This group formed in late 2003 consisting of "Howard Dean progressives" who were leaders of local Meetup Groups for Dean around the country. The list was initially called MeetupHosts, then was renamed "Dean Leaders" since many registrants were progressive leaders in ways other than just being a Meetup Host. After Howard Dean dropped out of the Presidential race in February 2004, many "Howard Dean" related yahoo & Meetup groups modified their names so that they could retain their cohesiveness, yet broaden their focus and work to elect someone other than Bush. Since the loss in Nov 2004 this list of "Dean Leaders" has been significantly less active. This is is part due to the rise of Blogs and blog communities. And also due to the formalization of Dean's successor-organization to DeanForAmerica.com (DFA1) -- "Democracy For America" (DFA2). Still, we maintain this list, and the companion list NGannounce, partially to keep the archives as part of the social record of the early work of a new breed of citizen participation in govt -- the netroots. People have come and gone from this list -- but for the most part, the membership is highly representative of many of the original "Dean Activists" who have in many cases moved on to run local DFA orgs in cities across the country.