Dandy Dean: Two things with Dean. Number 1: He's getting the press only because he raised more money than his competitors. That is briefly noteworthy, but hardly the lynchpin for an election 14 months away. Number 2: Since the internet fund-raising route (and "digital primaries") is new (hey, why didn't Al Gore, the inventor of the internet come up with this fund-raising twist?), I'm very interested to see how it pans out. Most significantly, I have my doubts that Dean will see dramatic repeat business via this medium. I imagine he got a surge from those most likely to contribute in that manner at the outset, and from here on in, he'll see dwindling returns. Of course, all this media hype might cause a surge, but I'm skeptical. I don't think Dean wins the election just because he was anti-war at the outset (unless, of course, our occupation of Iraq turns ugly in the next year - but even so, that would be as a result of the occupation, not the "war" itself - Dean wasn't anti-occupation nearly as much as he was anti-invasion). As Steyn notes, these guys are going to be trying to out-liberal eachother and see what that gets them.