Tonight's stunning riposte by the Dean campaign finally made clear the feeling I had been trying to identify for a while: Dean's campaign is much stronger than Dean himself.
A couple of days ago Dean made a comment about confederate flags. It was a clumsy recycling of a point he had better made in previous speeches, but even at those times it wasn't a very well-advised turn of phrase, because mentioning the confederate flag wasn't necessary to make the point he made, and the confederate flag is just way too easy to jump on and misconstrue.
Tonight's debate featured a lot of activity about that comment, and even though Dean defended his stance fairly well, it was clear that there was still a risk of the press coverage focusing on elements that wouldn't serve his campaign.
So right when the press coverage started coming out, the Dean campaign released news that they would be asking their supporters to vote on one of the biggest decisions of the campaign: whether to accept federally matching funds.
The reason this is such an amazing move is threefold:
- There was already a lot of advance play on this issue. Dean had previously said he wouldn't decline matching funds, because it was associated with the idea of corporate and special-interest contributions. When it became clear he had a huge grass roots following, he floated the idea of reconsidering, but opposing campaigns immediately began to make a political issue out of it. By making it a vote, he insulates himself from going back on his word.
- By having his supporters decide for him, he also clearly insulates himself from the perception of declining so he can get more special-interest and corporate money contributions.
- He effectively defuses the confederate flag issue. This is clearly bigger news than debate flap. It knocks off the front page the press coverage of him being slammed at the debate. Plus, they can milk it for a few days. A big speech tomorrow, a possible endorsement for good measure, and a vote for the next few days, followed by the big decision over the weekend.
The point is that these were all decisions of Joe Trippi and Trippi's campaign. My personal view is that Dean's still the one who badly made a good point by using the confederate flag. I love Dean's campaign, how it's outsider, how it's bringing in the people, how it lacks command and control, and how it has so much energy. But I'm getting less and less an idea of how this campaign is actually a reflection of who Dean is. I really want to do everything I can to support this campaign, because I want to believe that a campaign like this can change politics, and I want to hope that that kind of participation, strategy, and energy can actually influence an actual administration in the same way. But that's the
campaign. I don't know how I feel about Dean at all.