Question for Deanies from a Deanie

[jeter]

If Dean loses in New Hampshire will you switch your vote to someone else?

I'm about ready to jump off the Dean bandwagon. If he loses, i'm afraid he'll go ballistic and try to take down other candidates. That would just be bad news.

I've always said that New Hampshire is a race between Dean and Kerry - whoever wins goes on, whoever loses is out. I'm not a hypocrite. That was true when Howard was in front and its true now.

If Dean loses by more than 5% I say its over. He should put his money in a PAC and use it to beat Republicans in Congress.

So my question is:

What will you do?

[overground1]

1. I will switch to Vincent Hamm

[Melinda]

2. Questions for you: Do you know how many primaries Reagan lost........

before he won nomination?

How about Clinton?

And when you see an 8 ounce glass of water with 4 ounces of liquid in it, do you see the glass as half empty or half full?

=====================================================================

A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen, on Christmas day their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.

That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.

"Why are you crying?" the father asked.

"Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.

To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

[jeter]

3. Reagan won NH and all western states

Clinton won all the southern states.

Dean is from Vermont. He can't lose in NH. Where else is he going to win if he can't win the north east?

In the south?

[JVS]

4. He can keep going.

[jeter]

5. But should he?

What good will it

a) do him?

b) do the party in its efforts to defeat Bush?

[JVS]

10. He might still win it.

[pacifictiger]

6. For the sake of the country

Dean MUST stay in the race as long as possible to keep focusing authenticity on real issues. This election is not just about this country, this election is about how the rest of the world will view the honesty and wisdom of leaders of the united states and carries with it enormous implications for the globes future. I wish everyone in this country had travelled abroad enough to realize that. Dean has already affected the energy and tone of the other candidates for the better and I think without him the election is lost, no matter who the final nominee is. In other words, he must remain viable enough to keep the others on point or bush will win in november. Kerry, if he is the nominee cannot do it without Dean's energy - he is the catalyst to get more voters interested on a passionate level than ever before - and I'm one of them. What might appear to be a losing cause to some on the surface really is not. Its a huge success to have managed to change the political dialog so far and will continue to be so. If the election is disputed as it was last time, Dean needs to be somewhere around to fight rather than rolling over and playing dead.

[Hekate]

17. Right you are

I've been in on the Dean campaign locally for 11 months. My position regarding his candidacy has remained the same:

(1) The overarching goal is to vote Bush out of the White House and take our country back, and I will support whichever Democrat gets the nomination. NOT ONE of the nine original candidates-- much less Al Gore-- would have ever committed the acts of evil that the Bushites have done to destroy our country's proud heritage of civil liberties, to destroy our country's honor in the world, to destroy our sense of community (unless "faith-based"), to destroy the public school system and Social Security, to destroy the Earth's environment.... "Dear God, please deliver us from the Bushites" is probably not the daily prayer that W and Ashcroft and the rest of the White House Bible-thumpers have in mind, but it's a heartfelt cry to the Eternal nonetheless.

(2) Dean was the first (and for a long time the only) candidate to say that he understands that people like us are furious not just with the Bush administration but with our own political party and its leadership. He got it that a lot of us feel betrayed by the Democratic party leadership for reasons too numerous to go into and already abundantly discussed at DU. Dean's stance on this issue, and our response to it, has forced the other candidates to deal with it too.

(3) He was out there against the invasion of Iraq quite early, and unlike most of the others he doesn't have to explain votes supporting the USA-PATRIOT Act and the invasion of Iraq. I've been hoping all along that various Democrats -- perhaps my own senator, for instance -- would stand up and say that they were lied to and that they are sorry for their votes now, but those acts of humility have been few and far between. Dean's stance on this issue also has influenced the other candidates to be more forcefully articulate on the subject.

(4) He is fiscally conservative and socially progressive. (The media is wrong to try to paint him as a leftist, because that is just not supported by his record or his public statements now.) When he talks about balancing the budget, he speaks from experience. When he talks about health care for all kids, he's done that too.

