It turns out Wisconsin was Howard Dean's last stand after all. Following his distant and disappointing finish in the Badger State Tuesday, Dean ended his run for the presidency, marking the end of a campaign that perhaps will go down as the most meteoric rise and catastrophic collapse in American political history.
It may have been the media overplaying the "I Have a Scream" speech. Perhaps it was the unwillingness to unseal his records from his 11-year stint as Vermont's governor. It could have been the constant hammering the former front-runner took daily from his rivals. Or maybe it was the anger that made Democrats turn away from Dean toward Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry or North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. For whatever reason, the rise and fall of Dean has come full circle.
I, for one, am glad that Dean will not be the Democratic nominee. I believe that there are other candidates who can better fight against George Bush and the Republican war chest, and the American people agree. I have criticized Dean extensively in the past few months for gaps and inconsistencies in his record and an inability to control his emotions that I believe would damage the Democrats' chances of reclaiming the White House. Though Dean was not the Democrats' best candidate, his iconoclasm and vitriol played positive roles in the nominating process, and for that he deserves recognition and acclaim. It would be unfair for Dean's legacy to be forever summed up by the post-Iowa primal scream.
Most importantly, Dean shaped the debate of this race. By using the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's line about being "from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," Dean, truthful or not, forced the candidates in this race to cast their policies and rhetoric as true alternatives to the Republicans. Dean forced Kerry, Gen. Wesley Clark, Edwards and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt to stand up for the values of the Democratic Party. Without Dean, the candidates' messages may well have resembled Joe Lieberman's tepid Democratic Leadership Council platform. Dean consistently accused his rivals of being "Bush-lite." Thanks to his barbs, they will stand for progressive values.
Moreover, Dean's energy and anger electrified the Democratic Party in a remarkable manner. Using a then-obscure website, Meetup.org, to reach out to voters across the country, Dean established a core of excited and enthusiastic volunteers. Thanks to Dean, people who had never before gotten involved in politics were spending hours at the campaign office, making phone calls, canvassing door-to-door, or holding Dean parties in their homes (or dorm rooms), trying to get others excited about "people-powered Howard." More importantly, Dean again turned to technology to revolutionize political fundraising. Championing the "$100 Revolution," Dean raised over $41 million in total, much of which came from first-time donors who gave small amounts of money. This was Dean's great breakthrough. By using a large number of small-time donors, he democratized the fundraising process, allowing ordinary Americans who cannot afford to write $2,000 checks to own a piece of a political campaign. Furthermore, many of Dean's donors could donate multiple times because so few of them reached the $2,000 limit for individual donors set by McCain-Feingold.
This approach potentially could solve the inequity in fundraising between Democrats and Republicans, who simply have far more $2,000 donors than the Democrats. I think that Dean's method is the only way for the Democratic Party to surmount the money barrier separating the two parties and to change forever the structure of campaign finance. The Democratic Party supposedly prides itself on being the party of the common man, and Dean realized that it was hypocrisy to try to beat the Republicans on their home turf of big donors and close ties to big business. Dean was right in taking the fight to ordinary Americans, who are disillusioned with the Bush administration and with government in general.
The question remains, however, what will Dean do now?
My vision for Dean is one that many Democrats, campaign workers and journalists share. I hope Dean, too, realizes his worth to his party. His campaign for the presidency may end, but Dean still can be a force in the Democratic Party.
The Democrats need Dean to use his passion for progress and anger at an administration many see as out of touch with the average American, to effect real change. The Democrats need Dean to use his army of supporters, donors and volunteers not only to work for and finance Kerry or Edwards, but for broader purposes. Dean needs to reenergize the throngs of first-time political participants, and marshal them to -- in his words -- take our country, and the presidency, back.
But not just the White House. I believe that Howard Dean can be the catalyst for nationwide progressive change. Howard Dean needs to fight in America to reclaim the Senate, to reclaim the House of Representatives, to reclaim governorships and to reclaim state legislatures for the Democrats.
If Democrats can learn from Dean's initial successes and connect with the many Americans who feel betrayed and left behind by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, and if Howard Dean can lead the fights for the legislatures and the governorships, the Democratic Party could initiate a new era in American government.
