Dean's Sights Already Set on Beating Bush in '04

[Rose Siding]

While his opponents keep their focus on early-primary states, the front-runner has segued into general- election mode.

With the first presidential contests in Iowa and New Hampshire two months away, Democratic front-runner Howard Dean has been campaigning hard in some unexpected places.The former Vermont governor has stumped in 14 states this month, including some with late primaries — Oregon, Idaho, Florida and Pennsylvania. This week alone, he is visiting seven states, including Texas, Michigan and New York.<snip>

"The mistake is to hunker down into a one-state strategy aimed at trying to do a blocking movement in the hopes that you might catch fire later on," Trippi said.

If Dean could simultaneously shore up support in the early states and broaden his appeal elsewhere, he could also help resolve doubts that Democratic voters have about his electability, some political experts say.

"If there are reservations about Dean in the party, it's about how he's going to do in a general election," said Charlie Cook, a nonpartisan campaign analyst based in Washington.

"For the Dean campaign to give a preview of coming attractions and show them, 'This is what it would look and sound like,' it tells people that they don't have anything to worry about," Cook said.

As Dean crisscrosses the country, the energy and discipline that have powered his campaign so far are on full display.He frequently travels several time zones a day. After a full day of meeting with voters in Iowa on Nov. 11, he flew west to Portland, for his third visit this year to Oregon, which doesn't hold its primary until May. That night, he headed across the country to Washington.

"You gotta keep the momentum up," he said, popping peanut M&M's as he settled in for a flight, halfway through his 19-hour day.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dean21nov21,1,6263916.story?coll=la-home-todays-times

[LuminousX]

1. Dean is playing this game on an entirely different level

I'm sure his early money advantage is allowing him to pursue this strategy, but the fact he is willing to think like this, to not follow the tried-and-true traditional path to the Whitehouse is phenomenal. Quite honestly, he is campaigning how I always thought candidates should campaign. Not state-by-state but to the nation as a whole.

[tsipple]

2. Well, It's Both...

...But it's doing the spadework needed to run the general election campaign. After all, what good is winning the primary if you're so battered and broke that you can't win the presidency?

Such visits also help downticket. Dean is working on trying to get a Democratic Congress. That's terribly important.

[Rose Siding]

3. It's something to see, isn't it?

Nearly every day some aspect of how he's working this campaign just blows me away.

They told the story on the blog of how an English teacher drove through a mountain range in a rain storm after she got off work to deliver some of the signatures needed to get on the ballot in VA.

Not knowing it was just the first day possible to get him registered, my first thought was, "OMG, why would it be going down like that? Who's in CHARGE!"

Realizing the answer, I just smiled and experienced a moment of gratitude for effort that one woman had agreed to make.

[Zynx]

4. The thing that really impresses me about Dean is all the places he goes.

He travels to an extremely large number of places in a short period of time. The energy that man has is remarkable.

[Monte Carlo]

5. Maybe he got it from his residency.

You know, working those 24 hr. shift they put the M.D.-in-training slaves through. I guess endless hours of births, deaths, joy, and grief gives someone resiliency.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. I am not impressed with his Arrogance! This thing is not...

locked up yet and their are other choices out their!

[helleborient]

7. This article isn't about arrogance...

It's about national campaigning. It is a good thing to be going on the offense against Bush across the country already.

[LuminousX]

8. Call it arrogance if you want but

Dean isn't saying that he has beaten everyone yet, he is just planning ahead. Sort of like a baseball manager in game six of the World Series wondering if he should put in his star pitcher or hold him until game seven. You need to work for the moment but think about your next move.

When playing chess, by the end of the opening, you had best be considering how the endgame is going to look like so you know what you need to do in the midgame. Is it arrogance in chess to be thinking about how you are going to checkmate your opponent when you are only seven moves into the game? I'll leave that up to you to answer for yourself.