Good Post.

Mr. Neal,

Please don't believe that "Dean's Scream" was the reason you lost him as candidate. As you will remember, Dean lost Iowa becuase he told an old man to "shut up and sit down" at one of the Iowa forums. This is why he lost Iowa.

The reason he lost his national attention was because of the attention the "Dean scream" got. The facts are that he was using a new directional microphone. The one he had previously was multidirectional and picked up crowd noise. He had given the speach many times before, yelling all the way, and it was a non issue because the crowd noise was mixed in. People in the news business know this, but reported it as a meltdown anyway.

The biggest news offenders; CNN and ABC This Week with George Snuffaluffagus (former Clinton aide). It wasn't even about destroying him so much as it was the idea of him.

Yeah, I know about the scream (thanks for reminding us), but the point of that paragraph was, as you note, the media portrayal (destruction) of the candidates.

Also, re. Dean, there was a great documentary, I think by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, who followed the primaries all the way to Kerry's speech at the convention. (She also did one on Bush's first campaign, which is pretty revealing.)

I have mentioned this before, but I was struck by a scene in Iowa where starry-eyed Birkenstock-wearing hipsters were lecturing farmers and old folks in someone's living room about democracy and the issues that should be important to them almost to the point of being condescending. It was a total disconnect.

Imagine our country if the only time we ever heard from candidates were during radio debates. No discussion of hair, or necklines, stature, wives, etc.

Instead we get crap because that's all we're fed.

If Clinton gets the nomination Republicans will walk thru fire to beat her.Plus I think alota voters aint gonna buy this Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton deal.

I've been reading that Democrats,running for House & Senate, are begining to fear the full force of a Roveian Republican turn out if Clinton wins the nomination.As we have learned here in Knox County these folks hold on to power like a pit bull & if a Clinton nomination hurts their chances of re election...good bye Clinton.

Hello,Al.
Polls are finding a paradox,on the one hand,compared to 4 yrs ago many many more voters are paying attention to the race.On the other hand,they are saying the candidates are running to hard to early.

Its a chicken & egg deal.If they weren't running so hard so early would you be paying attention?

The point is the voters are in tune but not committed.
Al can just ease along..keep doing what he's doing.

For Al to win it will be done @ the convention & he will need to pick up delegates along the way.BUT they dont have to be ELECTED delegates...SUPER DELEGATES will do the trick.

Polls begin to show that if Clinton is nominated....its going to kill Democrats running down ballot.She's ahead in the delegate count...but is 150-200 votes shy of nomination.

Keep this in mind,Ted Kennedy's convention strategy was to pass a motion,on the floor,that would allow delegates to vote for any candidate.It didnt work because Carter was in control of of the convention floor & the motion failed.

If Clinton goes to Denver without the votes to control the floor

Tennessee

Madame Chair...The great state of Tennessee...is PROUD to cast all her votes...for our favorite son...the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

AL GORE!!!!

The band plays Rocky Top.

The band plays Rocky Top.

That would be sweet.

If Al's not going to run, I'm about to come out for Edwards. But it's too early yet.

Madame Chair...The great state of Tennessee...is PROUD to cast all her votes...for our favorite son...the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THIS UNITED STATES

AL GORE!!!!

As long as he doesn't bankrupt us by imposing his standards of industry, it sounds better than anything else on the table. His condescending tone is almost insufferable, but he has right on many issues throughout his career. He's the one insider who the "inside" hates.

And that will be the reason the press will eat him. If he is to win, it will be like Deans campaign, through the internet. Which I guess is appropriate, since he created it.

Got a sign on my door
Obama in '08

Ill get off of Obama in a NY second for Al

He was my pick in 'o4, and at this point, he's my pick now.

Hillary has her pros, she's smarter than Bill, but she doesn't have the people skills. You'd have thought she would have picked some up over the last 30-plus years, but they only show up one-on-one. Remember I lived in Arkansas for 20 years where casual conversations with one or both of them could be had fairly easily. I have long believed that if she's the nominee that the Republicans would bring out Rove and everyone else to beat her. And we'd have to hear all that damned Whitewater nonsense again. That would be intolerable. I knew Vince Foster, and sadly know that he did commit suicide.

Anyway, if Al jumps in, I could even become a fan of that awful Rocky Top song.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Are you talking to me or Mr. Neal? Maybe both - put the UT hat on Mr. Fawkes and you got a hell of an avatar.

