As posted earlier, the candidates are well-known. It's time to get the nomination over with. The two worst candidates are likely to win, fine. The sooner this happens, if it is going to be the ultimate fate of the Democratic party to choose either Kerry or Edwards, the better. Then those who are willing to cast aside their values (if any) and work to support either of those candidates and the vague nebulous "Bush Lite" (strong on security! just not SOOO strong!) platforms they are building can do such and those who are not going to support these candidates can go home to make protest signs.
We can also discover sooner, rather than later, if a major third party candidate like Nader announces a surprise run.
My predictions for some paths from here on, based on what I have seen to date, are not pleasant, but here they are:
- Democratic party somehow wins the 2004 election, despite the problems described in the following scenarios.
- Dean is nominated. Democratic Party loses 2004 presidential election primarily due to media bias.
- Kerry/Edwards nominated. Democratic Party loses 2004 presidential election due to sheer vapidity of candidates, the same media bias Dean faces, and the non-controversial, safe, weenie "Bush Lite" campaigns the candidates will run.
- Kerry/Edwards nominated, Nader runs a spoiler. Democratic Party loses 2004 presidential election. Surprising margin of turnout for Nader, greater than that seen in 2000 election, causes public questions to arise regarding a schism between the Democratic party establishment and the center-left voters who turnout in measurable number to support Nader.
Not cheerful, I know, and I think the media bias is going to be the ultimate challenge we face here.