Dean, The Day After...

[returnable]

Is Dean changing gears after the Iowa loss?

From Josh Marshall's TPM:

He said there’d be no red meat (his words), and that he wanted to give a policy speech. He said it would be a “different kind of speech.” And it certainly was.

He didn’t talk much about the war. It was mainly balanced budgets, health care, etc. He seemed to be working at least in part from prepared remarks. It was nothing like the speech I saw down in DC a few months ago, a raucous rally.

It was hard to call it a rally. It was, as Dean said, a policy speech.

Dean's rationale for this was as follows: he said he got into the race because he thought Democrats weren't standing up for Dem principles, that they weren't taking the fight to President Bush. He said his opponents are now doing that -- something he took credit for. So he'd go back to discussing policy issues, what he did in Vermont, what he'd do for America, etc.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_01_18.html#002448

Marshall does add that Dean started to heat up again when taking questions from supporters, so the fire is still there.

An interesting read.