The race for the Democratic nomination is becoming less and less of a race every day, as it should. Howard Dean continues to prove to all those that didn't think he would be a good candidate that he is not a good candidate, he is a great candidate. Who would have thought in the Summer that Howard Dean would be beating John Kerry in Kerry's home state of Massachusetts? Well, according to the Boston Globe a new poll "shows Dean getting 27 percent of the 400 likely Democratic primary voters, with Kerry receiving 24 percent."
When I first started getting involved in this race a few months ago Dean was moving up in the polls, but people were generally hesitant to take him seriously. However, he has proven to me, and to thousands of other voters, that his campaign is by far the most organized, his message is the one that most resonates with the electorate, and the combination of organization and message helps to make it the most financially successful. Therefore, I agree with Ted Rall from Yahoo! News:
"Howard Dean has the best chance to beat Bush.Posted by Paul Hina at November 23, 2003 11:39 PM
"Brilliant, aggressive and moneyed (that's Dean Witter to you, pal), Dr. Dean has a corner on the single most important issue to Americans: health care. His politics are surprisingly centrist, in both the refreshing sense (he's pro-Second Amendment and he came out for class-, rather than race-based affirmative action) and in the disappointing, Clintonian sense (he opposed invading Iraq, but not Afghanistan). He's got traditional Democratic constituents (he just stole the biggest AFL-CIO union's endorsement away from Gephardt) and fresh new ones (twentysomething bloggers have mailed him $25 million in crisp twenties).
"Dean's got lots more going for him, not the least of which is running as an insurgent small-state governor disliked by his own party's top leaders (the ex-governor thing casts him as even more of an outsider). Polls show Dean leading his nearest rival, John Kerry, 33 percent to 19 percent in the crucial New Hampshire primary. Coming out early and hard against the war in Iraq wins him major props with the liberal base and makes him seem ahead-of-the-curve to everyone else. Most importantly, he's his own man. 'He doesn't really owe his current standing to any of them, not to labor, not to minority groups, not environmental organizations, so he'll have more leeway as a nominee to follow his own course,' says Darrel West, a political science professor at Cornell.
"But the rubber would really tear up the road at the presidential debates, where Dean's dry, sardonic Long Island wit would devastate the hapless Bush--and charm television viewers. His natural pugnacity could help Dems deal more aggressively than usual with the nasty attack ads they can expect in the campaign ahead. Frankly, the other Democratic contenders don't have what it takes to stand up to Karl Rove's brutal war."