Now that were coming down to the homestretch before the Democratic primary, people are beginning to choose sides. Word on the street is that Gore is going to throw his weight, such as it is, behind Dean tomorrow morning. Others meanwhile are coming forward to warn that Deans not the man to beat Bush. Nicholas Kristof, in his Times op-ed piece today, essentially said that wed be boobs to nominate a blueblood from the northeast, especially one with a dumber explanation than our current president as to why he weaseled out of Vietnam. Kristof makes some good points. Historically speaking, the deck does look stacked against Dean. But others, like liberal columnists Molly Ivins, are just as sure that Dean will win.
And, as all of this is going on, Dean is quietly holding meetings with lobbyists and Washington powerbrokers, the insiders that hes been railing against in his campaign. Well soon see how well he can pull it off, if he can keep the regular Americans who have been writing the checks happy, and, at the same time, ingratiate himself to those inside the beltway.
Lastly, heres a quote from the Molly Ivins piece:
Doesn’t seem like a good year for a regular politician on account of we ain’t lookin’ at regular politics. These Republicans do not have a different strategy — they are playing a different game. They don’t want to govern, they want to rule.
Maybe shes got a point. Maybe Dean doesn’t look like the right person given the history of politics in America (as Kristof points out), but maybe weve left history behind. Maybe analogies to the past are no longer relevant.
It is frightening though I remember about six months ago when it was reported that Karl Rove was clapping as a group of people in Dean shirts were walking past him. He was overheard to say that hed like Bush to run against Dean more than anyone else.
One this is guaranteed, itll be one hell of a campaign.
