David Reinhard, The Oregonian’s resident conservative columnist, has a column today reporting on a memo from Portland-based Republican pollsters warning their fellow party members that Howard Dean might beat George W. Bush in 2004.
Let us not be fooled by misguided conventional wisdom. [Howard] Dean is a threat and Republicans better not ignore him."(T)his is the considered judgment of two respected Republican pollsters -- Bob Moore and Hans Kaiser -- from Portland's Moore Information. Their Oct. 6 memo should be a welcome read (www.moore-info.com) when Dean visits here Tuesday.
"Howard Dean can win because he believes in what he is saying, because he can semi-legitimately spin his record as governor into one of fiscal conservatism, and because he comes across as if he actually cares about people . . ." they wrote, continuing a bit later: "The difference between Howard Dean and the rest of the Democratic candidates is that Dean comes across as a true believer to the base but he will not appear threatening to folks in the middle."
"Dean's appeal is closer to Ronald Reagan's than any other Democrat running today. . . . The Democratic party used to chuckle about Reagan and his gaffes, which they believed would marginalize him to the far-right dustbin of history. But when his opponents tried to attack him for some of his more outlandish statements, the folks in the middle simply ignored them. Voters . . . looked to the bigger picture, where they saw a man of conviction who cared about them and had solutions for their problems."
You can read all of Reinhard’s assessment on this memo in today’s The Oregonian or by just clicking here.
