[Congressman Billybob]

I agree with your analysis of Gephardt in Iowa. It's his backyard. If Dean buries Gephardt there, Gephardt is road kill for the duration. I think Dean's people see Iowa the same way that you do -- and that's a compelling reason why Dean has gone with the financial strategy, just announced.

John / Billybob

[RightOnGOP]

bump for later! :)

[lasereye]

Karl Rove is a past master at "execution" in political campaigns

I disagree. Bush had a lead a couple of weeks before the election, and Rove attempted to sit on it. Gore kept saying "The economy will be on the ballot on election day" and Bush had no response. Either Rove overestimated the size of Bush's lead or he didn't understand the importance of what Gore was saying or both. Plus Bush (Rove) had no response to the NAACP tactic of connecting Bush to the Texas slayings. All in all a remarkably passive performance in the stretch drive. That, more than the drunk driving disclosure, is why Gore rapidly closed the gap. Even the response to the drunk driving disclosure was totally passive, instead of, for example Schwarzenneger's excellent response to the blitz of sexual harrassment allegations: "He can run a dirty campaign but he can't run the state".