Talking Points on Dean

Josh
Marshall over at Talking
Points went up to New Hampshire today
to see how the Dean Team is taking their setback. For the next week the
three ring political circus which our Presidential primary process has
become will be at perhaps its quadrennial high point, as the risen strive
to stay aloft, the fallen desperately scramble for redemption and resurrection,
and the also-rans become increasingly unhinged as they seek an exposed,
high and conductive spot to wait for a lightning bolt from the blue.

Isn’t it more than somewhat ridiculous that such an important, embryonic
stage of the political process in the strongest and
most
sophisticated
nation in the world is dependent on a tiny, unrepresentative sliver of
the national demographic? It is utterly conceivable to the Dowbrigade
that a deserving, potentially winning candidate on a national scale might
possible fly over, or under, or around the radar screen in Iowa and New
Hampshire and never reach the latter stages of the campaign. Such a candidate,
perhaps even The
One (for a true internet-based constituency would certainly
concentrate
its
appeal,
at
least in the
early stages, in the wired centers far from the fields of these early
events) would not stand a chance.

The one redeeming feature we can see in the current set-up is that we
get to see these guys in action; under stress, working 19 hour days,
surrounded by shrieking aides, pollsters, media experts, internet advisors,
money raisers and local ward heelers, and constantly pursued by a howling
pack of mad-dog press with a taste for blood and the scent of fear. To
see, as Josh puts it, how they "take a punch".  Anyway,
here’s the story…

This was the event I was most interested in seeing today. I wanted
to see if Dean — and just as much his supporters — could take
a punch.
Last night was one helluva punch.

Can he and his supporters maintain their energy and organization? Will
they lose morale? The flip side of bringing in new blood is that they
may not have a lot of campaign experience. They may not be able to
keep up
their focus when things get rough. Just think what it was like to keep
working away for Kerry six weeks ago …

footnote: After seeing footage of several Dean appearances in NH today,
including the one Josh was at, it seems obvious that the Doctor’s doctors
have placed him on a heavy regimen of anti-psychotic drugs, maybe Trifluoperazine
or perhaps even Chlorpromazine hydrochloride.  Lets hope that over
the next few days they find the right dosage.

from Talking Points