A lot of pundits now look back on Howard Dean's development of a dedicated small-donor base and use of the Internet during his failed 2004 presidential bid as efforts that blazed the trail for Barack Obama's successful bid for the nomination this year.



Looks like Obama is about to take advantage of another Dean brainstorm: his determination while chairman of the Democratic National Committee to rebuild the party's voter database and put professional political organizers on the ground in all 50 states.



The move, which involved an $8 million investment by the DNC that came under fierce criticism from many in the party establishment, appears to match Obama's unfolding strategy for winning several states that have not gone Democratic in recent elections, notably Virginia and Colorado. Check out the article by Huffington Post's Sam Stein HERE.



Obama is putting one of his own strategists, Paul Tewes, on the DNC staff to better coordinate the efforts of the DNC and Team Obama for the fall, but Dean's staying on as chairman. Seems that Obama and Dean get along just fine. Do ya think all this would have happened if Hillary Clinton was the nominee? I don't think so.



Here's another thought. If Obama captures the White House, he's got to reward Dean with more than a perfunctory appointment.



-- Sam Hemingway