LA TIMES has extremely optimistic views of DEAN MACHINE!
latimes.com
November 8, 2003
Moves Expected to Bolster Dean Front-Runner Status
By Ronald Brownstein, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, already considered the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, will dramatically widen his advantage with a series of moves expected over the next few days.
Today, Dean is likely to announce that he will become the first Democratic candidate ever to opt out of the public financing system, a decision that could expand the financial advantage he already enjoys over his rivals.
On Wednesday, he's expected to receive an unprecedented joint endorsement from two of the nation's largest and most politically sophisticated unions: the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Together, these developments would create an imposing organizational and financial challenge for Dean's rivals — whose best hope of overcoming his lead at this point may be Dean's tendency to wound himself with controversial remarks, like his recent comments about the Confederate flag.
"He was the front-runner before; he now becomes the big gorilla," Tony Coelho, a campaign chairman for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race, said Friday. "I don't see anybody in the whole scheme of things who can beat him now. The question will be whether Dean can stop Dean."
Such comments underscore the remarkable evolution of Dean's campaign.
He began his candidacy as a classic political insurgent who had little money or name awareness but hoped to excite grass-roots enthusiasm through relentless campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire — site of the first contests in the nomination process — with a message that criticized the party establishment.
Since then, Dean has become a hybrid candidate for whom there is no exact precedent. While he continues to stir excitement with the fervent anti-establishment message, he's also accumulating the financial and organizational resources that usually flow only to a candidate favored by the party establishment.
For Dean, the gains are reinforcing each other. One reason he is getting labor support is that he has demonstrated enough fund-raising clout to consider leaving the public financing system — which, if he wins the nomination, would put him in better position to compete with President Bush.
"For a lot of people, the possibility of [opting out of the system] puts an extra check mark next to our name," said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager.........
A top advisor to one of his rivals said that given the financial and organizational resources flowing to Dean, "The truth is you are looking at a situation where if Dean wins Iowa and New Hampshire, everyone else is toast."
<Continues........>
*******************
AS, do you think Teresa Heinz-Kerry would like to contribute? <g> |