Either way, sounds pretty universal that folks are longing for debate on the ideas, not so much a debate on the packaging of ideas.., unless the package has "dark sharp eyes".

I almost like the idea of Clinton because I love seeing her at campaign stops/speeches and Bill sitting off to the side looking like he's listening. I miss Bill.

I hope this election sees Democrats voting for the best possible candidate. My feeling from '04 was that the Dems were looking for the candidate that could win as opposed to the candidate that should win. It was "a beat Bush at any cost" sort of feel, and it failed entirely. We got Kerry and he just flat out sucked.

There is a shallow part of me that likes Obama and Clinton for the obvious black guy and woman thing. The idea that we could end eight years of republican born misery by electing a black man and a woman just gives me a fit of giggles whenever I think about it. I wish they would be presidential material, and I'm afraid that neither of them are.

One thing that I'm really tired of, though I'm only in my early-ish thirties, I'm absolutely sick of presidential elections where I feel I waste a vote on principal or I admit defeat and vote for the lesser of two evils.

Mike Gravel in 2008!

"I have long believed that if she's the nominee that the Republicans would bring out Rove and everyone else to beat her. And we'd have to hear all that damned Whitewater nonsense again"

Speaking of Rove, Anderson Cooper put him on the couch Monday;
•The man he thought to be his father was not, Rove learned when he was 19.
•Rove's stepfather was gay.
•Rove's mother committed suicide in 1981.
•College dropout

Calling Dr. Freud. If anybody has a link to the actual video of Anderson Cooper Raw Data on Monday, please post it here.

One thing that I'm really tired of, though I'm only in my early-ish thirties, I'm absolutely sick of presidential elections where I feel I waste a vote on principal or I admit defeat and vote for the lesser of two evils.

I don't miss Bill, but I feel your pain.

Yes, Rachel, I totally agree.

Isn't Kucinich the only one with a true Universal Health Care solution?

Isn't Kucinich the only one with a true Universal Health Care solution?

Pretty much.

Kucinich is the only one who's advocating a single-payer system (although Gravel might be, his speeches tend to be rather opaque).

Edwards has proposed a new publicly-funded system that would at first cover only those people who are currently uninsured, and later on, any employers who want to join it. Essentially, Edwards is proposing to bundle all those folks together in one single bargaining unit or insurance pool. Other than that, his proposals merely tinker around the edges of the existing system, as do all the other candidates.

Most of the proposals would increase insurance availability at least a little bit. Aside from Kucinich, none of them stand a chance of bringing down health care costs in any meaningful way, and none of them stand a chance of covering 100% of the population (which itself would bring down costs).

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Bill Richardson is way too practical and qualified to get enough votes to be elected president.

He has had some horrible gaffes lately, before that I knew of more than one person who was very interested in him.

I almost like the idea of Clinton because I love seeing her at campaign stops/speeches and Bill sitting off to the side looking like he's listening. I miss Bill.

Part of me laughed at this because it is odd to see him in the background. But I think he's listening, so he can do what needs to be done in the background and can help move the campaign forward.

Having been the point person on the political staff of a daily Arkansas newspaper, I can't say that I miss him the way others might, but he is one hell of a politician.
Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

That avatar kind of haunts me...

Can you explain? I don't mind being provocative and hopefully sometimes humorous, but I certainly don't want to come across as haunting.

Carole, have you seen V is for Vendetta?

More importantly the history of Guy Fawkes? I share his belief that it would be nice to start over, but disavow the methods. I believe the pen is mightier than the sword, and hope that our country will find guidance through its written works. "We the People" will again find our voice. In our time, the internet community may become the equivalant to Fawke's gunpowder.

I agree that Kerry sucked as a candidate.

Here's my thing - I don't think the Democrats are blessed with a great, wonderful, perfect candidate this year. I do think they are blessed with several who can and probably will do a good job.

Kerry sucked as a candidate, but Al sucked a lot more IMO. Both would be good presidents, but Al would be better IMO.

I think the '08 front three make better candidates than either Kerry or Al. So for me the candidate characteristics of all of these are inversely proportional to their leadership qualifications. (To put in perspective, all/any on Dem side would be far superior to W the Worst, of course.)

A monkey with a magic eight ball would be better the W.