by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math
Indeed. Read Chris Bowers for more. I might add that in addition to the issue differences between Dean and the DC candidates, there was a sort of identity politics wherein the nascent left-of-center netroots set out to support "their guy" who was willing to speak the truth that Rome was burning while The Establishment fiddled, whether "their guy" was Dean or Clark (or Kerry under rare circumstances). Having progressed quickly through Gandhi's four steps to victory, the left-of-center netroots now find themselves on the inside of the tent pissing out rather than outside pissing in. That sort of shift is bound to change some writers' willingness to criticize the intraparty opposition, or at least alter the tone when they do so.
