Late entry in Veepstakes: Gov. Howard Dean

[Exgeneral]

The Draft Dean for VP is a proposed marriage that would basically turbocharge the Kerry Campaign. What better attack man than Howard Dean? Who better to bring back the progressives falling away ? What better candidate than "Giem Hell, Howard" to take it to that flaming asshole Dick Cheney? The rejuvenation of the arty would be complete. The money would pour in. The PACs would be ablaze with advertising the message. Win Win for everyone. (except Nader)
http://www.draftdeanforvp.org/updates.html

and, one hell of a lot better than John freaking Mc Cain.
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[Maddy McCall]

1. What better way to turn off 95% of the adult population?

Can't be Dean. Sorry. :thumbsdown:

[dsc]

2. Could your post have been more graceless?

[Cheswick2.0]

7. well actually her posts can be more graceless

:7

[ibegurpard]

16. much, much more.

:hi:

[slinkerwink]

29. guess there's no graceland for her then!

;-)

[madfloridian]

30. Slinker, where the world have you been?

:hi:

[slinkerwink]

32. I'm about to head off to do my campaign internship on sunday!

:hi:

[madfloridian]

33. Thinking about you and best of luck!

:toast:

[mzmolly]

26. Yes, she could have threatened to moon us again.

;)

[Exgeneral]

3. what a disingenuous flippant response to a serious issue

If the progressives stay home, Kerry loses. Period.
I suppose you think they'll get excited by John Edwards huh?

[MontecitoDem]

12. If the Progressives stay home

because of who the VP choice is, we really ARE in trouble. Come on guys, whoever gets chosen (other than McCain of course) we must not only vote, we must be excited about it! (think about getting Bush and his team out of the WHitehouse!!) Because our excitement might get a few more less interested folks to the polls.

Gosh!

[Bill Wade]

15. Umm, nope. I'm not going to be excited voting for Kerry.

I would much rather vote for Nader. But, I see the importance of getting this brutal administration out of office, so I have to vote Kerry.

[Exgeneral]

20. You need to motivate progressives to come out

they have been shat upon time after time since the 70s and in lieu of any tough talk from John Kerry, a dose of Dean might help.

As it stands, the progressives are falling away in droves. Witness the first response in this thread. Now picture that attitude being encountered nationwide. Recipe for electoral loss.

Don't say I didn't try to warn you.

[JI7]

23. i am a progressive

and i'm not sure how progressive one can be if they are "falling away in droves". but kerry has many progressives on his side including during the primary. dean supporters are not the only progressives around.

[Dookus]

31. Why would progressives get excited

over a self-described centrist as VP?

[Darth_Kitten]

42. Because he was never ashamed to take a real stand.......

and speak his mind!!! :bounce:

[Bill Wade]

4. Maybe so.

If you are looking for someone favorable to adults, I'm sure you would choose Gephardt, or Holy Joe. That is, rather, looking for someone who would pull more of those precious swing voters over.

Of course then, that would turn away most progressives (myself included)... oh wait, he's already done that. My bad.

[malatesta1137]

5. Elections are about votes, sorry

Dean finished way behind Edwards in the primaries. Beating Bush is about numbers. I am not crazy about Edwards either, he's a Stepford Democrat. But he can get elected. Not Dean, too liberal (I am more liberal than he is btw).

Plus Edwards is good-looking and a LOT of women unfortunately still go for that. And you know what, I don't care! Wrong reason to choose a candidate? Fuck it. I want Bush out of federal property.

[dsc]

6. that is actually a pretty hard case to make

Edwards only won one primary (South Carolina) and didn't do all that well anywhere else. He lost to Dean in Washington State, Maine, Hawaii, Vermont, and a few other places. Edwards got more total votes but only due to having stayed in longer.

[WheresWaldo]

9. Kerry-Dean or Clark would get my vote and $$$

Kerry - Edwards my vote

Kerry - Gephart or Lieberman, I wont go out of my way to vote.

[Padraig18]

14. Not many people put that much importance on the VP nominee.

Would you care to explain why that's such an issue to you? I've seen a few other posters make similar comments...

[Exgeneral]

21. This goes directly to a lack of charisma on the part of the nominee

I know many of you don't like hearing this. Sorry for that. Kerry isn't getting anyone hot. He's not. Shake your head "no"some more, it still isn't gonna change things with the rank and file.

VEEP offers a second chance at something sexy after all.

[JI7]

22. speak for yourself

he got me the most excited and was able to get more people to vote for him than any other candidate. i know everyone isn't happy with him but he still did far better than any of the other candidates.

[paulk]

24. you're right , I don't like hearing this...

because it's right out of the RNC playbook. "Kerry has no charisma." It's bad enough I've got to hear this shit from Republicans, now I get to hear it at DU. Over and over and over and over.

