“Strategically for the netroots, a Lamont win keeps the incubation moving forward although it may remain difficult to extrapolate the significance nationally. That may depend upon the Party’s November national scorecard. If Lamont were to win and the Democrats were to take control of the House, the netroots and Dean may be able to lay claim to reconstituting the Party and it may well emerge with a clearer direction and more unified.”

Actually, if Lamont wins and the Democrats win control of the House, the establishment & media are going to go ballistic with negative commentary, the kindest of which will be “can the Democrats govern without catering to their extremist left?”

“On the other hand, if the Democratic Party fails to do well nationally…and I might suggest that the bar is set such that failing to win control of at least the House will likely be seen as a failure…it may well undermine the Dean Fifty State Strategy. That may well hinder the netroots effort to assert more influence within the Party…especially if Dean is seen as the fall guy should the Democrats do poorly. What could ensue is the cessation of the parallel efforts of Dean and the progressive netroots…as Dean could be unseated and replaced by a beltway operative. A poor Democratic showing coupled with a Lamont loss could potentially spell the end of the entire effort to redefine the Party.”

This depends on the voters rather than the in-bred D.C. insiders and media whores. In short, the reform effort will be set back if Dean is bounced by angry conventional thinkers, but the grass-roots is never going to stop. It will simply have to focus more on the states before gaining power at the national level again. This will be a serious setback of course.

“At the very least, I remain concerned that after the November election the Democratic Party may be as divided as it now appears. Worst case, the midterm election may only set the stage for an even bloodier battle for control of the Party in anticipation of the 2008 presidential election. I’m doubtful that the 2006 election will provide the clarity and consensus the Democrats so desperately need. That is unfortunate and may have ramifications for many years to come. The conclusion offered by Real Clear Politics is the best guess as to what will actually happen in November that I’ve seen to date.”

Any Democrat who supports the war can forget about the nomination in 2008. That’s all. As for inter-party war that’s guaranteed to happen, and it’s certainly not a bad thing! Better a war within the Democratic party over supporting real values that people outside the beltway care about, than re-defining the party as “Bush-lite”, which was what was happening up to 2 years ago. The utter failure of Bush will make it difficult to go back, no matter what happens.

“Virtually nobody in the Washington press cabal cares a whit about party organization. They tend to focus exclusively on “sexy” political stories. Talk about party organizational coherence is not sexy, but on Election Day it matters a great deal. In what Michael Barone calls the “49-49 nation,” the party that will get to half-plus-one is the party with the more coherent and efficient organization. Today, that party is the GOP.”

It certainly IS the GOP, which is why all the Democratic state chairpersons are so happy with Dean! That alone will make it hard to go back. Whatever the beltway insiders think, committed Democrats around the states are very happy with Dean, especially Democrats in red states that haven’t seen any sign of democratic party in a generation.

What about rice-esque
No one could have imagined there would be both a thunderstorm and a heat wave in the summer.

Your broad brush works for me. Power in disparate manifestations. Understanding does not equal support.

A couple of years ago my sister, who lives in an urbanized part of eastern Pennsylvania, had to wait almost a week for power after a transformer on a nearby pole blew out. I can’t imagine what her utility was thinking. Those things burn out or blow up all the time. It’s a hazard of having high-voltage components twenty feet in the air outside. Anyhow, that wouldn’t have happened in the old days. They would have had a spare within a day’s ride of there.

I love Tom Oliphant. He always cuts to the meat of the matter.

My favorite hour on the radio each week is his Thursday guest shot on Al Franken.

And, do you find it impossible not to look at the names, ages and faces of the military people killed that the Newshour runs at the end of the show?

And of course, La Sego is interesting all by her beautimous seff.