Many have called Howard Dean the George McGovern of 2004 for his anti-war campaign. However, Dean wants to keep troops in Iraq to clean up the mess we made. This stance can be compared to Richard Nixon's "Peace with honor" stance in 1968 to keep the U.S. in Vietnam untill the U.S. can make an honorable exit. Given this information it can be said that Dean's 2004 campaign is closer to Nixon's 68 than McGovern's 72.
Note: I am refering only to the issue of War and Peace.
We can already claim some serious victories in Iraq. Only fringe leftists view Iraq as a Vietnam quagmire. That shifts the candidates' abilities to yelp about Iraq and take radical positions. I'm not sure that Dean wouldn't adopt a more radical position if things weren't going as well.
