The Howard Dean Phenomenon

[Larkspur]

http://www.collegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/24/403aefdc2b5b0

<SNIP>
...we have heard about no candidate more than Howard Dean. Though his presidency bid is now officially over, Dean's campaign continues to inspire a great deal of debate and discussion. The certified doctor and former Vermont governor largely defined the race until his Iowa defeat and even now he is a controversial figure.

Clearly, there was something special about the Dean campaign. Just what was it that enabled this man to burst from obscurity to the head of the Democratic pack, and what was the reason for his equally unexpected downfall and eventual resignation?

First, Dean was able to utilize technology for his campaign's benefit effectively as any candidate in recent years. Here, of course, the medium was the Internet. Dean may be remembered as the first major presidential candidate to make truly effective use of the Internet as a campaigning tool. In this sense, Dean both reflects the trends of the time and has set something of a precedent for candidates in the future.

Second, Dean was able to effectively shake up the Democratic Party in a way that will undoubtedly be remembered by party heads. Although candidates such as Sharpton or Dennis Kucinich were far more liberal than Dean, these candidates never presented a significant threat of winning the race. Dean did. Not only did his policies openly contradict those of the very moderate Democratic National Committee, but Dean also made it explicitly clear that he had no intention of falling into the tired stances of the DNC.
<SNIP>

Below sums up nicely what affect I think the Dean campaign will have on American politics in the future, especially Democratic ones.
Some people might learn from all of this that candidates, to be successful, must relegate themselves to mediocrity, but this is overly pessimistic. The more politicians follow the example of Howard Dean, the more Americans will learn to appreciate candidates who stand behind what they say and who are more concerned with being honest than with pleasing voters. If this happens, then Dean will likely be remembered as the man who sparked this new approach. If not, it is all the worse for the state of American politics.

[On the Road]

1. Nice

I'm glad his candidacy is being remembered this way.

[sangh0]

2. I prefer to remember it

the campaign that inspired votes to vote for Kerry

[Zinnola]

6. Yeah... comments like those

just make me want to stay home and watch Kerry get pounced by Rove. Keep it up, more pissed off Dean supporters will do the same.

[mitchum]

8. If you do that, Kerry won't be the only one getting pounced by Rove...

but you can do whatever you like

[GumboYaYa]

9. You catch more flies with honey...

It's a fact of life. Kerry and his supporters can blunder through the process and think everyone will vote for them because of how bad Bush is. Hopefully they will not alienate so many people that Bush wins, but that is certainly a risk. It certainly gives me no comfort to see people still going out of their way to criticize Dean and his supporters. You can't change human nature.

[mitchum]

10. But apparently it's all right for Dean supporters to attack Kerry?

Okay, whatever.
What kind of pathetic twits would be influenced by anonymous posters on a message board anyway?

[Dookus]

12. exactly

the attacks against Clark, and now Kerry by a subset of Dean supporters have been vicious and non-stop, but try a little turnabout and we get the chorus of waah-waah's demanding we be nice to them or they'll stay home in November.

Stay home. Who cares? There's a handful of them, and anybody who decides their vote based on what strangers say on an anonmymous corner of the internet probably shouldn't be voting anyway.

[sangh0]

13. "Please Mr McAulifee. Tell them to stop attacking me. Waaaah!"

You won't hear me begging for protection

[GumboYaYa]

14. Yeah, you're right...DU is a ridiculously small microcosm of

the real world and doesn't matter at all in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes I react to things on here and then a few minutes later can't believe I even cared.

The bottom line is that people like you and I have far more in common. In the real world we would probably get along great together. Differences get amplified beyond recognition around here.

Comparing attacks of Kerry to attacks of Dean at this point is apples and oranges.

[mitchum]

16. You're right...

about commonalities. You have always been one of my favorite posters on this board. Your support of Dean never changed that opinion (I made up my mind about him away from the din of DU):)

[sangh0]

11. What an appropriate analogy

They both are attrated to piles of shit and buzz annoyingly around them

[SeattleRob]

3. Great Post

:kick:

[buckeye1]

4. What a loser.

Where did the 40 million go? It could be fraud,but the suckers love it. Reminds me of Republicans.

[GumboYaYa]

5. Pot meet kettle.....

[kaitykaity]

17. It's always amazes me when people have to pop

in to a pro-candidate thread and ruin the mood of everybody in it. Thanks so much, from the bottom of my heart, for being such a nice person.

<sarcasm off/>

(This is one of those times when I really hate the rule against personal attacks, because I really want to call this person a whole lot of nasty names.)

[Anwen]

19. Ha, I know what you mean.

Darn that rule!!!!!!! }(

[kaitykaity]

20. I guess it's good, because I have to be creative to get my

point across and not get the post deleted. And hey, I get to exercise my brain at the same time. Cool.

:hi:

[Anwen]

7. Great read!

Thank you for posting this :-)

[wabeewoman]

15. Great. Thanks

for posting. Would have been more enjoyable without the annoying spoiler flies but oh, well....

[John_H]

18. Even though Dean ran away from his record, I think he did what the article

says. But more importantly, he extracted the democratic party's nuts from their abdomens and put them back where they belong!