Had Dean been the nominee this year how might the campaign

[WI_DEM]

have been different? What types of strategies might he have employed and what issues would have been at the forefront and do you think it would have made a difference?

I know Iraq would have been issue #1 from the beginning. And his position on Iraq would have been simple for the American people to understand without all the Kerryesque nuances. I think the Democratic convention would have been very different. With Kerry, the convention was all about his past--with an over emphasize on his military background. The result is that the Dems really got no traditional bump from our convention. With Dean, I'm almost certain that while some of it may have been biographical, his major themes would be to take on Bush and his record and Dean's alternatives proposals. I think this would have generated strong convention numbers. I also think the prison scandal and Rummy's role in it would have been a much bigger issue. I don't know why Kerry didn't raise this.

[Cheswick2.0]

1. I think you are right

I don't know what else I could add. There would have been more emphasis on healthcare. There would have been a southern strategy. Howard Dean is a more down to earth kind of guy. He wasn't ready to take on the party machine. To bad the party machine didn't know a good thing when they saw it.

[WI_DEM]

3. I agree health care would have been the top domestic issue

we didn't talk enough about it and it resonates I think even more than the economy.

[JNelson6563]

2. There would have been attacks from GOP

and Dean sure as hell wouldn't have waited for weeks to answer 'em. He would've hammered back right out of the gate.

Julie

[NoPasaran]

4. We would have talked about the war actually going on now

Not one that happened forty years ago

[mdmc]

5. same result, but we would be in a better posistion to rebuild.

[SEpatriot]

6. We would have at least had a real good fight

I feel disappointed by the K/E campaign's lack of forcefulness. Would the outcome have been different? Hard to say, but I sincerely believe that Dr. Dean would not have allowed them to rip him to pieces and sit quietly by with some sort of aloofness.

This is my biggest gripe. Kerry's people didn't get it.

[ibegurpard]

7. Hard to say

The Democratic Party power-brokers did such a great job trashing him I don't know if he would've been able to recover. I'd bet the farm he would've gotten less than solid support from the party infrastructure as well.

[Capn Sunshine]

8. It would have been about PEOPLE POWER

and what is at stake allowing the neocon/corporate agenda to continue. Kerry was far too cozy with the establishment to pursue this, and thus, we had no message.