While I don"t agree with "free trade," I do agree with Dean's focus on local party organization. Local people know the area, the people, and their concerns. Micromanaging from the top every two years will not do the job. It is like Bush going into Iraq with faulty intelligence and worse preconceptions--failure is a certainty. I would also remind you that the size of the state, ethnic diversity and the physical environment present unique challenges to a state campaign.

Again an Iraq comparison: California is the same physical size as Iraq, but its population is bigger than Canada, with more ethnic groups. The state also has counties and cities larger than many countries. Each one need a local organization at the state and local level.

Every state will have a different set of challenges, and only local people will know all of them. They have to lead and inform the national party. Local people should be in control and the point of the spear.

These concepts can be useful in other areas. For example, with Katrina-type situations, local people should be on point to guide federal aid and rescue efforts bring in the muscle to do the job. They know the ground.

Pervis J. Casey

Riverside, CA

Thanks to Ari Berman for an excellent article. Though a lifelong Republican (since 1974), I voted for all of the five Democratic candidates on the ballot in the 2006 election. They all won. I have admired Governor Dean for the work he has done and he should have been elected President. Gov. Dean was maligned by the media. The media chose to misrepresent his exuberance and claimed it "unpresidential." This was blatantly unfair.

The unfairness of the present campaign where Hillary and her husband keep taking cheap shots at Barack Obama shows how petty and crass the Clintons can be. I do not want Hillary and her husband in the White House.

Fortunately, the voters understand that Barack is the best candidate... And Barack and Howard have energized a whole bunch of us, including me and my girlfriend and my neighbors. We, the people, can take back the White House and the Congress in November. Just believe in it. Contribute your time and money to Barack's campaign and vote. Vote for Barack Obama. Tell your friends, relatives, business associates and neighbors to vote for Barack too.

Joseph Martinkovic

Lansford , PA

The Democratic Party should be eternally grateful to Howard Dean. When he first became chair and talked about organizing in all fifty states I thought, How brilliant! Not that I think Democrats are going to capture Idaho, but there's more to the Democrats than Massachusetts, New York, New England, Illinois & California. I'm an Obama voter, and he not only carries a different message but a different way of campaigning. He doesn't write off any state. As a long-time Democratic Party voter, thank you, Howard Dean.

Barbara Levine

Brooklyn, NY

Ari Berman's assessment of Howard Dean's achievement is spot on. The entire Red State/Blue State construct was bad for the Party, and bad for the country. It only came about because of the narrow-mindedness of Rendell, McAuliffe, Clinton, Emanuel and their ilk. "If we just win these three/five/seven states, we'll win the election!" And if you do it that way, how do you govern? The way Bush and Rove have, by division and partisan bullying.

I don't know if the 50 State Strategy was a stroke of genius, or just a grain of common sense. But it took Howard Dean to get it started, and get it done. Future DNC chairs will change course at their peril. Dean may have been a flawed candidate, but he was and is the right man for the job, when it came to political organizing. I hope he sticks around until we run thirty states, have sixty-five senators and 250 representatives. Thank you, Governor Dean!

Stephen J. Duskin

Audubon, PA