You gotta believe

Great post at Howard Dean's Blog for America by Zephyr Teachout. Her words relate well what it must feel like to be part of a campaign that has announced an intention to bring in $5M by September 30:

There's a frantic energy around here -- someone found a football, and since the walls don't quite reach the ceiling, the football keeps spinning over from scheduling into policy and in and out of the Deputies' offices and into our people-thick, wall-less Net hive.

It's nerve-wracking, this massive hope, or bet, this complete reliance on the collective actions of tens and tens and tens of thousands of people. There are moments of elation, when you think about the nearly 13,000 individuals who have donated in the past three days (Do you remember that "These are the people in your neighborhood" song in Sesame Street? Ok, this is embarrassing, but along with Biko and You Can and Mac the Knife, its one of the songs I can't get out of my head this week -- how does one think about so many people and still remember individuality?). There are also moments where we just want to shake ourselves and say, "What have we done!" It seems impossible.

But we know it's possible. Trippi was saying a few days ago in the car that if everyone believed this was going to give them true power, and crack the grip of special interests, millions of people would have signed up. Millions would give. If people really believed that their money counted -- not just for this campaign but for truly changing the way politics works -- it wouldnt' be a tough question whether you go out for a drink or donate $10, whether you buy a new book or donate $35.

We're here almost full time, and will be for the next week. Clay has a night-shift tendency, and regularly runs into people coming in with coffee while he's headed home in the morning. Nicco takes three hour naps and then works for three hours. Allen is making beautiful graphics right next to me, with his headphones on, and dancing to some music the rest of us can't hear. (Zack's headphones have the opposite effect -- he's listening to some silence the rest of us can't hear.) Jascha keeps solving more problems than we knew we had. Jim is the most steady, but I catch him grinning more often. Apparently I have a tendency of pressing my hands against the back of my head I didn't know about. Gray keeps gliding in and out on his scooter, asking questions.

Whatever the tic, we all know that this is the week. This is serious. This may be the most important week of the entire year, of the entire election season -- and that this election will define the direction this country takes. We are all full of nervousness and awe. Thank you so much for making this possible. Please do what you can.

It's better than any movie, better than any play, better than any book or TV show.

The very best story being told is being told at the Blog for America. Every day I go there, and every day it makes me laugh, makes me amazed, makes me proud.

A playwright once told the best story the Czechs had heard in a long time.

Howard Dean is telling one of the best I've heard in my life.