Just a couple of weeks before the primary elections began he was in single digits nationally and well behind in Iowa and New Hampshire. He's not overly exciting or charismatic and ideologically he's rather bland too. So why did Democrats suddenly turn to him?
Seen as the electable alternative to the liberal Howard Dean.
And then Howard screamed at a rally? Hoo boy.
The amount of confusing cause and effect in this legend is really stunning. Dean's support had already begun declining sharply by the time of the speech in question, which was his third place finish in the Iowa Caucus that everyone thought he was going to win, losing to Kerry, who wasn't even on the radar in Iowa. The cause of Kerry's national victory can be attributed more to Dean and Gephardt getting into a negative campaign war that destroyed both their images in Iowa (3rd and 4th place when they were expected to be 1st and 2nd) and an incredibly effective stealth campaign by Kerry in the state. Losing Iowa by 20 points is what prompted Dean's defiant speech in the first place.
