Dean should start another party or run as an independent

[eyeswideopened]

He have the support of a tremendous number of voters and had created a movement amoung voters. The DLC has not been supportive of him.

[alexwcovington]

1. Good heavens no

He would never consider it. WE CANNOT SPLIT OUR VOTES!

This is coming from a Dean supporter. I feel the pain... but we have to get Bush out of there or it's the end of our democracy...

[Rationality]

2. I dunno

I'm a Dean supporter, but if he was to do something like that and pull enough Democrats with him to ensure another GDub term, what will that do for us all?

If someone else (probably Kerry) takes it, as long as he doesn't run an Evan Bayh for VP it's still better than what we have right now.

[aquart]

9. Welcome to DU to you, too.

How amazing that you would join and immediately propose the one course that would ensure a Bush victory.

I'm impressed by your single-mindedness. Way to go.

[Rationality]

15. Huh?

No, allowing the DLC to continue pushing us toward the center will give the election to Bush. If we didn't put Lieberman in there to agree with half of what Bush was proposing, Ralph Nader wouldn't have been able to take as many votes as he did from us back in 2000, and we wouldn't have had to face the SCOTUS.

[BruinAlum]

31. Who is being single-minded here?

You.

The best way to insure a Bush victory is to run a third party, which is apparently what you prefer if the majority of Democratic voters prefer Kerry.

What Rationality suggested, as do the majority of the other posters in this thread, was that any of the other nominees are still better than what we have now. There's no rational way to deny that.

[aquart]

3. Welcome to DU.

My, but a lot of newbies have been espousing a Dean third party run lately.

Since such a fracturing of the vote would lead to a Republican win, it's hard to imagine why a Democrat would suggest it.

Certainly, Doctor Dean does not suggest it.

Yet, you do.

[eileen from OH]

4. No way

1. He won't do it.
2. A lot of us who support him wouldn't go along with it.
3. If he had that tremendous number or supporters he'd be. .er. . .um. .. uh, winning some primaries.

And I say this as a Dean supporter.

eileen from OH

[MurikanDemocrat]

5. Dean has already said he will support the Democratic nominee

if he doesn't get the nomination.

Dean is not going to run as a 3rd Party candidate.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

6. Okay... two things

First off, he said he would support the nominee whoever it will be. (especially if it's himself of course)

Second, this isn't the election to be splitting votes. While I may not be thrilled with the eventual winner of the nomination, consider this. Would Bush be better? (no, didn't think so)

[not systems]

7. No. The DLC is just a private club not the party.

Dean should not and has said he will not form a Perot style party.

[LibertyorDeath]

8. You may want to open them a little wider.

splitting the vote is a losers game.

[Melodybe]

12. Enjoy four more years of Bush.

Go watch Fox news for a few hours and remember what is at stake in this election.

We are depending on every Democratic vote. Dean knows that, he sees the big picture, why can't you?

[fearnobush]

10. Not in this cycle, don't even be tempted by such lunacy.

Dean is respectable man, above the fray like Jobe. If he should lose, he will fight with the nominee till the end. ABB ABB ABB ABB ABB ABB

[Jim Sagle]

11. He's made it CLEAR he won't do any such thing.

What he should do is set up a non-corporate analog to the DLC, or maybe join an existing one like MoveOn. That would KICK.

[lcordero]

13. Not recommended

"Dean should start another party or run as an independent"

Why start another party when some of the infrastructure is already built in another third party?
Running as an independent isn't any more attractive. He'll lose supporters over that one.

He have the support of a tremendous number of voters and had created a movement amoung voters.

I don't think that it's such a tremendous number if the DLC is willing to shun them.

The DLC has not been supportive of him.

They don't have to be supportive of him. Same way I'm not supportive of them and never will be.

[maggrwaggr]

14. for what, his ego? No, no, no.

terrible terrible idea. he'd go from hero to pariah

[w13rd0]

16. No, the DLC has, to the contrary, been exceptionally..

...SURPRISINGLY hostile to Dean, especially considering their backing of Kerry, who many Kerry supporters on this board claim is more liberal than Kucinich. But a third party bid, no way. DESPITE the open hostility of the DLC, and the covert hostility of some portions of the DNC, Dean has done remarkably well. This isn't over by a long shot.

