Howard Dean

Live by The Daily Show, die by The Daily Show. Howard Dean earned acclaim as the first "21st-century" presidential candidate. He exploited online phenomena such as blogs and MeetUp.Org to create a well-funded, heralded insurgency against the tired norm of the Democratic Party. He reached out to angry, alienated but still idealistic voters through smart use of the Internet - and of hip outlets like Jon Stewart's political humor show on Comedy Central. Exploiting the ease with which opinions and perceptions fly around a wired world, Dean went from nobody to front-runner at warp speed.

As you may recall, Ralph Kramden was a member of the Raccoon Lodge in The Honeymooners. Back in the 1950s, tens of millions of Americans were members of fellowship associations like the Elks and the Rotary. These groups had lodges or chapters across the nation, in which the affluent and not so affluent, the educated and not so educated, would get together once a week or so for schmoozing and community service. But as Theda Skocpol, a Harvard professor, has demonstrated, these fraternal associations lost members in the 1960s.

With President Bush reeling from polls showing support for the Iraq war melting faster than a sticky cup of Italian water ice in the hot hands of a child, it should be even clearer to Democrats that they must do better than Howard Dean as the voice of the loyal opposition. My lack of faith in Dean's ability to lead Democrats out of the dark caverns dug by John Kerry's defeat only increased after witnessing the former Vermont governor's dismal performance three weeks ago in Atlanta at the National Association of Black Journalists' convention.

Former Vice President Al Gore planned today to endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, a dramatic move that could tighten Dean's grip on the front-runner position. Gore, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in the disputed 2000 election, has agreed to endorse Dean in New York City's Harlem neighborhood today. Dean's campaign declined to comment on Gore. Gore won the popular vote by a half a million in 2000 but conceded to Republican George W. Bush after a tumultuous 36-day recount in Florida and a 5-4 Supreme Court vote against him. The former vice president is widely popular among key primary voters due partly to the widespread belief among Democratic activists that the 2000 election was taken from him. In several surveys of Democratic voters, Gore and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

Stepping into a small-town Iowa restaurant to meet 40 Democrats one brisk Sunday morning, Howard Dean stood awkwardly for a moment, unsure whether to shake hands or launch right into a speech. But after he finished talking half an hour later, it didn't matter to his listeners that Dean is not a smooth politician. It barely mattered that he is little-known and a long shot to win the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, let alone to unseat President Bush. What mattered most is that Dean, a former governor of Vermont running full-time for president, is a fresh and passionate voice in a party searching for direction and a candidate to oppose Bush next year.

Once ordained the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, John Kerry is fighting for his political life in his own backyard. His back to the wall in the critical primary state of New Hampshire, the Massachusetts senator has retooled his campaign in recent weeks for the struggle there against former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Kerry rolled out an earlier-than-expected endorsement from former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, increased his time in the state, and is sharpening his often-obtuse speaking style.

Midway through the Democratic presidential debate yesterday, while CNBC took a commercial break, two of the questioners, unaware that their microphones were still on, commiserated about how well the candidates were behaving. Magazine columnist Gloria Borger said to cable-TV anchorman Brian Williams, "How are we going to get these guys to mix it up a little?" Williams said with a sigh, "I have no idea. " They needn't have worried. Within minutes, the debate resembled the scene in The Godfather: Part II when a chaotic shooting war breaks out on a Gotham street corner after somebody tried to strangle Frankie Pentangeli.

The 2004 presidential primary season officially opens next week, and many Democrats in Pennsylvania and New Jersey would probably relish the chance to help pick the nominee. But it won't happen. National party leaders have devised the earliest, fastest nomination calendar in history, and that decision virtually guarantees that Pennsylvania and New Jersey voters - and perhaps voters in at least 30 other states - will have no say in the choosing of President Bush's challenger.

There is something about Howard Dean's enthusiasm that Democrats find irresistibly infectious. The former presidential candidate - three months after his campaign collapsed - proved yesterday he still can froth up a crowd, as he appeared at a Philadelphia rally for U.S. Senate candidate Joseph M. Hoeffel. Even the usually reserved Hoeffel seemed bitten by the Dean bug. Hoeffel rolled up his shirtsleeves in Dean fashion and tried to out-holler the former Vermont governor at the microphone.

JUST THINK IF you were both an Eagles fan and a Howard Dean fan this week. Were there ever two teams that disappointed more than the Birds and Team Howard? Sure, Iowa is not your typical state, the pundits, with their typical keen grasp of the obvious, warn us: You're not supposed to extrapolate nationally from the surprising results of the Iowa Democratic caucuses held Monday - with John Kerry running a strong first, John Edwards a strong second and Howard Dean a poor third.

