The Dean Mirage--What happened?

[osprey4]

This pundit has a theory.

Dean’s campaign was never actually successful. It did many of the things successful campaigns do, of course — got press and raised money and excited people and even got potential voters to aver to campaign workers and pollsters that they would vote for him when the time came. When the time came, however, they didn’t. The campaign never succeeded at making Howard Dean the first choice of any group of voters he faced, and it seems unlikely to do so today.

If this thesis — call it the ‘mirage’ thesis — is too strong for you, consider its cousin, where the campaign was doing well until the last few days. In this version, one New Hampshire voter in three dumped Dean after no event more momentous than a third-place showing in Iowa (rarely known to track to New Hampshire elections) and a little hootin’ and hollerin’ in the concession speech (to use Sharpton’s memorable phrase). Not one Dean supporter in three, mind, one voter in three.

What do you think?

[Theophylact]

I think it was like many other dot.com boom-and-bust operations: bright young things; some initial capital and a flurry of IPO enthusiasm rising more; a ferocious burn rate to get the product noticed; but no real business plan or market for the goods.

[John Prophet]

He made the old groom on the wedding night mistake....he peaked too early

then of course the negative media hype destroyed him

[MTAtech]

As soon as he was the front-runner, they all jumped on him from every side. The media found it easier to make him the issue instead of his positions. Then, somebody claimed he wasn't electable and that snowballed.

[osprey4]

So it wasn't the "I have a scream" speech?