Against Dean

Bill McKibben's email, reproduced below by Robin, arguing that Dean's fund-raising strategy of using the Internet to get $40M of donations in <$100 increments -- involving hundreds of thousands of people -- is "radical democracy, far more important than any particular position that he stakes out" makes as much sense as saying that McGovern, being the first candidate in 1972 to use direct mailing to raise money was "radical democracy, far more important than any particular postion that he stakes out".

What is true is that the most important contribution of Dean to politics is that he has demonstrated that using the Internet for fundraising -- in analogy to direct mailing -- is a new and unexploited technique which can raise significant funds. However, if one assumes, for example, that all $300M of Bush's likely war coffer came from special interests, to counter that in $50 donations, one needs 6,000,000 of them. Bloody unlikely.

Also, just as many $50 donations will go to the Republicans from Bubba and Josie, once Internet fundraising is mastered and sold as a technique just like Direct Mailing already is. This is just a newish flavor of money, and we should expect that as much will go to Republicans as will Democrats. Dean just has a jump on it this year. Congratulations!

Why would I support Dean just because he invented the new Direct Mailing? What's so politically exciting about a new direct mailing fundraising technique?

Answer: it's about as politically exciting as responding with checks to the first direct mailing fundraising. That is to say, not very much. And it didn't help McGovern to be first -- Nixon still trounced him. Bush can do that as well.

I'm still looking for someone who can smack Bush around in an unfair fight -- not meaning somebody who has meaningfully thought about health care, since Democrats congenitally think meaningfully about health care. I want somebody who doesn't have a lot of sticks lying around him that Bush will pick him up and beat him with. Today, I think that somebody is Edwards, with Dean on the bottom of the ticket for balance. Dean made the tactical mistake of identifying too strongly as an "anti-war" candidate, which Bush will paint as anti-patriot. Still, it will be useful to have him around, and I'd like to see him in open debate, not with Bush, but with Cheney. I'm not ruling out Kerry for the bottom spot yet, but I am ruling Kerry out for the top spot, because Kerry is a re-tread Gore -- and we've already seen that movie, and I hated the ending. I'm still waiting for Clark to bring it.