Reply #63: Fewer excuses in understanding if this is a liability would help [View All]

[dpbrown]

You're just supposing that those votes went to the Green Party of Vermont (which has endorsed Dennis Kucinich), or that they would have gone on to support Bush.

But the larger question is why did substantial numbers of the people of Vermont, even before the Civil Unions excuse came along to "absolve" good Howard of his downward electoral spiral in 2000, decide they'd rather have someone else other than the good doctor in 1998?

Do you suppose they had legitimate concerns, or were they just as ill-informed as any Democrat who would dare support someone other than Howard Dean for President?

And the "he still won"* comment will always have an asterisk with it, because Dean refused to run in 2002, and his stand-in was beaten by a Republican, and Vermont is now governed by a Republican.

No seats Dean ever held are in Democratic hands today.

* after receiving only 50.4% of the vote in 2000, Dean declined to run in 2002, and Democrat Doug Racine was beaten by Republican Jim Douglas.