Whither Howard Dean?

I was never a Deaniac, but I must admit that I feel bad for Dean today. History has shown the candidate with the most money before the first primary always wins the nomination -- until now. And here is a situation where the candidate with the most money didn't even win a primary or caucus. (The only person who is even close to Dean is Phil Gramm in 1996, but Gramm, despite collecting oodles of cash, never was the frontrunner.)

What makes Dean's collapse so mind-boggling is that everyone thought that he had the nomination sewn up. I did, people I spoke to did, Dean must have (hell, he probably was already writing his convention acceptance speech). The White House obviously did, evidenced by the fact that Bush's State of the Union Speech was clearly designed as a retort to the Dean campaign, and once Dean wasn't the nominee, the speech looked pretty bad.

So, just the same way I can't imagine the pain Al Gore must have felt on November 7, 2000, after Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania were called for him, only to have Florida pulled away, I can't imagine how Dean must be feeling. Don't get me wrong -- I've always liked Howard Dean and I think he did the Party a great service by focusing the electorate and inspiring and motivating people when most Democrats were laying down to Bush. I just never thought he would be a good nominee.

God's speed, Dean for America.
- posted by Joshua @ 11:18 AM