This is all about not letting your opponent define you.  Clement wants to paint Dean as only appealing to liberals.  Dean's not going to let Clement get away with that.  

This analysis is great if you want to see what Clement is up to and what the Dean campaign was responding to in that Tennessean quote.

Last night, Clement said, "Karl Dean is just out of step with the people of Nashville."  

(By the way, how bizarre is it to attack your opponent by name in a victory speech?  And can you call it a "victory" speech when he came in second?)

The Dean Campaign has to counter this kind of attack quickly before Clement can define Dean as an out-of-touch lefty and scare moderates away.