In a week of minor stumbles (among them caucus-dissing — let’s face it, the Iowa caucuses are dominated by special interests. Ethanol subsidies, anyone? — and gubernatorial honoraria), Howard Dean pulls up another key endorsement in Tom Harkin. At this point, I’ll just go ahead and say that I hope the good Doctor takes both Iowa and New Hampshire and ends all the primary shenanigans sooner rather than later. It’s a safe bet to say that I like Howard Dean better than any of the other eight candidates, but that frankly isn’t saying much, and particularly given how Edwards, Clark, and Kerry have all underperformed.
I’ll be honest – I’m much less enthused by Dean than I was by Bradley last cycle. Dean has yet to make any policy proposals that I flat-out love, and I find him neither as progressive nor as inspiring as I’d like. In fact, more often than not, he kinda leaves me cold…But, of the nine, he’s the witch-king, so to speak. His occasional grouchiness and glibness does concern me, but no more so than any of the other candidates’ personality traits (And let’s drop the “unelectable” stuff…c’mon, this country elected George W. Bush. Anyone‘s electable. Oh, wait a minute, we didn’t.) In sum, Dean’s run a great campaign to this point, he’s got money and moxie to spare, and he clearly strikes a chord with many Democratic souls out there, so here’s hoping the party coalesces around him before we bleed ourselves to death solely to satisfy the big dreams of also-rans and the bruised egos of the DLC.
Oh c’mon, that is the most pitiful endorsement I can imagine coming from a political junkie lot you. If you can’t get behind him enthusiastically, are you really doing him any favor. …Give Clark a chance. He’s statistically in a dead heat with Dean nationally, and a far better candidate. And I know *you* know that Dean will not carry a single southern state. How does he have a chance in hell of getting Bush-Cheney out of the White House?
Happy New Year!
Well, if I was going to pick a candidate solely by virtue of his being Southern, I’d probably go Edwards, who I still quite like and whose only real fault (besides not taking off) is his unflinching support for the Patriot Act. Clark has been consistently underwhelming: As a late-entry dark horse he had time and surprise on his side, but every time he talks he still sounds like he’s winging it. His position on Iraq, which should be his strongest card given his own experience coalition-building in Bosnia, rarely makes any sense, and his campaign thus far has mostly consisted of hammering Dean on goofy non/issues like the veep seat (which is what everyone expected once the General hired Chris Lehane – arguably the most intellectually dishonest element of Team Gore 2000 – after he got fired by John Kerry.)
Yeah, my support of Dean is tepid in comparison to Bradley last cycle. But Dean’s not Dukakis – in fact, he’s almost the anti-Dukakis. As such, I see no reason why he couldn’t pull well in the South, particularly with a suitable running mate. (In fact, one of the most Southern guys I – and you – know is running NC4Dean and throwing house parties for him, so he must have some pull below the Mason-Dixon line.) As for doing him a favor, I don’t think anybody’s vote in Iowa is going to be altered by what I write here, so I’m not too worried about being equivocal.