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With cheers and chants, 21 Californian “Deaniacs” boarded the eastbound 9:35 a.m. Amtrak train in Emeryville last Tuesday. They were headed for Iowa, where they will be doing volunteer work for Howard Dean through Monday evening, when Iowa Democrats will gather at 1,993 precinct caucuses around the state to choose their candidate for president.  

As the first chance to pick up delegates to the party conventions that will be held this summer, the hotly contested Iowa caucuses are being scrutinized around the nation. Other campaigns are also bringing in supporters from out of state. On Jan. 7 a delegation of Iowa-bound Californians for Kucinich caught the same Amtrak train in Emeryville.  

The Dean organization says it has 3,500 volunteers working in Iowa as part of an effort called “The Perfect Storm.” Each of the 21 travelers at the Emeryville station sported a big red-white-and-blue button that bore the wearer’s first name and the words “California Gets on Board for the Perfect Storm—Helping Dean in 2004.” Many of the 40 or so Dean supporters waiting for the train were wearing the campaign’s signature dark blue sweatshirts, their backs emblazoned with slogans such as “Want Your Country Back?” and “You Have the Power.”  

Also present was “Flat Howard,” a life-size, black-and-white photograph of the candidate mounted on foam core board and strategically displayed high above the crowd or posed next to supporters. He, too, got on board the train.  

According to the trip coordinator, Vicki Cosgrove, 50, a resident of Castro Valley, the 21 Californians riding the rails to Iowa range from 18 to 62 years in age and come from places as varied as Arcata, Tehachapi, Livermore and San Jose. Three of her fellow passengers are from Berkeley—Gene Tanke, Renee Manrique and Lynn Davidson. Two other Berkeleyans, Paul Spitz and Mal Burnstein, are flying to Iowa on Thursday.  

The train is scheduled to arrive in Osceola, Iowa, at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday morning. The Dean volunteers will be met at the station by four vans that will take them into Des Moines for induction and training. From there they will be dispersed throughout the state to walk door-to-door, make phone calls or whatever else suits the campaign’s needs and their skills.  

It’s going to be cold: The weather forecast for Des Moines for this weekend puts the highs in the 30s, and parkas and snow boots were in evidence at the Emeryville train station. So were sleeping bags and pillows. Some people will be staying in motels, others in private homes, and still others at one of fifteen “Dean camps”—winterized YMCA camps. The application form on the Dean for America website asks prospective Perfect Storm participants if they’re willing to sleep on the floor.  

Conversations with some of the Iowa-bound train riders suggested that these people would be willing to sleep just about anywhere. Their motivation consists of equal parts fury at the Bush administration and commitment to Dean. “We’ve got to get rid of Bush,” said Lynn Davidson, 55, from Berkeley. Praising Dean, others spoke of his candor, his intellect, his responsiveness and his positions on the war in Iraq, health care and other major issues.  

But what’s striking about these Dean supporters, beyond their disgust with the current administration in Washington and their enthusiasm for their candidate, is their relative newness to politics. There are exceptions: Mal Burnstein is a lifelong activist. But until recently, most of the others did little more than vote. Michael Goble, 18, was too young to do even do that in the last presidential election. Since joining the Dean campaign, Goble and others have hosted teleconferencing house parties, attended the public get-togethers known as meetups, blogged the burgeoning Dean websites and decided to donate a week of lives to full-time, out-of-state politicking.  

After the train pulled out of the station, I spoke briefly with Paul Spitz, the coordinator of East Bay for Dean. Describing a groundswell of support, Spitz cited last weekend’s sixteen Meetups in the East Bay involving 300 people. Over 80 showed up at Saysethea Restaurant in Berkeley alone. “This shows that anybody who thinks Dean is just about the Internet or anger isn’t paying attention,” he said. Spitz pointed out that except for Gephardt, the other contenders all have websites and blogs—and, in some cases, better-looking ones at that. “Their campaigns aren’t taking off like Dean’s,” he said, “because they don’t have the candidate.” 

After the train pulled out of the station, Paul Spitz, the coordinator of East Bay for Dean, described a groundswell of support. He cited last weekend’s sixteen Meetups in the East Bay involving 300 people. More than 80 showed up at Saysethea Restaurant in Berkeley alone. “This shows that anybody who thinks Dean is just about the Internet or anger isn’t paying attention,” he said. Spitz pointed out that except for Gephardt, the other contenders all have websites and blogs—and, in some cases, better-looking ones at that. “Their campaigns aren’t taking off like Dean’s,” he said, “because they don’t have the candidate.”