The race is on - Seeking the "Un-Dean"

CLARK HAS A lot of appeal, and potential, but his main attraction to party insiders and former Clintonistas — many of whom are joining up with the general — is that they see him as the man, perhaps the only man, to block Dean’s surge to the precipice of locking up the nomination. Party leaders — if there is such a thing — view Dean as a disaster waiting to happen in a race with President George W. Bush.

Even before Dean locked up the insurgent’s role, and turned it into an Internet-driven anti-war money machine, Democratic wise guys had pushed Sen. John Kerry forward as a consensus favorite to challenge Bush. But Kerry’s campaign has foundered, in part because of his vote in favor of the Iraq war (which most grassroots Democrats opposed) and because he has encountered the putative frontrunner’s problem of trying to be all things to all voters.