Dean/Gore Lovefest Coverage

I bestow the following awards for coverage of Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean:

* Worst. Column. Ever. - Stop This Train: Who decides this election—you or Al Gore? By William Saletan:

What was that again about counting every vote?

Three years ago, Al Gore, trailing in the Florida recount, urged the nation to wait until all the votes were tallied...Elections should be determined "by the votes cast by the people, not by politicians."
...
That was then. This is now.

Now the presidential candidate Gore prefers is ahead. Not in the vote count—the first votes haven't been cast yet—but in Democratic polls and money. In Iowa, Howard Dean leads his nearest competitor by eight points. In New Hampshire, he leads by 14 points to 25 points. Financially, he's blowing the field away. He has already renounced matching funds, allowing him to ignore the customary spending caps and outspend his opponents with impunity in the early primaries.

Should Democrats fight it out and see who wins? Not if Gore has his way.

* Best. Response. Ever. - Did Gore subvert the democratic process? By Kos:

Gore endorses Dean. Fans of the Vermont governor exhulted. Most everyone else recognized it as yet another major step toward a Dean nomination.

And a small group have loudly complained that Gore has somehow subverted the democratic process.

Which is, of course, ludicrous.
...
[I]t's true, no votes have been cast. But that doesn't mean we haven't seen democracy in action the past year. 2003 was a clinic in how technology could be used to build a movement, how bytes on a screen could be transformed into off-line activities in pursuit of a cause.

We have been seeing true participatory democracy. Some campaigns got it. Others did not. And yet others simply got in the game too late. Movements aren't built overnight.

I reject the notion that democracy isn't being served. At the end of the day, we'll still have elections to select delegates. Each candidate still has to get his (or her) supporters to the polls. Dean's nomination isn't a done deal. But he sure is in the best position to receive it.

* Funniest. Report. Ever. - Gore To Claim He Invented Dean, Says GOP. By Tom Burka:

Al Gore is set to claim today that he invented Howard Dean, according to GOP stalwarts.

"That guy's just a wacko who takes credit for everything," said Tod Wanksmen, aide to RNC chief Marc Racicot.

Soon-to-be-former Democratic candidates reacted to the announcement.

No further insight from NTodd required.

ntodd  ¶ 6:31 PM