Could this be Dean's strategy in Wisconsin?

[dansolo]

I think that Wisconsin might be setting up a rope-a-dope. Dean floats out the story of Wisconsin being his last stand, even though he has to know that he is polling terribly there. I wonder if he is trying to coax Kerry into spending more money in Wisconsin to try and finally knock him out of the race. I think that financially Dean is doing better than Kerry, and that Dean may have more money for ads in the Super Tuesday primaries. I think that the reason that people are so desperate for Dean to withdraw is because Kerry is not raising money. Unless Dean's funds completely dry up, he shouldn't drop out before Super Tuesday.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Go Dean Go

I like his message and I hope he stays in the race.

[markus]

2. No, I think he has to win one

The long AP story in my Saturday paper didn't even mention Dean: just Edwards and Clark. That should change with his strong second in Washington yesterday, but much depends on Wisconsin.

I haven't given up yet, becuase I believe Dean plays a critical role in the reform of our party and government, either as nominee or as spokesman for that movement.

But he will drop off most people's radar if he doens't become a consistent No. 2.

The danger is, if he establishes himself as the alternative through March, is that he build himself up without doing too much damage to Kerry. He needs to draw a strong contrast without going to heavily on the attack.

Kerry people are free to suggest that we shut up and withdraw now, as many (foolish) Dean supporters did, based on my last statement. Frankly, Kerry hasn't been given much serious scrutiny by the media yet. The precipitous withdrawal of the opposition will do your candidate much harm if he is the nominee.

[blm]

8. Ever hear of Richard Scaife? He already tried to get Kerry

with a massive research and information drop on him years ago. That was the same model used against Clinton.

The GOP was trying to bring Kerry down throughout the years he was exposing Reagan and Bush administrations in BCCI and IranContra. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

They even had an intense FBI search of all Kerry's records and moves. Nothing. They planted a few stories here and there, but nothing stuck.

[SadEagle]

11. Ehm, the "win" stuff is nonsense with proportional allocation.

Of course, no-one realizes that, and so the truth hardly matters in practice. But consider this: Clark's win in OK gave him about 38% of that states delegates, 15 to be exact. Dean's loss in WA gave him... about 38% of that states delegates, 29 to be exact. Kerry got the same share in SC, despite loosing to Edwards there. The true strength of Kerry's showing is not that he won many states, BTW, it's that he won many of them by a lot,and did well in every single one of them. The bottom line: it's the delegates that count.

[SheilaT]

3. I hope you're right.

What the media has been overlooking is that Dean has more delegates so far than all the rest of the others (not counting Kerry) and can stay in until it becomes mathematically impossible to win.

And yes, Kerry has not had the scrutiny he'll get if he becomes the nominee. He's gotten a free ride from the media so far, and I'm appalled, just appalled that so many see him as the pure and clean knight in shining armor who will save us all. I'm sure he's a good man, but his record, especially that of his twenty years in the senate is NOT the record of a man who stands up against entrenched interests and always does what will most benefit the little guy.

And don't bother to respond with all of Dean's flaws, those of you who don't care for the good doctor, because I've seen them posted all too often. And let me say this, that Dean has always come back against the attacks, has not once flinched when dirt has been thrown at him.

[Johnyawl]

4. Kerry has had more rw dirt thrown at him in his lifetime...

...than Dean can even imagine. The mud slinging - and the media scrutiny - began for Kerry in 1972. Now I like Dean, and would vote for him if he could run a campaign well enough to win, but to proclaim that Kerry has not had the media scrutiny that Dean has is simply untrue.

The first repug to throw dirt at Kerry was Dick Nixon. While Dean has spent his political career in Vermont, happily co-existing with the local republicans, Kerry has had to endure the assaults from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush machines. He has had a couple of nasty fights for that Senate seat, and has proven himself a tough, tenacious campaigner. No one left in this campaign has had a political fight as tough as the one Kerry had against Weld in '96.

