"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." With these words, Isaac Newton paid homage to Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. Newton's "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" is undeniably the greatest single scientific work ever; it introduced the calculus and explained basic laws of motion, planetary motion and gravity.

But Newton was building on the works of those who came before him -- and even someone as Narcissistic as Newton was willing to give credit where credit was due.

Today, in American politics, we have the "phenomenon" of Barack Obama. His message of change is nothing new; politicians have advocated for some sort of change ever since there were politicians. His speaking style isn't new either; preachers and politicians have been just as inspirational for millenia.

What is new is that Barack Obama could actually become President, something no inspirational, progressive politician has been able to do. A large part of the reason he could actually win has to do with a movement that started five years ago.

Back in 2003, the movement was built on a foundation of opposition to our invasion of Iraq. It centered around a presidential candidate, Howard Dean. Dean wasn't the first candidate to inspire grassroots participation; past candidates from William Jennings Bryan to Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy did the same. And Dean didn't even get as far as they did -- he never won a primary or caucus.

What Dean did was make sure the movement he inspired didn't end with his campaign. By creating Democracy for America, and then becoming Chairman of the DNC, he made sure that movement continued. That movement makes it possible for a campaign based on change and inspiration to succeed.

But Howard Dean wasn't satisfied with starting a movement. If Hillary Clinton should come from [way] behind and get the nomination, her chance to win this fall will be based on Democratic ground operations in states where Democrats haven't had a presence in far too long. (Note: In an upcoming post, I'll show how Democrats can win without Florida, Ohio or Pennsylvania.)

In fact, the current Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, while due in large part to Republican corruption (thank you, Mark Foley!), was also made possible by Dean's "50-state strategy." It certainly had nothing to do with consultants, party insiders like Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer. Emanuel originally picked 32 districts as "red-to-blue" seats -- and lost 23 of them. Meanwhile 21 other Democrats won without his support (or at least until the very end). On the Senate side, three of the six seats the Democrats picked up had to go through bruising primary campaigns first; they were not on the DSCC favorites list. These 21 Democrats won because of the movement Howard Dean began, and because he has continued that movement.

As DNC Chair, Howard Dean cannot come out and endorse a candidate before the Democrats have a nominee, and he has been extremely careful to remain publicly neutral during the primary season. It's even possible that he personally favors Clinton over Obama (although I personally doubt it). But if Obama gets the nomination, and then wins in November, Howard Dean should be able to congratulate himself, as Obama's victory will be on Dean's shoulders.

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