Reply #9: Right on

[George_Bonanza]

I really appreciate what Dean has done for the Democrats. He will go down as one of the more influential, or at least popular, Democrats in recent memory. However, in politics, there are winners and losers. Many things contribute to that: personal gaffs, voter unpredictability, "old news" syndrome, and most of all, over-exposure on media. It happened to Al Gore. It happened to Howard Dean. He was simply too great too soon. He was open to the media way too much and the fervent interest in him was running out of steam. Did the media play a role in his downfall? How could it not? But was there a plan to take out Dean specifically, apart from the fact that he was the richest and most popular? No. That's like saying that there was an anti-DLC coalition that engineered Al Gore's downfall. Remember that this was the same media that gave Dean 3 magazine covers when barely anybody knew or cared about the 2004 elections, while they were shut out from the media designated has-been candidates, like John Kerry. Mr. Kerry has earned every bit of press he gets right now. He only had to trigger one of the most shocking upset stories in American politics, and undertake one of the most daring and brilliantly successful campaign strategies in recent memory.