Andrew Golis

the crazy doctor marches bravely on. Here’s the latest from the dnc chair race, as told entertainingly by today’s note:

Monday’s decision by Scott Maddox and the Florida Democratic delegation to the DNC to endorse Howard Dean will precipitate the quickening of opposition to Dean’s candidacy (as well as give Dean the potential to break this thing wide open).

If the governors or Southern party chairs from other states want to stop him, they’ll probably need to stop him by the end of next week.

It is hard to see how a Bob Kerrey or even a John Edwards entry in the race could reduce the number of votes that Dean ultimately gets. Look at his Hotline survey number, add in the Florida delegation (minus a few who are double counted) and he is fast approaching 100 votes, a number that some of his opponents think he has already surpassed.

He is now emphatically the frontrunner, though he has not yet accumulated more votes than the combination of his opposition, and 50 percent is the threshold.

“‘The only knock against Howard Dean is that he’s seen as too liberal,’” Mr. Maddox said. ‘I’m a gun-owning pickup-truck driver and I have a bulldog named Lockjaw. I am a Southern chairman of a Southern state, and I am perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as D.N.C. chair.’ LINK

The three questions are:

1. Does Dean have a ceiling below 50 percent?

2. Is there someone in the race now who can coalesce the anti-Dean forces?

3. Is anyone else big getting in?

If the answers to those questions are “no,” we all need to start thinking about the meaning of the phrase “Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean,” but we aren’t sure there are three “no’s” there.

…

Now dessert: The Washington Post‘s Mark Leibovich offers a succinct, wise, and wildly observant look at Dean, “the former rock star in a field of ‘American Idol’ contestants” in the race for DNC chair, who insists that politics is politics and he’s running on the same message of reform that he always was. LINK

There’s more in there that I cut out in case you’re into that whole brevity thing. My favorite part, by the way, was lockjaw. Someone I know will be getting that nickname soon, the question is simply who…

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