heric, you're spreading "received wisdom" that is counter-intuitive as well as contrary to fact. Since the electorate is 52% women, we should only ever elect women presidents. But we don't, because people see other things as more important than gender. If people only voted for folks from their state, we'd have 50 candidates every year, and California would always win. But they don't, because people see other things as more important than the size of the state you come from. The last president the Democrats elected was governor of a small, poor state: Arkansas. This would have given Clinton, as you say, "qualifications to be the mayor of a very small city in California." Only it didn't. It gave him the qualifications to be President.

Dean is also the candidate who knows the MOST about racial diversity. He was born and raised in NYC, where, regardless of what people say, the upper-middle-class has never been separated by firewalls from the racially diverse population of the boroughs. I come from Manhattan myself, spent as much time in Harlem as on Wall Street, picked up a fair amount of Spanish in the streets, etc. I know I can't break out of my whiteness, but neither can ANY of these candidates.

Dean has proven his sensitivity to racial issues. About a month ago he made a crucial speech of which the Black Commentator commented:

"Howard Dean's December 7 speech is the most important statement on race in American politics by a mainstream white politician in nearly 40 years. Nothing remotely comparable has been said by anyone who might become or who has been President of the United States since Lyndon Johnson's June 4, 1965 affirmative action address to the graduating class at Howard University. "

See the full article here

Of course, the media ignored this speech, but politicians and civil rights groups have not. This is why Dean has more endorsements than any other candidate from Black, Latino, Native American and Asian politicians and organizations, including the former candidate Carol Moseley-Braun.