I acknowledge that there are many valid reasons for not having Kerry as your first choice; we all have to pick someone we feel best represents our believes, and desires. But the fact is, Kerry is best experienced of the remaining four to take on Carl Rove. And Dean will need the experience of beating a tough competitor like Kerry, if there's to be any hope of him beating bush & rove in the fall.

[dsc]

7. Yeah I remember vividly

all kids of right wing Christians storming Massachusetts in 2000 and calling Kerry a fag lover. I saw images of that every day. No wait, that was Dean.

[blm]

9. How about wingnut threats against Kerry when he advocated for gays serving

openly in the military in 93? Homophobes certainly can be a vicious lot.

[Johnyawl]

13. And what was Dean doing...

...in 1971 when Kerry was organizing the Vietnam Veterans against the War, and Nixon was turning the White House 'plumbers' loose on him?

Was he still skiing in Aspen?

[pezcore64]

14. Well

Id imagine being happy his physical health wasnt very good.

I know Ive met plenty of people who wish they hadn't gone.

Just because Kerry went and wanted to go, doesnt make him any better of a person than someone who got drafted or someone who bowed out over health problems.

If serving in vietnam were such a big deal to people in the democratic party, Clinton would have never became president.

[Johnyawl]

17. If you'll read my post carefully...

...you'll notice I said nothing about Kerry's service in Vietnam.

The point was that Kerry was fighting the rw in this country while Dean was doing....what? Kerry has been smeared, and attacked by the republicans for 33 years, and he's survived and beaten them. Dean hasn't had that experience.

And that's why Kerry's winning, and why Kerry's the best man to take on bush in the fall.

[seaglass]

6. The media is looking at the fact that Dean is in a

downward trajectory while Clark and Edwards are not. Clark and Edwards have both won a state, Dean has not.

If Dean wins a state then the story will change.

[joshcryer]

10. Dean in a downard trajectory? I thought his numbers got better...

Weird, we must be seeing two different realities.

[poskonig]

5. If Kerry loses Tenn and/or Virginia,

Kerry's "electability" will be at issue and Wisconsin will be open to attack. The idea is to get momentum and get negative questions asked about Kerry for two weeks before superTuesday.

[Nicholas_J]

12. Kerry is collecting money at an enormous rate

He now has more than enough money to outlast all of the other campaigns, and Dean has just lost one of the unions who were spending 1.4 million a month campaigning for him. And Ted Kennedy is talking to that unions about supporting Kerry. Expect it relatively soon.

As the frontrunner, Kerry is picking up enormous sums of money, not on the Internet. And besided that now, the crosover just occured recently and Kerry's Internet site is getting more hits than Deans.

When Kerry lent himelf money, his campaign wasnt broke. Far from it, H wanted to keep his cash on hand someplace within five million dollars of Deans. Given that the Dean camapign poorly spend 40 million dollars, and that Dean was almost out of money after New Hampsire and Iowa, plus the fact that Kerry still had a good deal of money left after those two states and as fron runner has been raking it in. I think it is Dean who is a bit behind in the funding area, and likely owes money for the items that are not billed up front, but that wait until the campigns are over to bill. Whem you look at Joe Trippi's salary alone (200,000 a month) Trippi ate up around five percent of all of Deans money. Buy a lot of TV time with that.

THe mnedia is reporting just about the opposite, that right now all Kerry really needs to do is to wait for the other candidates to run out of money,

[phunktify]

15. You are wrong I think

First off, Kerry si raising tons of money. That's why he is advertising and travelling to all the voting states. He's raised close to $5 mil online since Iowa and several mil more offline. He's running TV ads and GOTV and all the rest. Kerry, unless pigs grow wings, has got this thing in the bad.

[demolition angel]

18. If Kerry has raised $5 million, why does his web site say $1.7?

I'd like to know where you get your information about Kerry's fundraising.

According to johnkerry.com, he has raised $1,720,186 since January 27th.

[rumguy]

16. I doubt it...eom