A non-national perspective on the Dean "Meetup" wave, courtesy the Oakland Tribune:

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean's presidential campaign is using high technology and old-fashioned elbow grease to parlay his already-potent Bay Area support into strength in a key early primary state.

Hundreds of volunteers, mustered through Meetup.com, gathered Wednesday night in Berkeley, Walnut Creek, San Francisco and elsewhere to write personal letters to Iowa Democrats, whose names were furnished by the Dean campaign.