"Waiting for the Internet feed of a taped speech, crowded around a personal computer in the back of the Mudhouse, there seldom was a discouraging word about the man of the hour, Dr. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont.

Dean's intentions to seek the Democratic Party nomination for President have been clear for months, but his official announcement came Monday in Burlington, Vt. A sample of his supporters at the Downtown Mall showed that Dean's opposition to Bush foreign policy - particularly the preemptive strike against Iraq - factored into their support.

But many in this early crowd of campaigners tuned in well before Operation Iraqi Freedom. They said their support for the presidential hopeful ran the gamut of issues.

And the Mudhouse gathering drew organizers from a wide area, including Sherry Stanley of Verona, the petition coordinator for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Starting in July, her goal is to have 50,000 signatures calling for Dean's name to appear on the ballot.

'For the past seven years, I've said that I'd drop everything and work for him if he decided to run,' Stanley said. And that's what she's done.

Leading up to this week's announcement, Stanley has signed up coordinators in every Congressional District in the state. She said that was an easy job around Charlottesville, as 50 or more upporters packed in around the computer to hear Dean's speech.

Derek Toro came down from Culpepper for the event.

'I like his ideas, and the fact he states his ideas,' he said.

Dean is making headway in early straw polls in New Hampshire and Iowa, but in Washington, D.C., other Democratic hopefuls have been less enthusiastic, asking him to apologize or retract statements made about their positions.

But Harold Timmeny of Charlottesville sees Dean as the true voice of the party. 'I think Dean's the man. He's the only one I can see of all the candidates who really sees what the Democratic Party is all about,' he said.

'He's the only one who stood up right away against the war.'

Like Timmeny, most of the Dean supporters attended a few peace rallies before or during the fighting in Iraq. Toro said he attended every International Answer rally in Washington. And prior to Dean's candidacy, he hasn't been active in politics since he was 14 years old.

Observer colunist Barbara Rich said Dean's anti-war stance and plan to provide health insurance for every American under age 18 are what's important to her. Jesse and Sara Alexander, and apparently their young daughter Heather, too, think Dean's position to leave 'politics out of medical decisions' like abortion is important.

And Jesse Alexander added, 'At the rate we're going, this little girl is going to have to pay for everything they're doing.'

But what seems to be an even more unifying element in this early state of the race is the home-spun organization of the Dean campaign. Toro is working on a Wb project to link campaign activists throughout the country, ovisously excited about the process and getting involved.

Several others at the rally volunteered to either raise money or work the petition.

Stanley said, 'If you're happy with what's going on, then sitting at home watching TV is the way to go.'

'If not,' she said, 'you have to spend some time to change it.'

Donna Goings is organizing the most recent Charlottesville Dean events that take place on the first Wednesday of every month, currently at the Gordon Avenue Library. Even deciding where to meet is a democratic process, though.

She said it's a campaign where everyone is involved.

'This is a man with a message, telling it like I want to hear it,' she said. 'He didn't waffle on the war. He doesn't believe in deficit spending. He wants access to health insurance for everyone - as a medical doctor, he knows better than anyone that we live in the richest country in the world and we need this - and he believes in public education.

'Those are the three things that everybody cares a lot about, and this administration just pays lip service to it.'

Goings said that since the national campaign is focusing on early primaries in New Hapshire and Iowa, there's no money for other efforts. So after securing the signatures that will put Dean on the primary ballot, the other goal of the local campaigners is fund-raising.

And the hat that was passed around at the Mudhouse on Monday was full of green by the time the speech ended." (Ron Hasson, The Observer, June 25, 2003).