Progressives are being driven away. Bullshit.

[Capn Sunshine]

47. Why is there always some axe grinder popping up

just fanning the flames of divide by crying /accusing any dissent or divergent viewpoint as "RNC" ? How does it help to accuse a progressive poster of being RNC? What does it accomplish?

Denial is not going to get Kerry elected. A change in course will.

[paulk]

51. "Kerry has no charisma" IS an RNC talking point

"Denial is not going to get Kerry elected. A change in course will."


What will get Kerry elected is people voting for him. Period. Whining that he isn't progressive enough/needs a change in course/has no charisma will go a long way toward getting Bush 4 more years.

What does saying "Kerry has no charisma" accomplish? Is "charisma" a policy issue? Is it a "PROGRESSIVE" issue? What the hell is it?

[DemPopulist]

17. Um, no

Edwards was already well ahead of Dean in the popular vote when Dean dropped out. He finished far ahead of Dean in both Iowa and Wisconsin, two states that Dean spent a lot of time in. Yeah, Dean finished ahead in some primaries and caucuses that Edwards didn't bother with (just as JE "beat" Howard in Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma and other states where Dean didn't campaign) but when they competed directly, Edwards usually did better. New Hampshire, where Dean had a regional advantage, was an exception.

I mean, clearly, JK clobbered everyone in the field, but Edwards is the only guy who posed even a remote threat to his nomination once the voting actually started. And if he'd done about 5%-6% better in Iowa, he'd be the nominee now (there are other scenarios but that's the most obvious). I'm not dissing Dean - I especially like the way he's campaigned for Kerry lately - but it's fairly undeniable that Edwards did best, in terms of sheer number of votes, of all the also-rans. That still would've been true if you had stopped the primary voting on February 3rd, when all the major candidates but Gephardt were still in the race.

[Cheswick2.0]

8. First of all Edwards is not good looking

He looks like an aging Tigerbeat coverboy. Secound, your post is sexist nonsense.
Third, Edwards is a bore and Kerry is already boring enough.

[malatesta1137]

13. good looks: a subjective matter

and it's your thinking that is sexist, not my post. Dean won't be in the ticket, live with it. The media destroyed him with that scream of his, are you guys insane? Do you want to hear that scream played over and over again until Nov? And can you imagine what the Republicans would do to a Kerry/Dean ticket? "Two extreme liberals from the northeast", Bush would win in a landslide.

Clarke is my first choice, but Edwards is just as nice.

[ima_sinnic]

10. Dean CAN get the swing voters

--he has an uncanny way of making people feel like it is about THEM, like he is talking right to them and including them. He speaks bluntly and naturally, not all stiff, kind of distant and long-windedly boring like Kerry. The way Dean gives people the feeling that they are part of a larger community and that the government really is (supposed to be) about them will bring people out if only from curiosity. His message is really all about the common person, which is what swing voters are.

I believe his campaign was cut off prematurely and he didn't really get a chance to have his message heard by the masses, only the more involved activists and political types. The base that he built would meld wonderfully with Kerry's; having Dean as VP candidate would inspire me to get active again in hyping people to vote Democratic, something I've lost interest in since Kerry got top slot, and I know I'm representative of something much much bigger.

[Cheswick2.0]

11. Well Kerry certainly seems to light up when Dean is around

and Dean makes a great bad cop.

[bigwillq]

18. Would love to see Dean be VP

Don't think it's going to happen. But whomever Kerry picks I would support it except maybe Gep, who's the only one of the possible picks who's been mentioned that I really don't care for.

[JI7]

19. while the chances that Dean would be picked for vp may be low at the time

i can't see anything bad about the draft movement. it is a way to show how much you support dean or some of his issues in a positive way and at the same time getting the pres candidate to take notice of it. the edwards people are also doing it and dean people have just as every right to do it.

[JNelson6563]

25. lol Look at the fear remaining

in the eyes of the same ol' haterz.

Reminds me of the time our fearless would be leader cowered under his desk, in the hopes of being overlooked by Rove, when it was time to take a stand against fascism.

Ah fear, yet another emotion that can tightly bind folks together (unfortunately with the negative result of hate).

Julie

[mzmolly]

27. That would be great!

:toast:

[WI_DEM]

28. I have thought about this alot

and yes I think Dean would add alot of energy and excitement to the Kerry ticket. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if he were the choice.

[madfloridian]

34. Great pic from Portland, having fun. Who is the kid with them?

I heard he had asked for contributions to the Kerry campaign in lieu of gifts to himself. Dean introduced him. Looks like fun. Frankly I think Dean is enjoying himself too much to have to campaign again for anything for a while.

