What we are doing wrong over at camp Dean...

[Melodybe]

We spent WAY too much time with the Media whores, we did nothing but give them ammunition. Dean should have been spendin a little more time over on Conan and Dave's shows and a little less time giving bill O'rielly the time of day. He should not have walked right past Steven Colbert at the Sheen/Riener/Harkin Iowa Rally!! This burns me up to no end, Colbert was standing right freaking there!!! They should have had him on the bus before the rally even started!!! This is just utterly ridiculous! Dean should have been explaining to Letterman what he meant and how the media was spinning us. He looks utterly terrible at the after rally. I was ashamed of the way he looked. His people at the top have royally fucked up and unfortunately out of touch with the average tv watching American.

WE ARE IGNORING 35 MILLION VOTERS, I just hope it is not too late.

[AP]

1. High on emotion, low on ideas (policy, specifically).

I've seen LITERALLY ONE concrete plan form Dean -- his education plan (and I hated it).

It's outrageous that he went into Iowa saying that his tax plan was a couple weeks away. He was saying that last September. And what he has said about his tax plan has been weak.

Oh, and stop blaming the media. The media hasn't been bad. NPR stuck with Dean's rally live when Edwards was giving his speech. The played HARKIN's speech instead.

It was ABSURD. Even the on-air reporter was audibly shocked when the producer didn't cut to Edwards.

[indigo32]

10. AP

We disagree on many things regarding the candidates (and a few other things as well). But I heard that too...they didn't really play Harkins speech, but there was definite confusion when they mentioned Edwards was ready to speak and they DIDN'T cut to him. I was stunned that they didn't.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Dean should get some rest

You can't run the candidate full blast without sleep periods.

[Maddy McCall]

All candidates have been running nonstop...

Kerry had almost lost his voice by yesterday, and they still held a modicum of decorum at their after-rallies.

To Melody, if you read this, I know how you feel. I felt that way after Gov. Musgrove lost to Barbour. Even though we are in different camps, keep your chin up. I imagine that a new Dean will emerge in a couple of days. :-)

[Melodybe]

6. Thanks I meant to e-mail the other day about where in MS you are

Anywho, we have done plenty wrong, obviously we are not connecting to the average American. Maybe if Dean had spent some freaking time on the Daily Show, college kids may have actually gone out to causus. I am just astonished by the amount of PR ignorance coming out of our campaign. I have already called Zephyr, and I am waiting on Trippi's number. I a, utterly pissed at whoever let Dean go to that after rally without giving him a chill pill first. What in the hell are they thinking!?! You HAVE to run a big part of your campaign like you're a movie star, they are treating Dean like the Queen of England and it is killing us!

[Maddy McCall]

8. Hey, check your PM in several minutes...

it's 1:14 by my PC's time...I am going to Pm you right now. Check it in about 5 minutes. :-)

[dreissig]

3. Don't Go By Iowa

The Iowa result is anomalous, and wrong. Subsequent primaries will show just how bizarre tonight's outcome really is. Maybe election theory can provide an answer why the majority supported a result that nobody wanted.

Iowans did not do themselves any favors tonight. This say what outcome guarantees that they will not be taken as seriously in the future.

[DisgustedDemocrat]

9. Why do you say the results are so surprising and that

the majority supported a result that "nobody" wanted? The polls have predicted a Kerry lead all week and Edwards gaining all week as well, so there is nothing bizarre about it that I can see.

It shows that the polls were right with a Kerry/Edwards/Dean result all along, although it wasn't as close as they called it. I suspect that is because of the tremendous turnout numbers.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[skaterkid]

16. So what you're saying is....

""Subsequent primaries will show just how bizarre tonight's outcome really is.""
That the caucus goers that chose Kerry and/or Edwards over Dean aren't smart enough to know what's best for them? Did I get that right?

""Maybe election theory can provide an answer why the majority supported a result that nobody wanted. Iowans did not do themselves any favors tonight. This say what outcome guarantees that they will not be taken as seriously in the future.""
An outcome that NOBODY wanted??? They won't be taken seriously in the future???
Well obviously enough of these "Nobody's" wanted this outcome enough to do THEMSELVES a favor and make it happen.
Which makes anyone who thinks that the result was something that "Nobdy wanted" look as if they arrogantly think they "know what's good for the people of Iowa" better than the people of Iowa do.
Consequently making themselves "Nobody" worth taking seriously, ever.
Being so damned condescending makes people look foolish. We need to just admit that Dean blew it for himself, IN MANY WAYS, then move on.

[poskonig]

4. Dean should talk about Vermont.

Dean should emphasize what **he** is doing right, and put less stress on his campaign. Healthcare access. Balanced budgets. Civil unions. I suspect his advisors bought the pundit spin about "empowerment" being what is driving his campaign. I originally saw a Vermont centrist who wouldn't sell us out on critical issues; the message has gotten off track somewhat.

