Light blogging the last couple days as I've been busy setting up an unofficial Howard Dean blog called Central Oregon for Dean. He's been gaining some momentum the last few weeks:

Dear Mr. Skeptic,

We have passed an incredible milestone in our campaign.

Thanks to you, our fundraising total for the second quarter has surged from 3.2 million dollars to 6 million dollars in just eight days.

How did this happen? You and over 21,000 people believed that your individual contribution could make a difference in our campaign. And your contributions have made a massive difference. I cannot thank you enough.

From Meet the Press, through my announcement speech, to our MoveOn victory--and now with over $2.8 million raised through thousands of donations--the last eight days have been amazing.

Thanks to your contribution, we are now, with 40 hours left in the second quarter, able to set a goal that nobody would have thought possible for our campaign even a week ago--raising $6.5 million in the second quarter. If you are able to contribute once more, your contribution, when added to the contributions of thousands of others who are responding to this email, will produce an incredible result:

CONTRIBUTE!!!

If we raise $6.5 million in the second quarter, we will have placed our candidacy irrefutably in the top tier, and we will have produced a sea-change in the dynamic of this race.

Can we raise $500,000 in 40 hours? I know we can, because this past Friday we raised that amount in online contributions alone. We achieved this on Friday because over 7,700 people believed, as you do, that we are strongest when we act in common purpose. If you are able to give once more, thousands of others will be giving with you in the next 40 hours.

have shown the power of our numbers, and what we can achieve when each of us takes an individual action that is matched by the actions of thousands of others. You and over 21,000 people have contributed--over the telephone, through the mail, on the Internet, and in fundraising events and house parties across the country.

have already helped us exceed all expectations. We now have the opportunity to truly shock the press and the pundits with our show of strength. We have 40 hours to raise an additional half million dollars. Please give what you can, and forward this email on to your friends.

Thank you for all that you have done.

Howard Dean

Good news! And his numbers are up too.....