Dean’s success has to be at least partially responsible for the new fire in the bellies of all the Democratic candidates at last night’s debate. No more pussy-footing around W’s “miserable failure” (Gephardt’s phrase) as a president.

Who “won”? How the hell would I know? I thought Gore absolutely trampled W in their debates, and I couldn’t imagine anyone voting for Reagan after the Mondale debates. That said, I thought Dean did well but didn’t stand out as much as he should, in part because so many of the Democrats now sound like him. Gephardt’s passion helped counteract the nebbishness that comes from spending a lifetime in the House (and from looking like the adult version of the Pillsbury Doughboy). Kerry has a great voice, but I thought failed to make himself as interesting as his hair. I love Carol Moseley Braun and wish that she weren’t doomed by race, gender and political position; also, she was a weak senator. Jonathan Edwards seemed a very credible vice presidential candidate. Lieberman was the token Republican at the debate. As for Dennis Kucinich: Embarrassing, hello?

Neither Al Sharpton nor Bob Graham showed up, although Graham sent his body.

Halley writes about On Point, a talk show syndicated on NPR stations that last night had a round table discussion with experts about the Democratic candidates. She applauds Eli who called in and contradicted the pundits’ assessment of Dean as a left-wing candidate.

I was listening also and felt the same way. If I hadn’t been in a car, I was tempted to call in and say:

You media pundits have already fallen for the trap: Karl Rove said that the Republicans want to run against Dean because he is the most liberal candidate, and you believed him. Most liberal?? Here are some of Dean’s positions:

– Backed the first Gulf War and the invasion of Afghanistan

– Is supported by the NRA (!) because he thinks gun legislation generally is a state issue (although he backs the Brady Bill and the ban on assault rifles)

– Believes in a balanced budget

– Says we have to finish the job in Iraq, albeit by internationalizing it

How the hell does this make him more liberal than he rest of the Democrats in the race?

I’m a classic, kneejerk, bleeding-heart liberal. Dean is much harder to categorize. It’s the media’s job to get past the competitive labeling. But you know what? Maybe we can no longer afford to assume it’s the media’s job. Maybe now it’s our job as bloggers and citizens.

Halley also points out this surprising snippet from Andrew Sullivan:

BIG GOVERNMENT BUSH: More evidence of the runaway federal government under Bush. The sheer profligacy of this administration continues to astound. If you’re a fiscal conservative, Howard Dean is beginning to look attractive.

[Damn, I just saw that Halley linked to my Springsteen entry. And I’m linking to her. So now it’ll look like tit-for-tat linking! Honest, it wasn’t.]

John Edwards has started a blog. It’s a little boring so far, but a posting by Nick Baldick shows promise. And there is a strong and welcome emphasis on reader comments.

The Dean blog continues to get lots and lots of unfiltered comments, running open threads quite regularly. The first open thread got 287 comments, so they posted a new one and then another. A quick scan (and the fact that there’s no good way for humans to scan 800 msgs — time to move to a more slashdotty comments capability) shows that although the vast majority of the comments come from “Deaniacs,” the conversation frequently gets pretty frank.

You can see Gephardt’s first TV ads here.

Categories: Uncategorized dw