Well, Dean's
apology has exploded in the media around the nation. It will easily be the most covered news story of the day, and probably the most covered story of the entire campaign to date. Google News records 44 hits on "Dean regrets" in the headline of an article in just the last hour alone. To put this in persepctive, since I have been monitoring Google News hits, for any candidate to manage 44 headline hits in a day is very good. But 44 in one hour, on one phrasing of one subject? Holy crap.
The real question is how long the story will be mentioned in articles about Dean after today. Will it become something such as "Democratic presidential candidate Hward Dean, recently dogged by remarks he made over the confederate flag, campagined in Iowa today." How long will such a tag line last? To what extent will it drown out coverage of tomorrow's vote or tonight's meetup?
Should be interesting, but no matter what happens Howard Dean has now become the center of attention to an even greater degree than Wesley Clark was during the third week of September. It is my belief that as a result of this within two weeks Dean will have a lead outside the margin of error in every national poll.