Salon.com on the Democratic nominees…
[First article is an interesting analysis of who Dean appeals to, and what liabilities that allegedly produces. The second one is documents the DLC’s ritual denuciation of any Democrat left of your average Republican, and the suicidal circular firing squad tactic this represents. -Thomas]
The trouble with Howard Dean
As a social liberal and fiscal moderate, he’s lured students, professionals and the antiwar left. But he’s more George McGovern than Bill Clinton.
By John B. Judis
July 11, 2003 | Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has stirred any interest beyond party regulars. He has established himself as the “straight talk” candidate in a field dominated by trimmers and positioners. He has shown Democrats that they can raise money without depending on big donors and soft money from labor unions. Yet if the Democrats nominate him as their presidential candidate, he is almost sure to lose to George W. Bush, and perhaps by a very large margin.
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Dean is the quintessential candidate of the college-educated professionals that began coming into the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and are now one of its key voting blocs.
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Life of the party?Life of the party?
The conservative wing of the Democratic Party calls him another McGovern — but Howard Dean might be more in touch with today’s electorate than his critics.
By Garance Franke-Ruta
July 25, 2003 | WASHINGTON — George McGovern may be a gravel-voiced 80-year-old summering in the Rockies, but the retired South Dakota senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee can still see a few things about the upcoming battle for the 2004 Democratic crown.
The first is that the campaign of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is “not going anywhere.” The second is that Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., is unlikely to “excite many of the kind of people who attend caucuses or vote in primaries.” The third is that Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., “seemed to be promising early” but has since faded off the scene.
But the most important thing McGovern can see about the upcoming presidential contest of 2004 is that it is not taking place in 1972, and that he is not running in it. Certainly, McGovern can see some resemblance between himself and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. They’re both from sparsely populated, rural states. They both entered their respective races early, and became heavily reliant on volunteers and grass-roots mobilizing. That aside, though, “I think it’s difficult to draw a close comparison,” says McGovern.
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If anything, the DLC’s attacks have increased support for the Dean campaign, which sees its fundraising spike each time it comes under attack from the Washington insiders, says Trippi.
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