Who's dismissing the South?

[jpgray]

Howard Dean (news - web sites) will not air ads in any of the seven states holding elections next week, officials said Thursday, a risky strategy that puts him at a distinct disadvantage with high-spending rivals for the Democratic nomination.

With his money and momentum depleted, Dean decided to save his ad money for the Feb. 7 elections in Michigan and Washington state and, 10 days later, the primary in Wisconsin, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040129/ap_on_el_pr/dean

I'm no expert strategist, so I'll ask you folks--what is going on?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Dean's last stand

Wisconsin. Kerry will win Michigan. The land of cheese is his only hope.

[ludwigb]

2. He's trying to lay low....

I don't know.... Strategically, I think he should make a play for Arizona. If he wins a Feb. 3 state he can claim some momentum going into Michigan. I don't know about sitting Feb. 3 out--sitting Iowa out certainly didn't do Clark any good.

As much as I love Dean, if he is out of money, I hope he goes out soon so his supporters can rally around Clark or Edwards.

[gWbush is Mabus]

6. If you love Dean... DONATE TODAY $25.00

[democratreformed]

3. STUPID ME!!

I came on here thinking someone else wanted to seriously discuss the Southern states. I should have known that it was just another smear campaign.

[jpgray]

4. It's just an article. I did a search and no one had posted it (nt)

[democratreformed]

7. In a different thread,

the poster brings up what I think, is a very important topic. I believe that the South is ripe to be drawn in to the Democratic message during this campaign season. If we miss this, our party has missed a great opportunity. Just my opinion.

[jpgray]

8. I agree with you--Dean had a great message for the South

He had a plan to win back the traditional Republican base. I'm really surprised he isn't airing ads in SC, etc.

[auntpattywatty]

5. Sounds fishy to me.

[mohc]

9. Everyone seems to think this is the end of Dean...

...but hes doing exactly what I said he should have done after Iowa. With the momentum Kerry has, and the other candidates Dean would have to worry about this coming week, there is no way he would be able to win a signficant number of states on the 3rd. If he invested all his resources in a few states, he could probably pull off 2 or possibly 3 states. But then he would have limited resources to use in the few days between the 3rd and MI/WA. Dean's best chance is to draw a line in the sand on the 7th, put all his effort there and come out with a win in both states. That would put him right back into the thick of things and probably get the donations pouring back in.

The risk is that there is no way to really know how the 3rd is going to play out. If Kerry were to sweep, his momentum would be too much for Dean to stop. Dean's best chance is probably if both Edwards and Clark do well, limiting Kerry's momentum as much as possible.

[jpgray]

10. Thanks for the analysis

I suppose it's true that he may be better off focusing in a few states rather than seven at once.