There's a great deal to be learned from Douglas Adams. I think one of the best is his simple slogan for the Guide:
don't panic
The Long-Faced Bandit and the Sunshine Express came through big time. Both cherry-picked the best parts of Dean's rhetoric and delivery, and they were able to present themselves as the positive alternatives to what had become a pretty bitter Dean/Gephard battle. Ho ho and old ironsides destroyed one another in Iowa. Dean still has many things to look forward to; for Gephardt, this was his swan song.
The real power of the Dean campaign is its grasroots-filled bankroll and its nationwide scope, the nearly 600k local supporters. The 3,500 dedicated that made the trip to Iowa are a testiment to what is possible with a grassroots movement, but in the end the tactical advantage they provided was negated by the strategic realities of the race. Gep and Dean's trench warfare created an enormous demand for alternatives, and Kerry and Edwards emerged with the right message at the right time.
Those of us who have been paying attention might be surprised by this, but it's pretty logical; we can understand what has happened, thank everyone for all their hard work and all the memories, and move on to the next contest. There's another primary in a week in New Hampshire, and after that seven states go at once. This is where the Dean campaign showes its true muscle.
People need to be reminded what a great candidate Dean is, what his grassroots support represents, and how the other candidates have more or less stolen from his playbook in a politics-as-usual style of "I'll say anything to get elected." Dean's message has been constant for nearly a year now. Kerry and Edwards only discovered how to critique the DC establishment and use the word "you" on the stump about two weeks ago. Will this matter? I certainly hope so. While I'm happy to see Kerry and Edwards adopting the message of the man I support, I can't really believe that their change of tune is completely sincere. While either of them are clearly preferable to George W Bush, I don't believe in them the way I believe in the good doctor.
In the end, this will be a test of the Dean campaign's ability to draw on its existing grassroots support and spread the good word. Their mass-media strategy could use work, and they need to get back to playing up positive themes. It's a race again people. I'm inclined to think that it always was. Stay tuned and get involved if you're so inclined. Come mid-march, we can get down to business.
