timmynausea
07-16-2003, 02:00 AM
“HOWARD DEAN'S TRICK”
- By Mark Shields - Monday, July 7, 2003
The reaction of the Democratic Party establishment to
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's raising more money
during the second quarter of the year than any of his
eight rivals for the party's presidential nomination
reminds me of the legendary Theodore White's memorable
report of the scene in the Boston Garden during John
F. Kennedy's last campaign rally on the eve of the
1960 presidential election.
JFK, according to White, was surrounded on the stage
by a " covey of the puffy, pink-faced,
predatory-lipped politicians who had so dominated
Massachusetts politics before he had taken over."
Noting their "envious faces" as the candidate spoke,
Richard Donahue, a Kennedy aide observed: "You know
they can't understand this. They think he has a trick.
They're listening to him because they think if they
learn the trick, they can be president, too."
To listen to experienced and able politicians in the
campaigns of Dean's Democratic rivals this week was to
hear men searching for the "trick" that had
transformed the under-funded underdog into the
well-heeled contender. Most were sure they had found
Dean's gimmick: It was his mastery of the Internet.
The Vermonter has used the Web effectively to recruit
contributors and supporters.
It's true that the Dean campaign's Web site is
well-designed and welcoming to visitors. But to credit
the Internet with Howard Dean's surge makes about as
much sense as much-earlier Republicans who convinced
themselves that FDR was politically unbeatable because
"he was so terrific on radio," just as Democrats were,
later, certain that Ronald Reagan's enormous
popularity was because he "was so terrific on TV."
In each case, the opposition's solution was identical.
Republicans "only" had to find a candidate who was as
good on radio as FDR, and Democrats had "simply" to
locate the Gipper's equal on the tube.
Make no mistake about it. It is not the medium --
radio, TV or the Internet -- which enlists and
converts voters to a cause. It is the message -- what
the candidate stands for and communicates -- that
touches and moves voters.
At a time when a large chunk of the Democratic Party
membership was strongly opposed to President George W.
Bush and his advocacy of a pre-emptive U.S. war
against Iraq, the leadership of the Democratic Party
-- especially "first-tier" presidential candidates
Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina, along
with Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri -- stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republican president.
Howard Dean spoke to -- and for -- the millions of
Democrats who were against that war.
That is message! Now, when the most recent CNN/USA
Today/Gallup poll asks, "All in all, do you think the
situation in Iraq was worth going to war over or not?"
and a growing 42 percent of Americans answer, "No," it
is understandable why, to more than a few Democrats,
Dean looks to be wise, as well as brave....
His early success at fund raising is no guarantee that
Howard Dean will be a serious candidate in New
Hampshire next January. But Dean used no tricks nor
gimmicks to collect those contributions. His opponents
better understand: It was his message.
- By Mark Shields - Monday, July 7, 2003
The reaction of the Democratic Party establishment to
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's raising more money
during the second quarter of the year than any of his
eight rivals for the party's presidential nomination
reminds me of the legendary Theodore White's memorable
report of the scene in the Boston Garden during John
F. Kennedy's last campaign rally on the eve of the
1960 presidential election.
JFK, according to White, was surrounded on the stage
by a " covey of the puffy, pink-faced,
predatory-lipped politicians who had so dominated
Massachusetts politics before he had taken over."
Noting their "envious faces" as the candidate spoke,
Richard Donahue, a Kennedy aide observed: "You know
they can't understand this. They think he has a trick.
They're listening to him because they think if they
learn the trick, they can be president, too."
To listen to experienced and able politicians in the
campaigns of Dean's Democratic rivals this week was to
hear men searching for the "trick" that had
transformed the under-funded underdog into the
well-heeled contender. Most were sure they had found
Dean's gimmick: It was his mastery of the Internet.
The Vermonter has used the Web effectively to recruit
contributors and supporters.
It's true that the Dean campaign's Web site is
well-designed and welcoming to visitors. But to credit
the Internet with Howard Dean's surge makes about as
much sense as much-earlier Republicans who convinced
themselves that FDR was politically unbeatable because
"he was so terrific on radio," just as Democrats were,
later, certain that Ronald Reagan's enormous
popularity was because he "was so terrific on TV."
In each case, the opposition's solution was identical.
Republicans "only" had to find a candidate who was as
good on radio as FDR, and Democrats had "simply" to
locate the Gipper's equal on the tube.
Make no mistake about it. It is not the medium --
radio, TV or the Internet -- which enlists and
converts voters to a cause. It is the message -- what
the candidate stands for and communicates -- that
touches and moves voters.
At a time when a large chunk of the Democratic Party
membership was strongly opposed to President George W.
Bush and his advocacy of a pre-emptive U.S. war
against Iraq, the leadership of the Democratic Party
-- especially "first-tier" presidential candidates
Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina, along
with Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri -- stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republican president.
Howard Dean spoke to -- and for -- the millions of
Democrats who were against that war.
That is message! Now, when the most recent CNN/USA
Today/Gallup poll asks, "All in all, do you think the
situation in Iraq was worth going to war over or not?"
and a growing 42 percent of Americans answer, "No," it
is understandable why, to more than a few Democrats,
Dean looks to be wise, as well as brave....
His early success at fund raising is no guarantee that
Howard Dean will be a serious candidate in New
Hampshire next January. But Dean used no tricks nor
gimmicks to collect those contributions. His opponents
better understand: It was his message.