Bush Bracing for Matchup Against Dean

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election team is bracing for a general election campaign against Democrat Howard Dean (news - web sites). While Republican advisers welcome the matchup, they are not as cocky about the prospects as they once were.


The former Vermont governor has shown an ability to mobilize volunteers and raise cash, making him a formidable political force, Bush supporters acknowledge.


By most accounts, the 2004 contest will be close, perhaps decided by a few industrial states.


"I don't think there's anybody who wins in a landslide," said GOP strategist Charles Black.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040104/ap_on_el_pr/bush_vs_dean_3

(more)

GET READY!

We'd better wrap up some of the chaos in our own party before the repubs start this fiasco.

We will likely have this thing pretty decided by mid March. Then we can really ge tto work. :toast:

Julie

have to fend off the early stuff?

Are getting a very unpleasant surprise in November.

Dean will win in a landslide. He is going to take at least 40 states. And then lots of people who were clueless will try and claim they liked him all along.

NBD '04

:eyes:

But they're not blind.

Trippi should have an interesting time with him.

more than the pundit people who are paid to know? (OK--they're not paid to know; they're paid to appear as if they know and push agendas, but still...)

NBD is as bad as the Religious Reich, imo.

Watch the media in coming days. It's going to get worse, and the rumor mill will get even more perverse than it currently is.

I think we can guarantee that Howard will say something that will get media coverage. They won't be able to paint him easily like the others.

Will the blast faxes start humming? That's what I think will happen. They're probably humming now.

If Dean looks strong right before Super Tuesday and the ABD is still in it would make sense. The longer they drag the process out the better. We waste energy, money and public opinion if we have to keep fighting.

so as to cause us the biggest loss of money.

But...so what? We'll all weather it.

Or the by then dropped out Kerry. Clark would be capped if he came out victorious.

Such caution runs counter to initial euphoria among some Republicans that Dean represented an easy target because of his fierce anti-war rhetoric, his liberal positions on many issues, an eagerness to roll back all Bush tax cuts and his reputation for testiness.


So the comparisons made by many analysts of Dean's candidacy to the unsuccessful campaigns of George McGovern in 1972 and Walter Mondale in 1984 may have been premature.


The Bush campaign is spending most of its time preparing for a race against Dean, campaign advisers said, laying groundwork to start spending the estimated $200 million that is being raised for the primary season. A Democratic winner is expected to emerge by early March.

They're not going to announce when they're going to do anything. They've put some of this in motion already. And they will certainly hit in full swing before March.

people noticing.

They've probably started hiring folks and laying groundwork but beyond that I'm not sure.

for months now. I suspect that tomorrow it will begin in earnest!

January 13
District of Columbia

January 19
Iowa

January 27
New Hampshire

February 3
Arizona
Delaware
Missouri
New Mexico
North Dakota
South Carolina
Oklahoma

February 7
Michigan
Washington

February 8
Maine

February 10
Tennessee
Virginia

February 17
Wisconsin

Februrary 24
Idaho

February 27
Utah

March 2
Minnesota
California
Connecticut
Georgia
Hawaii
Maryland
Massachusetts
Missouri
New York
Ohio
Rhode Island
Texas
Vermont

March 9
Florida
Louisiana
Mississippi

March 13
Kansas

March 14
Nevada*

March 16
Illinois

March 20
Wyoming

April 6
Wisconsin

April 13
Colorado

April 27
Pennsylvania

May 4
Indiana
North Carolina

May 11
Nebraska
West Virginia

May 18
Oregon
Arkansas
Kentucky

May 25
Idaho

May 27
Washington

June 1
Alabama
South Dakota

June 8
Montana
New Jersey

August 24
Alaska*

February 24th seems like a good day to expect it. He'll be trying to split it like this:

Dean: California, Hawaii,Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island,Vermont
Clark: Texas, Minnesota, Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio

3 Big States for Each. Rove will now have pushed the decision to March 9th with both candidates spending wildly.
Dean: Florida
Clark: Louisiana, Mississippi

After that there are no big deciding days and we would risk a divided convention. That's how I'd do it.

They will pounce before March in a big way.

