"Obama: The Howard Dean of 2008?"

Eli Sanders (SLOG):

From Sandeep Kaushik,circa 2003:

On the evening of Wednesday, April 2, a group of Seattleites supporting the presidential candidacy of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean met at Piecora’s Pizza on Capitol Hill. The monthly meeting was organized at Meetup.com, a new web service used by candidates to bring together and organize grassroots supporters. Nearly 200 people showed up that night, without any outreach from the Dean campaign. As many as could fit crammed into the restaurant’s backroom, with more spilling out of the entryway; all were there to support a relatively obscure second-tier candidate in an election still 19 months in the future.

From a press release issued today by Washington for Obama:

SEATTLE, WA— More than 100 supporters of Illinois Senator Barack Obama are anticipated this Saturday at Seattle’s Piecora’s Pizza to celebrate Obama’s expected announcement that he is running for President. Using tools familiar to many Americans after their development and growth during the 2004 Presidential election, activists and “netroots” leaders have begun organizing in earnest to support Obama’s bid to capture the White House in 2008.

See, also.