Let's Not Jinx It

WaPo:

Dean is aggressively pursuing key House members -- black lawmakers in particular -- and promising to raise money for as many as 20 congressional candidates.
...
To be sure, Dean derives most of his support, energy and money from grass-roots activists, many of whom are new to politics. His cutting-edge Internet campaign is shattering expectations and revolutionizing presidential politics.

But Dean, a savvy strategist and tactician, knows that the road to the nomination and the presidency is much more treacherous if he continues to alienate lawmakers and party insiders the way he did early on, several supporters said.

Yup, he's damn smart. Or, as Bay Buchanan and Donna Brazile said on Inside Politics today:

WOODRUFF: ...The newspaper this morning tells us that Howard Dean is trying something different. He's reaching out to the insiders for a change in Washington. Is this smart?

BAY BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CAUSE: Smart, savvy political move on his part. Judy, it's clear, and he knows it. The only thing that can stop him now -- he's running very strong in the polls, he has all the money he needs to win this thing. The only thing that can stop him is if the establishment in the Democratic Party was to organize and unify against one candidate, such as a Gephardt. That could possibly derail this. He's making certain that that doesn't happen, or he's trying to make certain it does not happen and is not effective if they try.

WOODRUFF: But does he hurt himself with his grassroots supporters?

DONNA BRAZILE, FMR. GORE CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No. They know that Howard Dean is still the outsider. But look, he's the frontrunner. And Bay's right.

There are 795 super delegates, that's members of Congress, party officials and best friends of Terry McAuliffe, including myself. And Howard Dean needs the support of insiders in this party in order to capture that nomination. So he's doing the right thing and the timing is brilliant.

BUCHANAN: And Judy, you get the impression when you read the press that maybe he'll hurt himself, as you pointed out. But he won't, because you communicate at different levels. And his Internet people, you communicate directly through the Internet.

They're not watching the evening news. They're not upset if they find out that he's meeting with somebody. They want to know where he stands on these issues. He still remains an anti-establishment kind of figure when you look at his position on the issues.

Good god, I agree with Buchanan and Brazile? Welcome to Bizzaro World.

ntodd  ¶ 10:20 PM