Hi folks,

I'm another diehard Dean supporter as many of you know. I think, even after the fact, the media coverage is shameful. References to "his failed campaign," "his failure," "losing the primaries," etc, are pure media distortion. Dean is still ahead of Edwards in total delegates.

Here's why I think he bowed out. The only way for anyone to win at this point without the drama and divisiveness of a brokered convention was to narrow the field to two serious candidates. If the primaries kept going on like this, especially with the real possibility of a loss of Kerry momentum, there would have been something like a 40-30-30 split in delegates at the end, and then the dealmaking would have begun to select a candidate. That really could have hurt the party, so someone had to quit.

Logically, it was Edwards (in third place) who should have quit, especially with Dean's strong support in NY and CA. But after the last debate, in which the moderators kissed Kerry's ass and attacked Dean, I think Dean realized that there was no way to overcome the pressure that the party establishment and its special interest backers were putting on endorsers, media outlets, and voters. He realized that this pressure (NOT his candidacy) was splitting the party. In short, Dean was confronted by powerful forces who were so afraid of his message that they would rather hurt the party than let him compete, and he bowed out to save the party from its own bad behavior.

Martin Gibson, Dean may be a loser, but look at what he has achieved. First of all, as governor of Vermont he extended health care coverage to almost all Vermonters, he improved the lives of the working poor and those above the poverty line but in danger of falling back under by instituting help with childcare costs, he turned massive deficits into a healthy surplus, etc, etc. He supported the position that gay people should have the same legal rights as the rest of the world, even when the controversy could have cost him his job. He was re-elected five times in a closely divided state, even though he came to the job unexpectedly and from the other party after his Republican predecessor died in office.

As a presidential candidate he has transformed the message of all the potential Democratic nominees, he has showed the world a new way to raise clean political money not tainted by special interests, and he has, in fact, outperformed every candidate except Kerry.

What are your major political accomplishments, MG? Do they measure up to this loser's?