The Democrats’ national chairman, Howard Dean, told The Financial Times in an article on Friday: “I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else.” ...New York Times...
Michael Crowley, at the New Republic, fears Dean has picked up a case of Billaryitis. The "will of the voters" -- that old fashioned democratic stuff, remember? -- may be a thing of the past.
"The will of the voters" as measured through the popular vote and pledged delegate count is an empirical metric by which Hillary will almost certainly come up short. But the question of who is strongest against McCain is far more subjective, and tailor-made for the growing implication of the Clintonite spin that America just isn't ready for a black president.
How many out there concede that there are still other Americans who believe neither a generic black nor a generic woman is ready for the presidency? Quite a few.
How many of us agree with the rest of us that allowing to prejudice to win is something America and the Democratic party can no longer afford, morally or politically? Quite a few.
How many Democratic voters will cease to be Democratic voters if they see their candidate has won the popular vote but the Democratic party overrides it? More than a few and all of them angry.
How likely it is that the Democratic party would lose a significant chunk of its membership to the Independents? Or -- with any luck -- to a new Progressive party? Quite a few, we hope, and we'll be out here to greet them.
