An article in the current NY Times magazine discusses the policy options of the Democrats and questions, again, Dean's electability. While not a Deaniac, I'm getting tired of the inside-DC blinders.

The successful Presidential election pattern is well-established. Get support from the existing core during the nomination season, and then go to the center during the general campaign. That is exactly what Dean is doing.

Anti-War
He has attracked the liberal core because he is the only one who has opposed the Bush invasion from the beginning. But Dean is not anti-war. He is against the unilateral invasion of Iraq because a) it has alienated our allies and b) it takes focus away from the terrorists. From this perspective, Dean's comment about the capture of Saddam makes perfect sense. The real issue was never Saddam and his elusive WMD. The real issue is the radical Islamists who view the west and western influences as a mortal enemy threatening the survival of the ummah.

In the article, Dean is quoted as saying that during the general election, he plans to use the security issue to outflank Bush on his right. There are a number of conservative senators who have already expressed great reservation about the Administration's handling of internal security. If Dean is successful, he can at least neutralize this segment of Bush's core.

The Party
What really perked up my ears for Dean was his confederate flag sticker comment. In one stroke, he put the diversity/racism issue into the open, he made the other candidates look foolish in stumbling over how to call him a racist without calling him a racist, and he reinforced that, no matter what, the Democratic party is the party of civil rights.

He did a whole lot more. He set up a move to appeal to the "white trash", abandoned to the Republicans, that is hurt the most by globalization in the South. He gave notice that he is moving beyond the simple racial stereotypes of the old civil rights policies. He challenges the party to get back to its roots and become the voice of ALL people.

He grabbed the issue by the horns. And he did it without the Clinton good-ole-boy pandering about lining the bed of his pickup truck with astroturf (wink, wink).

Economics
This is where Dean can also outflank Bush. Dean has a record of controlling budgets while preserving the Democratic priorities. Bush has a record of looting and deficits. The priorities aspect will hold the core in place while he reaches out to the Gingrich Republicans on deficit reduction.

As a side note, if Dean does make an issue about Saudi Arabia during the general election, he would be wise to couch his critique in such a way that he can both apply pressure on the Saudis about funding the fundamentalist Wahhadist schools and defuse part of the radicals furor by attacking the nature and excesses of the monarchy itself.