We had a huge meetup at my store last night... Kerry... blew everyone else's meetups away. Of course, we're only one of a zillion Dean meetups in Chicago, and most of them are WAAAAY bigger than the Kerry one at my place last night, so that may not matter.
But, I was talking to a very well educated and integrated fellow at the end of the evening about Clark.
I said that the odds favor Clark to be our nominee, much as that irritates me. He said Clark is toast.
My argument is that even without a WIN or PLACE in NH, Clark is exceedingly well positioned in the 2/3 states which are substantially more conservative and skewed in favor of fourstarboy. And Kerry can win Iowa and NH, but if Clark does well in SC, OK, AZ, and shows well in NM, he's our new frontrunner and Kerry is our new also-ran trying to get time on Letterman.
Plus Clark's got the money, and then it'll be the Clark/Dean show until the nomination, where Clark will have had the blessings of the press and Dean will be universally vilified, puts Clark as the guy.
He said that Kerry's strong showing in IA and NH will take the veteran vote and that Clark has nothing he can point to that will generate any excitement. I'm thinking four stars on the shoulder can generate plenty.
What do you think? Ahead, or dead, or somewhere in between?