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Jobber of the Week

Dean loses poll & endorsement after Hulking Up

By Jobber of the Week, in Current Events

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Jobber of the Week    0

Jobber of the Week
Posted
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts lead in the latest tracking polls in New Hampshire, but both are calling themselves underdogs as they retool their campaigns in a changed political landscape.

 

Dean, who has dominated polls and fund raising since the summer, stumbled in Monday's Iowa caucuses, finishing a distant third to Kerry and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

 

Dean's fiery speech to supporters at a post-caucus rally Monday night also has sparked questions among some political observers and Democrats about his temperament.

 

Aides said Dean, surprised but undaunted by his weak showing in a state in which he'd devoted considerable resources, would refocus his campaign on his record in Vermont and away from the red-meat, anti-war rhetoric that fueled his insurgent rise last year.

 

Dean lost the endorsement of former U.S. Sen. John Durkin of New Hampshire, who told CNN he is now undecided as a result of Dean's speech.

 

"Iowa dramatically changed the picture here," said Durkin on Wednesday. "I wish I'd turned the TV off on election night and gone to bed early. I don't know who I'm going to vote for come Tuesday."

 

After their candidates' unexpected strength in Iowa, the Kerry and Edwards campaigns said they've seen fund-raising spikes. Kerry aides said the senator has collected more than $300,000 since Monday; Edwards has drawn about $250,000, aides said.

 

Tracking polls released Wednesday indicate the Granite State is essentially a four-man race, between Kerry, Dean, Edwards and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas. Clark skipped Iowa for an anticipated showdown with Dean in the New Hampshire primary.

 

The polls suggest little movement for Edwards, whose support remains in single digits, a few percentage points ahead of Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. But the surveys were based in large part on data gathered before the Iowa caucuses.

 

After Monday's caucuses, Clark added Kerry to his target list, according to campaign aides. Clark and Kerry, both decorated Vietnam War veterans, have sparred this week over who has a better military record.

 

"Well, he's got military background, but nobody in the race has got the kind of background I've got," Clark said of Kerry this week. "I've negotiated peace agreements, I've made a major alliance in war.

 

"It's one thing to be a hero as a junior officer -- he's done that and I respect him for that. He's been a good senator, but I've had the military leadership at the top as well as at the bottom."

 

Polls indicate Lieberman so far has failed to make inroads in New Hampshire despite earning an endorsement Tuesday from the Manchester Union-Leader, the state's largest and most influential newspaper.

 

Various polls have Lieberman, who also bypassed Iowa, with support only in the single digits. Lieberman, whose strategy has focused mainly on the February 3 primaries in Southern states, said he would continue to run.

 

"I've said from the beginning that my goal here is to do better than expected, and I'm moving on from here, South and West," Lieberman said Wednesday.

 

A key opportunity for a jolt of new dynamics will come Thursday evening when all seven candidates meet in a final planned debate before Tuesday's vote.

 

The debate takes place at St. Anselm College in Manchester. The forum begins at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on WMUR-TV and Fox News.

 

The last time most voters will have seen a live performance by Dean was probably Monday night, when he belted out that call-to-arms after his third-place finish in Iowa. Dean's remarks, he later said, were influenced by his supporters' high level of enthusiasm.

 

Conservative columnist Robert Novak, a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," was blunt in his assessment of Dean's speech in Iowa. "I would call that a rant," Novak said Tuesday. "I thought he was raving."

 

Criticism of his speech came from a site usually overflowing with praise -- his own campaign Web log, or "blog":

 

"Tonight, after the caucus results, Dean gave his speech to the troops. Yes, he was over the top, but he wasn't speaking to America, he was speaking to us, the Deaniacs," one writer said.

 

"Having said that, I feel I must say this. ... He should never broadcast a speech like that again. Never. Ever. Again."

 

Another critic of Dean's speech was Rep. Jim Clyburn, an influential African-American congressmen from South Carolina, one of the February 3 primary states.

 

Clyburn -- who has not made an endorsement following the departure Tuesday of his chosen candidate, Dick Gephardt -- said the Dean speech "was more detrimental to his campaign than his third-place finish" in the caucuses

 

Senior strategists say Dean does not plan to repeat that performance anytime soon.

 

Nevertheless, the candidate sounded characteristically defiant Wednesday morning, opening his remarks at a rally in Manchester by promising to stay the course.

