Anti-war feeling fuels the rise of Dean
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With the presidential primaries just five months away, outsider Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, is emerging as the Democratic frontrunner
Monday August 25, 2003
The Guardian
guardian.co.uk
Why is he getting so much attention?
Mr Dean has tapped into the most powerful current in the Democratic race this year: the seething hostility in the party base toward George Bush ... [His] drumbeat against the administration's failure to find proof of banned weapons in Iraq has also [seemingly] encouraged the other Democrats to sharpen their own questions about the case Mr Bush made to the country for war.
Ronald Brownstein in the Los Angeles Times, August 11
Where are Mr Dean's rivals?
[While he] has been moving fast, John Kerry flounders ... Joe Lieberman has become [press agent] for the Democratic Leadership Council and its stupid campaign to tag Mr Dean as far left. John Edwards is nowhere. Dick Gephardt lives in some time past. Bob Graham, the best-positioned of the lot to take on Mr Bush, can't get it together ... Attacks by Mr Lieberman et al on how Mr Dean is dragging the party down with "radical" posturing make a fool out of Mr Lieberman and alienate voters.
James Ridgeway in the Village Voice, August 12
Why are they attacking him?
The greatest fear ... is that if Mr Dean does win the nomination, his liberal supporters will put their Birkenstocks on the gas pedal and drive the party right over the cliff, a la George McGovern in 1972.
Jonathan Alter in Newsweek, August 11
Do others disagree?
Many who worked with Mr Dean are astonished at ... the comparisons to ... Mr McGovern ... They argue that the two most liberal policies adopted [during his 11 years as governor] - the 'civil unions' law and a radical revamping of public school financing - were instigated by Vermont's ultraliberal supreme court ... Virtually everyone who has worked with Mr Dean believes he would be a demon at reducing the federal deficit. While balancing the budget and keeping defence expenditures intact, that would leave precious little room for new liberal programmes.
William C Symonds in Business Week, August 11
Has Mr Dean's approach been paying dividends?
The latest poll in the key state of New Hampshire shows Mr Dean leading Mr Kerry by 28% to 21% - a big switch from last month, when Mr Kerry led by six points. There's more ... Arnie mania is sucking up all the TV space for politics, freezing the Democrats' 2004 race in place with Mr Dean as frontrunner.
Deborah Orin in the New York Post, August 21
What is innovative about his campaign?
Email is the most obvious new tool ... [and] Meetup.com is positively overrun with Dean support groups ... Last month, the Dean camp used Meetup to pull 78,000 supporters together ... It is fantastically expensive to pay for [the usual] table after table of phone banks ... Meetup can bring supporters together and energise them to go out to hear the candidate and build a good crowd for the media.
Jeff Taylor in Reason, August 13
Has it aided his fundraising?
Mr Dean has generated more money and attention online than any other candidate. Raising nearly $3m [£2m] in the first quarter, Mr Dean led all candidates in contributions. He added $7.5m [£4.8m] in the next three months, nearly half from internet transactions.
From the New York Times, August 19
How deep is the Bush war chest?
Mr Bush expects to raise at least $170m [£108m] - this for a primary campaign in which he is unopposed.
From the Washington Post, August 19
Can Mr Dean win?
To ultimately succeed, he must win the biggest bet of all: that he is right about Iraq and the economy. If Saddam Hussein is killed or caught or if America clearly wins the peace, the Dean case begins to sound off-key. And if [the] 2.4% jump in second-quarter growth is a glimmer of a real recovery, Americans may want to hang on to their tax cuts rather than give them up for Mr Dean's healthcare and recovery plan.
Karen Tumulty in Time, August 11 |
