Dean Didn't Want To Be President In different conversations and in different ways, according to several people who worked with him, Dean said at the peak of his popularity late last year that he never expected to rise so high, that he didn't like the intense scrutiny, that he had just wanted to make a difference. "I don't care about being president," he said. Months earlier, as his candidacy was taking off, he told a colleague: "The problem is, I'm now afraid I might win."
posted by jbou
on Feb 29, 2004 -
29 comments
Exiting Deanspace: As one who has watched with growing nausea as the Howard Dean campaign has smacked up against primary reality and disintegrated, this lengthy article offers some useful truths. While the post mortem is far from over, this cogent analysis by Clay Shirky from "Many 2 Many" points out how so many of us could have been so blinded by the process . . . while still having reason for hope.
posted by mooncrow
on Feb 5, 2004 -
18 comments
Dean is out of cash. Somehow he blew through $40 million and still managed to leave the first Super Tuesday without a first or second place finish,
anywhere. No mistake about his
Meet the Press interview, though, which was felt as an incredibly strong and persuasive performance. It's obvious that Dean overestimated his grass-roots support, which has currently dried up, but the amount of publicity he has generated is surely a huge advantage. Two options come to mind: blow out the Washington Insiders (as he alluded to in his latest interview), or become more of a traditional candidate.
posted by BlueTrain
on Feb 4, 2004 -
72 comments
It has been said that reality is all about perspective -- a camera is a pinhole view of the world that frequently filters out much of the story. With that in mind,
check out this video of the familiar "I have a scream" speech by Dean. I'm no Dean supporter, but from down in the trenches it doesn't look nearly as bad as it played on TV. Obviously the video you've seen on the news has the best part and the audience noise turned down, but from this vantage point, the speech almost seems appropriate for the crowd and the moment (but was still a lapse in judgement to forget cameras were rolling). I hope this isn't too subtle of a point -- forget all the politics involved -- this is a fascinating look at a familiar scene that was looped for the past week, but from an entirely different perspective and a different story emerges. [via
Vidiot]
posted by mathowie
on Jan 30, 2004 -
51 comments
Whatever happened to Howard Dean? "He was assassinated by Bill and Hillary with the assistance of Chris Lehane, the political hit man who first worked for Kerry and now backs Clark.
Desperate to keep control of the Democratic Party, the Clintons used their negative researchers and detectives to the ultimate and generated a story-a-day savaging Dean. The Vermont governor, not ready for prime time, cooperated by being thin-skinned, surly and combative. "
caveat: I'm not trolling, but as a democrat I find this interesting. Ok, nauseating.
posted by mecran01
on Jan 24, 2004 -
102 comments
"The Media vs. Howard Dean." Salon (subscription or Flash ad viewing required) observes that the media have been doing everything in their power to attach negative labels to US presidential candidate Howard Dean. Will the adage that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" prevail? Meanwhile, the Internet is increasing in relevance as a
news source, according to a recent survey. Which websites do you peruse for political coverage, if any?
posted by Eloquence
on Jan 13, 2004 -
67 comments
Dean in for Bush-Whacking? A new poll shows President Bush would clobber Democratic front-runner Howard Dean by nearly 2-1 in politically potent New Hampshire - even though Dean has a giant lead over Democratic rivals in the state. Bush gets 57 percent to Dean's 30 percent among registered voters in the American Research Group poll.
posted by dagny
on Dec 12, 2003 -
77 comments
Dean can't carry the south. The New Republic's Jonathan Chait writes in response to Dean's flag gaffe: "What's alarming here is not that Dean wants to win votes from guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. It's that he thinks he actually can... His aggressive secularism, association with civil unions, and antiwar stance all make him culturally anathema in the South. This is one of the many, many reasons Dean would be squashed like a bug in the general election if nominated: Bush could take the South for granted, and concentrate all his resources on battleground states like Pennsylvania. "
posted by gregb1007
on Nov 9, 2003 -
47 comments
DeanLink is a new service from the Dean Campaign.
Dean +
Friendster =
DeanLink. The tech savvy presidential campaign strikes again. What's next? DeanTorrent? Where do you think all this technology will go after the campaign is over?
posted by cjoh
on Sep 11, 2003 -
10 comments
DeanSpace is an open development community providing web-tools, support, and advice to Howard Dean's supporters. The goal is to better interlink existing web activism, bring new citizen participants into the political process, and assist individuals to network and organize for taking action in Howard Dean's presidential campaign.
According to
some, this could be another sign of the approaching
singularity.
Smart mobs on election day anyone?
posted by cbrody
on Aug 8, 2003 -
5 comments
Howard Dean is closing in on the lead in New Hampshire, with 16% to Kerry's 17%.
Dean is appealing to voters by being
outspoken in an environment in which many of his fellow democrats are submissive to Bush's approval rating, and due to anticipation of his
universal health care plan, which he is soon to unveil. Already established as the most net-savvy candidate, Dean has hundreds of real-life
meetups planned for
today.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on Jun 4, 2003 -
38 comments
The First Democratic Debates were last night, but you wouldn't know it from the media's coverage. Barely a story on CNN. Howard Dean stole the night, with over a hundred screaming supporters outside the debates. The only person there with supporters was the
blogging Presidential Candidate. There were students there from U.C. Berkley, Washinton, Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. All thanks to the power of blogspot, and
meetup. Whether or not Dean gets the nomination, this will be a campaign for the history books.
They'll be on c-span all day today.
posted by cjoh
on May 4, 2003 -
67 comments
Howard Dean Get to know that name because you will likely be hearing it often in the coming months. The Governor of Vermont is currently the only Democratic presidential contender who has officially declared his candidacy. He is gaining press nationally and internationally as a potential breath of fresh air on the American political landscape. An interesting mix of liberal populism and traditional conservative fiscal responsibility, he is known to rub colleges from both sides of the ideological spectrum the wrong way. Regardless of your opinion on his politics, do you think this man have a shot? Do the proverbial square pegs in the Democratic and GOP round holes ever stand a chance? Will the Bush and Gore juggernauts forever push differing ideas into the realm of third parties or is there room for descent from within?
posted by EmoChild
on Aug 27, 2002 -
41 comments