Chairman Dean's fight against national media and the debate over whether or not he is "good" for the Democratic party will never end. We've all seen several articles, including Dan Balz's fairly good MSM piece on the grassroots impact.

But there was heartening news Monday from the Lawrence Journal-World:

Howard Dean's popularity hasn't waned in Lawrence since his failed Democratic presidential campaign began more than two years ago.

A total of 895 tickets for his Friday appearance at a public rally for the Democratic Party at Liberty Hall were sold in about 2 1/2 hours Sunday.

When the tickets went on sale at noon, an estimated 100 people were standing in a line that stretched from the front door of Liberty Hall, 642 Mass., around the corner and east on Seventh Street to The Raven Bookstore.

This one article removes a great deal of the foreboding that I've felt since the race for chair began. The national debate on Dean will never end, and I still feel that many here and elsewhere on the net are still suffering from a serious case of Deaniac afterglow. What's key to me here is that the Lawrence, Kansas debate on Dean appears to be over, at least for the Dems. And they like him.

Thanks to mandyky for pointing the article out to me.