Two columns this week -- written in exultation after Dean's defeat in Iowa -- are quite revealing about why the power folks behind Kerry and Edwards are so intent about beating Dean. Turns out is is all about Iraq and keeping control of the money (and the party)
1. Friedman -- The Blair Democrats (apparently Kerry and Edwards in his view)
War of Ideas, Part 5
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: January 22, 2004
God bless the Democratic Party's primary voters in Iowa. They may have rescued our chances of succeeding in Iraq and even winning the war of ideas within the Arab-Muslim world. Go Hawkeyes!
How so? Well, it seems to me that Iowa Democrats, in opting for John Kerry and John Edwards over Howard Dean, signaled (among other things) that they want a presidential candidate who is serious about fighting the war against the Islamist totalitarianism threatening open societies.
"It was a good night for the [Tony] Blair Democrats in Iowa," said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute. By "Blair Democrats," Mr. Marshall was referring to those Democrats who voted for the Iraq war, and conveyed "a toughness and resolve to face down America's enemies," but who believe the Bush team has mismanaged the project. This is so important because there has been no credible opposition to the Bush foreign policy since the Iraq war. Democrats have been intimidated either by Mr. Bush or by Mr. Dean.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/opinion/22FRIE.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2
fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fThomas%20L%20Friedman
2. Tina Brown -- Kerry and Edwards represent the victory of big money over grassroots.
Not Putting Their Money Where His Mouth Is
By Tina Brown
Thursday, January 22, 2004; Page C01
The ebbing of Howard Dean was a palpable relief to most of New York's big Democratic donors. "We are alive!" one leading fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee exulted the morning after Iowa. "I've finally got a product I can work with," was the way John Kerry fundraiser Toni Goodale put it.
...at a benefit dinner last week for the International Women's Health Coalition honoring Kofi Annan, which was packed with Democratic donors, you could practically hear the exhaling. Some of it was about electability, yes, but it was also about a restoration to relevance. Dean's Internet base had taken away the money guys' power to anoint, and with it the glimpse of presidential fun-rides to come. The morning after that dinner, for instance, investor Alan Patricof and investment banker Stan Shuman, two longtime Democratic givers, would board a private plane for a jaunt to the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia with former president Bill Clinton. No such sugarplum visions were roused by the rise of Internet Dean.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A37116-2004Jan21?language=printer