Howard Dean appeals to national Democrats in exactly the same way that Geoffrey Fieger appealed to Michigan Democrats fed up with both Engler and their own party's worthless establishment in 1998. This comparison should be used to wake up Michigan Democrats to spread the word of the inevitable similar Dean disaster likely next November. And I will 'fess up; in 1998, I was swayed by Fieger's feistiness, and overlooked his many flaws and weaknesses because my craving for a real fighter overcame my better judgement.
     The Democratic presidential primary calendar should be scheduled and ordered so that the states where the party did worst in the previous election come first. Or at the very least, the primary season should start in the South. Anything for a reality check at the beginning of the season. Let's see upfront if Dr. Dean really could reclaim what USED to be prime Democratic territory by people who have since been badly misled and misused but successfully acquired by the post-Nixon racist Republican Southern strategy. And if he can't, do we just throw away electoral votes from whole regions and swaths of the nation?