I was in Iowa for the perfect storm for Dean, but I am afraid that I am going to have to start supporting Clark.
I think the Iowa results could have turned out to be actually favorable for Dean, (Gephardt out, Kerry and Edwards strengthened), but Dean's performance afterwards will mark the death knell of his chances to beat the president. It was as if Rove had hypnotized him into performing a charicature of himself. It will become his saturday night live moment and will unfortunately become his signature speech.
I have a friend who does not follow politics that much and he compared Dean's performance to Jack Nicholson in the Shining. There were many people that tuned in for the first time and saw someone who was as far as from "presidential" as any faux newscaster could have dreamed of.
I have put my heart and soul into the Dean campaign for nine months, but we do not have time to wallow. John Kerry does not deserve to win the nomination. He has run a consistently disingenuous, negative campaign, that has mischaracterized Dean's positions at every turn. His stand on the IWR was gutless and purely political.
But, maybe of paramount importance, his chances of defeating Bush are far less than that of Clark. Clark's campaign most closely mirrors Dean's in terms of issues and style. Clark's biggest possible negatives are far greater in the Democratic primaries than they would be in the general election.
I know many of you will want to fight the fight for the Dean campaign to the bitter end, but we must focus on our larger goal of removing the worst president of our lifetime's from office. Do not be deterred by the trolls into making this personal, in the defense of Dean. We do not have the privilege of time to wait to see what happens next. We must start becoming active in the Clark campaing right away to counter the momentum of the Kerry campaign.