FULL DISCLOSURE: I have begun volunteering for Howard Dean. I have twice now manned a table outside the Grand Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings to encourage people to register to vote and sign up to receive email alerts from the Dean campaign. I will also be attending my first Meetup tonight at the Box Theatre in Oakland at 7 pm.

By the way, I considered trying to remain neutral on this contest, like a good journalist would, and perhaps if my political blog had any audience to speak of that would make sense, but since 9/11 I've felt compelled to do more than just sit on the sidelines when it comes to American politics, public ideas, and foreign policy, and volunteering for a candidate who is opposed to so much of the Bush agenda feels like a good place to start.

If Dean falls by the wayside, I will no doubt switch my allegiance to whomever seems to have the best chance of beating Bush (assuming they don't, somehow, represent what I would consider a worse alternative - which doen't seem likely).

For the record, I am currently an independent and have in fact never belonged to a political party (my parents are Republicans) although I have voted in every possible election since I reached my majority. As I am essentially endorsing Dean at this point, for what that's worth, I'll try to make it clear when I write aboput politics so that no one can accuse me of posing as neutral when I'm not.