Reply #53: On paper, Clark is a better bet to win than Dean

[many a good man]

But American voters are really hard to figure out. The best campaign on paper doesn't necessarily mean it will win. I think Clark would win most easily, whereas it will be a hard battle with any other candidate. But we are ready for good battle!

Clark is absolutely brilliant in foreign policy, imho. Unfortunately I find him less than inspiring on domestic policy. His stated policy positions aren't too bad, but I get the impression he views domestic policy too abstractly. I don't see that he has a strong enough grip on the nitty gritty problems facing Americans that someone who came up through system (local, state government) might have.

For that reason I'm leaning toward HD. I've watched a lot of his town hall meetings and other appearances and he blows me away with how "in-touch" he is with the full range of problems we face, from small to big. And he has ideas on how to work on all of them. Dean knows how to govern. He's pragmatic and knows what it takes to get results. Domestically, I see Clark steering us back in the right direction, but not really able to start solving our problems.

I view Dean the same way on foreign policy. He has good instincts and will put us back on the right path internationally. But he'll need really good advisors if he hopes to be successful.

My dream would be a combination of the two candidates. I would consider Kerry a satisfactory hybrid of the two, but he has shown he can't run a campaign to save his life. OTOH, I'm still of the impression that this race is still wide open. Three months from now it may still be close and this thing might go to the convention. We all have to band together no matter who wins and defeat Bush* as soundly as possible.