Howard Dean ended his bid for the Democratic nomination today, saying, “I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency.”
The cyber story of the millennium, over the course of the past 10 months, through his blog, Dean has helped to transform the way politicians make contact with the public, raise money, and organize political campaigns. When other presidential contenders (and candidates for various political parties in Canada, and elsewhere) had never heard of blogs – prior to Dean’s emergence on the U.S. national political scene – every politician worth his salt nowadays has his own blog (blog links for all of the Democratic contenders, and in Canada the Conservative party hopefuls, may be found under Politics, clickable to your left).
At Howard Dean’s site, Dean For America, he writes, “Today my candidacy may come to an end—but our campaign for change is not over …

In the coming weeks, we will be launching a new initiative to continue the campaign you helped begin … There is much work still to be done … The truth is: change is tough. There is enormous institutional pressure in our country against change … The fight that we began can and must continue. Although my candidacy for president may end today, the most important goal remains defeating George W. Bush in November, and I hope that you will join me in doing everything we can to support the Democrats this fall. From the earliest days of our campaign, I have said that the power to change Washington rests not in my hands, but in yours. Always remember, you have the power to take our country back.”

Who Dean will endorse, and just what direction the Democratic campaign will take, in the coming weeks and months remains to be seen. Whatever the course of events, it is sure to be interesting.