Dean warns sluggish economy could have more impact than many Washington pundits assume.
Posted on 06/04/2011 1:38:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who helped Democrats capture the White House in 2008, warns that Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012.
Dean says his fellow Democrats should beware of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that Obama would crush Palin in a general-election contest next year.
“I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”
Dean warns the sluggish economy could have more of a political impact than many Washington strategists and pundits assume.
“Any time you have a contest — particularly when unemployment is as high as it is — nobody gets a walkover,” Dean said. “Whoever the Republicans nominate, including people like Sarah Palin, whom the inside-the-Beltway crowd dismisses — my view is if you get the nomination of a major party, you can win the presidency, I don’t care what people write about you inside the Beltway,” Dean said.
Dean spoke to The Hill the same day the Labor Department revealed the national economy added only 54,000 jobs in May and the national unemployment rate had risen to 9.1 percent.
Last month the private sector created 83,000 jobs, about a third the average for the previous three months.
Dean said he doesn’t think Palin will win the GOP nomination or would have the advantage over Obama in 2012. But he warned it is dangerous for Democrats to dismiss her.
Palin said Friday that she was "still weeks away" from making a decision about a presidential campaign.
“Anybody who gets the nomination could win the presidency,” he said. “Do I think she’s going to get the nomination? No. But that process is so difficult and really tests candidates in ways that no other process can."
Dean knows the rigors of presidential primaries first hand. In 2004, his unconventional campaign briefly put him in contention for the Democratic nod before the eventual winner, Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), pulled away.
“Anybody who survives the process can win the presidency,” he added.
Dean said Republicans made the mistake of underestimating Bill Clinton in the rest of the Democratic field in 1991 when former President George H.W. Bush seemed to have a strong advantage but the economy was still mired in recession.
“I can remember Bill Clinton, I think, was one of the seven dwarfs,” Cain said. “This goes on every four years and I think it’s best not to pay attention to that kind of talk.”
Bruce Cain, a political science and public policy professor and director of the University of California Washington Center, subscribes to the prevailing view that Palin would be a weak opponent against Obama.
“I stand with conventional wisdom that she’s way too flawed,” Cain. “Polls show that many women and independent voters aren’t happy with her.”
Cain believes the national economy must sink back into recession and unemployment swell to double digits before Palin becomes dangerous to Obama.
“If unemployment soars back up to double digits, voters will tune out any personal differences and be desperate for an alternative,” Cain said.
Dean thinks former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. (R), who recently finished serving as the Obama administration’s ambassador to China, would be the president’s most dangerous general-election opponent in 2012, a view shared by many Democrats.
“He is an independent. He is a moderate on some social issues and has a strong record as a governor and also has international experience that I think is lacking in every other candidate,” Dean said, comparing Huntsman to the rest of the GOP field.
Dean, however, doubts Huntsman, who has little national name recognition, could win the GOP primary.
Cain, of the University of California, said Dean’s view of Huntsman matches up with the conventional wisdom of many Democrats.
He says Huntsman would be especially strong in the general election if unemployment and growth numbers fail to improve.
“With Huntsman or a more credible candidate, Obama could be in trouble with unemployment in the 9 percent range and [economic] growth at one percent,” he said.
Question is Howard Dean going scream if Sarah Palin does beat Obama LOL!
Well, eee-yahh Howard. Baby killer. Thanks FARS.
Complete b.s. on his part and he knows it.
"YEERR! ARRRH... YAAARGH!"
However did the break the code?
Thanks for the ping!
Maybe she could, maybe she couldn’t, but regardless, I’m not the least interested in Howard Dean’s opinions. I can’t remotely know whether his is being honest or calculating. So his words are meaningless.
If Sarah Palin is on the ballot, she CAN win the election!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvP63ETpjbM
Stealth disruptor, eh?
We'll be keeping an eye on you...
She has been very effectively Quayled by the propaganda wing of the Dem Party, aka the mainstream media.
Having a college degree does not correlate with educated. Just look at her and watch her. She says the same platitudes over and over. It may be great for firing up the troops, BUT it will not win a general election and the Dems know that and will want to see her nominated.
Look at the stats. She can’t move up against the worst president in the history of this country.
Read the link I posted.
If your comments stand, then maybe you are not thinking.
She can’t beat Obama. The MSM is manipulating conservatives into thinking Palin is something she is not. It is a diabolical and Machiavellian move.
By the way Obama is not educated either, but the MSM is doing the same manipulating in his favor.
The Tea Pary better get wiley or they will be out foxed.
If your comments stand, then maybe you are not thinking.
She can’t beat Obama. The MSM is manipulating conservatives into thinking Palin is something she is not. It is a diabolical and Machiavellian move.
By the way Obama is not educated either, but the MSM is doing the same manipulating in his favor.
The Tea Pary better get wiley or they will be out foxed.
Indicators are appearing that instead of Columbia, where nobody, not even any of 400 of his classmates remembers ever seeing him in class, Obama attended the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, Russia!
Several of Iran’s ayatollahs, including the current Supreme Ruler Ali Khamenei, took courses at Patrice Lumumba University and during a recent moment of crisis sent all his family and wife’s dependents to Russia for safety.
Parallel with low level community organizer Obama, you have a low level Islamic cleric, formerly a beggar of alms in the Mashhad cemetary (holy city in North East Iran), invited to attend this university and be brainwashed into a Communist and Soviet tactics/philosophy for LATER use as an asset. Eventually rising to the top of Iran.
Sound like an Obama’s trajectory? Definitely. Check out the audio/video link below. Might sound far fetched had it not happened all over the world, not just with Obama.
http://alanpetersvideos.blogspot.com/2011/06/admission-against-interest-disqualifies.html
Can’t move up? Not yet. You postulate as if the game were over! Just starting for Palin.
Wait till her movie comes out and erases most if not all of the MSM attacks and inaccuracies levelled at her.
Her strongest chance of being elected or even becoming the Republican candidate is her “profile” of being the right wing draw/attraction equivalent to the Obama profile which got him elected on the left. And, like him, pull a disenchanted “middle” to her.
Reportedly 70% of America is becoming disenchanted with Obambi. Will his union friends, Acornists etc., manage to overcome this? Remains to be seen. Game on.
Thanks for the ping!
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