Sounds like someone who would rather have their buttons pushed by being told what she wants to hear rather than actually win and then have a chance to get their agenda enacted.

But I suppose when you don’t actually HAVE an agenda, button-pushing is all you’re left with.

Remember: We Republicans are "quaking in our boots" over this. Howard Dean "scares us to death" because he "has us all figured out." "Oh...I hope he stops speaking out so much"..."I dread his clever and perceptive comments"....

That's my story (if a Democrat asks) and I'm sticking to it. :-)

Mr. Berg:

I think Republicans are performing the same service for Mr. Dean as many Democrats performed for President Bush way back in 2000: you are misunderestimating the good doctor.

While you may think it is "crazy", the good doctor is the first Democrat in quite some time to speak in terms that are clearly different than what Republicans are offering. This isn't some pussy-foot Edwards "two-Americas" crap... Mr. Dean realizes what many Democrats feel: that there is no middle ground between the Republican platform and what we would like to have happen.

Furthermore, Howard Dean is the only politican I can think of on either side that is not a talking point machine. He is clearly unscripted. You may think that this is kind of crazy, but many red states have more of a populist streak than well scripted performers like Frist or beltway money machines like Delay would care to admit.

So, I look forward to all these inside the beltway folks and major media outlets to attack Dean. How long can a party who complains about media bias stand by when their opponent is getting taken to task by the very same media?

I look forward to Republicans claiming that Dean is "out of touch" by saying things about the "white Christian" Republican party...on the same day that an ABC News poll said that one of the only groups who think that PResident Bush advocates for their issues are white evangellical Christians.

I hope you Republicans are NOT quaking in your boots. Keep up the glib attitude towards Mr. Dean. He clearly hits a chord with many, many active Democrats and he has expanded the donating base while getting rid of some of the bigger donors. He has also started to actually pay attention to more than 19 states...we are now building up the party all over the country...something that past leadership paid little attention to doing.

Whlie you see us keeping the course towards some gruesome end, I see you Republicans doing the same thing we Democrats did to Bush: getting too comfortable in power and misunderestimating the appeal of one of the opposition party's leaders.

Do you honestly thing Dean is thinking that far ahead? This is an impulsive man, prone to daring allegations. David Brooks called him the Internet Man. Maybe he's more like the Northern Alliance and the rest of the Blogswarm than they care to admit.

When he ran for president, he showed that his support was 100 miles square and inch deep. He fell apart like a house of cards.

If he "hits a chord" with Democrats, I honestly fear for the party. And I'm a lifelong Democrate. Worked on two Wellstone campaigns.

I do think that he is thinking in a way that is more national and more clearly defined than any other "national" Democrat. I don't think that it is so much thinking "ahead" as it is getting together a party that can compete in more than 19 states. It's like picking up a messy house; you have to get things in order before you can start the remodeling. If he can change the funding structure of the DNC to rely on more smaller donors while maintaining the same overall funding levels...this is an achievement by itself.

I agree with your assessment of his appeal as a Presidential candidate. However, I don't think that this is such a bad thing as someone who is in charge of getting a lot of people engaged. You've worked on campaigns...you know it has a great deal to do with getting the base out there and active. If he can engage more "average" people and make them involved in party politics and if he can engage the state level Democratic orgs (esp in red states)...well, I think that is a good thing...and if this is done in non-election years...wow.

I am curious why he rubs you the wrong way. Is it his temperment? Is it his policy direction? Is it a combination of the 2? Why do you fear for the party because of Dean? I fear for it when I see calculated "moderates" like Edwards and Biden go out there and spit out nonsense. You have to stand for stuff...clearly. I think Dean is our best example of this important trait.

I'm not that old, but I come from a family of Roosevelt Democrats. I look at the faces of the Democratic Party -- Dean and Michael Moore sitting as the guest of honor at the convention -- and I don't recognize my party. Where the hell did these people come from? The people I worked with during the Kerry campaign seems normal enough. My neighbors are normal enough. We're all urban-crawler Democrats.

"Standing for stuff?" I think so, too. I wish they would stand for something besides "I can't stand George W. Bush"

If Dean really feels like he has to serve the the Red Meat. Do it behind closed doors to the party faithful.

You seem to have the RNC's Democrats-are-crazy-and-out-of-touch talking points down. Are you really upset about a guest at a made for tv convention? Is that it?

If you really came from a family of Roosevelt Democrats, I'd think that the whole "I can't stand W" angle might have a bit more umph with you.

This isn't about red meat. This is about setting a clear choice between the parties. If you like things like Social Security and Medicare, there is no moderate ground between what Bush is offering and the real Democratic platform.

Since 94, the Republicans have made it very clear that they are in no way, shape, or form interested in the "middle ground". They have a clearly defined platform (God bless them for getting that far) and they are willing to inch thier way towards it no matter what.

What do you really want? Someone like Edwards or Biden who will sit there and pander to a middle position that doesn't exist? Do you want someone who is happy about what President Bush has achieved against the Democratic initiatives of the 20th Century?

Dean and Michael Moore? Are you seriously putting those 2 in the same basket? Come on.

Maybe not the same basket, but two different and equally frightening baskets. And they're both sitting on the Democrats' doorsteip.

Democrats have always been and unruly and disorganized lot. Streetfighters, but passionate and hearfelt. Like Wellstone, always up for a fair fight and energized by it.

We're not engaging anymore, just nasty and joyless, like moveon.org.