That turned out to be not such good news for the Dems.

at this time the only thing this means is that the perception is that howard dean is the frontrunner for the nomination of the democratic party. a lot can happen between now and then. i still think dean gets the nomination because he has the most money and the best organization, but one candidate will offer himself as an alternative to dean and it will be a bitter battle to the nomination. i actually rated this a 4 in my original rating. i am a tard.

My personal opinion of Howard Dean notwithstanding, I must admit that I am quite surprised at just how successful Howard Dean has been over the past year. I mean just a year ago today, people were going Howard who?. The primary season hasn't even started yet, and he's ALREADY all over the news. With the Iowa caucuses just five days away, it is clear that Howard Dean is the man to beat. In January of last year, Joe Lieberman had a substantial advantage over his opponents, beating out most of his opponents by at least 10 points. Amazingly, by the summer of 2003, Dean was clearly emerging as the front-runner. What is most amazing about Dean's ascendency to the top is that it came at the expense of John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, and even Dick Gephardt, all of whom were the top men in their party just a year ago. Now, it is clear that the battle for the Democratic nomination is between Dean, who is incredibly popular in the north, and Clark, who holds a significant advantage in the south. One thing is clear: it's going to be a very interesting primary season, as all eyes are on Howard Dean. If he emerges with the Democratic nomination, he's going to have quite a time facing President Bush in the general election. Dean's only hope in the general election is to do what he has done in the primaries: stir the pot and inspire more people to come to the voting booth.