Now, maybe this is just the thought of a naive mild Deaniac, but while I agree that the tone of Dean's speech wasn't good, I disagree with most of the posters here in thinking that he didn't go far enough. There is room for a candidate that wants to fight for some ideals, and that slot has not been filled by any candidate yet. Now I know that it's all trash when Dean says that he'll change the way the nation goes (I may be a 17-year old liberal, but I'm not THAT naive,) but the job of a great politician is to make you believe for a second that he is. Candidates win when they present a better view of the nation, proposing something bigger and grander, and offering to lead the fight for it. I saw today alot of ordinary politicians, but not a single great one. I was happy when I heard Dean go through all of the states, because he had the sound of someone willing to go to war. What I didn't see, however, was the reason. That speech didn't tell me why I should fight with him in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Arizona. The true sign of a fanatical young liberal is one who quotes West Wing, and so, to fulfil the thoughts going through all of your heads, I'll do so, not because it's reality, but because I happen to believe that Aaron Sorkin is one of the most adept politicians in the country today. At an episode a year or so ago, the fictional President Bartlet was asked to give numbers about why he should run again. He responds by quoting the amount of unemployed, high school dropouts, etc, presenting the case that something better must be done. I didn't see that today. I saw people making speeches to political observors, not to the nation. Dean's speech was discussing his political strategy. Edwards and Kerry did similar things, except for KErry's last few lines about the "bring it on," which were quite good. Nobody discussed why we need the less fictional President Bush to leave office. Nobody discussed what they were planning to do. Howard Dean took the political world by storm because he presented a problem and said he'd fight for a solution. I'm still waiting for that candidate to come back.