Proof Dean is electable

[ButterflyBlood]

I saw this a freeper point this out actually, but clearly one of the few who has more than two brain cells. Look at the Michigan governor's race of 2002. Here you have a state with demographics pretty similar to the country as a whole. outside of Detroit and Ann Arbor, the Democrats are mostly blue collar socially conservative union workers. Exactly the type of people the civil unions wedge issue is supposed to work on. Now you have Granholm, who's at least as liberal as Dean if not more and who has the exact same stance on gay rights as he does. Up until the end of the election the opposition tried to play this issue and portray her as an ultra-liberal, exactly what they're trying to do to Dean now. And she won in the end. And since Dean will be running against someone directly responsible for the horrible economy, the wedge issues should be even less effective. It does stand as good proof that Dean can win Michigan, as well as states like Iowa, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where Rove probably wants to play this against him.

[CMT]

1. I think there is no question that Dean is electable

He has moved up from nowhere to leading in the polls for our party nomination. He has a fervent band of supporters who by and large are not going to abandon him for anyone else. He has shown strength in early primary states among Independents. He is showing strength among organized labor--in Iowa, he beats Gep among union members--and they are supposed to be Gep's great strength. He articulates, imo, a better case against Bush than any other candidate. He makes politics fun again--going to one of his rallies is exciting. He has a grassroots army of about 400,000 and his meetups do exeedingly well and make effective GOTV machines. I'm confident he can go all the way to the nomination and beat George Worthless Bush.

[shance]

2. You're right on with electability - the issue is now FAIR VOTING ....

The computerized voting issue and potential for voter fraud is the top issue now folks.

Send emails to friends, family, dogs, cats, go to Dean meetups, organize, talk to anyone in the political arena. Calls to legislators ALWAYS good!!

[DemPopulist]

3. Gore won all those states too but it wasn't enough

And frankly I think Granholm is a better candidate than Dean.

I don't think merely being in favor of gay rights hurts Dean or any other Dem. It's the fact that the civil unions bill is one of the two or three things Dean is most associated with, and the right is going to equate civil unions with gay marriage, which is obviously their new "hot-button" issue this cycle. Watch 700 Club or any of that shit. I don't think it'll work in any of the states you named but it will work in some of the winnable Southern/Border states - assuming Dean would ever be competitive there to begin with. But out of the four states you named, all were carried by Gore, all have been voting Democratic since at least '92 (two since '88), and all have Democratic governors. Dean, or any reasonable Democrat, should be able to carry those states, especially in this economy, or he - and we - are in for a much worse election night than we think.

By the way, I don't think Dean is un-electable, just less electable than any of the other major candidates except Lieberman.

[ButterflyBlood]

4. less electable than Sharpton?

come on.

I still think Dean could carry West Virginia despite this especially in the current economy, and it won't hurt him at all in New Hampshire and Nevada. Win those 3 and the Gore states and he's won.

[DemPopulist]

6. I said "major candidates"

No offense to Reverend Al, Dennis or Carol, but I meant Dean, Edwards, Graham, Lieberman, Gephardt and Kerry - the guys with a shot at the nomination (although arguably Graham and Lieberman don't belong in that group either.)

[NWHarkness]

5. I predict

that what Dean loses on the gay rights issue in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, is more than balanced out by his stand on gun control in those hunter-heavy states.

[mlawson]

7. Of course he is electable. But is he nominatable (sic)???

Not sure if that is a real word, but I think that Dean will have a far harder time getting nominated, than he would have beating bush. I figure that the DNC/DLC will bypass him next year in favor of Kerry.