Media Torpedoes Dean!

The Destruction of Howard Dean

By Toby Vest

     The passage of time in the political arena is relatively faster than the passage of time of your average person. For politicians, and the media that covers them, issues and scandals seem to appear and disappear within days. For example look at the recent slide of former governor Howard Dean, who only three weeks ago was leading the democratic charge to take back the White House from the Bush Administration, and now after the first set of primaries is clawing for his political life, as Senator John Kerry has emerged as the man to beat.

     In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses Dean was all over the television spewing his brand of political venom, looking invincible. He was the only candidate at the time that seemed committed to a specific idea of giving back democracy to the people and even as the media was casting him as an unelectable maniac his poll numbers were high and overall he appeared in good shape, prepared to take the Democratic nomination with only a minor scuffle.

     But little did Dean know that behind closed doors the other candidates were witnessing the effectiveness of his message. Media polls indicated that Dean’s anti-war, pro-health care, anti-special interest, anti-Bush stances were popular among American voters and the other candidates were beginning to take notice. So while Dean was taking chances, the other candidates were watching the polls, bidding their time, co-opting his ideas. In the case of Kerry and Senator John Edwards, better, more telegenic, politicians devoured these ideas then regurgitated them in a kinder gentler form.

     The results of the Iowa caucuses did not unfold like Dean had hoped or many in the media had predicted, with Kerry taking the victory, Senator John Edwards in second, and Dean in a close third. This immediately gave Kerry and Edwards a boost because only hours earlier Dean seemed unbeatable. Dean then gave a concession speech that would have an aftermath from which he is still trying to recover. I don’t think I need to go any deeper into detail here because surely we’ve all seen the clips of Dean ranting about taking back the white house and making it clear he knows the names of all 50 states.

     Personally, I didn’t have a problem with the outburst per say but as Dean himself said “it wasn’t very presidential” and for the media, who had already taken to calling Dean angry and short tempered, it presented the opportunity they needed to finally crystallize him in an “out of control” state. But what I saw was a candidate who wanted to inspire his troops, to convince them this was only a minor setback but on this night his humor and spontaneity would cost him.

     Over the next week, leading up to the New Hampshire primaries the clip of Dean’s speech was aired almost seven million times and it would have a disastrous effect on his efforts in New Hampshire and the primaries that followed.

     Dean lost to Kerry by double digits in New Hampshire and hasn’t finished better than second or third in other states like Michigan and Washington, but without a sizable percentage of the vote. He is now claiming Wisconsin as his final stand but as of February 8th, he was fourth in the state’s polls, and the media has already adopted Kerry as the heir apparent to the nomination.

     In reality, Dean is still second behind Kerry but you would think he is a lost cause as a candidate based on the media coverage. He’s lost the label of frontrunner and along with it some of his media coverage but truthfully his time is not completely up. With one-third of the state primaries still undecided and large delegate states like New York, California and Florida he still has a chance, but if you watched any election news in the last few weeks you wouldn’t believe he has much of one. The media has concentrated mainly on Kerry, Edwards, and General Wesley Clark even though Dean holds the second highest number of delegates next to Kerry’s ever growing number.

     Herein rests the seriousness of what the media has done to Howard Dean. They have taken the leading candidate, who they did not cover very favorably and used a single mishap and turned him into an unelectable liberal zealot. But what you have is other candidates taking his message and softening it to serve their own purposes and I for one question the validity and sincerity of any candidate who adopts another’s beliefs because when it boils down to it voters still aren’t completely certain what these other candidates stand for or believe in. And the point of the nomination process is not for the media to support the candidacy of one politician over another but to supply the public with the information so that we can make an informed decision as to who should take on George W. Bush. And in this capacity the media has failed the public miserably.

     This is dangerous not only to Dean’s attempt to gain the nomination but also to the future of this country because it is better to nominate the candidate with the best vision for the America than the candidate who is the most likable. We fail to remember, President Bush passed himself off as the likable candidate in 2000 and the return on that investment has been less than adequate to say the least.

     But one thing that Dean has successfully done is to transplant a new backbone for the Democratic Party and inspired thousands to get involved in the primary race through a truly grassroots, internet donation based campaign. This can be seen in the record turnouts at almost every primary and caucus event and the amount of money that Dean has been able to raise.

     As the nomination process winds down the Democratic Party will expect all candidates to step aside and support the nominee, which if things continue as they are will probably be John Kerry. But as we all know, in election year politics in America anything is possible so if Dean truly is finished, let’s hope Kerry or Edwards can grasp America’s attention or we might be trapped in the Bush Administration’s downward spiral for four more years.