The flurry of activity from the Richardson national campaign recently has led me to wonder if the Gov is mining some potentially very productive territory of late. Right now he is, among other things: (1) the only governor in the Dem race, and, hence, the only one with chief-executive experience, (2) the Dem candidate with the clearest anti-Iraq-war position, and (3) a fiscal conservative who knows how to balance budgets without blowing taxes through the roof. Now go back to the '04 race, and think about who that sounds like: Howard Dean.
Yeah, I know, you're thinking, "Uhhhh, what are you doing, Steve, drawing an analogy to a candidate who lost the nomination?" Here's the point: go back to this time in '03, before his message was distorted by the media, and Howard Dean looked pretty damn good. I was a Dean fan back then (long before he was apparently not ready for prime time and acting a little, er, unpresidential after the Iowa caucuses) because Howard Dean was a fiscally conservative, socially-progressive governor who distinguished himself as *the* anti-Iraq-war candidate of '03/'04. Had he not been distorted by the media into the "waaaaaaaay left candidate that can't win in the general election" and had he not let loose with The Scream, he could have been a formidable candidate--a progressive centrist with heavy anti-war cred, electable as all hell in centrist red states which control presidential elections and which fear tax-and-spenders (which he is not). Instead, he got co-opted by his media-driven reputation and his candidacy crashed and burned.
Which brings us to Bill Richardson....
Governor? Check. Fiscal conservative/social progressive? Check.
Is he about to let loose with a Scream? Nope. He never struck me as the type. Will he let his image be co-opted by the media so he suddenly becomes the "too extreme on the left" candidate? Doubtful, especially because he has a much longer record on which to base a proper evaluation of him. Put differently, he's a more known quantity than Dean was back then, and he's unlikely to get painted into a corner, position-wise, by the media as a result. Finally, is his anti-Iraq-war position as attractive as Dean's was, and as distinctive as Dean's was from the other candidates for the nomination? You bet.
"Dean without The Scream." I mean that as a compliment of the highest order. Bill Richardson has all of Howard Dean's '03 positives without any of his '04 negatives. Those who want to win in '08 should take notice.
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5 comments:
Wonderful piece. The analogy is almost too perfect for words.
With your permission I would like to forward a link to the piece onto the campaign. I think it deserves to be put on he main campaign page, or at least get a mention and a link posted.
Please let me know if this would have your approval.
Brian,
Go for it...
Steve
But, please leave off perpetuating that scream thing. Dean's exhortation to his supporters -- from within the room -- was *nothing* like what was played, and replayed, and replayed some more on the news.
I get your point -- it's not about the scream. But please do us a favor and don't participate in perpetuating that unfortunate tale.
Especially since, fwiw, our Gov. also has had his moments when he was neither as quotable or telegenic as we would have liked. So if we want people to rise above *that* -- and we do -- let's not be hypocrites.
I suppose I could have called it "Dean Without the Scream (As Portrayed by the Media"), but it didn't have the same ring.
There's no hypocrisy there. As portrayed by the media, the Scream was far more damaging than any missteps made by BR so far. Dean circa '03 was an incredibly electable candidate. By '04, post the Scream (as portrayed by the media), he wasn't. I see parallels to the '03 Dean in Bill Richardson. And I think he can avoid the '04 problem, media-generated as it may have been. That's all I was ever saying. Sorry if old wounds got opened....
Great post, Steve - beautifully said! I loved your comparison of Dean and Richardson - we have a second opportunity to elect a candidate who has a clear position and a wealth of experience.
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