I want to iterate that it is important to win back the Congress also - otherwise, we will just have another "accuse the President of any and everything" term of office. DeLay agendas have got to be defeated. Public Enemy #1.
Waht a wonderful slogan..I wonder if my printer will do stickers?
Delay DeLay in 2004!
Delay DeLay in 2004!
Public Enemy #1
Delay DeLay in 2004!
Public Enemy #1
He's not a Toomah!
For the first time, Dean made the front page of the New York Times in a major way as a big-time candidate. It's very interesting. More of the same as I get from the Blogsite and the newsletter. He's going into states that will be having senate and representative races, and he's getting a good reception. This is being done as a whisper, not a shout.
And I remember when I read about him a couple years ago in TNR. Just a couple of columns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/27/politics/campaigns/27DEAN.html
Yes, Mamaj, (though I haven't picked up my Times yet). Noting Bill's hopes about Congress (which I share, of course), I think that's more difficult -- much more difficult. But because of the manner in which Dean has risen to the top, quite a few Dem candidates for Congress should be heartened and should take a close look at how Dean has pulled it off. And, of course, they will all be up against dirty tricks, individually and collectively.
Anyone know what the DLC has been saying lately?!
Interesting, Bill! Sounds like they're panting, trying to keep up -- I like the idea of choosing between two centuries...
I get the feeling that there is a sense that the truth about Bush is coming out and they can't appear to be overly joyful but must be ready to stomp the remnants into the mud.
I also sense a coming to in acceptance of Dean. I'm waiting for the Big Dog to welcome him. It is getting exciting - January is just around the corner. I just want to see the Dems stick together.
One of the big hurts last time (not counting Nader) was that the Bradley/Gore contest was so bloody. Don't want a repeat - want everyone standing up and saying hurrah to the winner!!!!!!! Whoever that might be, the most important contest for America is still ahead..........
BillW - I'm beginning to think the same thing. It all depends on ego. Despite a lot of hopes to the contrary (Jonathan Chait in The New Republic is one of the doubters), it looks like Dean has kindled a growing spirit, and not even Lieberman can deny it now. And a funny thing I'm hearing from some of the younger set. (Of course, at my age, that set is large.) It's regarding the Iraqi war, and has taken a funny twist. The biggest hype for Bush has been in his role as leader in the fight against terrorism - the whole top gun thing. Well, Dean is now appearing to some of them to be the leader they'd follow into war -feisty, a fighter, a believer - someone the world would see that way - followed by - "maybe he wasn't wrong." A role reversal - Bush looking weaker and weaker, as Dean looks stronger. Wonder how this will play out?
Anyway, Dean has apparently been working on the legislative angle - having as many democrats win as possible. Where I am, a few have begun to say they'd like Dean to appear with them. Nobody has asked for Bush. Dean's campaign is looking smarter and smarter to me, and Joe trippi is good. They are waging not only a presidential campaign but an all out one. And quietly.
DeLay is loud and pestiferous - but Dean may turn out to be the swatter.
Interesting
Recently, DraftWesleyClark.com commissioned John Zogby, one of the nation's most prominent and respected pollsters, to conduct a poll to assess the viability of a Clark candidacy The poll included several "blind bio" questions, in which subjects polled were given biographical descriptions of the candidates, rather than just names. The idea was to assess the potential of a Clark candidacy, as opposed to current name recognition (Zogby used this technique in the last election, to predict the rise of John McCain well before it happened)
Among the findings:
· "Clark vs. other Dems" -- Clark comes in first in a blind-bio match-up versus six key Democratic candidates (Dean, Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman, Gephardt, Edwards, and Graham);
· "Clark vs. Bush" -- Clark wins 49.4% to 40.2% in a blind-bio match-up versus President Bush among a national poll of likely voters;
· Even when the poll question referred solely to candidate names (no bio information), Clark jumped to 5th place (4.9%) nationally among likely Democratic primary voters - despite his low name recognition, and the fact that he has not spent a dime.
On Clark:
Published on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 by the Boston Globe
If Clark Runs, All Bets are Off
by Robert Kuttner
WESLEY CLARK has told associates that he will decide in the next few weeks whether to declare for president. If he does, it would transform the race. Call me star-struck, but he'd instantly be among the top tier. Clark, in case you've been on sabbatical in New Zealand, is all over the talk shows. He's the former NATO supreme commander who headed operations in Kosovo, a Rhodes Scholar who graduated first in his class at West Point, and a Vietnam vet with several combat medals including a purple heart. He has been a tough critic of Bush's foreign policy. His domestic positions are not as fully fashioned, but he'd repeal Bush's tax cuts and revisit the so-called Patriot Act.