(5) From the very beginning I've recognized that whether or not Howard Dean gets the nomination, his presence in the campaign and the amazing phenomena of Meet-Ups and the Internet will have meant that what he stands for will influence the whole electoral process of 2004. No matter what the headlines are tomorrow, I will continue to work for him until he either pulls out or is nominated.

(6) I think Dean is tough enough to stand up to the smears and lies of the Bush machine, but he needs our help in getting the truth out to the voting public. The "out of control" caricature was a media construct from earliest days, and like a political cartoon, they've stuck with it. I tune in to CSPAN rather randomly, but I've managed to catch nearly every debate and forum, and I am here to tell you that what I see and hear verbatim is very different from what I read in the paper or see excerpted on TV newscasts the next day. (I have little respect for the broadcast media as a result: Bill Moyers and Gwen Ifill are almost the only exceptions, plus Peter Jennings on a good day.) But Howard Dean just keeps on trucking. There was nothing wrong with the "I have a scream" speech that closing the door to reporters with cameras wouldn't have remedied. But our man is taking it all with an abundant sense of humor, and if he can, we can. We just have to remember to correct the record every chance we get.

GO DEAN!
~Hekate~

The true costs of war: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Arlington_west_121003.htm

[JCMach1]

7. Not in the Primary...

If he were to drop out, I would switch to DK.

Sorry, I am an IWR purist for the Primary.

The party needs to know how I feel!

[AP]

9. They know how you feel. But they also know that something like...

...63% of Americans believe that the Republicans are stronger on national security and the last thing they want to do is try to convince 13% +1 of those people that they are in fact trustworthy even though they voted against the IWR.

And if you're a LIHOPER, I wouldn't fly, and I'd stay out of big cities if the Dems nominated a no-voter. What kind of october surprise do you think would seal the deal against that kind of Democratic nominee?

[JCMach1]

11. I am a LIHOPer and I will be flying in August

to the Middle-East no less...

After Summer vacation...


FEAR IS THE MIND KILLER

[JCMach1]

12. Kerry and to lesser extent Edwards

would be nailed by the Repugs on their position... i.e. the seeming flipflop...

I can see the ads now.... "Will the real John Kerry please stand-up"

It is going to be a major problem for such a nominee...

[Hoppin_Mad]

8. DEAN supporter ? Who are you trying to fool ?

You wrote :

  "You guys I'm feeling better and better about this election

Kerry is now leading Bush head to head.

This after one stinking caucus. I always thought that when the attention shifted to the Democrats with the primaries and when the Democrats finally rallied behind one of its candidates that our numbers would improve.

But I didn't expect it to happen this soon.

Kerry has only a 73% approval rating among Democrats (expect that number to rise if he wins it all).

I feel so good about this that I can't tell you. I feel it in my bones. We're going to win this thing.  "

----------------


"My prediction: Kerry wins NH by more than 10%


Dean will be finished after tomorrow. Edwards finishes third which will be spun like a victory.

Clark and Lieberman will be toast after today. Both will finish in single digits.  

-------

Your poll on Kerry:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=191878

-------

It's apparent a certain Kerry supporter has the same set of 'campaign ethics' as the candidate he supports.

Why am I not surprised ?




 

[jeter]

13. Dude, I was a Dean supporter when you were asking

Who's Dean?

Obviously I am having second thought. I see a road we can take and win the whole thing.

Kerry is now ahead of Bush in the polls. He is a liberal and has a military background. In many ways he is the ideal candidate.

So i've been rethinking my attitudes towards Kerry in the past few days.

Go back further than this week and you'll see how big of a Dean supporter I have always been.

[Hoppin_Mad]

15. You OBVIOUSLY are no longer supporting Dean - and haven't been

For quite some time. Now that you've been exposed -I hope that you can find the integrity to refrain from such despicable behavior in the future.


Fri Jan-16-04 10:41 PM

Clark supporters: A Kerry win may be bad for the General

Because Kerry will get a boost from a victory and that will hurt Clark in New Hampshire.
-snip-

My prediction - if Kerry wins Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean is done like dinner. And Lieberman will begin attacking Kerry without mercy on FOX news.

ANOTHER of your Kerry polls

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=178745

GET REAL !
 

