In A Polarized U.S., Dean May Be Electable After All -- WSJ

[Khephra]

In A Polarized U.S., Dean May Be Electable After All
Wednesday August 6, 2003
By: John Harwood

Wall Street Journal (8/6/03)

After Gennifer Flowers surfaced in early 1992, some senior strategists in the Democratic Party concluded that Bill Clinton was unelectable. It was simply impossible, they argued, for the Arkansas governor to surmount a raft of questions about his character and beat President George H.W. Bush.

Which is one more reason to discount predictions of electoral disaster by Howard Dean's shaken Democratic rivals. Assessments of who's electable and who isn't are always contingent on circumstance. And in the peculiar circumstances of the 2004 campaign, the hurdles facing Mr. Dean could prove smaller, not bigger, than those facing the rest of the field.



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http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7927&news_iv_ctrl=1001

[Larkspur]

1. Dean will be the next Harry Truman

He's got the courage and intelligence to be so.

[Shrub Wacker]

2. Surprise...

The WSJ "believes" that Dean can beat Bush? That is a shocker considering their political bent and proclivities. Sounds like the nail in the coffin in terms of the "electability of Dean." Even NH Democrats don't believe Dean can win (Boston Herald Poll):

Among the front-runner Democrats, which has the best chance of beating President George W. Bush in the general election?

John Kerry - 44 percent
Howard Dean - 17 percent
Neither has a better chance - 14 percent
Both the same chance - 5 percent
Unsure - 20 percent

[blm]

5. The Wall Street Journal?

Along with Howard Fineman?
Along with NY Post's Deborah Orin?

They added their antiKerry talking points?

Nothing to see here.

[CMT]

3. exactly what Bush has been doing with the GOP base

is what Dean is accomplishing with our base--mobilizing them and enthusing them so they will not only vote but vote no matter what and also volunteer. If our base turns out we win.

[DrFunkenstein]

4. Who's Haughty?

Republicans would portray Sen. John Kerry as a haughty, out-of-touch Massachusetts liberal, his Vietnam medals and Iraq war vote notwithstanding.

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That's a big conceit, especially considering Kerry is going to be the Mountain Dew X-Treme POTUS!

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[jos]

6. The point about intensity is valid

It can't be underestimated.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

7. I read something interesting in the Newsweek article

Supposedly, Herbert Hoover's first choice for an opponent in 1932 was a liberal governor of New York named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I don't think I need to remind you that Roosevelt beat Hoover in 42 out of 48 states.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter's first choice opponent was a too-conservative governor from California named Ronald Reagan. Reagan then beat Carter in all but 6 states and DC.

I felt a lot better when I read that, because sometimes I wonder whether I am hurting my party by supporting the candidate Karl Rove wants to get the nomination.