NEWTON, Mass. — Here at Sean Bielat campaign headquarters on a Saturday afternoon, Ace of Spades and several of his readers are running the phone banks: “Hey, my name’s Ace. Would you like Sean Bielat to build you a robot?”

The big news today is that Sean Bielat is the top fundraiser in Massachusetts:

In a sign that he has caught the attention of Republicans in Massachusetts and beyond, GOP congressional hopeful Sean Bielat outraised every congressional candidate in the state in the latest reporting period — including his opponent, longtime US Representative Barney Frank — according to newly released campaign finance filings in most races.
Buoyed by repeated appearances on national television and conservative talk radio, Bielat, of Brookline, raised $379,000 between Aug. 25 and the end of September, exceeding the $317,000 raised by Frank, a 15-term incumbent, Federal Election Commission records show. . . .

Which goes to show the power of conservative New Media. It wasn’t the GOP Establishment or “secret foreign donors” who turned the Bielat campaign into a nationwide crusade. It was bloggers and their readers who struck the spark, and the excitement is now a wildfire.

Now it’s time to spread the fire. Pete Da Tech Guy and I are leaving this evening for a road trip across New York state and Pennsylvania down to Maryland. We’ll be stopping along the way to cover several congressional campaigns. Pete’s still about $250 short of his fundraising goal for the trip, so please go hit Da Tip Jar.

Pete was just downtown for President Obama’s rally with Deval Patrick, and I just got word that the streets of downtown Newton have been blocked off by police, which means Obama is coming here.

UPDATE: Obama is having a private fundraiser at the West Newton home of Ralph de la Torre. Da Tech Guy tells me Obama drew about 8,000 in downtown Boston, which is substantially less than the average crowd for Sarah Palin.

UPDATE II: There was a rally for Sean Bielat with Howie Carr today in Foxboro:

UPDATE III: OK, I’ve mapped out the first day of our trip. We’ll be in NY-22 Sunday morning for a pancake breakfast with George Phillips, then swing by Phillips HQ near Binghamton before making a trip up to the vicinity of Syracuse for an evening event with NY-25 candidate Ann Marie Buerkle. After that, we’ll hit the road three hours south to Pennsylvania.

Now we’re about to hit the road. Pete insists we must stop by his house in Fitchburg to enjoy some traditional Sicilian cuisine. Good-bye from Boston. If you can’t hit Pete’s tip-jar, feel free to hit mine.

UPDATE IV: Last update from Boston, where Obama spoke today:

“The reason I came today isn’t just because Deval has been there for me as a friend, but because he continues to inspire me as a leader at a time when too many folks bow to the politics of the moment,” Obama said at a campaign rally for Patrick in Boston. “He represents the politics of conscience and conviction in an age of too much cynicism.”
Obama admitted that he’s sometimes on his Blackberry backstage when he attends events for candidates, but “when Deval speaks, I listen.”

Obviously, Deval has been telling Obama to destroy the American Dream — and Obama listened!