Howard Dean's Sleepless Summer Tour starts tomorrow in Virginia. As of this writing, more than 13,700 people have signed up to rally to Take Back Our Country over the next four days. Given that turnout at Howard Dean events often multiplies by a factor of 2-5 the number of people who've signed up, we could be looking at some astonishing crowds, especially given that it's August!

The Dean campaign has brought back their fundraising bat for this tour and are trying to raise a million dollars. They started counting at midnight, I received an email around 10AM, they posted the bat about that same time, and so far have raised more than $187,000 from more than 3500 contributors. Have you given to the Bat today? I made my contribution in honor of Sally Baron, a Wisconsin woman who died recently and asked in her obituary that people donate to causes that will remove Bush from office. A worthy cause, indeed. Rest in peace, Sally. We shall continue the fight!