I haven't been taking good notes the past few days, shame shame shame. However, as you may have seen, I have good reason. So pardon a perhaps more sparse posting.

As Britt and I are discovering, there's a very thin line around here between who staff and volunteer. It appears to be defined by pay, business cards and @deanforamerica.com email addresses, but not by very much else. Our first day were we sat in on a meeting for the record-breaking conference call initiative, and our idea for how to brand it was immediately picked up over and above the one they'd been working with. Now we (the volunteers with the idea) are talking with volunteer flash people about getting something to promote it.

Turf does not exist here, only goals. It's unbelievable how sweet the bullshit to purpose ratio is, and the sunset views from campaign HQ are awesome.

I've been laying my experience = fantasy + reality trip on a few people out here; Samantha from the NYT magazine, Zephyr, and anyone else within earshot. Hunter referred me to Kubla Kahn, by Coleradge, which is great, just so you know it's not all politics out here.

There's a trinity at work here in Burlington. A fact based candidate running a transparent campaign driven by social networks; a message that appeals to the angels of our better nature, to relationships and community; a cause that could be more deeply laden with meaning for those who become involved... it's the mind/body/spirit trifecta made politic, and it's a hell of a thing to steep in for a week.

By the by, if this sounds like fun and you want to come play, you should do it. Most of the staff just showed up -- pilgrims of a new patriotic sort from New York, Alabama, Texas. They made themselves useful, indispensable even; eventually many of them were offered official titles, if not sterling salaries. Back when I decided to get involved I sent my resume in to the campaign, told them if I had a trust fund I would show up for free. Some people actual do have the means to do this, and have. You should too if you can, even just for a week. It's not an experience to miss.

One of the ostensible purposes of the visit for both Britt and I is to set an example for others to follow. I won't likely be back for a long while, if ever, but Britt's clearly got the bug. He's talking about staying on a while longer and coming back next week.

While I'm excited about upcoming adventure in California, I don't really want to go anywhere. This is kind of like paradise. Last night most of the campaign was out for drinks for CoCo's birthday -- excellent hip-hop DJ at a very NYC-like bar -- and I realized with some glee that although we'd all been spending all day and night working together, we were still jazzed to have each other's company. It was human and fun and the kind of thing I'd like to do more often.

So I'm hitting my stride here, finding my voice; I just sat in on Trippi's afternoon conference call with reporters, along with a lot of the staff, everyone passing looks, supplying Joe with details when needed, laughing when laughable things were said. It felt like he was talking about my campaign. Ownership, baby. It's time to take it to the next level. I'm sad that tomorrow's my last day.