[Cassandra]

27. On paper, Kerry looks really good...

but on the stump he is much less inspiring than Dean. I WANT that fire; we need it.

[Jersey Devil]

21. Nice catch

I don't come here that often so there isn't a chance I'd catch something like that.

Of course the answer is that NH decides nothing except who has the current "momentum" which could all change by next Tuesday.

I do get the feeling when I come here that for an awful lot of posters this is the first primary season they've paid attention to.

[Adjoran]

14. Uncommitted and didn't vote

But I think it is premature to write Dean off for not winning New Hampshire. Even if he finished poorly, he has the money and organization to go on through Super Tuesday. It would depend on the willingness of his volunteers, many of whom are new to politics and could be more easily discouraged.

A respectable second, and he goes on with no problem. He still has to weather the Feb 3 sun belt states, but the polls there have varied with momentum - he actually led in SC in December when he was the frontrunner. The voters are quite volatile yet. A close second would be portrayed as a huge comeback.

I will support any one of the "final four," or even Lieberman in the unlikely event he wins. It doesn't matter a bit to me if you want to change candidates.

I do have to wonder how committed you are to the candidate and the campaign, though, if you are willing to switch at the first sign of adversity. What if your next candidate has a bad week? Will you be shopping the sales then, too? I mean, if you are willing to entrust a man with the Presidency, why don't you trust him to tell you when it's over?

[DannyRed]

16. My take on it all...

I think that Dean should soldier on through mid-February, regardless of the results in NH.

If, at that point, he has not won anything, has not gained any traction, has not garnered any significant numbers of delegates, then he should bow out.

Personally, I think he should NOT endorse anyone for the nomination, but should, instead, wait until the Nom is locked up, and...(here's my brilliant idea!)...

He and the campaign should take their big pot of cash and their network/organization, and put it to work in the form of a 527/advocacy/PAC/ThinkTank...all for the benefit of both the entire democratic ticket, for the democratic nominee (regardless of who it is) and for the general rejuvenation of the Democratic party.

I think Dean could leverage himself into the DNC chairmanship, should he do well at such a venture.

All that said, I think he should NOT take a 2nd place in NH as a sign of defeat, and I think that he has the dollars, the support, and the on-the-ground organization to compete in Feb, and maybe March, all over the nation.

[mandyky]

18. Other - support Dean thru March

If he loses all of the primaries including Super Tuesday, I'll have to start thinking about someone else. But Howard Dean is my first and only choice until he drops out. He is a pragmatist and will know when it is over.

[Cheswick2.0]

19. Jeter, you stopped being a Dean supporter some time ago

I won't be voting for Kerry. Forget about it

[SheilaT]

20. Dean is in it for the long haul.

He's going to go all the way to the White House.

Dean (and Kucinich) were against the war while Kerry was busy voting for the IWR, and I'm truly sick of Kerry and his supporters trying to pretend he opposed the war from the beginning. Same with Clark. Show me where he was on CNN saying no, don't go, Bush is wrong. Nice that he finally opposed it, but it's too late for me.

And Edwards, whose campaign seems to be mainly founded on his being young and having good hair. What a great set of qualifications to be president!

[LizW]

22. You're not a Deanie, Jeter

but I am. Until the end.

[mikehiggins]

23. I'm actually a Clark supporter but I think Dean should hang in

there and not surrender to the establishment types.

If Clark is beaten and has to withdraw I will not transfer to another candidate, but will instead just accept whoever the voters decide should be the candidate.

I'd vote for Hamm before I'd vote for Bush.

(in politics, of course)

[Anwen]

24. Nope.

I will continue supporting Dean as long as he stays in the race. I fhe drops out, I will be supporting Clark or Kucinich, if he is still in the race.

[Logansquare]

25. Sorry, it ain't over

It's called loyalty and trust.

[bloom]

26. Dean has raised far more than anyone

Wouldn't that indicate a reason to stay around? I would think!!!!




Dean.......$25 mil




Edwards....$14.5 mil

Kerry......$13 mil (plus 7 that was from Senate campaign = 20 mil total)

Lieberman..$11 mil




Clark.......$3.5 mil

Kucinich....$3.4 mil





Sharpton.....$.28 mil