I think this is a very interesting question: "The Dean campaign in 2003 vs. 2007: where's the energy?" In fact, my co-author and I wrestled with this very question in the conclusion of our upcoming book, "Netroots Rising: How a Citizen Army of Bloggers and Online Activists Is Changing American Politics"
Having recently had the honor of editing a collection of stories about the internet and the Dean campaign by campaign veterans (Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope), I can't help thinking about the differences between then and now, between the fall of 2003 when Howard Dean was upending all the rules and leading the most significant grassroots Presidential campaign in a generation -- and now, when we have a bunch of perhaps interesting candidates but very little of the energy. What's different? What's the same? Where's the energy?[...]
...as I read and listened to the stories of people who were deeply involved in the campaign, I can't help thinking that there's more to it than that. In 2003, spontaneous efforts were breaking out all over the country on behalf of Dean, without guidance and often without knowledge from headquarters. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see much of that now. In spite of some candidates' efforts to do things differently, it seems like it's mostly about money and TV news shows again. What happened? What can be done about it?
Great questions, in my opinion. Personally, I was part of the Draft Wesley Clark movement in 2003, but I'm sure that everyone who was involved with either Clark OR Dean will agree that it was electrifying. This year? I don't know, maybe it was just "first love" four years ago, but I'm just not feelin' that grassroots/netroots energy this time around. How about you?
To top it off, you have these two candidates who channel that enthusiasm and give voice to those sentiments -- with great resumes to top it off . . . then in 2006 that outside energy was coupled with support from the national party in a number of candidacies (including Webb), and the end result is a landslide election. So some of that energy has been given expression in terms of the folks who got elected in '06 (although it hasn't entirely been given expression at a policy level). That may be part of it.
What's happening this time around? Well, I think there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm online for Edwards. Obama has been getting some huge crowds -- he definitely is getting a lot of support among twenty somethings. Obama has also set records in terms of the number of donors to his campaign.
I think the interest is there, but it lacks the urgency and desperation. Even though Bush is in a sense running again in the form of Fred Thompson, it's not quite the same.
If Bush was running for a third term, I suspect you would see a lot of people leaving jobs and working overtime to get someone else in office.