Electable

Or, this again?

So, once more, the conventional wisdom about Howard Dean is that he may be a heck of a candidate, but he’s not electable. Used to be electable in the can’t-win-the-nomination sense, but that’s fallen by the way side. Now it’s the general election that he can’t possibly win. John Judis, Ruy Teixeira, the DLC, Karl Rove nobody thinks Dean would have a Peace Pop’s chance against the hot, hot, hot G. W. Bush.

I think this is nonsense, for many reasons. But what I really want to know is, if the one guy who is attracting crowds of thousands, raising the most money, outmaneuvering his opponents, and dominating the debate isn’t electable, who is?

Kerry? He’s just as liberal as Dean: he’s waffled over to Dean’s side on the war, he supports gay rights too, and the press already hates him enough to make up stories about how much he pays for haircuts.

Gephardt? Bob Dole.

Edwards? Losing to Bush in his home state, by double digits. Hasn’t even finished a single Senate term. Won’t commit to running for President instead of a second Senate term. Can’t even buy good press anymore, and also doesn’t have the money to buy it with.

Lieberman? I say this more in sadness than in anger, but it is difficult to win when your own party hates you.

Graham? Notebooks.

Kucinich? Ohhh-say can you see

Sharpton? Tawana Brawley.

Moseley Braun? Is she still running?

Clark? Biden? Wake me up when they get into the race.

Seriously, guys, if Dean can’t win, can anyone?

Filed under: politics/2004