Dean for Catalyst for America!

Washington Post: "I don't care about being president," he said. Months earlier, as his candidacy was taking off, he told a colleague: "The problem is, I'm now afraid I might win."

...Interviews with more than a dozen Dean advisers -- portions of which were not for attribution because many did not want to be viewed as disloyal to their former boss -- produced a picture far different from the public image of a hip, high-tech operation of dedicated Deaniacs.

It was, instead, a dysfunctional political family, filled with tales of blocking access to the candidate, neutralizing internal rivals, trying to penalize reporters deemed unfriendly. And some of its members just plain despised each other.

Someody who makes gazillions of dollars by knowing which "buttons" people are looking to have pushed offers help...

...Returning to Vermont, O'Connor [Dean's longtime Aide] maintained in a meeting with Hollywood activist Rob Reiner, who had flown in to advise Dean, that people were overreacting to the high-decibel speech and voters didn't care. Reiner was flabbergasted at this attitude -- he wondered whether the staff was "crazy" -- and expressed amazement that they hadn't moved faster to neutralize the issue, two participants said.

Puts the (non-?)method behind the tone-deafness and naivete of Iowa Scream Night into context, doesn't it? Howie Kurtz actually does some reporting. Interesting autopsy, fairly deep and worth a read.

PS: Is there some hidden law that says Candidates with resonance and revolutionary zeal must either commit harakiri or hand the sword to their opponents and the press?