, she is "ready to do anything" she can to help Dean win the state.
Most of Dean's volunteer army, Pederson included, shares a deep-seated antipathy to President Bush--a combination of disgust with his swaggering privileged-frat-boy style and repudiation of what are seen as his divisive, radically right-wing policies. "I can't stomach another four years of Bush. That's my bottom line," Pederson says. Eickhoff does not believe Bush legitimately won the 2000 election.
Though they acknowledge the anger, most also cite the sense of personal empowerment they have gained by involving themselves in the pro-Dean effort. "Bush has shown liberals that there are certain American values we hold dear and those are worth fighting for," explains Sarah Schacht, 24, a Central Washington University student who spent the summer interning for the Dean campaign in New Hampshire and Burlington. "It is empowering," Schacht says. "The campaign doesn't really issue marching orders as much as it provides inspiration."
