Reply #20: dean did very well, too [View All]

[shindig]

One thing that made me happy was to see everyone pumped up, united and AWAKE. This campaign has that 1992 feel to it. In 2000 we were in lacadaisical, "just let someone else take care of it" mode. Once our candidate is nominated this time around, I am convinced that everyone in the party is going to pull together and WORK to beat Bush.

Should either Clark or Dean get the nomination, and once the Bush smear campaign goes into high gear, both Clark and Dean will be armed and ready to fight back hard in the general election this time around. I am starting to worry less about the republican smear campaign, actually. I expect that this time we will have a rapid response team in place, as we did in 1992. Of course, I worry about the media giving us a fair shake. But I suspect that if Bush relies too heavily on smear, which, as we know, had been working quite well ever since 2000, this time it might very well backfire on him, being seen for what it really is, as transparent, shallow, and desperate.

Finally, I must say that I am a big Clark supporter. All of my candidate funding money goes to him. However, I would be lying to say that I was not impressed with Dean's performance in Iowa last night. They were all terrific last night. We should be proud that these people represent our party. But I see why Dean's supporters are with him. He has a really good message. And he delivered it well last night. And I am now convinced of how broad his support really is. People like Robschul82, for example, who posts on this board, is a fair and impressive person, a credit to Dean. If he is an indication of a typical Dean supporter, then Dean is very lucky.

Finally, for the sake of unity, I have found myself wishing that there really could be a way for Clark and Dean to somehow get together, sooner rather than later. Maybe it is just a pipe dream, because if Clark survives, by actually doing well in South Carolina, a Dean/Clark war could break out. That would be a damn shame!

I hope that doesn't happen. Because we don't want so much damage to be done in a Clark/Dean war that it becomes more difficult to unite after it is over. The Gore/Bradley wars were very extremely damaging in 2000.

We can't forget that once this thing is settled, we will beat Bush only because we remain united. If the Iowa dinner last night is any indication, I think we will be. We have to be. We have to beat Bush!