Prometheus 6   

How Dean Is Winning The Web
The Democrat's ability to win fans and raise cash online has taken his party by surprise
By CHRIS TAYLOR/SAN RAFAEL

Howard Dean is hardly what you would call a high-tech guru. The former Vermont Governor, whose trademark look is a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves, is a mostly gadget-free zone. He does not carry a BlackBerry email pager or tablet PC (he leaves those to his aides). And don't expect to find Dean, 54, surfing the Web for hours at home. "I kind of missed the Internet boom," concedes the physician.

Yet the Internet boom has not missed Dean. Rather, it has handed him a bonanza of cash and buzz that would make most 1990s dotcom veterans � and politicians � weep. In the past three months, it was revealed last week, Dean has raised $7.5 million, $1.5 million more than his nearest Democratic rival, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, nudging Dean into the top tier of Democratic candidates. Two-thirds of all Dean contributions were made online. And as often happens in politics, bucks begat the Big Mo. A poll in the first caucus state, Iowa, released last week put Dean in second place, a mere percentage point behind Dick Gephardt. Once viewed as a no-hoper for the nomination, notable only for his vehement opposition to the war in Iraq, Dean is increasingly forcing his party's other candidates to adjust their strategies as they figure out how to slow his momentum.