Dean in lead, but can he keep it?

[hedgetrimmer]

~snip~

BEN MCCONVILLE IN NEW YORK


WITH 16 days to go before his first test at the polls, the question gripping Washington is: "Who can stop Howard Dean from becoming the Democratic presidential candidate?"

The former governor of Vermont has defied the expectations of pundits who believed the rank outsider would fall by the wayside before the first winter snows, swept away by more experienced candidates.

But as he looks to the crucial Iowa caucuses on 19 January and the all-important New Hampshire primary on 27 January, Mr Dean will be painfully aware of the hairline cracks opening up in a previously flawless campaign.

A series of high-profile gaffes - including a call on southern white men who wave the Confederate flag to vote Democratic and the assertion that Saddam Hussein’s capture did not make the world a safer place - gave his rivals a target to aim at. And for the first time in the campaign, Mr Dean flinched.

... more ...

link: http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=6192004

[schultzee]

1. Howard Dean is saying what we think. We need to support him.

[caledesi]

2. HD did not call on southern white men who wave the Confederate

flag to vote Democratic. This is totally blown out of context. Secondly, the assertion that the capture of SH has NOT made the world a safer place is accurate. The writer forgets to mention how 10 troops died shortly after the famous capture and that the color-coded security was raised to orange. Meanwhile, we have fighter jet "escorting" planes and some planes not even flying out of the UK.

I can't for the life of me understand why the capture of Saddam Hussein is going to make the world safer. How? No one seems to be answering this question and Howaard Dean is right, as usual.

edit: usual stuff

[Jack_Dawson]

3. Dean is Staggering

toward the finish line. I give him credit for his run thus far, but he's a sprinter - not a distance runner. Clark is taking the baton for the Democratic party. Go Wes.

[floridaguy]

5. While Dean is stumbling, Clark is hitting his stride

While Dean continues to create openings for the other candidates almost every time he speaks, it's just a matter of time before Clark catches him. The only question is whether there is enough time.

In only his third month of campaigning, Clark's fundraising was almost equal to Dean who has been at it over a year. I only hope that those people that got behind Dean before Clark got in the race are willing to at least consider whether he is the one who can actually defeat Bush. Failure to do this, would be a disservice to the goal of the primary - nominate the best Democratic Candidate.

[slinkerwink]

4. the CNN poll seems to say that Dean is electable.....

[madfloridian]

6. Great article about the "gaffes" that are really the "truth."

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/columnists/nyc-bres0103,0,2114805.column?coll=ny-ny-columnists

SNIP..."First, the other day, Howard Dean, candidate for president, said he didn't think that the capture of Saddam Hussein made us any safer in America. The other politicians screamed that he was un-American. It was John Kerry who said, How could Dean dare say that we were not safer now? You could see that just by watching how we examined Saddam Hussein for scarlet fever in front of the world.

SNIP.."After Saddam's capture, there was a weekend of propaganda that will be examined someday as the ultimate show of vulnerability and failure by the American news industry. The Pekingese of the Press raved about the government and its soldiers.

SNIP..."Yet all Dean has to do in this big Des Moines debate Sunday is ask each candidate, "Are you in favor of sentencing bin Laden before you have a trial?"

Let them answer in front of a country that is better than they are.

My friend David Greenfield, a top lawyer in Manhattan who takes on murder cases, was reading some of this over the holiday. He was saying, "This is insanity. I thought everybody knew that no matter how high the crime or the criminal, the punishment phase always must follow the trial. These people, they want off with his head and we'll see if he's fit to stand trial."

Those were not gaffes, they were the truth.

[caledesi]

7. Good post MF! nt

[MR. ELECTABLE]

8. ABD Crowd: Only the Clenis™ Can Save You Now!

n/t

[Moderator]

9. Not LBN... locking

This is an interesting round-up piece about Dean, but it doesn't really qualify for posting as latest breaking news.

Please feel free to repost this article in the General Discussion: 2004 Primary or Politics and Campaigns forum(s). It's a good read!

Thanks!

DU Moderator