January 13
District of Columbia- Dean

January 19
Iowa- Dean

January 27
New Hampshire- Dean

February 3
Arizona- Dean
Delaware- Dean
Missouri- Gep
New Mexico- Dean
North Dakota- Dean
South Carolina- Tossup at this point, no matter what it will be close.
Oklahoma- Dean

February 7
Michigan- Dean
Washington- Dean

Other's drop out, now Dean-Clark

February 8
Maine- Dean

If Dean can win Tennessee and Virginia it might make Wisconsin the deciding contests. I would think Clark would run strong in these two though.

February 10
Tennessee- Clark
Virginia- Dean

February 17
Wisconsin- Decides the victor, if Dean it's over. If Clark win's we go on.

I think the best hope is for the candidates to agree to Wisconsin as the end. Both have equal bases here. Dean in the cities and Clark in the countryside.

All Rove has to do is run Civil Union/Gay Marriage, Tax Raiser ad's in the Clark states to split the vote on Super Tuesday.

as Rove et al. think it will.

My fear is that he can use it to turn out momentum voters against Dean. Those who like Dean but just found out.

I worry about "tax raiser" more.

I think a negotiated end in Wisconsin would be the benefit to all. MacAulliffe should negotiate this if it appears Rove will try to split Super Tuesday. We need an outright winner for the good of the party.

divide people.

The "tax raiser" name calling will turn some people off, yes. STill, Dean handles that one pretty well.

It'll be amusing to note these dates and see how Bush* and Roverer time all of it.

around anymore!

Oh the joys. If Howard win's the nom outright he will beat Bush, no doubt in my mind about it.

n/t

should be the title.

They've already begun to lower expectations (they love to do this) - lets help them this time by making sure they understand you can't really perform lower than Bush has.

He used to talk about the "soft bigotry of low expectations", lets make sure he suffers no bigotry in this regard. He should be held to the standards of all Presidents - and in that regard, I'll steal this Gephardt classic: He's been a "miserable failure".

in November of '04!

So that BushCo can render him roadkill.

Dean does the best among the Dems against Bush. The latest poll shows him just 5 points behind. Clinton was 20 points behind GHWB at this stage. That and the electoral math points to a close election no matter who the Dem is.

the freepers will be making fun of your media "conspiracies" when the media turns on you again

That's nothing new. What should we do, cower in fear?

Nah, foktarded, now is the time to get to work and enjoy everything we do. All of us.

I was just pointing out that the poster was using freepish arguments.

I suggest you read the article, they don't want Dean at all.

and let him know that you're onto him, right away!

:tinfoilhat:

Let him know that you are up to his tricks!

to keep it near the top. It's now 3.59 with 98 votes.

It's quite an interesting article. I sense the Repubs are more than a little nervous; despite all their cash, they will still have to defend a 'miserable failure'.

Picture Bush getting prepped in little tiny bites, rehearsed again and again, and made to memorize sound bites in case the monitor goes off, to face Dean...

and then Dean is NOT the candidate.And Bush totally implodes!!

I knew you would laugh with me.

to prep him at this point because he (and they) really don't know what's going to happen. They won't be able to script him fast enough; it takes so long!

And much to my chagrin, that's mostly due to the immature behavior of so-called "supporters" and "opponents"

Unfortunately, there are a few on whom the difference between constructive criticism and scorched earth tactics is terminally lost.

I happen to prefer Clark - but that doesn't mean I'm willing to destroy other contenders for the nomination. Yet I'm confindent that this is the position of the overwhelming majority of Democrats. And that point was underscored this morning on C-SPAN, when Howard Dean led the six other contenders into pledging support for the Democrat nominee.

Unfortunately, that overwhelming majority of sensible people isn't patently reflected here, on DU - which isn't a reflection of DU's immense audience, but of the loudness of an obnoxious tiny minority here.

The good news is: B* won't survive Nov 2, 2004 - because we've been there, before, in 2000.

I think it's time to get the B* boys into a state of panic over this campaign: by showing that democracy is feared only by despots and their lackeys.

that I would do well to remember more often myself. DU is, indeed, NOT the real world, and the overwhelming majority of sensible people of whom you speak (and who you seem to be one of) are probably the least vocal people here, sadly.

It's only been very recently (like within the last 36 hours) that I finally put it together that DU is not representative of the general electorate. It maybe time to tattoo that in reverse type on my forehead so I'll see it every time I look in the mirror.