FREE MEDIA. Even bad media is good. We need to get as much of it as possible for as long as possible to win this thing. That's why we want the primaries to drag things out to avoid getting buried by MJ/Kobe/Scot and also why we want Howard Dean to be our nominee, because no one gets coverage like he does.
I don't care how put off you are by The Scream, any attention is good. Dean's scream knocked the friggin State of the Union off the news. How better to kill a story about your opponent's big win than to make the news focus on your loss, even if it makes you look bad or crazy. Maybe Hoho knew what he was doing?
All of his "gaffes" have been quasi-brilliant. Even the confederate flag. They get him coverage. You think anyone is going to pay attention to Snooze button John Kerry (apparently necessary disclaimer - I'll vote and work gladly for Kerry and think he may be the best non-Dean) once he gets the nomination? He'll have to knock over a bank or something. Dean knows how to do sh*t like that. How many people who pay no attention to politics now know about him because they got an mp3 file in their inbox?
Even if Kerry or one of the others ends up as the nominee, we need a big fight dragging things out not only because it lets Hoho out in the media to keep taking it to W but because it gives the media an exciting up-or-down story and draws attention to all the candidates. Even if Dean isn't our most electable choice (I think he is), it will also help us make a very well-informed decision about who is the most electable. Say we get a non-Dean nominee by February 3 or March 3 and they don't have to waste their money on a bruising fight. They'll still end up wasting it because they won't know how to use it as well as Dean and no one will pay attention because they can't get arrested.