Howard Dean has vowed to concentrate his campaign in Wisconsin, hoping to upset John Kerry. What Dean fails to realize is that, even if by some stretch of the imagination he does win the state, his campaign is dead. He has repeatedly proven himself to be too hyperbolic, and more importantly, completely unelectable.
His campaign could be considered innocuous and unimportant if only he were not hurting the democrats with each day he remains in the primary. By attacking Kerry and giving voters the association of the Democratic Party as hopelessly liberal, he is hurting the one chance democrats have of beating Bush-which should be his top priority.
Dean's policies are not the problem. His record is mainly positive-a balanced budget for his state, a happy constituency and some creative ideas regarding education and health care. The way he communicates his ideas and his relative inexperience in politics and international affairs have proven to be his downfall. Most significantly, he has no international experience.
He hails from a state that, according to the U.S. census, has just a slightly higher population that the Madison Metro Area. Compared to the other candidates, he has no national governmental experience, no international experience and his social views would render him unelectable to the vast majority of the country.
What the results from Iowa and New Hampshire indicated, and what Missouri, Arizona and Michigan have solidified, is that Democrats understand this. What Dean fails to realize is that he is harming any chance his party has to oust President Bush from power by personally attacking candidates who could win.
Dean has been focusing his political swipes at Kerry, all but calling him a special-interest whore. It is one thing to attack an opponent's policies, but attacking them personally just does not make sense in a primary. According to the Los Angeles Times, Dean recently sunk to a new level when, at a recent event in Michigan, he insinuated Kerry had been getting Botox injections.
At this point, one simply has to wonder what Dean thinks he will gain from personally attacking Kerry. One of the main components of a primary is attacking your opponents' policies, in part so that partisans will be able to determine whether the candidate can withstand the attacks when the real test comes along. But when your campaign is a lost cause, providing ammunition for the opposition is inexcusable. And for someone who purports to despise the Bush administration, the last thing Dean should want is to hand the Republicans a loaded gun.
Quite a few weeks ago, Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe repeatedly suggested in USA Today that anyone who did not win a state should drop out of the race. Dean said he would drop out if he lost Wisconsin, but has since rescinded that statement. As long as he hangs onto futile hopes, he will continue to beleaguer Kerry, draining the front-runner's coffers of money that would be better spent fighting Bush.
Wisconsin Democrats have a unique opportunity tomorrow. They could vote for Dean and marginally delay the death of his campaign, or they could cast a vote to try to convince Dean to stop the hemorrhaging of their party. They could embrace a candidate who can compete for the presidency, maintaining the momentum that the Democrats need to win. It is ironic how a candidate who has no chance of winning the nomination still has the ability to hurt Kerry, a man who should be his ally. The faster the Democrats get behind one candidate, the more quickly the American public will become acclimated to someone who represents a positive alternative to Bush.
The simple fact is Dean should drop out for the good of his political future, for the good of his party, and most importantly, for the good of his vision of what he wants the United States to be.
