Thursday, February 05, 2004
The "Last Stand in Cheeseland"
As much as I dismiss all the cheesy Wisconsin cliches used with alarming regularity, the use of this pun in today's WashPost to describe Dean's reliance on the Feb. 17th Primary there did make me chuckle (LINK). The article's description of Dean's dwindling staff morale, crowds, press corps and enthusiasm on the stump, however, is sadly true. Burlington's weekly alternative paper (home of the only must-read political column in the State) has begun the finger-pointing at individual Campaign staffers. In short, the Campaign deathwatch has begun. Superdelegates are being not-so-subtly lobbied to shift to Kerry. The unions are leaking stories about their desire to drop their endorsements. This weekend's MI and WA votes are expected to only add to the air of the inevitable. And the usually upbeat and KoolAid-flavored emails sent out to supporters unceremoniously reflect that utter change of message. Here's the jist from the body of this morning's message:
"We must launch our new television advertisement on Monday in the major markets in Wisconsin. To do that, I need your help to raise $700,000 by Sunday. Please contribute $50 today so that we can reserve the air time."
That email continues, quite ominously:
"We will get a boost this weekend in Washington, Michigan and Maine, but our true test will be the Wisconsin primary. A win there will carry us to the big states of March 2-and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything less will put us out of this race."
But don't assume for a moment that Dean's the only challenger that'll be eating some tough crow in the weeks ahead. Clark's staff also has had their paycheck suspended. Edwards is running low in the polls in Tennessee - a must-win for him next Tuesday. Sharpton didn't even garner a single delegate in South Carolina where he solely spent the last few months. In the end, it may come down to just Kerry and Kucinich (who amazingly had nearly $3M in cash on hand at the end of 2003 according to his FEC filings - enough for months worth of veggie burritos). So there might be a slim chance that the Special K's might be the remaining head-to-head combatents hanging in after Super Tuesday on March 2nd. Very, very slim, but possible.
As much as I dismiss all the cheesy Wisconsin cliches used with alarming regularity, the use of this pun in today's WashPost to describe Dean's reliance on the Feb. 17th Primary there did make me chuckle (LINK). The article's description of Dean's dwindling staff morale, crowds, press corps and enthusiasm on the stump, however, is sadly true. Burlington's weekly alternative paper (home of the only must-read political column in the State) has begun the finger-pointing at individual Campaign staffers. In short, the Campaign deathwatch has begun. Superdelegates are being not-so-subtly lobbied to shift to Kerry. The unions are leaking stories about their desire to drop their endorsements. This weekend's MI and WA votes are expected to only add to the air of the inevitable. And the usually upbeat and KoolAid-flavored emails sent out to supporters unceremoniously reflect that utter change of message. Here's the jist from the body of this morning's message:
"We must launch our new television advertisement on Monday in the major markets in Wisconsin. To do that, I need your help to raise $700,000 by Sunday. Please contribute $50 today so that we can reserve the air time."
That email continues, quite ominously:
"We will get a boost this weekend in Washington, Michigan and Maine, but our true test will be the Wisconsin primary. A win there will carry us to the big states of March 2-and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything less will put us out of this race."
But don't assume for a moment that Dean's the only challenger that'll be eating some tough crow in the weeks ahead. Clark's staff also has had their paycheck suspended. Edwards is running low in the polls in Tennessee - a must-win for him next Tuesday. Sharpton didn't even garner a single delegate in South Carolina where he solely spent the last few months. In the end, it may come down to just Kerry and Kucinich (who amazingly had nearly $3M in cash on hand at the end of 2003 according to his FEC filings - enough for months worth of veggie burritos). So there might be a slim chance that the Special K's might be the remaining head-to-head combatents hanging in after Super Tuesday on March 2nd. Very, very slim, but possible.
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