"Silly" electability

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Thursday December 18, 2003 · 12:53 PM PST

2003/12/18 · 12:53

Over and over, many of you on this site dismiss arguments about Dean's electability. The notion, however, that all of the candidates are "equally" electable is absurd. Here is my ranking of the candidates most likely to put together a winning majority/plurality in 11/04, assuming they were given the nomination. What is yours?

Clark
Edwards
Dean
Gephardt
Lieberman

the rest

Top Five Things Dean Needs To Do To Be Competitive With Bush

benfalloon

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Friday December 12, 2003 · 1:52 PM PST

2003/12/12 · 13:52

MOVE RIGHT ON TAXES. Dean's call to roll back all of Bush's tax cuts is stunning in its general election political naivete. Dean has plenty of weaknesses for Bush to exploit, but this issue in itself will cost him the election if he doesn't act soon.
CHEER UP. Nobody likes to be around angry people, let alone elect an angry President. Dean needs to start sounding more cheerful, more optimistic, and emphasize what he's FOR as much as what he's against. It would help to surround himself more publicly with his family; we've got to humanize this guy.
TALK UP DEFENSE. Voters really are worried about national security. Dean's signature issue at this point, his opposition to the Iraqi war, rings 'defense-lite' with many swing voters. He needs to simultaneously talk up homeland defense, and ideally, get Clark to be his VP nominee to provide some defense 'credibility.'
LEARN RESTRAINT. Dean was probably going to lose the South anyway, but his 'pick-up truck' comment is the kind of thing that puts the nail in the coffin. It's cliched, but this guy has got to learn to think before he speaks.
REACH OUT TO MINORITIES. Dean supporters never shut up about his grass roots appeal and ability to bring out new (liberal) voters. That's all fine and good, but if we lose ground with minorities, it's all a wash. Dean's support among minorities is quite tepid. This guy has got to reach out more.

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