As regular readers may know, I’ve taken a more-than-passive interest in former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. For a number of reasons, I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion that it’s in everyone’s interests — particularly those of us anxious to replace Bush in 2004 — for Dem primary voters to reject Dean’s candidacy.<\/p>\n
Dean, however, is not going away. Indeed, the Dean for America campaign is stronger now than ever, even exceeding the expectations of some of his most loyal backers.<\/p>\n
Oddly enough, every significant attack levied on Dean by Democratic rivals seems to backfire. The centrist DLC urged party leaders to dismiss Dean<\/a> as part of the “McGovern-Mondale” wing of the party, and the campaign used it as an effective rallying cry for liberals to “reclaim” what it means to be a Democrat. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry attacked Dean on national security grounds, and it ended up making Kerry look like a bully and Dean sympathetic.<\/p>\n More importantly, each incident raised Dean’s public profile. For months, the good doctor’s biggest problem was getting noticed, especially since many in the media dismiss him as a quirky doctor from a small New England state. Every time his rivals go after him, Dean generates new and broader support from voters who didn’t know that they liked him and new interest from reporters who didn’t know they were supposed to follow him.<\/p>\n This prompted Chuck Todd, a reporter for National Journal and editor of The Hotline, to draw a conclusion<\/a> that is both brilliant and stunningly obvious — if you want to stop Dean, ignore him.<\/p>\n Todd concludes that “the anti-Dean forces need to tone it down” because the high-profile public criticisms are “like rocket fuel for the guy.” <\/p>\n “The best cure for Dr. Deanitis may be, ‘Pause for two seconds and ignore him in the morning, the afternoon and night,'” Todd wrote in his column this week. “Dean is a free-media machine. It might be wise for the establishment wing to pull back on its attacks.”<\/p>\n