Reply #26: my take [View All]

[goodhue]

His Act I as anti-war candidate raking in online contributions played well.

But Act II as stay-the-course in Iraq and rack up mainstream endorsements was not so inspiring.

He should have been consistent -- if it was wrong to go to war with Iraq, it is wrong to stay there. Also, he could have been all over the governance issues in Iraq by calling for direct elections but he stayed away. He acknowledged that US would occupy for years and he started hanging out with Al Gore and acting like the front runner.

The endorsements became very transparent in their timing and began to look somewhat desperate and contrived. Harkin and CMB in particular played poorly. He was apparently trying to build on the momentum of his inevitability as nominee but it don't work. He became an angry insider rather than an angry outsider.

Meanwhile, Kerry and Edwards worked the warm fuzzies and folks in Iowa started paying attention to Dean's personality.

I don't think yesterday was a rejection of liberal or anti-war positions. Rather a rejection of Dean Act II and concern over his likeability.