November 30, 2004

NEED ANY HELP LOADING THAT GUN?:

The Grassroots Can Save Democrats: Howard Dean paved the way to future victories. (JOE TRIPPI, November 30, 2004, Wall Street Journal)

The staggering defeat of the Democratic Party and its ever-accelerating death spiral weren't obvious from the election results. Two factors masked the extent of the party's trouble. Without the innovation of Internet-driven small-donor fund-raising and a corresponding surge in support from the youngest voters, John Kerry would have suffered a dramatically larger defeat. And the true magnitude of the Democrats' abject failure at the polls in 2004 would have been more clearly revealed.

Mr. Kerry raised nearly half of his war chest over the Internet. He was so successful at this that he actually outspent the Bush campaign. But it was the outsider campaign of Howard Dean, reviled by most of the Democratic establishment, that pioneered the use of the Internet to raise millions in small contributions; Mr. Kerry was just the beneficiary as the party nominee. And it was the risk-taking Dean campaign that forced the risk-averse Kerry campaign to opt out of the public financing system. Had that decision not been forced on Mr. Kerry, he would have been badly outspent by George Bush; he would not have been competitive at all throughout the long summer of 2004.

Mr. Kerry's lead among young voters hid just how bad Election Day really was for Democrats.


Every night before he goes to bed Karl Rove prays that the lesson the Democrats take away from the 2004 election is that the Party needs to be more like the Dean campaign, driven almost entirely by the whims of the lunatic on-line fringe.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 30, 2004 8:18 PM
Comments

Well, clearly the Republican party should be driven by the whims of its lunatic on-line fringe.

Posted by: David Cohen at November 30, 2004 8:44 PM

Between you, me and the fencepost, "lunatic on line fringe" is the phrase that best describes this blog and its commentoriat. It's also a pretty good name for a band.

Posted by: joe shropshire at November 30, 2004 9:31 PM

While I'm not claiming that Dean was a moderate, I think in reality he was more moderate than Kerry. Kerry's dullness masked a pretty radical guy, with a pretty radical record.

Posted by: AML at November 30, 2004 9:38 PM

I had mentioned previously that dean is
more moderate and would have connected to more
middle americans than the playboy Kerry.

Posted by: J.H. at November 30, 2004 9:57 PM

JH:

http://www.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/002977.html

Posted by: oj at November 30, 2004 11:31 PM

The Democrats are playing Russian Roulette with six loaded chambers.

Posted by: Matt Murphy at December 1, 2004 3:05 AM

Viewing their future as a choice between Kerry and Dean does not bode well for them.

Dean had to 'govern from the center' in Vermont because gun control and high taxes were major concerns. A Vermont governor does not need a foreign or defense policy. Whenever Dean was on TV(he was a PBS regular) discussing them as governor, he was a multilateralist surrender monkey, slightly more pusillanimous than Chirac.

Is he more moderate than Kerry? I have to give a Norman response,'Perhaps yes, perhaps no' which is appropriate given his family's chateau in Normandy. He is less radical on economic matters and would be in thrall to the same moneychangers who ran the Clinton administration. Economic policy has ceased to be a subject of debate in America in any substantive way. However, on every single cultural, foreign policy and defense issue, Kerry would be on the extreme left of US politics, not altogether distinguishable from Jim McDermott.

Posted by: Bart at December 1, 2004 3:45 AM

Howard Dean is now probably in thrall to his image (similar to McCain). Changing it would be career-limiting. I suspect all he could as DNC chief or Presidential candidate is mouth the platitudes of the peacenik left.

And Bart is right - economic policy doesn't matter to that crowd; a few throwaway lines about equality are sufficient.

Posted by: jim hamlen at December 1, 2004 11:11 AM

Every night before he goes to bed Karl Rove prays that the lesson the Democrats take away from the 2004 election is that the Party needs to be more like the Dean campaign...

i.e. the standard response of the Communists to any reversal: "Increase Political-consciousness Indoctrination" and Purge! Purge! Purge!

And of the Taliban: "Purify! Purify! Purify! Purge! Purge! Purge! We failed because we weren't holy enough! We weren't faithful enough! We weren't Islamic enough!"

Posted by: Ken at December 1, 2004 12:45 PM
« FINAL RED/BLUE SHOWDOWN ALL RED: | Main | ONE DOUBTS THE OTHERS WERE FLASHING THE "W": »