More interestingly, Clark is progressive on domestic issues by way of his military background. Though it is very much a hierarchy, the military is also the most egalitarian island in this unequal society. Top executives -- four-star generals -- make about nine times the pay of buck privates.
In corporate life, the ratio of CEO to worker bee is more like 900 times. The military also has America's most comprehensive child care system. And, as Clark likes to point out, everyone has health care. He's also pro-affirmative action and prochoice.
My favorite Clark riposte is on guns. He grew up hunting, in a family that had more than a dozen hunting rifles. But he's pro-gun control. "If you want to fire an assault weapon," he says, "join the army." The NRA can put that in its AK-47 and smoke it.
Clark is the soldier as citizen. Even better, he's the soldier as tough liberal. Just imagine Clark, with his distinguished military record, up against our draft dodger president who likes to play "Top Gun" dress-up. Imagine the Rhodes Scholar against the leader who can't ad lib without a speechwriting staff. Oh, and he's from Arkansas.
The draft-Clark people have already raised over a million dollars. Clark's not-yet-announced campaign is the second Internet phenomenon this year, after Howard Dean's. If he declares, Clark will have lots of volunteers and donors. Like John McCain, he'd be a terrific draw for political independents. Except he's a Democrat. The downside is that it's hard to get into the race this late. A lot of the fund-raisers and campaign professionals are already committed.
Bobby Kennedy jumped into the 1968 presidential campaign a lot later, after the February New Hampshire primary, when Eugene McCarthy proved that LBJ was vulnerable. But that was a different era and he was Bobby Kennedy. On the other hand, a lot of the support for the existing candidates is soft, with the exception of Dean's. Some of Dick Gephardt's own closest backers wonder if he can really do it, and that also goes for John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman and John Edwards.
This year, just about everyone engaged in Democratic politics has a higher commitment to the goal of ousting George Bush than to any single Democratic candidate. Clark could probably peel off a lot of donors and campaign professionals -- and grow some new ones. And, as candidates drop out, many professionals will soon be looking for work.
If Clark gets in, Kerry would be hurt the most, because Kerry is most like Clark. His military record and defense expertise make him the most bullet-proof of the Democratic field on national security issues. But, paradoxically, Dean might be hurt, too. Dean has been the favorite of the antiwar activists and he's also the freshest face. Clark is an antiwar candidate and a former four-star general and an even fresher face. As someone who's not an identified liberal from a conservative part of the country, he'd also pull votes from Lieberman, Edwards, and Graham.
Who might Clark pick as a running mate? Someone with domestic political experience: a Western or Midwestern governor or senator. Maybe New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former Clinton Cabinet official and a Hispanic. Or how about Michigan's effective and popular governor, Jennifer Granholm? Or Illinois Senator Dick Durbin?
Dwight Eisenhower was the last general to make it to the White House. He could have had the nomination of either party. He decided that he was a Republican, but he governed as an old-fashioned moderate, and he was phenomenally popular.
Now all of this may just be an August sunstroke fantasy. We'll soon find out. And if Clark doesn't get in, he'd make one fine vice presidential candidate for any of the bunch.
Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
What's the dirt on Clark?
I don't like the idea of a military president. Veep would be fine. But to follow the empty flight suit even with a real uniform -- well, I think a thoughtful civilian would be far more appropriate after this era of preemption.
I think that many of us are suspicious of allowing one witha military mindset too much power. I personally prefer Dean, but due to my antipathy to the Boy-King I will probably vote for whoever the Democrats put up against him.
No, no...Alfred E. Newman
pfffffffffffttttttttttttt alfred is a comic Maynard is REAL
I'd vote for Snoopy, myself.
Howard Dean has grabbed a commanding 21-point lead over rival John Kerry in the latest New Hampshire poll in which voters said they prefer a take-no-prisoners Democrat even if that candidate seemed unlikely to beat President Bush. Dean, who trailed Kerry in polls earlier this year, led the Massachusetts senator 38 percent to 17 percent in the Zogby International poll conducted Aug. 23-26 and released Wednesday
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