I think that the dialogue between Michael and Lou is valuable. Dean was taken down, but not just by Gephardt. I've mentioned before, that I've never seen so much negative press about a candidate since Jesse Jackson. Then I hear about Roger Stone, the Republican operative, supporting Sharpton. My own suspicion is that the White House feared Dean and helped too promote the idea that he was the easiest candidate to beat. Again, Dean, like Kerry, certainly has his weaknesses, but he was the one candidate who was able to get a negative message out about Bush. Kucinich said the right things, but he was never get to a very large audience. A Dean candidacy had the potential to get quite a few young people involved, unlike, say, the Gore fiasco, which was pretty much just shuffling money around. The electability phenomenon has the potential to allow small bits of information to cascade into huge consequences. It also means that when people learn about the problems with Kerry, they will be more easily discouraged.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
