Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

January 19, 2004

What Happened to Dean?

In an initial look at the results in Iowa, it appears that at least three major factors contributed to Howard Dean's plunge from assumed front-runner to disappointed third place finisher.

• Dean's "outsider campaign" had trouble assimilating insiders. His plunge coincided almost perfectly with endorsements from Al Gore, the ultimate insider, and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the most coveted endorsement in the state.
• Negative ads by Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt worked perfectly in that nearly destroyed each other.
• The capture of Saddam Hussein made the pro-war votes by Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards more palatable to many Democratic voters. In addition, Dean's first reaction to the news raised many eyebrows.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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