The World Wide Web started out as a Republican weapon. The Drudge Report, a right-wing gossip site, first revealed President Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. A flood of Internet donations made Sen. John McCain competitive with the Bush machine in 2000. Web sites on the right continue to function as attack dogs. One in Seattle is still foaming at the mouth over the 2004 race for governor, but liberal sites have started to serve as effective organizing tools.

In 2004, early, fiery opposition to the Iraq war helped the Web-fueled campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean raise a phenomenal $41 million.

The "Deaniac" was back here Thursday night in his new capacity as Democratic national chairman and was greeted by the liberal bloggers with an ovation that would have sent Barbra Streisand to bed happy.

...."The "Net roots" activists have lately led the Democrats out of a record of futility almost as long as that of the Cubbies.

Democratic Leadership Council meetings have tended to be heavy with Washington, D.C., lobbyists, featuring lavish hospitality suites with ice sculptures and attended by centrist Southern officeholders -- of whom there are decidedly fewer these days.

By contrast, the bars at YearlyKos are sparsely populated, but there is a big line at the latte stand. The delegates Thursday took time off to see "The Devil Came on Horseback," a movie about genocide in Darfur. The lineups of seminars Friday include such titles as "Blogging Foreign Policy" and "Networked Public Diplomacy."