CNN reports, Dean announces he'll drop out after Wisconsin.....

[ShaneGR]

If he hasn't picked up a win yet. Just on.

[JNelson6563]

1. Palpable glee

Love your sig-line, being a huge fan of irony that I am. '-)

Julie

[IndianaGreen]

2. I will support Wes Clark if Dean drops out

Clark is clean on IWR and PATRIOT, and he is a real liberal, not a phony one like Kerry.

[krkaufman]

3. Great to hear, IG

I take it that you'll be voting (or caucusing?) in Indiana?

[IndianaGreen]

8. Our primary is not until May

and yes, I will be voting against Kerry even if he has the nomination locked up.

It would be a terrible mistake to nominate Kerry.

[NashVegas]

9. Ours is Tuesday

So I'm REALLY hoping Dean wins WI.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Do you think he has a shot

at winning WI? What'd the general consensus there? I'm not firm on a candidate yet, and I really don't think Dean is electable against Shrub, but I'd feel terrible for him if he had to drop out, after all of his work and all he's accomplished and all of the excitement he's generated, particularly among younger voters.

Granted, he himself is responsible for a lot of what went wrong, but he's still a decent man who cares about the future of the country, and I'd still feel terrible for him.

[NashVegas]

16. Electability

Considering the alternative (Bush) I'd say Dean's electable.

[krkaufman]

10. Couldn't agree more, IG

[vi5]

7. Of course he's clean....not being in a position to vote...

has that effect. I'm clean on the Iraq War and Patriot Act as well. Why don't you vote for me.

I like Clark quite a bit. It's not a Clark dig in the least. And I'm not the hugest Kerry fan out there. But this whole notion of putting hypothetical positions and votes on par with actual votes and an actual career being put on the line is a bit naive.

Of course when did that stop anyone on this board from their beloved blanket statements..

[krkaufman]

13. IT'S NOT HYPOTHETICAL, my (wo)man..!!

Clark's position on IWR is NOT hypothetical. His testimony before Congress during the deliberations opposed the measures in IWR. He explicitly stated that Iraq did not pose an imminent threat and that we needed to focus on Al Qaeda. Pretty clear and straightforward position, and none-too-hypothetical; along with having been the CORRECT position.

As for Patriot Act, I'm not informed as to Clark's position, at the time of the vote. Anybody....?

[vi5]

17. If you don't have to actually CAST the vote...

Then it is by all means hypothetical. He was asked his position by Congress and he gave it. Having a position is not the same as having a vote to cast. You can manipulate any words you like but if you aren't in a position to cast a vote, yet say how you would vote if you did have the vote to cast, then that is by definition "hypothetical".

[trogdor]

23. Edwards has his sh*t more together.

Besides, Dean + Edwards > Kerry. Do the math.

[joshcryer]

31. Same here.

If only out of the grassroots aspects of the Dean and Clark campaigns.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. Wes Clark: " I probably would have voted for it"

he betrayed his true attitude right there.

[Cocoa]

35. what about Acxiom?

I'm not going to get all stupid and scream "I CAN NEVER SUPPORT ANYONE THAT LOBBIED FOR BIG BROTHER!!!!!!"

But the issue is still out there, so it's not right to say he's "clean" on the Patriot Act.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

37. IOW Clark is as clean (or not) as anyone

:mad:

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. No! I so hope that's not true.

:( I was hoping our candidates would all make it to the convention. *sigh* Well, I guess we will just hope he wins Wisconsin then!

Go Dean!

Go Wes!

[NashVegas]

5. Well .. It Worked for Edwards

If he drops out, where on earth will Kerry get motivation and speech materials?

Heard from Kerry's lips Tuesday night: "We can do better."

[PAMod]

27. I was thinking the same thing.

I love the good Doctor and I'm heartbroken at how this has all unraveled, but what else has he got?

Not much at this point.

[dusty64]

6. I've always

been drawn to Dean and loved his spirit of true opposition, but sadly it had no appeal to the "middle". I hope his efforts have awoken the "silent majority" to finally oppose this pure evil that has taken over our Country and am grateful for his candidacy. I'm deeply disappointed that the Dean/Clark/Kucinich opposition has not done better in this race and hope there is a future for ALL of them, we need them.

[liberalhistorian]

14. I think you've nailed it exactly.

Dean did not, indeed, appeal at all to the middle, but he's done an excellent job of getting people to start to wake up and really thinking about what's really happening. I really hope he's able to stay in for awhile longer.

