Dean from boom to bust - but he started something good

The following article describes Howard Dean as a doctor of podiatry. He is not. He has a degree in internal medicine qualifying for OB/GYN.
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Dotcom candidate goes from boom to bust

Howard Dean's campaign has run out of cash but he will leave a legacy in the enfranchisement of millions of voters, write Albert Scardino and John Scardino

Tuesday February 10, 2004 - The Guardian (UK)

Howard Dean's new best friends have mostly gone home now. Dr Dean says he is waiting till next week, after the Wisconsin primary, to make his decision about staying in the race for the Democratic nomination, but not many others are holding on for him to make up his mind. The numbers look too bleak, despite his second place in the delegate count. They will look worse tonight after Virginia and Tennessee have voted.
The money has evaporated. Some $37m (£20m) of the astonishing pool of $41m raised over the internet was petered away in Iowa and New Hampshire in a vain attempt to distance Mr Dean from the competition.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, just like the dotcom boom. But like the dotcom bust, the money appears to have bought attention but not loyalty or success. Dean has joined the 90% club, the internet companies that lost all but 10% of their value in the collapse after 2000. Dean lost the two early states, then 10 more right behind them.

The three big unions who endorsed him at his peak in December - the public employees', service industry workers' and painters' unions - are squealing. The painters have already announced their departure. The others won't be far behind.

They remember what Governor Huey Long said to road contractors when he ruled Louisiana: "Gentlemen, all of you who contribute to my campaign before the primary election, I guarantee that you will keep your highway contracts. All of you who contribute to my campaign after I win the primary election, I guarantee that you will stay on the list for contracts. Everybody else who contributes to my campaign after I'm elected, well, I promise you good government."

The unions cannot risk being left with only good government. They will sign on with John Kerry, the same way the nation's most potent political force, the teachers' union, has now done. That will leave the Dean campaign with tens of thousands of idealistic but inexperienced volunteers.

The unions provide campaign know-how in US elections. They have the maps that show where Democrats live, the phone numbers of those who will hold neighbourhood koffee klatches, printers able and willing to produce on credit the yard signs and bumper stickers and pamphlets that a candidate needs to demonstrate his viability. They man the banks of telephones that encourage voters to support a candidate and then offer to drive them to the polls on election day.

There are not enough campaign contributions even in the Bush White House to win an election without experienced volunteers. Mr Dean's have now gone, so even if he wins the lottery to replenish his war chest, his campaign is over, at least for president.

Was it worth it? For the nation, yes. A once-in-a-generation phenomenon has introduced millions of educated, computer-savvy, middle class Americans to the political process. He gave a voice to those intimidated by the use of fear as a political weapon. His anti-war campaign allowed them to put the lie to the convenient claim that those who opposed a president's war policy were traitors.

Many of Mr Dean's supporters had stayed on the sidelines in recent elections, suspecting that neither party would produce a president who could address their biggest concerns - health care, job security and a robust social security system for the elderly.

Their comments to pollsters in recent weeks indicated that they were enraged because they believed that the most radical government since the civil war had hijacked their country. They said that, though the Democrats failed to deal with health care in the Clinton years, the Republicans had also neglected health care and had given them deep economic recession as well, with more than 2 million jobs lost in three years.

Worse, the Bush social agenda and foreign policy had placed their political freedoms and personal safety in jeopardy. In state after state they have turned out in record numbers, overturning a 50-year trend of declining participation in electoral politics.

The voters are angry. A New York Times/CBS poll last week showed that the president holds an approval rating roughly equal to his father's at this point in his presidency, but his negatives are substantially higher. His disapproval numbers are five points worse than Bill Clinton's and 11 points worse than that most derided of recent presidents, Jimmy Carter. At the moment, the voters cannot stand George Bush, though with nine months to go before the election it is hard to know whether they can sustain their anger.

Was Mr Dean's candidacy worth it for the party? Again, yes. At least as important as the energy his supporters contributed has been their money. The Republicans in recent years have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for political activity by direct mail.

Although it is the big corporate contributions that attract most of the headlines, it is the $25 and $50 cheques that ensure voters stay committed to the cause. The Christian Coalition has exploited this rich vein of discontent among the religious right since the early Reagan campaign. Mr Dean is the first to identify a countervailing force among liberals and moderates.

And was it worth it for Mr Dean himself? It must have been more interesting than returning to the practice of podiatry after serving as Vermont's governor. After his I Have A Scream speech in Iowa, he may not have much of a future as an ambassador to Canada or one of the Scandinavian countries. But if he can learn participatory democracy, he could add a refreshing voice of honesty and outspokenness to his party.

The moral of this story may be many-faceted. If you are on a cross-country trip that starts in Iowa and goes on to New Hampshire, save some money for New York, Florida and California. Don't shout in front of the cameras. And if your spouse exudes modesty, calm, public service and concern for the welfare of others, and has an ear for her audience, let her stand in for you most of the time, even if you write her speeches.
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· Albert Scardino is executive editor of the Guardian. John Scardino, a public relations consultant, was a candidate for congress from Georgia in 1992