It has been said that Dean has the best political instincts this side of the Big Dog, and we may have witnessed them on Monday night. Trippi has made the case repeatedly that whomever finished 1-2 in Iowa would get about 50 million worth of free advertising between then and New Hampshire. If Dean had only lost to Kerry in Iowa, maybe it's not a big deal, but Edwards was poised to take that media darling plus bump in the polls away from him. So, knowing that every camera in the US is pointing at him during his "concession" speech, he just goes for it and let's loose with emotion (not anger). Now, maybe he went a bit too far, but I've seen that tape dozens of times and it doesn't bother me (and people i know who were there thought it was on target).
Anyway, Dean has now been the story for 4 straight days, probably 100 million worth of free advertising out of 37 seconds of speech (albeit 95% bad press). Sure, he gets knocked in the NH polls a bit, but that was going to happen anyway with Kerry and Edwards getting a bounce. But, now, Kerry seems to have stabilized his bump, and Edwards isn't exactly skyrocketing. The Diane Sawyer interview also just introduced Dean to a bunch of middle americans who probably never heard of Dean before tonight, save perhaps for "hearing" about his speech. what they saw was a down to earth family man, not a stark raving mad lunatic. the Letterman appearance was also good, because it showed he could laught at himself. (and, also, that he's now taken control of the topic altogether)
If Dean pulls back to within striking distance of Kerry and loses by maybe 3-4 points, he's suddenly the comeback kid, and in a perfect position to soldier on with money rolling in.
Of course, i could be over-rationalizing what may have just been stumble in the road, but after Dean went ahead and inserted the "we're no safer with saddam captured" line on his owninto his FoPo address way back when, I wouldn't totally sell him short on his (and the campaign's) ability to use the press to his advantage.