WP: As Dean & Media Pull Out, (Vermont) Mourns a Dream

[DeepModem Mom]

Letter From Burlington
As Dean and the Media Pull Out, A Small-Town State Mourns a Dream

Saturday, February 21, 2004; Page A06


BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Peter Freyne, an astute political columnist and one of this state's eminent eccentrics, recalls when he first decided that Howard Dean could become president. "Everyone thought I was mentally ill," Freyne said. "Then he took off and I was sane."

Alas, the Dean campaign flat-lined this week and Freyne is back where he started. "Everyone thinks I'm nuts again."

In the days after Dean's fall from presidential grace, conversations in this state took on a crestfallen tone. Bisected by the Green Mountains and populated by fewer than 700,000 people, Vermont has a familial feel -- and so do its politics, with all the affection, annoyance and occasional dysfunction that implies. Dean ruled as governor for 11 years and had become communal property....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58894-2004Feb20.html

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. This Vermonter wasn't surprised by Howard's demise

"For Vermonters, the portrayal of their centrist former governor as the left-winger in the Democratic presidential race was the second biggest surprise of Howard Dean's brief span of political glory. The biggest was the apparent transformation of a campaign clod into a fiery orator who inspired a movement.

He never tried that at home.

In Vermont, Dr. Dean was never a very good politician. He was quite a good governor. He was a prudent steward of the state's finances. He expanded social services while reducing taxes. During the debate over civil unions in 2000, he not only kept his word but he also kept his cool.

On the campaign trail, though, Dr. Dean was a dud. Here was a man with neither a thirst for the political jugular nor a sense of timing.

For years, Dr. Dean didn't have to be good. He was lucky. ..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/opinion/19MARG.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[progressivebydesign]

3. Do you just follow Dean threads around here to bash him?

Isn't it enough that he's gone?

[jsw_81]

2. Dean should run for U.S. Senate

Leahy is in his sixties and Jeffords is approaching seventy. When one of them retires, Dean should run for the seat. If he wins, he'll be a player on the national scene for years to come instead of just an asterisk in the history books.