My theory is people were turned off by Deans loss/speech started looking at candidates like John Kerry and then after New Hampshires Debate and Dean appearence with Judy on ABC remembered why they liked him and why Kerry was so far behind just a few short weeks ago. They are realizing Dean is the best candidate we have to offer.
Also on the speech. It wasn't that bad. At least not bad enough to warrent 4 days worth of coverage. In fact if his voice wasn't hoarse it probably wouldn't have even been a story. The media decided coming in 3rd was a loss and Dean should be sad and humble and disheartend, but he wasn't.
How dare he! (sarcasm)
The remixes kick ass. I like the ACDC "For those about to Rock" version.
He did his own remix in New Hampshire today.
After a supporter praised him for his speech after finishing third in Iowa -- a scream-laced performance that damaged Dean politically -- the former Vermont governor playfully said to the audience: "May I say we are going to win South Carolina. We are going to win New Hampshire. We will win Ohio. We will win Arizona. And then, we'll go on to win Massachusetts. And after we are done doing that, we will win New York."
When the cheering subsided, Dean said, " I couldn't resist. That does look more presidential, doesn't it?"
But it doesn't really matter why, the important thing is voters are taking a second look at the good Doctor. Opening the door for Howard Dean to regain the soft support he had in the state.
Larry O'Sullivan said Howard Dean "looked like a yahoo" bellowing in defeat from Iowa. Patricia Fields thinks he was "a bit wild." And Kim Lindley-Soucy said he was "overly excitable."
So why did these New Hampshire Democrats stand shoulder-to-shoulder Friday to listen to the embattled presidential candidate's new stump speech? They were giving the former Vermont governor a second look. Dean's presidential aspirations, teetering on the edge of a political abyss, depend on voters such as Fields, Lindley-Soucy and O'Sullivan finding virtue in his faults -- and giving him what O'Sullivan called "one more once-over."
It is too early to know whether Dean has stopped his precipitous slide, and all the traditional measures -- polls, endorsements, conventional wisdom and a simple lack of time before Tuesday's primary -- lean against him. But interviews with nearly two dozen undecided voters Friday suggest that Dean's political makeover could help turn his campaign around.
"When we saw him up their shouting and yelling, it put a lot of us on the fence. There's not a lot of difference between these guys so it doesn't take a lot to move us from one to another," said Ed Hennessy, 58, a retired union worker in Nashua, N.H., who deserted Dean last week.
"But I'm back in his camp. It was just a slip of the tongue, and nobody's perfect," Hennessy said. "I've got to give him credit for speaking from his heart."
Woven throughout Dean's new script is criticism of his opponents. He claims he is the political outsider to their Beltway-insider resumes.
"Listen, to what they say. 'You can have middle-class tax cuts. You can have health care for every American,'" Dean told the crowd here. "You believe that?" In Nashua, N.H., he said voters want "a candidate who will tell the truth."
"We're not going to do this by nominating a Washington insider," said Dean. More than 250 people sat in folding chairs and watched Dean stroll the stage. Many said they weren't considering voting for him a week ago, either because they were never interested or -- a sentiment heard most often -- they were turned off by his defeat and post-election performance.
O'Sullivan, 50, a salesman from Londonderry, said Dean had not been on his short list.
"But here I am because of the impression he gave in the debate, despite the fact that he looked like a yahoo a couple days before in Iowa. I think he made up for it," O'Sullivan said.
He had watched Thursday night's debate, where Dean previewed his new strategy. Many voters stayed tuned afterward for an ABC interview with Dean and his wife, Judy.
"I think we've turned the corner and we're going to come back up, and the question is can we close the gap between now and Tuesday," Dean said, though it's too early for polls to reflect opinions after the debate.
Up to 20 percent of voters are undecided, surveys show, and many with favorite candidates are still open to changing their minds. Dean advisers say they hope they can stop his slide then claim a comeback -- if not outright victory -- much as Bill Clinton did in 1992 when Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas beat him by 8 percentage points amid an extramarital affair scandal.
Dean drew enormous crowds all day -- at one surprising town hall meeting in Keene N.H. with just 82 people registered to attend over 1,500 unexpected spectatos showed up. "Wow, I hope there are some undecideds out there so we can sway them." Dean said.
Lindley-Soucy, cradling her baby at a Dean event, was not a supporter, certainly not immediately after Iowa. Suddenly, she's curious.
"He comes across as honest, even when it hurts," she said.
Fields, 66, a mental health counselor from Londonderry, said the media has made too much of the speech, a sentiment echoed by others.
"I think he was too tame to tell you the truth. I hope he doesn't back down," she said.
Gloria Kelley, 53, a union worker who attended one of his events, said she still has her doubts about Dean. "He was over the top, wasn't he? It makes you wonder about his judgment," she said. Then a smile crept across her face, and she said, "I think I'll give him a second look, if the media doesn't mind."
Sources...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040124/ap_on_el_pr/dean&cid=694&ncid
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