I haven't been reading the wires astutely the last day or two, but Dean's general election chances are declining due to attacks from primary competitors. Where's that famous fighting spirit you Deaniacs keep talking about?
Here is a suggestion to Dean supporters and campaigners: you need to Zing Lieberman now. He is killing your chances in the general election by giving the Repubs fodder to campaign against him. On MTP and all over TV, Joe Lieberman, perceived centrist and all-around-palatable guy to middle-of-the-roaders, is trashing Dean for basically being an unrecontructed 60's liberal (ie, rejecting the Clinton legacy).
Here is my suggestion: turn the tables. Blast Lieberman for being the perfect candidate... for 1992. That was 12 years ago, and the world is different, and we need new solutions, not the same old same old.
Dean should even try to gloss himself, not Lieberman, as the new "Bill Clinton" in this sense: "Bill Clinton's genius was to bring new ideas and a new way of doing things to the table. In the 1990's after 12 years of Republican rule, the nation was starved for new ideas. If Bill Clinton could run for president today he would again come up with new ideas. Not the same ones he had twelve years ago. Joe Lieberman, you have to bring new ideas to the table, not recycle them from 12 years and three election cycles ago."
This is free advice from a Clark supporter. If you've read this far, let me say that if Clark is our nominee, we won't have any of these old-time-liberal problems in the general election, even with a candidate who is in roughly the same place as Dean ideologically. So, not that I expect to make much headway with you ultra-loyal Dean folks, but please reconsider the logic of your support.
That said, Dean is the man to beat now. And if he in fact wins the nomination, I hope he overcomes these hurdles and has a snowball's chance.