[eileen_d]

17. I have never seen this claim on DU

Kerry, who many Kerry supporters on this board claim is more liberal than Kucinich

Seriously, please PM me with the name of someone who claimed that and I'll search the archives. I don't believe it.

[DannyRed]

18. NO.

Dean should attempt to gain as many delegates as he can, make himself a power broker, and, at convention, or before, should leverage that block of power chips into....

Forcing Terry McCaulliff OUT, and making Dr. Dean the Chairman of the DNC.

[DrZhivago]

21. that would be awesome

Dean as the head of the DNC would definitely bring about some change, more even than if he was president, how could we go about that?
We would have the perfect candidate if we could morph Kerry's stature, Edwards looks, Clarks charisma, Kucinchs ideas and Dean's balls, but I'll settle for Dean's balls in the DNC, and Kerry in the White House.

[Shanty Oilish]

19. They don't seem to be voting for him in tremendous numbers

even now. How would a 3rd party run bring them out?

[dkf]

20. I think Dean and McCain should join up to form a 3rd party

that is centrist, fiscally responsible, socially liberal and wants to clean up government.

Pick a cabinet right now:

Powell SOS
Hagel SOD
Gephardt SOL
Edwards AG
Spitzer SEC
Gore FCC

[DannyRed]

22. Your sentiment

while laudible, is extremely naive.

Sorry.

McCain is a rightwing ratf*ck with a good dog and pony show, who toes the line when the time comes (can YOU say WMD intel COVERUP?)

Powell is a lying sack of shit, who covered for My Lai in 'nam, and lied for his bosses at the UN.

Hagel is a lunatic.

Gephardt is a politically calculating coward who has changed his positions on NEARLY EVERYTHING when the times demanded it.

Edwards? Ok, sure.

Spitzer? Ok, sure.

Gore? Ok Sure.

[Rationality]

24. CHUCH HAGEL!?!?!

ACK!

[charlie]

28. ehhhh...

Powell cuts a figure of depth and sobriety, but it's primarily that ability to project a reassuring image that makes him useful to Bushco. It's clear that he's willing to suffer any fall, pretzel himself into any shape, repress any misgivings he might have about the tasks given him, to satisfy his bosses. Powell's a soulless shell.

As for Hagel... Hagel has made some encouraging noises in the past, like he was gonna blow the lid off of the Bushites. But have you heard anything from him since? You won't. He's one of the owners -- not investor but owner -- of one of the preferred electronic voting systems in the country. A system that, coincidentally, was used in his 1996 and 2002 runs for the senate. Both of which he won. Of course.

[tkmorris]

30. Powell? Gephart?

Ok maybe Gep but Powell? You've lost your mind.

[moondust]

23. Forget it.

Howard Dean is going to do whatever he can to get the Dem nominee elected in November. I heard him say it again, with conviction, just a day or two ago.

[Guava Jelly]

25. no third partys

they tend to elect republicans by default

[BruinAlum]

26. Why not just save yourself all that trouble and just vote for Bush

[JNelson6563]

27. Um, no he shouldn't

But we, his supporters, would be utter fools not to carry on where he is likely leaving off.

Julie

[wyldwolf]

29. obviously (so far) not a lot of voters support him, either.

Look. I'm tired of this "third party" shit from some Dean people. Please just go ahead and do it and put us all out of our misery.

I was getting used to worrying about my job and just wouldn't know how to react with job security if a dem won in November. With your third party, you could keep me in my familiar frame of mind.

[maddezmom]

32. Dean has repeatly said he will do everything he can for the Dems ..

to beat bush* whether or not he gets the nod, as recent as yesterday on CNN with Wolf.

[JCMach1]

33. Absolutely not... Think Reagan in 1976

Sometimes it takes more than one cycle to clean house.

[dusty64]

34. I've supported Dean

since the beginning and I sincerely hope he wouldn't do such a thing. He has and will continue to make a difference, change is just going to be much harder than I anticipated.

[arwalden]

35. Oh Good Grief!

[Skinner]

36. Dean has said repeatedly that he will support the nominee.

This is flame bait.