Last time I wrote, "It seems the DNC would trade the disenfranchisement of an entire country with that of voters in a couple of states." The cynics would say this sort of thing is nothing new in American politics - see the Florida debacle of 2000. But among all camps, I had hoped the Democrats would try and distance themselves from this sort of practice.
The problem facing Howard Dean now is as follows. Obama has been able to rally a huge turnout to support him, including a large number of young and first time voters. These voters have been electrified by his message. My theory is that these voters may not turn out to support Clinton as the nominee, especially if her campaign ends up stealing the nomination via back room deals. At that point, the despair will be tangible, and I don't expect this generation of voters will forgive or forget easily. Nor will many of them fall into line behind Clinton, because so many of them are responding to specific elements of his message. While I don't know what they'll vote for McCain, I think it's definitely likely that many would just abstain completely. If the race remains close, as it looks to be, Dean should tread carefully, because a generation of Democratic voters could be in the balance.
Disclosure: I favour Obama, but I can't vote, so I just sit on the sidelines and throw peanuts. The specific area of his policy I like the most are his positions on network neutrality and government transparency. Transparency is key to successful, healthy open source projects, and I my hope is that it would help heal the fractured relationship between the government and the people, too.
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