[JI7]

35. i saw some of it on tv

and the kid looked like he wasn't all that into it. it was kind of funny though because dean and kerry seemed overly excited in comparison and they were kind of playing around with him. but the kid just had some look on his face like "yeah, whatever".

i don't know who the kid is though.

[fujiyama]

36. I would have no problem

with it. I don't see it happening though...

Dean's main problem is that he's alreay been defined by the media as being some sort of far left radical, which is definetely not the case...but it's hard to shake the image. Plus, we'd be hearing endlessly about the "scream speech".

The DLC would go nuts...and I don't think Kerry is that big of a risk taker anyways.

[jsw_81]

37. No way does Kerry put another New Englander on the ticket

That would be political suicide.

[WI_DEM]

38. I think we need to get out of these silly regional things

naturally it is fine to have two southerners on the ticket--the rest of the country apparently can accept that but two guys from new england!! oh brother--that's a crime!! but you are probably right that it won't happen.

[JI7]

40. well, it's not really "us"

for us it's just dealing with reality and it's true that southerners are less likely to vote for someone who is not from the same region as those in the rest of the country are. the democratic primaries were kind of hopeful with kerry winning many of the southern states and doing VERY well in virginia and tennessee when the race was still competitive.

i wish it wasn't the way it is but it's just reality and something we have to consider when wanting to win an election.

[LizW]

39. That would be exciting

but the DLC won't have it.

[Darth_Kitten]

41. YES!!!!

:evilgrin:

[Adelante]

43. Oh, good

Now you guys can fight with Edwardians for a while.

[Capn Sunshine]

48. That was my first thought when I saw this post!

:lol:

Take a rest, it can be like a tag team.

[madfloridian]

49. Hi Capn, it is funny.

I think Dean is enjoying having his voice back so much that he may not even want to be considered. See my GD post about his VT speech today. He's baccck!

[Jai4WKC08]

50. Thanks for the assist!

From one progressive to another.

Didn't occur to me until I saw the post above, "...but Edwards did so much better in the primaries and he's SO good looking, all the women love him..." (bleech!)

All I could think was, wow, this sounds scary familiar. lol

[Cuban_Liberal]

44. Dean would be a HUGE 'crap shoot', but one I could support.

Howard Dean would be the 'bet it all' VP selection. It would either 'a.) doom the ticket, or b.) bring us a landslide victory in November. I think it might well be the latter, personally, but how many power brokers are willing to bet the bank on it?

:shrug:

[JI7]

45. if Kerry was not from the northeast himself

i think it might be more of something he could consider. but kerry being from the northeast, and massachusettes is already seen as a liability. but although the results so far show he isn't doing so bad in some southern states for a northeasterner, massachusettes democrat. especially considering the attacks on him of being elitist, french etc. actually, maybe the french thing is helping him in louisiana, heheh.

[AntiCoup2K4]

46. Kerry could always pull a Cheney and play up his Colorado roots.

He does mention them in his current campaign ad, right? ;)

For that matter, isn't Dean actually from New York?

So there you go... It's NOT two New Englanders after all :evilgrin:

[mrgorth]

52. I love the man like crazy but

this is NOT a good idea.

[ulysses]

53. it'd be nice, but

(to paraphrase Garrison Keillor), if Dean gets the nod, then I am a hat.

[Free_Thinker]

54. No chance

Howard Dean is the UN-politician which is why he appealed to people both in our party and independents and even Republicans with a brain. Dean is too potent to be allowed in the Kerry camp. Kerry needs somebody who won't upstage him, Dean is too powerful for that.

I have been a Dean supporter since the getgo but I will support Kerry's candidacy if that is the party's nominee.

Let's face it the Democratic party needs a renewal and I think Howard Dean is the face of that renewal, just not yet.

STOP THE SMIRKING CHIMP! ANYBODY BUT BUSH! VOTE Democratic!

[fossaceca]

55. agreed.

plus, right now, I think we need someone who is even further out of the box. Someone who really shakes this up.

Clark? Clinton? Anyone!

[newyawker99]

56. Hi fossaceca!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Moloch]

57. Why? To put Vermont in our column?

I mean, yeah he would be a better choice than McCain but I don't think we need him on the ticket, progressives are generally intelligent people so I wouldn't worry about them voting for Nadir this time around. I would like to see a place for Dean in Kerry's cabinet though.

58. Dean is my inspiration, BUT-

Everything he could add to the ticket he can still deliver--without actually being on the ticket!

But I could see Dean being Chief of Staff, or Party Chair.

I think the signs are pointing to the fact that Dean and Kerry have forged an unlikely friendship, and though Kerry will want to keep Dean close, Dean would be wasted as the VP.