BIG-TIME politics is a ruthless blood sport, and where it is played the field is littered with the bleached bones of naive idealists. So says George Clooney's "The Ides of March. " To which anyone over 30 says, "Duh. " "Ides," though, seems calculated to deliver its message of disillusionment to a fresh set of eyes - the Ryan Gosling generation (is that X or Y?). And, as messages of disillusionment go, "Ides" comes in a very slick package. Snappy writing, great cast.

JOE HOEFFEL has adopted the sentiment, if not the motto, of 2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean, who declared himself a representative of the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. " Hoeffel, a Montgomery County commissioner who also served in the U.S. House and as a state representative, claims to be "the most progressive Democrat" of the four candidates in Tuesday's primary election. A perennial candidate, Hoeffel ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and briefly for lieutenant governor in 2006, but dropped out and later took a job as deputy secretary for the Department of Community and Economic Development under Gov. Rendell.

Treat Haitians like Katrina's victims It was inevitable that we would have a repeat of the boat-people phenomenon in the wake of the horrendous devastation that has become Haiti's plight. Who among us, faced with similar circumstances, would not want to escape such horrendous conditions by any means necessary? Just as the survivors of Hurricane Katrina were granted refuge in American cities, so must we be willing to welcome the Haitian survivors to our shores. As we did with Katrina's victims, let us declare Philadelphia to be a sanctuary city to take in as many survivors from the Haitian disaster as we can. Many Haitian refugees may opt to remain and become American citizens; others will return to Haiti when conditions improve.

WHAT IS IT about American politics that turns a man who has shown bravery on an actual battlefield into a coward when it comes to political pressure? Such is the question posed by the cautionary tale of our onetime governor, Tom Ridge, who - as the first secretary of Homeland Security - could not muster the strength to keep his department from being used to benefit his political mentors, at the expense of his country. Even more germane to the current moment: What is it about the American people that we can be lied to with impunity - and then lied to again?

Andy Borowitz is a humorist, television personality and film actor The liberal blogosphere was aflame today with new accusations that Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) is trying to win the 2008 presidential election. Suspicions about Sen. Obama's true motives have been building during the past few weeks, but not until today have the bloggers called him out for betraying the Democratic Party's losing tradition. "Barack Obama seems to be making a very calculated attempt to win more than 270 electoral votes," wrote liberal blogger Carol Foyler at LibDemWatch.

Tricia Enright, a veteran of several political campaigns, has been hired to manage Democrat Michael Nutter's bid for mayor in November. "She fits into the quirky personalities we have here," Nutter campaign spokeswoman Melanie Johnson said. She added, "Tricia understands we are running an election and are in competition with another candidate. " Enright served in the fall as Gov. Rendell's campaign manager. Among her previous jobs, she was campaign communications director for former presidential candidate Howard Dean.

One can understand why Howard Dean feels that the world would be better off without the press, as he suggested recently to a group of bankers. Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, was responding to a banker's complaint that candidates speak only in sound bites. His solution: "Have candidates in to meetings like this, and bar the press. " Now there's a concept from a man who should know. Few have benefited less from media exposure than Dean, who will be forever remembered as "The Scream" for his war whoop during his 2004 presidential election bid. Then again, Dean, of all people, also should know that citizen journalists are everywhere, even at banking conventions, and that nearly everybody has a video phone and access to YouTube.

In the parking lot, they were selling $15 "Obama 12/10/06: I was there!" T-shirts. Inside the hall, 750 people cheered as Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) spoke about bringing the nation together, and then many of them lined up to have him sign copies of his best-selling book, The Audacity of Hope. Obama's first visit to New Hampshire yesterday pumped up the already considerable buzz around his possible run for president, 14 months before the state holds the first primary of 2008.

Dozens of self-styled progressive Democrats made a concerted effort to crash the city machine's party this year, and they had some success Tuesday, winning at least 64 seats on ward committees. Along the way, the insurgents apparently defeated two established ward leaders who were running for committee slots. Under party rules, however, one doesn't have to be a committee member to lead a ward. But the apparent defeats of Fifth Ward leader Sam Rappaport in Center City and 63d Ward leader Chris Drumm in Northeast Philadelphia stand as attention-grabbing symbols of the groups' efforts to gain a foothold in the party.

Barack Obama is not Jesus. Forgive me for pointing out what ought to be obvious. But I feel the need after reading the umpty-millionth profile in which seemingly every exhalation of his name was accompanied by angels singing hosannas and sighs of adoration from a congregation of Democrats looking to him for political salvation. Or, if you prefer, resurrection. Enough, already. I hold no animus toward the junior senator from Illinois. I met him once at a function in Chicago and, to whatever degree you can judge such things from a handshake and a smile, he seemed a nice enough guy. Nor am I unmindful of the reasons he is regarded so highly.