Page 4 of 4
It explains statements like this one: "Look, we can't afford tax cuts right now," he says. "You can't balance the budget by continuing to reduce your revenues. Now, look, I'm not going to be elected president by saying we ought to get rid of the tax cut. What I think I can do is get elected president by telling the people the truth, which is "You have a choice. You can have the tax cut or you can have the prescription benefit for Medicare. You can have the tax cut or you can fully fund special education so your local school board can reduce your property taxes. You can have the tax cut or you can have your road budget restored.'
"I think most Americans are going to pick roads, health care and education before they pick the tax cut, because they didn't get much of the tax cut."
Recent history says the people who have been doing the voting in America wouldn't agree. But the people who haven't been voting might be attracted to Dean's message, which is what makes his candidacy promising.
"The rugged individualists might have been great 50 years ago," Dean says. "But even then it didn't exist, because when something terrible happened in your community, everybody pulled together, and I think that under this president, we have all forgotten that we are all pulling together."
Dean may be able to pull together a coalition of voters to win some Southern states in a Democratic primary. For a Yankee from a tiny, conspicuously vanilla state, Dean's already done a decent job of lining up crucial black support in the South. Dean has courted Mayor Shirley Franklin and Atlanta's political kingmaker and former mayor Maynard Jackson. In South Carolina, David Mack III, the head of the state's Legislative Black Caucus, chairs Dean's campaign.
"If he's the first to knock on the door and say I need your help, African-Americans will help him," Brazile says. "Dean has a good record. He has a wonderful resume, and I think he is talking about issues that resonate well, especially with African-American voters in this country."
The problem for Dean, especially in the South, is that the very thing that may help him line up critical support in a primary -- opposition to war -- may make voters in the general election deaf to his domestic strengths.
And Dean has a voice that should be heard.
