Looks like that national price cut on maple syrup won't be happening after all....

It's always nice when someone else says what I think, and more succinctly than I would have said it. Kevin Drum's take on Howard Dean's exit from the Democratic Presidential race:

Thanks, Howard. You weren't my candidate, but I sure appreciate everything you did. If we win in November, a big part of the victory will be thanks to you.

I'm actually even more enthusiastic about Dean's stated intention to form some kind of "grass roots" political organization (link via Morat). This is something I've long maintained the Democrats really need to start doing. To use a baseball metaphor, the Democrats tend to remind me of the Baltimore Orioles: constantly trying to load up with lots of guys who can swing for the fences, but paying next to no attention to the farm system. Republicans have outperformed the Democrats for years at finding good, smart people to run for local office and thus start the ball rolling uphill. I'd like to think that rather than just blast through like a winter wind, Dean actually managed to deposit a few seeds.

(That last sentence stinks, but I'm leaving it up anyway because it's rather impressive in its stinkiness, no?)