--- Yes, I know it's FOX. ----
This whole Gore-Dean thing got me thinking. Everyone's crowned Howard Dean (search) the inevitable nominee. Game over. All this without one caucus, one primary, one contest -- anywhere. Not one vote has been cast. But yet it seems like the die has been cast.
Says who?
Imagine if a tall, lanky backwoodsman named Abraham Lincoln had to rely on polls before seeking the presidency back in 1860. He'd have been laughed off the ballot before there was a ballot.
Harry Truman didn't poll well in 1948. But last time I checked, he won in 1948.
Richard Nixon was a third choice among Republicans polled in 1967. He went on to get his party's nomination and the election in 1968.
Look, for all I know, these polls are right. Howard Dean is "the" guy in New Hampshire, maybe now Iowa too.
But I can remember when Eugene McCarthy was suddenly "the" guy in 1968. When Ed Muskie was "the" guy in 1972. And when a guy named Scoop Jackson was "the" guy in 1976.
Polls shouldn't elect presidents. We should.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105403,00.html