If every pundit & every candidate besides Clark keeps attacking Dean,

[stickdog]

will Clark be able to parlay his classier style of underdog campaigning to vault into the Democratic nomination?

Clark's fundraising totals should give him a boost going into the new year, and any Clark primary victory will be hyped to all get out to add suspense & uncertainty to the nomination battle.

IMHO, the plan was for Lieberman to be the stalking horse for Kerry. Now Kerry has been reduced to being the stalking horse for Clark. Somehow I doubt that Kerry accepted this strategy happily.

Could a Clark/Kerry ticket be the upshot of all this? I must admit that, electorally speaking, that ticket seems to have some potential.

Kerry would crucify Cheney, and Clark is a much smarter and more elegant figurehead than Bush.

[TexasPatriot]

1. i'm not supposed to tell you

but they're all in it to force a brokered convention...
they're all stalking horses for Ben Affleck. I wasn't supposed to say, but no one reads this board but us and Limbaugh anyway.

[dave29]

2. DAMN YOU AFFLECK!!

He has been my nemesis for so long now

[stickdog]

3. Nah, Affleck's too old.

Are you sure you don't mean John Edwards?

A lot of people get them confused.

[BeyondGeography]

4. ex-Kerry now Clark

I absolutely love Kerry, and Clark/Kerry has undeniable power. My pragmatic side says go with Gephardt or someone who brings potential in a battleground state. Plus Mass. has a Republican governor now and his departure costs us a Senate seat...

Anyway, Clark doesn't have to attack because his personal story is so compelling. People are showing up to see the man as much as to hear the speech. Plus he's genuinely interested in a substantive discussion; attack politics are intellectually boring to him. And there are other reasons Clark can take the high ground.

This isn't a swipe at Kerry/Gephardt, BTW. Their problem is they've spent a lifetime in politics, are defined by their votes and by Dean's bullshit attacks on them. So Kerry and Gephardt have to fight back, which the Deanie's say makes them "negative," and "desperate." Howard hasn't come up with a way to make Clark play defense, so he doesn't have to.

[stickdog]

5. I don't disagree strongly with anything you said.

When you get down to it, elections are just a lot of politics.

[pennylane100]

6. The attacks will not deter Dean Supporters.

I think it will have the same effect as when Tim Russert interviewed him on Meet The Press, I have just doubled my usual contribution to the campaign to show my continued support and I hope other Dean supporters will do the same.

I usually do not quote morons but in this case "bring it on" Dean can use the extra cash.