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Tim Hames
Times, January 5
"[Howard Dean] has built his campaign so far on being the Mr Angry of the Democratic party. He has attacked President George Bush in unambiguous terms and wrapped himself in the colours of the anti-war movement ... He has raised vastly more money than any of the other eight [Democrat] contenders, is leading in most national polls of Democrat supporters and is miles ahead in the crucial first primary state of New Hampshire ...
"[However] in American nominating contests, winning alone is not the name of the game, one must meet 'expectations' ... The New Hampshire electorate is notoriously fickle. As of now, Mr Dean has a lead there of around 20 points. If he wins in New Hampshire by 'only' about 10 points, then the vultures will start circling."
Clarence Page
Chicago Tribune, January 5
"Attacks against 'Washington Democrats' have been a standard Dean mantra on the campaign trail. While governors, including the 2000 presidential candidate Mr Bush, often take jabs at Washington 'insiders', Mr Dean goes further, targeting his own party's insiders ... With the countdown ticking toward the first primaries and caucuses, leading Democrats need to heed Bill Clinton's advice [against taking public shots at each other] ...
"Party leaders should try to figure out what the Dean upsurge is about so they can harness its energy as smoothly as the Democratic presidential candidates Mr Clinton and Jerry Brown brought progressives and wary moderates together in 1992. After all, if candidates cannot unify their own party, voters should reasonably wonder how they are going to unify the country."
Matthew Miller
Seattle Times, January 5
"In reality, the notion that Mr Dean is somehow radically left on domestic policy, or has 'dissed' Mr Clinton, is nonsense ... What 'radical' goals would Mr Dean urge the party to pursue, in what he now calls a 'new social contract for working families'? Affordable healthcare for the 44 million uninsured. Affordable childcare. Universal preschool for millions of poorer kids who don't have it ... These goals aren't radical; they're common sense ...
"You can have doubts about Mr Dean's electability. But you can't doubt that his domestic agenda is roughly where Democrats in 2004 ought to be. Now if only we could get Mr Dean to stop worrying about reading Bin Laden his Miranda rights."
Ralph Peters
New York Post, January 5
"[Mr Dean's] followers try to intimidate other presidential aspirants by surrounding the cars delivering them to their rallies and chanting to drown out their speeches ... These are the techniques employed by Hitler's brownshirts ...
"Then there are Mr Dean's endless 'Big Lies': liberating 25 million Iraqis was 'wrong'. Saddam Hussein's capture doesn't make any difference. Osama bin Laden should be presumed innocent, despite his own admission of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks ... Paranoids and conspiracy theorists rejoice! You finally have a candidate of your own."
Times Argus
Editorial, Vermont, January 3
"Mr Dean noted that the capture of Saddam had not made America safer. Since Saddam's capture, American soldiers have continued to die in Iraq ... In America the holidays were accompanied by the second-highest state of alert, suggesting that what Mr Dean said was true: a sense of safety has never been more lacking. Yet Mr Dean's opponents have twisted his statement to suggest Mr Dean actually thought it would be better if Saddam were still in power ... But it is a dangerous thing for Mr Dean to state the obvious."
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