Dean holds nationwide house parties
Jeanie Murray: 'Caucuses are local neighborhood meetings'
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From left, Jan Baross, Dave Hamlin, M.J.Coe and Jim Sitzman listen to Howard Dean during a fund-raising party Tuesday in Portland, Oregon.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Howard Dean's Democratic presidential campaign raised an estimated $500,000 at more than 1,400 house parties across the country in a drive to swell his thriving campaign account.
Campaign aides said Wednesday that an estimated 22,000 people attended the parties, and an additional 1,675 people dialed in to hear Dean's conference call to the events.
Dean joined the house parties through a conference call and will be introduced by former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper.
Dean was joining in by cell phone while en route from South Carolina to Vermont.
The Gores were joining in from Tennessee, aides said.
Dean aides said the 13 house parties in Iowa are a crucial organizational tool in preparing for the state's January 19 leadoff caucuses. (CNN.com's interactive Election Calendar)
In New Hampshire, the site of the nation's first primary -- January 27 -- 11 parties are planned. (CNN.com's interactive Primary Explainer)
"Basically, the caucuses are local neighborhood meetings," Iowa campaign manager Jeani Murray said. "These house parties are just one more way for people to talk at the local level."
Dean's campaign announced Monday that he had raised $14 million in the last quarter, far ahead of any of his Democratic rivals. (Special Report: Candidates' fund-raising figures)
The campaign hoped to then boost the fourth quarter's total higher with the house parties.
At 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, the Dean campaign site was reporting a total $14,748,968 raised in the fourth quarter, with a goal of matching or beating that $14.8 of the third quarter by midnight.
While Dean has far outpaced his Democratic rivals, he has raised less than a third of what President Bush has generated. (Dean war chest swells, GOP dwarfs it)
A key part of Dean's Internet-driven campaign has been to get backers involved in the campaign by holding monthly meetings, training sessions and community projects.
Murray argued that this is crucial for Iowa precinct caucuses, which are far more complex than a traditional primary election.
At those caucuses, backers spend time arguing politics with friends and neighbors before publicly declaring their allegiance to a candidate.
That requires activists to develop a higher level of commitment to a candidate, and one way of building that commitment is to get activists involved in the campaign through various activities, Murray said.
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