Howard Dean's Contribution

[Larkspur]

from They Day, Eastern CT Newspaper
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=7D49F23D-3E6A-48AF-B237-E86F6FEC3060

The Democratic race for the presidential nomination has turned into an exciting match between two U.S. senators, but one wonders what it would have been like had it not been for Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who bowed out of the race with considerable grace on Wednesday.

Dr. Dean, as The New York Times said in an editorial Wednesday, put backbone into the party's quest for the presidency. Most important, he forced the party to take a clearer stand against the Bush administration's foreign policy. He drew huge crowds of people into the party who had never before been engaged. And he demonstrated to political managers the political power of the Internet. Even his detractors are looking at ways to build on the political model Dr. Dean fashioned for his own run at the presidency.

If he put some backbone into the party, he also put some juice into it. He made the debates interesting with his attacks on conventional wisdom and complacent points of view. John Kerry, who has emerged as the frontrunner, single-handedly would have put the country to sleep were it not for Dr. Dean's goading challenge from outside the Beltway.
<SNIP>

He didn't wind up where he thought he would. But he did make his party stronger. Both parties, in fact, can learn some lessons from this most interesting and exciting candidacy. The biggest of these is that politics doesn't need to be boring.

If Dean had not done what he did last year -- critsizing Bush and verbally spanking the Dem Party Establishment, I'd be voting for Bugs Bunny on March 2. Dean made a major impact and that is why Bush's poll numbers are dropping. I will vote for Dean on March 2, even though he's suspended his campaign.

[Wetzelbill]

1. I believe Dems owe Dean a big thank you

For most of the year, he and Kucinich were pretty odd looking walking around their campaign sites and at the Dem debates. I suppose it their odd appearances may have been due to each one actually having a tremendous sized pair of balls. Distinguished walks, those two.

[mzmolly]

2. Dean will go down in history as defining this political race

and changing politics forever.

[Cuban_Liberal]

3. It was a success, Dr. Dean! The spine transplant worked!

We should all be eternally grateful to you and your campaign for that!

Salut! :toast: