The New Stop-Dean Candidate

All year, Howard Dean has been gaining ground in the Democratic presidential race. And all year, Democratic centrists have been scrambling for a candidate to stop him. He's too liberal, they said. He's soft on defense, a Vermont lefty, an evangelist for expansive programs. To stop him, they turned to Joe Lieberman, then John Kerry, then Wes Clark. But the more Dean's rivals expose his record, the more I suspect that the centrist who's going to spare Democrats this left-wing nightmare isn't any of these guys. It's Howard Dean.

Months ago, when the candidates squared off at a Children's Defense Fund forum, moderator Judy Woodruff tried to embarrass Dean by pointing out …

For a while, I worried that Dean was a protectionist. Then Gephardt relieved me of that impression, pointing out …

Now the big scandal is Dean's fiscal responsibility. Gephardt's opposition researchers …

Worse, according to Gephardt, Dean actually proposed to reform federal programs he thought weren't working. In 1992, Dean accused …

But Dean's most despicable heresy in the 1990s, it turns out, was his defiance of …

You can imagine how angry I am, as a swing voter, to find out these horrible things about Dean. My hands are trembling so violently, I can barely write his name on the check.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2089813

Well, it's going to slap back against the candidates.

And he will be just fine. Just keep the focus on Dean and listen to his speeches carefully. William Saletan should not be angry whatsoever. He should review all of the candidates smears and look at Dean's public record, and see that they are dead wrong on most of the issues.

Hawkeye-X

Will his opposition endorse Bush? They sometimes seem so filled with anger towards Dean. Will they say, "I'm voting for him but I will not campaign for him?" How will they make the journey from "He is Newt Gingrich/McGovern" to "This is the man that is going to bring about a new era in American politics where the rich and the right don't rule America?" That will be amazing.

While Dean has "attacked" others, it has not been of the level of nastyness Gephart has directed at Dean.

I remember that after Al Gore gave his speech, Bill Bradly stood up and said of Gore "I endorse him, and I'll work hard for him." I was very impressed by the class he demonstrated with his remarks.
With this primary getting this ugly how are these candidates going to credibly say anything similar?

And I was a big Bradley supporter. When people said they would list him as a write-in, he said it was foolish and that he was voting for AG.

Does he support all of this, and if so, why doesn't he just say so? Do these represent the best traditions of the Democratic Party???

"move the retirement age to 70" and "reduce the Medicare growth rate from 10% to 7%, or less if possible."
"requiring some Medicare recipients to pay a greater share of the cost of their medical services."
"unfair" to take Social Security and Medicare "off the table when it comes time for budget cuts,"
"said the federal government should follow a nonpartisan commission's recommendations to reduce the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment."

And did he actually meet with Gingrich in 1995? That's alot more than I ever heard him admit.

In 1995, he met with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and expressed interest in Gingrich's proposal to limit the growth of Medicaid "because would free the states from many federal mandates, allowing them the freedom to better manage health care costs."

Dean, Clark and Kerry, and in that order. It could change, sure, but the Democrats I talk to---and I talk to LOTS all over the state--- never mention anyone else except as an "Oh, yeah, I forgot Candidate X is running."