Dean threatens to take ball and go home

Well, actually he would ask the ball to stay in the game, but the ball might not listen.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush.

``If I don't win the nomination, where do you think those million and a half people, half a million on the Internet, where do you think they're going to go?'' he said during a meeting with reporters. ``I don't know where they're going to go. They're certainly not going to vote for a conventional Washington politician.''

Well, gee, Howie, if they hate Bush as much as you claim to, and they have a brain, I assume most of the them will vote for the Dem nominee. But if you're right, the Dem party and everyone else who sees the importance of prying Dubya's grip off of the White House needs to plan to do it without them. I would rather go after disenchanted Libertarians, Republicans and Independents than voters linked to a particular personality.