[NutCrackerBoy]

There other anti-McAuliffe candidates who are generally believed to be electable in a national election...something Dean isn't. Seems to me that Gore couldn't resist the temptation and will in fact play right into the Clinton's hands if Dean in the general election.

Dean isn't electable but he is the only one who is, uh, nominable.

Recall that Gore has already long since thrown in with the loony left, like Dean. Hillary's newfound hawkishness stakes out ground in the center. Al Gore is clever enough to know Dean won't win in 2004.

But here's one more wrinkle. Pundits have been talking about a possible Goldwater effect that Dean may recreate on the left. Dem Activists are just uninterested in centrism. But enough anger turns into a movement with legs. Gore wants to ride that wave. Like Goldwater, Dean will fade with his bona fides dangling in the moonlight.

[aristeides]

Like Goldwater, Dean will fade with his bona fides dangling in the moonlight.

Goldwater didn't really fade. Goldwater '64 led to the Reagan Revolution.

[Dolphy]

Dean isn't electable but he is the only one who is, uh, nominable.

I agree with you. (I omitted if Dean loses from my post.) At first blush though I see this as move by Gore to pay back the Clinton-McAuliffe power structure that he believed made it impossible for him to run again. (Remember how all of the big donors supposedly zipped up their purses when he came calling about 2004?)

Al Gore is clever enough to know Dean won't win in 2004.

This I don't know. Al Gore needed a half dozen consultants to figure out what color suit to wear. I don't think he has much in the way of political intuition. He does have lots of anger over 2000 though. Dean lets him vent that with his hate-Bush rhetoric and there is the added bonus of the anti-Clinton/McAuliffe candidate. Al just couldn't resist.

[Clemenza]

But here's one more wrinkle. Pundits have been talking about a possible Goldwater effect that Dean may recreate on the left. Dem Activists are just uninterested in centrism. But enough anger turns into a movement with legs. Gore wants to ride that wave. Like Goldwater, Dean will fade with his bona fides dangling in the moonlight.

(ED MACMAHON VOICE): YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!

You should see all my young coworkers getting in a tizzy about Dean. He is every Whole Foods/Starbucks employee's wet dream.