Nearer, My Dean, to Thee
Some Deaniacs jump ship, while others spin conspiracy theories. Still others see victory close at hand.
by Jonathan V. Last
02/05/2004 12:00:00 AM
ON THE EVE of the 1996 election, I had a long conversation with a friend on the Dole campaign who was traveling with the candidate as he made his last-minute hopscotch across the country. I had just offered him condolences on the race when he corrected me. Speaking from an airport pay phone in the wee hours of the morning, he explained that Bob Dole didn't just have a chance to win, but was assured of it. His exact words were: "We have this election in the bag." He then proceeded to give me a state-by-state breakdown, explaining how liberal-bias polls were distorting the numbers in California, the union turnout was going to be lower than expected in Ohio and Missouri, and that internal polls showed a breaking "surge" across all fronts. "This thing is," he said excitedly, "In. The. Bag."
Every campaign has an internal rationale for why victory is inevitable; it goes with the territory. So too, do the last holdouts for Howard Dean.
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, the first MeetUp for Howard Dean took place in Baltimore, Boston, Westchester, and eight other cities. Only 478 people came out for Dean that day, but even then, they believed. Today, after losing the first nine primaries (and collecting 121 delegates--only about two dozen of whom are actually committed to him), the Dean message boards on his Blog for America are full of hope.
"Cool down," explained "John Morgan" late Tuesday afternoon, "this is a marathon, not a sprint. Kerry is
running low on money and has no grassroots base. Where is he going to get the money?"
"Charlie Grapski," a longtime supporter, wrote that "in the end, what will win this thing for US (and for our future), is our DETERMINATION and LONGEVITY in this race. As long as we stay focused--WE CAN WIN. WE WILL WIN. WE ARE DEAN." Mr. Grapski is a political science instructor at the University of Florida.
As the final races were being called late Tuesday night, "Katherine" wrote:
The way I read it, the attrition strategy is working. Kerry isn't getting over 50% anywhere except Missouri and Delaware, and just barely 50% in those places. . . . As the field thins, the anti-Kerry vote will be split among fewer candidates.
For Dean, delegates in two states (AZ and NM) and almost a third (ND), with nothing but grassroots efforts, is *fantastic.* Also bodes well for CA . . .
Yeah, winning NM would have been nice, but I'm happy with the way this is turning out.
IT SHOULD BE SAID that not all of the Deaniacs were happy with the way the last few weeks have turned out. A few of them acknowledged that the campaign seems to have hit a speed bump and had ideas on how to fix it. Among the more workable schemes was a 24-hour, coast-to-coast fundraising event and a nationwide garage sale for Dean.
Others were upset at the precipitous fall Dean has taken in the polls, from first to third, and sometimes fourth and fifth. The culprit most often blamed for this turn of events is the media. ("I'm feeling in the mood for a class action lawsuit against the f**king media," wrote "Jackie in OH.") Of course George W. Bush is also to blame. ("Did anyone notice how 'fortunate' it is for the White House that the ricin scare occurred . . . just as the press was getting ready to focus in depth on the WMD mess?" asked "allinnyc.") Another group was seeking a recount in the New Hampshire primary because of alleged fraud with Diebold voting machines. (In New Hampshire, Dean finished a mere 12 percentage points behind John Kerry.) |
