Howard Dean (Tweet): I May Have to Become an Independent

[hfojvt]

87. okay then explain your own "reasoning"

show me how you have some pure progressive in the Virginia senate race. It was won by the DLCer Timothy Kaine, by 52.5% to 47.5% for George Allen. Show me how Ralph Nader can run as an independent and NOT allow Allen to win.

First I will agree with you. I would rather have Senator Ralph Nader than Senator Timothy Kaine.

My point is that if Nader cannot beat Kaine in the Democratic Primary, then there is no possible way he is gonna win a 3 person race. But if he gets 5.1% of the vote, say hello to Senator George Allen. And if you thought Kaine was bad, Allen is gonna be a lot worse.

The sad thing would be the Democratic Primary voters who say to themselves "I like Nader better than Kaine, but Kaine is more electable so I am voting for him in the primary."

And the other bad part is that only about 20% of Democrats (or less) will vote in the primary. In my county, for example, 1,866 people voted in my primary (and 1,540 of them voted for me). I lost the primary (district wide) by 1,919 votes. But in my own county 9,000 people voted for the Democrat in 2006 and 11,000 voted for the Democrat in 2008. If more than 21% of them had gone to the polls, with another 3,000 primary voters in my own county, I coulda won the primary.

But the people who vote for the "electable" candidate may have a point. Because a Nader-type might not be able to get 52.5% in a general election. Especially in a place like Virginia (or Montana, or North Dakota, or Kansas, or Indiana, etc., etc., etc.)

What sorta burns me up is when "electability" is decided not by issues, but by money. In the primary I was in, one political writer said that one of the other candidates was "the logical choice". Why? Not because of where he stood on the issues, but because he was the best fundraiser. It was sorta taken for granted, I guess, that all three of us were just generic Democrats on the issues.

In fact, my main opponent, the one who won the primary, when she spoke after me would start "I agree with what he said". And I am sure she did, but she did not spread the same message after I was defeated. But, as the primary showed, it is hard to spread ANY message without the money to do so.