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http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030825/frontpage/83854.shtmlSEATTLE -- The Howard Dean bandwagon rolled through downtown Seattle on Sunday night, drawing what the candidate himself said was the largest crowd of any rally so far in his surging presidential campaign.
"I have to say that this crowd is so enormous, I'm a little awestruck," Dean said to a mass of supporters numbered at 8,000 people, according to Seattle police officers on duty in Westlake Center. "We've never seen a group this big."
The size of the crowd gave further ammunition for those who argue that the former Vermont governor has exploded from obscurity to become the Democratic frontrunner in the race to unseat President Bush in 2004. "He is our man," said Thilo Spieler, who joined about 100 fellow South Sound residents on two buses that traveled from Lacey to see the candidate. "The one and only."
Dean on Sunday also picked up a key Washington endorsement from Paul Berendt, the chairman of the state Democratic Party. "I've never seen a turnout this high at a rally so early in the campaign season," said Berendt, who lives in Olympia. "It shows the energy and excitement that Dean is creating."
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