This Guy Can Rock the White House

[Rose Siding]

By Elaine Kamarck

Elaine Kamarck is a lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She served in the Clinton- Gore administration...

snip>

The second complaint involves Dean's personality. The argument is that he is too combative. This always struck me as odd. How can Democrats object to a combative person running against an incumbent president who tells the world: "Bring 'em on!" Do they think they can beat Bush with a wimp? With some guy who says, "On the one hand this, and on the other hand that?" I, for one, relish the sight of Howard Dean - his wrestler's neck bulging - taking on the president after Bush tries to tell us that record deficits don't matter, that Saddam Hussein bombed the World Trade Center or that a time of constant terror alerts is a safer world. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, in endorsing Dean, called him the Harry Truman of the 21st century. Truman was a feisty little plain-speaking man - and a great president.

But the most compelling reason to support Dean is that only he can change the nature of the political game. No Democrat will win unless he can make the country see through Bush, and Dean has been so good at this that by last fall all the other candidates were mimicking his outrage.

Furthermore, if Democrats play old-fashioned politics, they lose, plain and simple. George W. Bush is the incumbent; he has the Executive Branch, Republicans control Congress, and this White House has shown an uncanny ability to bamboozle and intimidate the national press corps. The Republicans own the "Establishment," and they will use it to raise $170 million or more to destroy the Democratic candidate.

Dean has built a primary campaign that makes the Establishment pretty much irrelevant. The only way a Democrat wins in November is to keep it that way. By the end of last year Dean probably had at least 300,000 individual contributors. If Dean wins some early contests and locks up the nomination by mid-March, each of these people will have a great story to tell to 10 new contributors. How much could Dean raise from these 1.5 to 3 million people (you do the math; the numbers of potential donors are huge) in the months before the Democratic convention? No other Democratic candidate is poised to do as well.

link to article

The whole piece is very interesting and includes a rather brutal critique of Clark- But the snip I chose, and especially the portion highlighted, goes to the heart of the race, imo.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

1. The whole article should be read, it's excellent

Debunks some Dean negatives and opines on why he's a much stronger choice than Clark. To be fair, she does note that Dean and Clark were her final 2 choices.

[Rose Siding]

6. She had good reasons for not selecting Clark

finding his negatives outweigh Dean. And the things she likes about Clark are the good things that I think most would admire.

[TexasSissy]

2. She says a lot of nice things about Clark, then goes with Dean.

I disagree with her conclusion, though. I am from the "deep south," although I live in Texas now (more southwest or west than south). Middle American southerners just are not going to vote for Dean. Period. Maybe Virginia...way up there close to the north. But the deep south won't go for him. Sorry. That's the way it is.

Middle America will have no problem with Clark praising the Repubs in the past....middle Americans themselves have praised them. They would be more apt to vote for Clark than Dean.

[graelent]

7. I don't see the Deep South going for Clark over Bush

Yes, Clark may get a few more points in the Deep South than Dean would, but I can't see where Clark could overcome Bush in the Deep South.

In the Deep South, Bush will run on Religion, tax cuts, War and guns, and I do not see Clark swaying the Deep South away from Bush on these issues.

[dave29]

8. American Southerner

voting for Dean right here :)

[bif]

3. We need a butt kicker to beat Bush

And Dean seems to be the one to do it. 

[Qutzupalotl]

4. Good article.

I think I saw the author on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer a few days ago.

Of course, I come to a different conclusion about Clark. :-) It will be extremely difficult for the Bush team to take apart his military record, since our Commander-In-Chief deserted his post in '73. As someone else's sig line put it...Silver Star vs. Silver Spoon.

But I'll have no problem supporting Dean if he's the nominee. I caught a few minutes of him on CSPAN this morning. He is engaging and inspiring. I just hope it's enough to counter what Rove will do to him.

[On the Road]

5. I Liked This Quote:

"Clark, like Dean, is unencumbered by the air of tormented compromise that engulfs the other serious candidates.... They've come this far because they both project that most coveted of all attributes - leadership."

Hope this doesn't break the new rules.

[Jerseycoa]

9. Nice writing

I enjoyed reading this. But I thought DLC people were bad? ;-)

[MGKrebs]

10. One more BIG reason why Dean has a better chance...

The candidates who are taking public financing are limited to $45 million in spending until the convention. Total. Period. Bush has opted out of public financing, and has over $100 million right now. He will have raised $150 million by May, and $200 million by September. He has no Repub opponent to spend it on. Any Dem candidate who is taking public financing will likely have NO MONEY from May through August. Bush will roll out the REAL shock and awe campaign then, and the Dem will not be able to respond... for FOUR MONTHS. Constant one-sided attacks with virtually no rebuttal. TV ads. Billboards. Flyers. Get Out The Vote efforts. Paid staff organizing volunteers. More TV ads. Sponsor a NASCAR car in the Firecracker 400 on the 4th of July.


BUSH OPTED OUT. A Dem opting in is tying one hand behind his back.
We need both hands to fight this fight.


P.S. Kerry opted out also, but he has already mortgaged his house because he hasn't been able to raise competitive amounts of money.

I hate to reduce it to such mundane circumstances, but that's the reality of it.