Dean Internet Craze!

[MattK]

I just kinda wanted to know who (If any) of you have gotten swept up in the Howard Dean for President campain.

Most of his support was built using the web... through sites like meet-up.com

I think its kinda cool

Digital Dean -Article

[srjjs]

I can't vote yet, but if i agree with Dean on a great deal of issues, and would be happy with him as president.
However, I still think Gephardt has a greater chance of winning and more mainstream support, so I suppose he'll be the Democratic candidate next year.

[Kristina]

I was hesitant to post in this thread since political threads usually go awry here but I think as long as bipatisan bashing doesn't occur, then it should be fine. It's a good way to look at different campaign styles and strategies.

I for one haven't gotten "swept up" by Dean but I will support him if he gets the primary bid. I think the internet ideas of his online blog and raising a great deal of his money online are innovative and are the new direction of campaigning; and he is also doing a good job of balancing that with traditional style campaigning. Seeing as how people further from the center tend to vote in primary elections, I think Dean has the best shot of getting the bid. He'll just have to work on toning himself down (I saw him speak and he can come off as a little brash) to attract that swing voters in Nov. 2004.

I myself am still a Kerry girl. He uses meet-up.com too but is more traditional, probably since he's more of a political insider. I think it's funny how people thought he was going to be too liberal like his Massachussets counterpart Dukakis who ran in 1988 but now Dean makes Kerry look mainstream. This could either work for or against him. I still like him and I think if he survives the primary, he has a good shot at rivaling Bush especially with his military background. His "one-up" on Dean is working in the senate, he's more familiar with domestic and international issues. Oh, and he totally rendered me speechless when I met him...such presidential poise.

Gephardt in my opinion, doesn't really have a shot. Sad as it is, he just can't raise money like Dean or Kerry, which plays a substantial role in surviving in the campaign. He hasn't found a way to stand out, as most people don't even know him. The people who do however, remember that he couldn't keep the Democratic majority in congress.

Lieberman too conservative to survive the primaries, enough said. It's a shame though since he's really good on defense where the Democrats are weak and he's so charismatic.

Edwards very charismatic as well and would win a lot of points from the South. Too inexperienced though, he'll have better chances in 2008 or 2012.

Graham- who? Doesn't stand out in the pack of 9 at all. He could win the swing state of Florida but that's about it.

Moseley-Braun, Sharpton, Kucinich- Each brings unique ideas and spirited personalities to the mix but realistically? No shot. They are using more grassroots techniques which is cool but they haven't established themselves as serious candidates because they're too liberal.

[MattK]

Originally posted by Kristina
I was hesitant to post in this thread since political threads usually go awry here but I think as long as bipatisan bashing doesn't occur, then it should be fine. It's a good way to look at different campaign styles and strategies.

Yes I agree, guys lets not get this out of control.

BTW good analysis Kristina

[Kristina]

Originally Posted by Kristina

He'll just have to work on toning himself down (I saw him speak and he can come off as a little brash)

Wow, how true did that statement turn out to be?

I know it's build season and everyone's busy with that; however for those of you who might interested in politics like I am, we all know there's another season: primaries. Looking back at my "predictions" and how things are unfolding right now has been pretty interesting. As I presumed, Graham and Gephardt didn't have enough to set them apart and now they're both gone; and Lieberman's pretty much out of it as well.

And just as everyone counted Kerry out, I can say that I've been with him since the beginning and not jumping on the bandwagon since he won Iowa.

[David Kelly]

Originally Posted by MattK

I just kinda wanted to know who (If any) of you have gotten swept up in the Howard Dean for President campain.

Most of his support was built using the web... through sites like meet-up.com

I think its kinda cool

Digital Dean -Article

Yeah, ive been getting into the howard dean internet craze. Here are a couple of my favorite clips he has out.

Campains based on hatred and anger will not win anybody the title of being the President of the United States. Thank God.

[srjjs]

Originally Posted by srjjs

However, I still think Gephardt has a greater chance of winning and more mainstream support, so I suppose he'll be the Democratic candidate next year.

And how false was this? Oh well, politics can be odd at times.

I still don't like Kerry too much. Seeing as Kucinich still appears to have no chance of getting out of single digits, and Dean's chances pretty much evaporated along with his self control after the Iowa caucuses ("We're going to New Hampshire! And we're going to......AND WE'RE GOING TO TAKE BACK THE WHITE HOUSE! AAH!"), Clark the Republican is pretty much the only one left for me to support. So sad.

[maxgebhardt]

Originally Posted by srjjs

And how false was this? Oh well, politics can be odd at times.

I still don't like Kerry too much. Seeing as Kucinich still appears to have no chance of getting out of single digits, and Dean's chances pretty much evaporated along with his self control after the Iowa caucuses ("We're going to New Hampshire! And we're going to......AND WE'RE GOING TO TAKE BACK THE WHITE HOUSE! AAH!"), Clark the Republican is pretty much the only one left for me to support. So sad.

that was blown so out of proportion its crazy. firstly his audience was his campaign workers, and it was more like a high school football pep talk. they LOST and he needed to raise spirits. pesonally I think he'd be an excelent canadate to run against bush.

[MattK]

Originally Posted by maxgebhardt

that was blown so out of proportion its crazy. firstly his audience was his campaign workers, and it was more like a high school football pep talk. they LOST and he needed to raise spirits. pesonally I think he'd be an excelent canadate to run against bush.

EXACTLY!
But its a good story for the media so they decide to play it and make fun of him.

[maxgebhardt]

I think its just a slow news time, whwhat we need is a real story, like lfe on mars or something, so that the elction coverage is on the election issues and not on someone's over-the-top speach...

[srjjs]

I'll agree that most of the time, Dean's negative portrayal in the media has been a bit overdone, but I think that expecting the president to be able to maintain his composure is reasonable. If this is how badly he reacts when he gets 3rd place in an election, what would he do in the case of something like a terrorist attack?

[MattK]

Originally Posted by srjjs

I'll agree that most of the time, Dean's negative portrayal in the media has been a bit overdone, but I think that expecting the president to be able to maintain his composure is reasonable. If this is how badly he reacts when he gets 3rd place in an election, what would he do in the case of something like a terrorist attack?

He was giving a pep-talk, he wasnt taking out his anger... He knew he wasnt going to do well in there.

[Ryan Dognaux]

I for one think the Howard Dean pep-talk was just scary/hillarious. Maybe he needs to practice a little bit on his rallying techniques because it just scared me I would've been out the door and running to some other democratic candidate if I was a Dean supporter at that point- Most likely Kerry, but since I'm not a fan of any of the candidates I'll just keep my mouth shut from now on