[NashVegas]

18. I Strongly Disagree

Unless you're speaking of the *uninformed* middle. My independent friends (all slightly more right than I, especially on defense matters) all want to place a vote for Dean come November.

[dusty64]

20. The vast "middle"

is far less informed than most of us here on the forum. Sadly, we ARE a minority in this Country. You'll get no disagreement with me there. Thats a big part of the reason these particular candidates were so important to me. They weren't business as usual and did a pretty good job of getting through the media filter, which is probably the main reason the vast "middle" IS uninformed.

[NashVegas]

25. Gotcha

The sad part of it is, I was prepared to back Dean and be alone. Didn't expect him to get far, but that wasn't the point. It was only when my other pals got sold (nothing to do with any work on my part) that I began to think, "just maybe.."

Ah, well.

[jenk]

11. you could see this coming a mile away

Edwards is going to start airing ads in Wisconsin tomorrow, and he'll be in Milwaukee saturday. Plus he got a pretty big (steelworkers) union endorsement a few weeks ago.

it's over for dean

[Mobius]

15. that title is just a TAD leading.

Oh geeeeez.
IM from WI. I have talked to thousands of voters. In the rural areras, its not too pretty for the Dems. And most of the dems are moderate. At least if he has to go out, he picked a tough fight. No one can ever call him a coward, I gotta say that much.

[LuminousX]

21. With a post like that, I'm not eager to join your camp

[jamesinca]

19. yahoo has a different take on it

He said he would drop out after WI if he did not win.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dean Says He Must Win Wisconsin or Be 'Out of Race'
22 minutes ago Add Politics to My Yahoo!



FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) - Democratic White House hopeful Howard Dean (news - web sites) said on Thursday he had to win the Wisconsin primary on Feb. 17 or else he would be "out of the race."




"This entire race has come down to this: We must win Wisconsin," the former Vermont governor said in a memo to supporters. "A win there will carry us to the big states on March 2 -- and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything else will put us out of the race."


In a fund-raising plea, Dean, who spent $40 million on a gamble that he could wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination with early victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, asked supporters for $50 contributions so he could raise $700,000 by Sunday to pay for advertising in Wisconsin.


Dean, the fallen front-runner, has not won any of the nine contests in the 2004 election season so far. In Iowa and New Hampshire, he finished far behind U.S. Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts and on Tuesday he did not have a top two result in any of the seven states that held contests.

[LuminousX]

22. I'll have to see a link before I have a response

[maddezmom]

24. it was in his campaign letter dated 2/5/04

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. That's February 17

12 days from today.

[MarkTwain]

28. Okay, WI Democratic Voters....

... now that we see an end game to this tragic candidacy, do what is best for the party, for our country and for the future of our republic: allow the good man to return to the tranquility of Vermont.

[Skinner]

29. Anyone have a link for this?

Thanks.

[maddezmom]

30. here's one

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-02-05-dean-wisconsin_x.htm

[charlie]

32. Google News turns up a bunch

http://news.google.com/news?num=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=dean&sa=N&tab=wn

[joshcryer]

33. I read it on Yahoo! before I saw it here:

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylh=X3oDMTFlM3BpbmVwBF9HA2dsb2JhbF9ncm91cARfUwMyNzE2MTQ5BHRlc3QDMAR0bXBsA25zLWJldGE-/s/135783/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040205/ap_on_el_pr/democrats&cid=694&ncid=716

[curse10]

36. another link

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/dean/articles/2004/02/05/dean_will_exit_race_if_he_does_not_win_wisconsin/

[Cuban_Liberal]

38. Kick to prevent a 3rd post.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

39. Kerry way ahead in Wisconsin

The poll, taken by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center and sponsored by The Capital Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Of the possible candidates mentioned for the White House, John Kerry led, collecting support from 45 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents polled. He also was the Republicans' favorite, with 31 percent.

Wesley Clark, John Edwards and Howard Dean picked up no more than one-third of Kerry's level of support, and others even less. The poll was taken while Joe Lieberman was still in the running (he was preferred by 4 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents), so the numbers may have moved since then. Fifteen percent of Democrats and 23 percent of independents still had not chosen a candidate.

In a separate question inviting respondents to suggest a president, 4 percent said "anybody but Bush."

"Things are still fairly up in the air, people are not terribly anchored," Ferree said. "A lot will depend on what people hear about specific candidates."


http://www.madison.com/captimes_news/67441.php