Everybody put their thinking hats on for an intellectual exercise.
I know, in my head, that Dean has a hard road to fight before the oxygen runs out and he sees the white light. All of you Clarkies, Kerrys, Edwards folks like to remind me.
However, as an intellectual exercise, how does Dean win?
Here are the cards Dean is holding. He has name recognition and a guilty national press, he still has organisation on the ground. He has Karen Hicks and some other great staffers. He has the Deaniacs and the blog. He has Afscme andSEIU. He has some money
He does not have momentum, he does not have big donors, and most of the press have written him off.
What can Neel do to get Dean in the game?
For me, I think he needs to win something and bide his time waiting for buyer remorse and a boner out of Kerry. Electability is very tenuous thread to have and JFK doesn't have much behind that.
I am from Massachusetts and I couldn't name for you a single legislative accomplishment for Mass. JFK and McCain claimed that there are no more captives in Vietnam. He helped start, and bungle, the BCCI investigation. Iran Contra was a small win that should have been bigger. (Sorry, anti-Kerry feelings)
I think Neel will need to get this down to a two man race between Kerry and Dean. I think he needs Edwards eliminated in SC. I think he needs Clark out so he can get all of the ABK votes.
Then, Dean is going to need money and love to win NJ, CA, and NY.
I am not schooled in all of the politics of this. What does Neel do?