1-15-2004
Why Howard Dean Needs Me
(It's The Myth, Stupid)

James Carville, of Democratic political fame, was an unemployed 47-year-old when he hitched up with Bill Clinton. I was a semi-employed 40-something when I was asked if I was thinking about going to work for Howard Dean. And that was 13 months ago, probably a full year before anybody had ever heard of him.

Truth be told, modern political consulting, and Dean's situation in particular, really boils down to a few simple principles.

-- Asserted reality. If you are the front-runner, always act as the front runner. People who stay above the trifling learn there's a cumulative quality to class.

-- Turn necessities into virtues. Forever candidates who couldn't raise enough money to buy TV ads would always insist they felt radio was more effective. If politically, you can't attack, make a virtue of not attacking.

-- Don't refute, reframe. Easier to explain by example. Suppose you're accused of not filing some election commission paperwork. Don't waste time saying you tried or you would have or you were going to. Reframe it -- it's just a bureaucratic thing.

-- You don't have to respond to every attack. You may not like being the pin cushion, but that does not necessarily mean one should start throwing pins. Thank people for sticking with you and whenever possible, humorously respond to all the attacks.

-- Stay on principle. Do not waste energy aggressively refuting arguments. Spend your time aggressively reframing arguments. Classic example: Ronald Reagan's tax cuts did not stimulate the economy; his $2 trillion in borrowed money stimulated the economy.

-- Stay on message. Democrats need to learn the message discipline of Republicans. What makes Dean special isn't what he says, it's how he says it. Don't deny being angry, spin to admitting being frustrated. People understand frustration; Hell, frustration is something voters would have in common with the candidate.

Dr. Dean, laugh off your mistakes and keep saying you're getting better. You don't have to be perfect; you have to be honest.

-- Stay upbeat. Democrats should know by now that mallaise doesn't sell. More importantly, Democrats need to remember that "Bush Sucks" is not synonomous with "Vote For Me." It is one thing to make the case that Bush deserves to go; he won't go anywhere if there's nobody better to take his place.

As Carville famously declared, "It's the economy, stupid." My 2004 Democratic mantra would be "There she is, Myth America."

If Republican ideals matched Republican reality, everybody would be a Republican. This race is not about Republican ideals, it's about exposing the fact that those ideals are a smokescreen. The sound bites don't match the facts.

-- The dominant history of the last 25 years isn't tax-and-spend Democrats, it's borrow-and-spend Republicans. The GOP has the rep for being good with government money, but the record is awful. You'd think Republicans would understand money above all else, but the dollar has been dropping like a stone against the euro. The euro, for Chrissakes.

-- The GOP wins the polls on best for national security, but in truth, the U.S. spent 500+ lives and $100+ Billion dollars on an Iraq that first chance it gets will become just like Iran. Not to mention all that effort being a diversion from nabbing Osama bin Laden, murderer of 3,000.

-- The GOP touts compassionate conservatism and support for the hard-working little guy who can work his way to the top. Reality says the GOP is opposing minimum wage increases, trying to eliminate overtime pay, and floating a plan to let three million foreign workers take their jobs.

The final principle may be the most important of all. Greatness comes from wisdom, not the conventional wisdom.

Democrats are done now that Saddam Hussein has been captured? Hardly: Saddam is Dubya's running mate. Democrats are sunk because the economy is improving? Not if it's on borrowed money.

Despite the hand-wringing of the establishment Democrat insiders, and the pundits, and the monied classes so willing to participate in the current money-versus-votes political process, despite the reporters looking for a horse race instead of a study of horses, here's a cold fact. If Jay Leno did a "Jaywalking" segment with a picture of Howard Dean, 60 or 70 percent of the folks wouldn't know his name.

Any candidate who can bring back the politically alienated deserves respect -- especially when the math says he could also win by successfully doing so.

There's plenty of time between now and November for middle America to learn that Dean's record was more mainstream than the leftist, angry spin that currently dominates the media.

Establishment Democrats, in the past few weeks, have managed to take their best chance of a new apprach to politics and beat him way down. And maybe that's why establishment Democrats have spent a lot of years on the outside of political power looking in.

-30-

Mr. Marshall, ostensibly an eco-Marxist Republican, knows the GOP will never have anything to do with a Libertarian-Pantheist like himself, so he often finds himself speaking out against the tyranny of petty political labels.

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