Reply #2: Way more people voted for Kerry

[H2O Man]

in the primaries, than for any one of the other candidates. Many people voted for him, because they recognized he was more likely to beat bush in November than were any of the other candidates. While early on, Dean roused the conscience of the democratic party, and attracted many from the left who might not otherwise have considered voting for a democrat, he lost momentum.

Part of his loss of momentum came as a result of the debates. As more democrats began to pay serious attention to the primaries, and recognized that bush could indeed be beat in 2004, one issue stood out. The republican party had since 1972 been able to capitalize on military strength issues. Democrats knew they needed someone who more than matched bush in this area. While Clark may have been a more obvious choice in this area alone, Kerry ended up the better campaigner at that point in the primaries.