Boston Globe: Why not Howard Dean? [View All]

How about Howard?
By Joan Vennochi | June 15, 2004

JOHN KERRY wanted Arizona Senator John McCain, a charismatic Republican, as his running mate. It's funny that the man who will be the Democratic presidential nominee is searching for charisma in a running mate, because his party could not stand the idea of Howard Dean, a charismatic Democrat, topping the ticket in November.

snip
Four years later, the provocative Republican was Kerry's first choice for vice president; a provocative Democrat who brought heart, soul, and an energized base to his party's primaries is on the sidelines. Dean had the courage to call Bush on Iraq, the Patriot Act, and No Child Left Behind. The former Vermont governor's passionate rhetoric forced Kerry to challenge these cornerstones of Bush administration policy, which Kerry previously supported with votes in the US Senate.

"You could hear my lines in their speeches." Dean told the AP in a recent interview reflecting on his amazing rise and fall in presidential politics. The rhetorical theft began after his opponents realized the potency of those spoken lines and their ability to galvanize liberal Democrats and indepent voters. Dean wanted to "Take Back America" long before Kerry understood how many voters feel that way, too. By telling audiences "you have the power," he linked voting to change, the first step in taking back the White House. All the anti-Bush sentiment is meaningless if Bush opponents don't take the next step -- actually voting.Kerry moved from stealing Dean's lines to stealing Edwards's riff on "two Americas." Now The New York Times reports that Democratic senators and Senate candidates are pressing Kerry to choose Edwards as his running mate on the theory that he would help them and the party in the South. "Edwards is from the South and speaks Southern, and I think that would be helpful to the candidates in that regard," Senator John B. Breaux of Louisiana told the Times, However, how does "speaking Southern" help Kerry with those independents who liked Dean's style of "speaking McCain" -- in other words, speaking boldly?
complete article:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/06/15/how_about_howard/
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Maybe the Kerry kampaign will wake up, maybe not. Maybe they have victory as their ultimate goal, maybe not.
Kerry's VP choice will demonstrate which one of these is true IMO.