Dean: Too Old to Cry nytimes.com
[ You ought to enjoy this one, Don, where Safire picks up the Clark-as-Clinton-stalking-horse line. Maybe he'd flogged that horse previously, I don't regularly read the op-ed types. ]
Full disclosure: I'm for Dean getting the nomination because it would trigger a resounding vote of confidence in President Bush. With our interests temporarily parallel, here's my advice:
Make your ostensible main target that portion of Bush's State of the Union about Iraq. Be cool with Kerry, a respected senator from a neighboring state who has forever shucked his Herman Munster image. Make nice to Edwards and Joe Lieberman, who are not your problem.
Then go get the goat of Wesley Clark, the Clintons' stalking-horse. You know that the Dean-Clinton battle for the Democratic soul is at the heart of this primary campaign. Since, as underdog, you don't have to strain to be Mr. Congeniality, you can win as the giant-killer — and for next week, the most vulnerable giant for you is Clark.
Your mission, Dr. Dean, should you choose to accept it, is to make mincemeat out of Wesley-come-lately's campaign next Tuesday. That will Big-Mo you toward March 2, Super Tuesday, when decision awaits in delegate-rich New York, Ohio and California, plus seven other states.
Good luck, for a while. If you fail to make it all the way, you'll be able to say that at least we won't have Howard Dean to kick around any more. |