 

"We're going to win in New Hampshire, and the way we're going to do that is by sticking to the formula that got us here, whether people think it's right or not," he said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/21/elec04.prez.main/

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Red Baron    0

Red Baron
Posted

And I thought Bush was pretty stupid, not knowing your own national anthem tells me, you shouldn't be running one of the most powerful countries on the planet.

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Red Baron    0

Red Baron
Posted

its a hard song for people from other countries to learn.

 

 

But if you live in your own country for the majority of your life, I think he should be able to memorize it.

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Jobber of the Week    0

Jobber of the Week
Posted
What exactly was so BAD about his speech? I only saw very short clips of it and he just seemed to be yelling a lot.

Less modesty than Rush Limbaugh when the wind was completely knocked out of his sails. And most viewed the energy he was projecting as negative.

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Guest Choken One   

Guest Choken One
Posted

Nothing was Bad about it, All it did was get more people to notice him...While Kerry might have won the meaningless Cacaaus...Notice the story was Howard Macho Man Dean?

 

The pundits will cry this is bad for him but it isn't...Being an boring ass speaker with one of the LAMEST mottos of all time "COMEBACK KERRY" Or "BRING IT ON!" is worst.

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Art Sandusky    0

Art Sandusky
Posted

How can Kerry tell a former GENERAL that he has a better military record?

 

I can't wait to hear the first Dean speech that has him take up and run with the "Live Free or Die" state motto.

 

While everything he does is obviously scripted, it doesn't seem scripted. I want to see him get the nomination, not for the reason some Republicans I know give (either party running things exclusively would get ugly in a hurry, there is a need for equilibrium and they want the Democrats to completely disappear), but because I want to see this guy in action for nine more months. He'll probably rappel into the convention to give his acceptance speech, but not before throwing a grenade at a large Elephant model on top of the arena and dressing mannequins up in Bush paraphenalia and taking a massive flamethrower to the lot of them. His speech will be delivered in what he calls his "First Blood" outfit, and will conclude with a goat sacrifice.

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Guest Salacious Crumb   

Guest Salacious Crumb
Posted
What exactly was so BAD about his speech? I only saw very short clips of it and he just seemed to be yelling a lot.

Well it doesn't help his image with people who already think he's a little on the unstable side. It's also turned him into a big joke. He's getting a lot of press sure but it's not the kind a possible presidential candidate would want.

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Guest Cerebus   

Guest Cerebus
Posted

This reminds me of 92, when Clinton had thought Jackson had changed his endorsement and called him a backstabbing son-of-a-bitch (or something like that) unaware there was a camera trained on him. Course this was before the days of three cable news channels and endless internet coverage.

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Guest Choken One   

Guest Choken One
Posted
This reminds me of 92, when Clinton had thought Jackson had changed his endorsement and called him a backstabbing son-of-a-bitch (or something like that) unaware there was a camera trained on him. Course this was before the days of three cable news channels and endless internet coverage.

That and the fact no one was really disputing his claims…

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Guest Plushy Al Logan   

Guest Plushy Al Logan
Posted

I havent seen, nor will I see it, but I'm getting some strange visuals in my head from the title. What exactly happened?

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NoCalMike    0

NoCalMike
Posted

I don't see how the speech would swing a vote either way. Oh well I guess non-stop banter from the media can do that. I think the media's overexposure of the speech and constant ridicule has done more to hurt Dean then the actual speech itself. Dean of course was a bit over the top with enthusiasm, but who cares, he was speaking to a roomful of his own supporters. He had just lost something that most thought was in the bag, and he gave an emotional speech that tried to keep everyone's spirits up, big freaking deal.

 

BTW, where has Tyler been, I wonder what he has to say about this.

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NoCalMike    0

NoCalMike
Posted
So it's not necessarily the most complete explaination of my thoughts, and it probably has many errors in it (which are, of course, due to my lack of oratory skill), but this column should suffice as my response to the events on which I haven't spoken.

I agree for the most part. And as you can see above I pretty much put your entire post into a small paragraph here on the smart marks board. Whether I agree and/or would vote for Dean is another question/discussion, but he definately has been fucked in the ass by the media over the "growl heard round the world"

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Jobber of the Week    0

Jobber of the Week
Posted
So it's not necessarily the most complete explaination of my thoughts, and it probably has many errors in it (which are, of course, due to my lack of oratory skill), but this column should suffice as my response to the events on which I haven't spoken.

So the past week hasn't changed your opinion/vote?

 

EDIT: What the hell am I thinking, you're volunteering for him. Duh. It's been a while since you were here, ever notice? ;)

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