Gore Endorsement May Not Help Dean In Tennessee

[DrFunkenstein]

The Democratic presidential candidate is polling in single digits in advance of Tennessee's primary Tuesday and has no plans to visit, choosing to look ahead to must-win Wisconsin and its Feb. 17 primary to salvage his campaign.

The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee has flown as far away as Iowa and Michigan to campaign for Dean, but has barely lifted a finger in the state that launched his political career, and where he teaches and maintains a home and a farm. He also has not helped Dean raise campaign money here.

Several Democrats have argued that the embrace from party establishment figures such as Gore, former President Carter and Bill Bradley undercut Dean's attempt to portray himself as a Washington outsider.

Even Dean has suggested that Gore's endorsement may have doomed him. Asked whether Gore's backing marked the decline of his campaign, Dean concurred.

Some analysts think Dean's poor showing in spite of Gore's endorsement could damage any future political aspirations the former vice president might have, but Geer said Gore remains a political force.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=696&e=10&u=/ap/20040206/ap_on_el_pr/dean_gore

[HFishbine]

1. Let's all meet honesty's friend <snip>

<snip> is a convenient little indicator of when a quoted article is being edited by the poster.

Let's look at what was skipped in the original post:

Even Dean has suggested that Gore's endorsement may have doomed him. Asked whether Gore's backing marked the decline of his campaign, Dean concurred.

"I actually do think the endorsement of Al Gore began the decline, not for the reason that you said, because the establishment in Washington really realized that I might be the nominee and they did not like that," Dean told CNN on Tuesday night. "The media folks didn't like it, the other folks in the race didn't like it, and they did everything they could to make sure we weren't" the nominee.

[Renew Deal]

2. Dean never takes blame for anything.

Everyone is against him. It's a great conspiracy. Doesn't Dean realize that if he didn't go out and say that Clinton was wrong and that we need to get away from him or calling democrats in congress cockroaches and republicans and the scream and about a million other confrontational things Dean did.

Some time ago I put up a post saying "Dean will lose the nomination." I don't make bold predictions like that unless I believe something. At that point Dean was way ahead. It was early January. Dean had just said that we need to get away from Clinton. 1 or 2 days later I saw Begala and Carville openly wondering why he would say something like that. Dean made enemies with the right, the left and the center. You can never win if you piss that many people off.

BTW, I had also said that if Dean loses Iowa, the walls would collapse hard and fast. I have been right about that too.

[displacedtexan]

3. I was surprised that Dan lost Iowa.

I thought Gore's coattails would carry more weight with voters.

The cockroach comment, however, insulted rather than inspired voters. (Can you insult elected officials without insulting those who voted for them?)

Just my opinion.