Political Murder-Suicide Pact

[OnBackground]

Charlie Cook’s National Journal column for today talks about the rising negatives of both Bush and Kerry, the might-have-beens:

Kerry did not so much "win" the Democratic nomination as survive the murder-suicide pact in Iowa between former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri that effectively removed the number one and two contenders, allowing numbers three (Kerry) and four (North Carolina Sen. John Edwards) to move to the top two positions. An interesting parlor game would be to contemplate who would have won the Democratic nomination had Kerry not mortgaged his Beacon Hill townhouse and been the best funded and organized candidate after Dean and Gephardt savaged each other on the Iowa television airwaves.

[meegbear]

1. Link please

[blm]

2. Charlie Cook's a Repub who's playing to aggrieved Dean supporters.

Anything to try to destroy Dem party unity. Too bad some of those new to politics are falling for a tactic employed by the GOP for decades.

[k in IA]

3. I was going to say please give me a break, I have finally made my

peace, moved through the grieving stages and have even given Kerry money. The "what if's" and "could have beens" are too painful. Its too early to start looking back.

[MGKrebs]

4. Dean and Gep might have been caught holding the knives,

but the blades were thrust into their hands by the DLC and sharpened by the media.

I have moved on also.

[Moderator]

5. Locking

No link and not LBN.