Reply #11: Take a deep breath.

[stopbush]

They can try all they want to tear him down, but Dean is probably going to be the nominee. And if he's the nominee, the DNC and the other hopefuls will get behind him. Why? Because for all their bitching, moaning and pissing, they know that having a little power is better than having no power, and if they don't support Dean and he wins, they're all out of power and, therefore, screwed.

Most Americans aren't even paying attention to the Dem nomination process right now. Lieberman only scores as high as he does on name recognition left over from 2000. Once Dean - or whoever - is nominated, the country will focus on that single candidate. All of the crap being floated now will be as distant a memory to the public as Enron, the Plame scandal...and no WMD. If Dean gets it, the focus will be on the longshot who came from nowhere to beat the odds and his record in Vt vs the bush record. All of this will be distorted, of course, but it will be more easily deflected and answered once the party is united behind the candidate.

This is nothing new for those of us with a longterm memory. Do you recall the 92 campaign when Dems were at each other, with Bob Kerry opining that if Clinton were the nominee he'd be "opened up like a boiled peanut" by repugs over his purported sexcapades?

Yep, Clinton was just as unelectable as Dean back then. The smart money was on the Dem Washington insiders. But when is the last time a sitting Congressman got the Dem nomination, let alone won the presidency? If you said JFK, you're correct. That was 44 years ago. Since Nixon's win, the US public has voted for outsiders in the guise of "former governors." Carter, Reagan, Clinton and bush 2. And who is this year's Dem outsider and former governor? Why, Howard Dean.

Look, the beltway media WANTS a DC insider to get the nominee because those are their guys! They cover them all the time, they're comfortable with their positions and don't have to do any research on them...and they already have established avenues to get insider info and easy-to-pen stories. The last thing they want is an outsider like Dean to come along - it means more work and less fun, especially when a Howard Dean lacks any interest in the lives and thoughts of the beltway pundits.

So take a chill pill, stop worrying about the bitching from the Dem candidates who felt entitled to the '04 nomination (ie: Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt) and get ready to let the dust settle and the smoke clear. There's work to be done, and the hard work begins after the convention.