Are blogs the next White Man's Club? This article focuses on how the Dean Campaign has become self-aware that despite the fact that they have garnered incredible support... despite the fact that Howard Dean has a lot of appeal to minorities, the people showing up at the support meetings are DOMINANTLY white. Anecdotally speaking,
there are stories of there being one black person at a meeting.

Is having the time to look up political candidate web pages a luxury of whites? More like a luxury of the white collar worker. Most of the people that I know who go to the library for their internet access couldn't care less about politics, white or not, but they all do share one thing in common - they can't afford a computer and internet access at home.

"PLEASE stop having Meetups at cute white middle-class cafes where everyone looks like you! Each meetup should be scheduled in a place where the people walking by and wondering what's going on are from demographic groups that are harder to reach -- namely, either minorities or the elderly. EVERY retirement home has a meeting room. Have your meetups THERE. Is it sexy? No, but it will reach a group that is eager to be a part of the process. Have your meetups in restaurants in the Hispanic part of town or whatever other group you need to reach. Make the Meetup ITSELF work for you, instead of going there and THEN talking about what to do ...!"

Josh's post illustrates how astute many of Dean's supporters are about what it will take to get their man into the White House next year. Even though Dean is now thought of as the Democratic front-runner, many in his online community are constantly chiding each other not to become complacent about the task ahead. The danger that supporters appear most wary of is "preaching to the choir" -- bringing the pro-Dean message only to folks who are already inclined to accept it. Indeed, Richard Hoefer calls this the biggest pitfall of Dean's blog strategy. "I've been at odds with Dean for America because I criticize them for being too blog-centric," he says. "I think they preach to the converted, and it bugs me because I think they're missing the boat. I think Dean has incredible appeal to blacks, Latinos, minorities -- but the message hasn't gotten out there yet because they have been too focused on the blog."

Dean's army goes offline