First, the good news.
Dave Winer himself headed up to Burlington to start re-working the Dean team’s web technology. The first fruit of his effort is Channel Dean, also available in RSS.
If I didn’t already respect the good will and idealism of the Dean team–and of Dave Winer himself–this would make me do it.
First of all, Dave is not working “for” Dean. He’s expending this effort just for the sake of improved technology for democracy. And the Dean team is welcoming this outsider into their headquarters because, to quote the Channel Dean FAQ, “We believe that a more informed electorate is more likely to support our candidate.”
Think about the negative things Dave has said about Dean and his web effort. And if you really think about it, it makes their collaboration more impressive.
Now the bad news–the invisible primary got very visible last night.
What happened? I got some interesting insight from the blog of Iowa caucus member Eclectic Enigma. Before breakfast on January 19, she was undecided. By midnight, she had voted for Kerry.