« An open letter to voters: | Main | SCOTUS Humpty Dumpty »
Thanks, NH
Congratulations to John Kerry, but also to Howard Dean who came back from a pretty serious pummeling to take a strong second. You gotta love this: The only thing positive the AP can find to say about Dean is that he kept his cool after his "loss." That takes for granted that he somehow lost his cool sometime, but I'll leave that argument for the history books. I predict it won't be more than a year or two before we see the books analyzing what happened in the 2004 primaries, and regardless of who wins, when the dust settles even Dean's staunchest critics will be forced to admit that the media's treatment of Dean in the last week was among the least professional, most sensational, and most unfair coverage of a presidential candidate of this race.
Is Dean angry? Brent Simmons and his many readers offer a great discussion of that question with opinions from all sides [link via Scripting News.] Why haven't we seen more thoughtful analysis like this in the mainstream media?
But like I said, it's time to move forward. Dean still leads in delegates and the next few weeks promise many more opportunities for voters around the country to choose who they want to be the next President. Another plus: Bush remains under pressure over the fact that Iraq was not an imminent threat when Bush went to war.
The conventional wisdom is that Kerry's got the best chance to beat Bush. Although I don't understand why people think that, if it turns out to be true -- if Kerry gets the nomination and then wins the White House -- I'll be fairly glad to be proven wrong. My hope has been, and remains, that in Dean we have a candidate who can both beat Bush and really start fixing the things that are broken in American politics. If beating Bush is all we can get, I'll take that, sure; but I still hope for more.
Posted January 28, 2004 06:54 AM | election 2004
When Kos and other Deaniacs are saying Dean is done, I think that means the fat lady has sung. I don't see any way for Dean to revive his campaign. People can spin NH however they want, but two weeks ago Dean was leading by 20 points. Kerry came back in IA and NH, two places where Dean had been shellacking him.
Next week does not offer any strong Dean state. And with the multiple contests per day, it will become a media driven campaign as opposed to people powered Howard's ground strength. Though one does have to question his ground operation after it failed to give him a victory in the two most retail competitions.
On Feb 4, the race will narrow to Kerry and Edwards or Clark. I imagine/hope you Deaniacs will make the right choice and hop on the Edwards Express.
P.S. I still don't buy all the blame on the media. Howard was incredibly good at saying dumb things. And for a long time, the media and the public gave him a free pass. But as people started to have their doubts, the media picked up on them and ran with it. You HAD to know it was only a matter of time before the gaffes would snowball.
Posted by: justin at January 28, 2004 01:03 PM
Speaking of gaffes, here's some interesting ones from the Clark camp.
But for a campaign that once prided itself on militarylike precision, gaffes and glitches abounded. Clark's campaign heralded its victory of winning eight votes in Dixville Notch in a news release by misspelling it as Dicksville Notch. Clark's caravan also lost its way from northern New Hampshire to Manchester.
Posted by: Famous P at January 28, 2004 07:59 PM
