. . . until the New Hampshire primary. Really.
Chris Bowers is trying to figure out what qualities in a candidate make him or her especially appealing to the liberal blogosphere. He borrows a pretty good set of criteria from James E. Powell and then analyzes the Democratic field in those terms. Here is the list:
1. Does [he] 'distance himself' from the party or its leaders, or is he proud to be a Democrat?
2. Does he talk like a bureaucrat or like a regular person?
3. Does he make it clear that he opposes Bush and the Republicans?
4. Does he back down when the corporate press/media or Republican pundits attack him, or does he stand by his words?
5. Does he respond to the nationwide reaction of the left blogosphere, or does he assign it to a junior staff member?
6. Does he sleepwalk through the campaign, or does he act like he wants to win?
Pretty good criteria, those. And according to Bowers, the candidate who fits most of them is John Edwards.
The unfortunate thing, though, is the most prominent candidates who have fared well against these standards have lost their elections. Howard Dean and Paul Hackett surely passed this test easily but couldn't translate their netroots popularity into votes in their respective Democratic primaries.
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