Rove's Race

[Larkspur]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-24.htm>http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-24.htm

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In the epilogue of Bob Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, the author writes about how Rove saw the presidential race in early February, 2004.

Noting that Rove believed the war in Iraq was turning into "a potential negative" for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, Woodward wrote, "Previously, Rove had claimed he was salivating at the prospect that the Democrats would nominate former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential race. But Dean had imploded and Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat, had won 12 of the first 14 Democratic primary contests and it looked like he was headed for the nomination."

What did Rove have to say about this development? "'The good news for us is that Dean is not the nominee,' Rove now argued to an associate in his second floor West Wing office. Dean's unconditional opposition to the Iraq War could have been potent in a face-off with Bush. 'One of Dean's strengths though was he could say, I'm not part of that crowd down there.' But Kerry was very much a part of the Washington crowd and he had voted in favor of the resolution for war. Rove got out his two-inch-think loose-leaf binder titled 'Bring It On.' It consisted of research into Kerry's 19-year record in the Senate. Most relevant were pages 9-20 of the section on Iraq."

Woodward explained that, "Rove believed they had Kerry pretty cold on voting to give the president a green light for war and then backing off when he didn't like the aftermath or saw a political opportunity. Whatever the case, Rove sounded as if he believed they could inoculate the president on the Iraq War in a campaign with Kerry."

"Rove," Woodward observed, "was gleeful."

Ten months later, as the returns rolled in on Tuesday night, Rove's glee seemed well placed.
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[DireStrike]

1. Even with Kerry we won the election.

We would have crushed him with Dean.

[TomClash]

3. Same race.

Dean said it himself on Russert a few weeks ago. He would have been the Vermont liberal, no war record, "weak" on defense, blah, blah, blah.

"Can you see the terrorists scared of the civil union, gay-loving Vermont liberal?"

Plus, the media would have unfairly painted him as a "crazy man" after the scream.

I liked Dean and he did a lot for the Dems, but to say he would have won is pretty dubious.

[Larkspur]

4. Then How come Bush has set his 2nd term agenda?

and Repukes picked up seats in the House and Senate with Kerry as the lead? Kerry was not elected. Get over it and move on!

If Dean didn't get the backing of the Party, like Kerry did, then yes, Dean would have had a harder time than Kerry against Bush, but Dean was on the right track with his strategy against the Repukes. You rally the base and the swing voters will follow. Kerry chose the DLC loser strategy of trying to please everyone, not offend anyone, but lose by more votes than Gore did.

Dean was a fighter and the Iraq war would have been Bush's death knell. Instead, Kerry-I'm-for-the-war-too blew this election, like I knew he would. IWR was an albatross around his neck.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

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