[HHFi]

I write a topical comedy service for radio DJs, so I tend to assess candidates' chances through their "comedy templates" and whether they are negative and persistent enough to actually harm the candidate's electibility. That's how I knew, and predicted here right after it happened, that Dean's "Yeeeaauugghhh!!" outburst would never go away and he was toast. That was the impression of Dean that was left in voters' minds, and all us comedy writers, DJs and and late night comedians insured that nobody would ever forget it. Dean will go down in history as the wildman screaming "Yeeeaaauughh!!!" who nobody in his right mind wanted near the nuclear button.

By the same token, Al Gore's fate was sealed in a quieter but no less devastating way when he puffed himself up like a rooster and walked over to Dubya during the debate, trying to invade his space and intimidate him. When Dubya turned, regarded him with bemusement, nodded his head, and dismissively said, "Hiya," it was over for Gore. He came across as so pompous, weird and utterly deranged that nothing he could do after that could erase the suspicion of mental instability that nobody wanted to see in a US president. Gore wasn't sunk by Nader, he was sunk by the anchor that is Al Gore. (Don't believe Al is an anchor? Ask Howard Dean what that Gore endorsement did for him.)

The fact is, Corinna, the only thing your dad had to do to become president was not to convince Ralph Nader to get out of the race. It was to win his "home" state. Sadly for Al, those were the people who knew him best, so it was not to be.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

He came across as so pompous, weird and utterly deranged that nothing he could do after that could erase the suspicion of mental instability that nobody wanted to see in a US president. Gore wasn't sunk by Nader, he was sunk by the anchor that is Al Gore.

That was before Gore's ridiculous ' Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh' (sighing sounds off camera) performance, wasn't it?