To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (192831 ) 7/1/2004 2:01:38 PM From: tejek Read Replies (1) | Respond to It was Howard Dean's face that dominated the magazine covers on the newsstands, bookstores, supermarket checkout lines, etc. Who picked him out of the whole bunch of Democratic candidates? Oh yeah, a few initial polls that showed him to have a lead of a few points over any of the others. The media for lack of a better story picks up on the results of that poll and sensationalizes it beyond what its significance should be. People start to look at Howard Dean more than any of the other candidates, and soon the initial interest snowballs into "front-runner status." Unfortunately for Dean that proved to be his downfall. He became the target of all the other candidates, including Kerry, and consequently Dean's negatives were exposed too early. That, plus a few gaffes (which admittedly is hard to avoid when a politician with not much national experience is being interviewed so much) helped him to lose the early advantage he once held. Then after Kerry pulled off his surprise victory, Dean self-destructed, and the media dumped him like an ex-girlfriend.
