Reply #8: I would dispute the notion

[Lydia Leftcoast]

that Dean is "close" to Kucinich, Moseley-Braun, or Sharpton in ideology. He is close to them in style, but the substance of his platform is centrist.

In any case, if any of the three drops out before the convention, their delegates, if any, will not be lost. I know that Kucinich will support the eventual Democratic nominee, whoever it is, and I'm sure Moseley-Braun and Sharpton (who has been busy registering Dem voters) will, too.

The value in trying to get delegates for the allegedly "minor" candidates no matter what is to have people committed to real, not stylistic, change in American society, giving input to the party platform.

We haven't even had the Iowa caucuses yet, and still, nearly every day, some Dean supporter starts a thread telling us to forget our deepest convictions and jump on the Dean bandwagon with all the cool kids.

The media talk about the most important presidential election since 1932, the one that will determine whether America continues on its slide into rightwing repression and Third World economics, as if they were handicapping a horse race instead of documenting the ideological struggles in this country.

If you look at recent history, the frontrunner does not always remain the frontrunner. Anything can happen between now and the convention.

To tell people that they must swallow their misgivings and support the media-anointed frontrunner is both arrogant and foolish.