Wednesday

There are people more qualified than I to talk about the Gore endorsement of Dean’s candidacy. The big question for me, however, is: will Dean’s campaign focus on mobilizing and galvanizing support amongst otherwise disenfranchised “believers” amongst the liberal constituency, or will he, instead, pursue the strategy of attracting swing voters of a variety of hues. The bigger question is: can the election be won on the back of core supporters who believe in a slate of issues in a die-hard manner? What’s interesting is that in talking to a group of young people last week, I kept hearing that they would rather vote for Nader again – because they’d rather vote for someone they believe in. Can Dean mobilize these voters?

And then there is the question of translating rhetoric into policy. Take Dean’s opposition to the War. A friend recently sent me the URL of a website that offers a true cost of the Iraq war. If the numbers therein are true, and if indeed Dean wishes to execute his opposition upon election, how exactly would he do so? Will he just pull out, just like that? Will he cancel the largesse that the US gives companies like Haliburton? Will he re-open tenders for construction so that Russian, German and French companies can bid? Is he willing to make such commitments now? If not, what exactly does his opposition to the War mean?

Comments

[smart aleck, as it were]

the answers to many of the questions posed herein are readily available from the dean website and from the texts of his speeches, so I won't go into that.
I think Dean has pretty convincingly shown that he can mobilize voters, especially looking at his numbers of supporters for whom this is their first act of political activity. Ever.
As for swing voters- the last two election cycles have shown pretty convincingly that if the democratic party will continue to hang onto the center, it will loose to the repugs. every time. Swing voters are created in a situation where there is no real choice, and this election will provide a very clear one. Swing voters are created when the candidates only offer a few differences, and in this one the candidates will be different like night and day. Moreover, those people that actually get out and vote are a lot less likely to be in the "swing" category. Dean is doing exactly the right thing by re-energizing the base, which, in turn, will get the word out to those less politically inclined.
As for nader- and this is coming from a person who proudly displayed a nader for president bumper sticker, any person that will use the argument that this election will be anything like the last one, and therefore vote for nader, is very poorly informed. Dean is as close to nader as electible candidates get (yes, Kucinich would be the best, but alas...)