The most interesting thing about the Dean campaign to me is its notable similarities with that of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the late Prime Minister of Canada.
Trudeau came out of nowhere, successfully led a leadership campaign based on popular support vs. party politics, proved himself tough on terrorism early in his term by declaring martial law but was also quite troubled by the act, working quickly to clean up the mess, deport the terrorists to Cuba, and restore human rights as quickly as possible, took unpopular positions with respect to energy policy and wage/price controls, successfully fought the first referendum on Quebec sovereignty, led the effort in defining and bringing home a new Constitution, and did all this in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the economy was a complete pile of shit.
He did this by being bold and tenacious, like Dean - but he was also possessed strong intellect, wit, and charisma. He caused more gaffes in the media than they did back - and those slipups that he did make proved to be priceless. He flip-flopped like crazy, but more because he actually thought about things than anything (I'd love to hear that comeback about flip-flopping - only idiots never change their minds...) But through it he managed to maintain an aura of class and dignity, and even his enemies had to begrudgingly respect him and mourned his passing in 2000.
Dean has many of the same qualities, but until now had not refined them to the point to be viable. The last week has been quite telling and quite different. Very promising indeed. Less anger, more authenticity, less one-issue harping, more stressing the positive, less overt opponent bashing, more subtle digs...more wit, less ire...it works.
Note to Deaniacs: the Trudeaumania phase that got him elected was very short-lived. Enough to keep him there from 1968-1979, and 1980-84, but the mania died down about late '69-early '70. Mania might propel but it does not sustain.
Luckily, though, your boy is quality, so go out there and prove it.