The "passion" stuff can't work without a message or some sort of outrage behind it. When Dean got loud when talking about the Iraq war last year, it resonated. When one yells when you lose badly in a primary contest, it looks weird.

[MidwestTransplant]

5. I truely feel bad for what happened

with Dean's speech tonight. It was unfortunate to see him do that.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[exJW]

7. People at the top?

:His people at the top have royally fucked up

It's the person at the top, that's where the buck stops.

[Melodybe]

15. I don't really blame Dean, he does mean well

However, I worry that he has surrounded by people that are doing nothing but kissing his ass. This is not a good thing, he needs constructive criticism. A little would have gone a long way a month ago.

[stickdog]

11. They did plenty wrong. But there was another media trap waiting for

them behind every door.

[Loren645]

24. There will be even more media traps in the GE.

Our nominee has to learn to deal with them.

[ShaneGR]

12. Angry vs. Positive........ Us vs Them

Combine the two, Dean became popular as the angry candidate united "us" Democrats and by the end was screaming and yelling about "those" Democrats. We need a positive message and we need an electable candidate, not just a Democratic Primary electable candidate. I don't think Dean is finished, but I do think he needs to COMPLETELY change his message.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. There is something to be said for that

Anger is an emotion that largely focuses on the past rather than the future. People already know the past and present are fucked up.

[Cheswick2.0]

18. I can see why some candidates don't want us to look at the past

votes are funny things, you can't take them back. It's all about "move on, nothing to see here" with some candidates.
On the other hand I don't see Dean as angry, though It is a favorite meme of the DLC, the media-ho and the right wing.

[Dookus]

22. well

I'm neither DLC, a media-ho or right-wing. I'm a good old-fashioned lefty.

And I watched his speech last night, and it was extremely off-putting. I don't think Dean's normally a bad speaker, and I don't go out of my way to find fault with him - but that performance was freaky.

Like it or not, I honestly believe it's going to be his "Dukakis-in-a-tank" moment - it will be used as a measurement of bad campaigning 20 years from now.

I remember defending Dukakis for his tank photo. I was a big supporter of his. But nowadays I can't look at that photo without thinking "UGH! What the fuck was he thinking?!".

I truly believe a lot of us will be doing that for the Dean speech in the future.

[Dookus]

20. right, NSMA...

I've said it before - the anger is GREAT for activating the hard-core base. We're all angry. But as far as the average voter, it does very little.

And I think we saw that in Iowa - he had a great organization, thousands of dedicated volunteers, and a fortune to spend. But it still didn't convince the voters.

It's right and proper to be angry about the war and everything else Bush has done. But it's not sufficient to win. Bill Clinton's success was based on his ability to ALWAYS look ahead to the next challenge, ignore the past, and present an optimistic, hopeful vision.

Like it or not, we are now at war. Pointing fingers isn't very helpful. Yes, we can blame Bush, but more importantly, we need to articulate a solution to the immediate problem, as well as a plan for how to avoid such messes in the future.

Rightly or wrongly, people aren't seeing that in Dean. They're seeing the anger and fingerpointing that got him this far, but apparently, won't carry him any further. He's in a real pickle now - how does he tailor his message to the broader audience while still keeping his base active? There is definitely a percentage of people who will vote for him just because he opposed the war (or at least opposes it now - I don't think he can genuinely be called an anti-war candidate.) But that group of people is a lot smaller than the group of people who want to look forward and find some real solution.

[Loren645]

25. That was perfectly said nothingshocksmeanymore

Anger has to be the starting point, not the destination.

[Cheswick2.0]

19. nothing but dispairing posts about what dean is doing wrong

?

[Dookus]

21. well....

given his results yesterday and the reaction to his speech, what exactly is he doing RIGHT?

And by right, I don't mean appealing to his current supporters. What's he doing right to attract a larger constituency?

[La_Serpiente]

23. at least you are being introspective

that is a good thing :thumbsup: :-)

[Lexingtonian]

26. To get out of a hole, first stop digging

I found it a difficult to understand how the Dean campaign really started believing its own PR, or at very least stopped patching up the differences between what it told the media and what it was doing and what needed to be done.

When the media starts finding a disconnect between such things and doesn't feel let in on the phenomenon it's observing, when it doesn't get the off-camera off-the-record insider explanations, that's when it acts jilted. Its gluttony for ratings and sloth toward honest research has to be catered to.

It seems to me that the Dean camp is going back to its original tenets and the strategy for the next two or so weeks is to re-intensify them. More harkening back to the Dean record in Vermont, more emphasis on willpower and empowerment actions supposedly devoluting political power back to the individual upon electoral victory, and probably more emphatic assertion that imposing the combination of the two will transform Beltway institutions to benign and enlightened behavior in fairly short order.