Um, this has more to do with 20+ years of Third Way Dems appeasing real crazies,

[eridani]

146. The active ones are the lefties, period.

WA State has a pretty active party because we have caucuses which determine delegate votes for presidential nominees. This means that a candidate's operatives have to personally contact as many potential attendees as possible, and show up at county and legislative district organization meetings. The majority of caucusers generally don't stick with the organizations, but there is always a continuing influx of new members from the process--people who come to realize that political change is about much more than who is president. In 2004, there were a huge number of Dean and Kucinich supporters who stayed with the party, the percentage of people who did so being the highest in recent memory.

Big contrast in 2008--caucus attendance was several times higher than in 2004. Obama had self-directed organizers who build a large base; Clinton's people just called the organization chairs and told them to get behind the inevitable winner or else. Needless to say, Obama won the caucuses by a 2/1 margin. However, almost none of the first time 2008 attendees stuck around for ongoing organizing. It was the class of 2004 who did most of the 2010 GOTV.