Old news. Five months old?
An edit for you: ...Lehane...suggests... rather than... Lehane...admits...
Howard Dean's summer project:
boston.com
Dean's new challenge: proving wider appeal
By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff, 7/4/2003
IOWA CITY - After rocketing into the top tier of Democratic candidates with his recent fund-raising triumph, Howard Dean is now shifting his rhetoric to address a critical question in primary voters' minds: Could he really beat George W. Bush in a general election fight?
Dean, a former governor of Vermont, has often been portrayed as a long shot who attracts liberal voters, but would not appeal to the broader national electorate. His rivals, surprised by his sudden surge, are warning that Dean is ''unelectable'' and that if he wins the nomination he will be another George McGovern, the antiwar Democrat who lost nearly every state in 1972.
Dean is beginning to respond to such charges more directly, now that he finds himself among the Democratic frontrunners. At a meeting with staunch supporters here on Wednesday night, Dean assured them he is a viable nominee and made fun of the accusations that he is too far left to mount a serious national campaign. ''Oh, that Dean, he's so liberal, how can he possibly win?'' Dean said mockingly.
Later, he said he is determined to stay in the race to the end and that ''we're going to win.''
''The other thing is, we're not only going to win the nomination. We're going to beat George Bush,'' he said, to rousing applause.
Every Democratic presidential candidate promises victory to rally support. But for Dean, the question of whether he is electable has taken on new importance and is one of the central issues he is working to address as he seeks to maintain momentum generated by his $7.5 million fund-raising push in the last three months.
In particular, Dean and his advisers must make the case that his massive Internet support is not some quirky grass-roots movement that will ultimately be overshadowed by television ads and campaigns with more extensive organization. He must also demonstrate that he will not turn into a merely early-primary phenomenon, as Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona did in 2000 and as former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas did in 1992.
Dean's advisers insist they are prepared to compete in every primary state and to rebut charges that Dean is a liberal with no prospect of winning the presidency.
''As we've gotten stronger, the rallying cry, the echo chamber in Washington about why we're `unelectable' has gotten louder,'' Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi said. ''And while that's always been the under-the-table talk the campaigns put out from the beginning, ... it's turned into a chorus, and we're not going to let it stand.''
Countered Jim Jordan, campaign manager for Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts: ''That's exactly what Jerry Brown and Ralph Nader said.''
Exactly where Dean lies on the ideological spectrum is a persistent question, one that his advisers say is impossible to answer. Dean, they argue, cannot be pigeonholed. He has taken stands across the spectrum, supporting abortion rights, supporting some rights to gun ownership, demanding a balanced budget, approving civil unions for gays and lesbians.
But the vast majority of his early grass-roots support has, in fact, come from liberals, and a number of the 130 or so supporters who attended the University of Iowa appearance said they believed that Dean is the most left-leaning candidate in the race.
''He is, in my opinion, a little more liberal than the other Democratic candidates,'' said Megan Thompson, 25, a research assistant who supports Dean.
That liberal image could prove troublesome for Dean as he seeks to convince more moderate voters that he would not be pilloried by the right wing, an essential ingredient for a general election campaign, several analysts say.
''Now that he's actually in a position to be taken seriously, the question is, how does he walk the tightrope between being the far-left antiwar candidate and a more centrist candidate you need to win?'' said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas political scientist. ''He's got to get the nomination, but he's got to do so in a way that doesn't `McGovernize' him for the general election.''
Al From, the head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, agreed. ''It's one thing to sort of rev up the activists and the protest votes and people who want to send a message early,'' From said. ''It's another to build a broad enough coalition to win the White House. In the end, rank-and-file Democrats are much more moderate than they are liberal.''
Dean's Democratic rivals continue to argue that he has marginalized himself, not just with his policies, but his in-your-face style.
''If voters have gotten one impression of Howard Dean, it's one of anger, and I think angry men don't typically win national political races,'' Jordan said. ''Dean, of course, says he can appeal to a broad segment of Americans. I think much of the Democratic party is dubious of that proposition. Every bit of reward Governor Dean has gotten in this race - the attention, the press, the money - has come in effect from rabble-rousing, and it's going to be very difficult for him to soften his image ... without losing his current supporters.''
Dean cannot afford - quite literally, given how vital campaign funds are - to isolate the liberals who have supported him thus far. ''Did all that money come because he is perceived to be the liberal in the race? If that's the case, then he runs the risk of disillusioning the liberals who supported him,'' said Garrison Nelson, a professor at the University of Vermont who has been observing Dean for years. ''Hell hath no wrath like a liberal who feels like he's been misrepresented to.''
Other significant challenges will confront Dean closer to the primaries. Garnering support on the Internet is one thing; getting voters out to the polls and creating an infrastructure that will win him delegates at the Democratic convention in Boston are ultimately what will decide whether he can win the nomination. Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000, said that while the Dean campaign ''has legs, and it's clearly a credible campaign,'' that must now be ''translated into delegate support.''
Bill Bradley, former senator of New Jersey, faced a similar problem in 2000, when he initially appeared to be a threat to Gore.
''Bradley peaked too early,'' said Jennifer Donahue, senior adviser for political affairs at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. ''His organization wasn't as strong as his competitor's, and with Dean that's still a question. Kerry has a stronger organization than Dean, and Gephardt has a rock-solid organization up here, even though he's having trouble stealing the headlines.''
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 7/4/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. |
