Rise Again
Howard Dean’s first “major” gaffe may have lost him a few supporters, but has given me another reason to like him. His crime: announcing “I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.” Sure, it was a clumsy way to make a point, as he later said. But the doctor spotlighted a critical problem for the Democratic Party. It ain’t that popular in the South. And many state-level Democrats are Blue Dogs and are at risk of switching parties. They feel abandoned by the national leadership. From a strategic perspective, it is ludicrous for Democrats to ignore Southerners. Here’s a little secret: it will be impossible for a Democrat to become the next president without carrying part of the South. So here Howard Dean, who has attracted a young, passionate following (who tend to be educated, urban, etc.), has the balls to say that ideologically impure yahoos should come back to the Democratic Party. Let’s hope this faux pas results in a giant head-slap for the other candidates that they must do a better job of erasing any beliefs that they are a party only for “coastal elites.”
This blog entry is dedicated to the memory of NASCAR driver, Dale “3″ Earnhardt.