TomAtPitt
Rookie
Posts: 42
|
 |
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2003, 06:39:24 PM » |
|
Reasons why Dean would not make a strong candidate in 2004:
- Dean wants to repeal all of Bush's tax cuts, including those on the middle class. This, as Kerry pointed out, amounts to a tax raise on the middle class. This position would not be popular among moderate voters. Also likely to be unpopular with moderates would be his calls for a new large-scale re-regulation of business.
- Dean is a very vocal opponent of the war and opposed it from the beginning. The problem is, a large majority of Americans still say they support the war. Even Democrats in polls say they want a candidate who at first supported the war but was critical about how it was handled- nominating such a candidate would likely be a stronger choice then Dean.
- On social issues, Dean would be put at a disadvantage by his social liberalism as well, due to his signing of the Civil Unions bill in Vermont. While the other candidates share this position, the fact that he actually signed the bill may make him more vulnerable. In addition, he opposes the Defense of Marriage Act which Bill Clinton signed that would prevent all 50 states from recognizing gay marriage should one state decide to approve it. Him calling himself a Metrosexual won't help either.
- Geography: Perhaps the biggest one. If the States were to fall the way they did in 2000, the Democrat would lose by 18 electoral votes. So, the Democrats must hold on to Al Gore's states and capture a few Bush states as well. Dean is from New England, a region where the Democrats already dominate and from where the Democrats would not gain much of an advantage having their candidate be from. He might be helpful for New Hampshire, but Vermont is such a different state it would not even be clear there. In fact, Deanis probably one of the candidates least suited to appeal to any states that went for Bush in 2000.
|
