Leni Riefenstahl film? The whole Republican convention? I don't think even Buchanan's speech qualifies for that, annoying as it was.

On the question of damage, I think you are half right. It is correct that primary challenges, like that from Buchanan, hurt incumbents. That's just standard Presidential Elections 101. Perot damaged Bush, too, I believe, despite the conventional claim that he hurt both candidates equally. First, he timed his moves in and out of the race in a way that damaged Bush both times. Second, nearly all his attacks--and he is a brilliant salesman--wer against Bush. Finally, though the polling was quite close, the result I saw did show a slight preference for Bush among Perot voters.

I'm not sure why it is that Dean will hurt Bush, rather than the incipient Democratic center of mass. It would seem that Dean's pull will, in fact, make it easier for Bush to court the center and cause him to pander a bit less to the religious right.

(Shameless blog plug)I've been doing some thinking, and it is entirely possible that this election is the stage for another party realignment. At any rate, this election, to my mind, is simply a straight-through continuance of the 2000 race. The wars and 9/11 rolled the pre-primary back in to 2001, which is just unprecidented.

The reason Dean is so popular is not because he is the anti-Bush, but because he is the anti-Gore, i.e., he is the antithesis of the Democratic candidate of 2000. Last time, Democrats got nowhere with a play-it-safe, middle of the road "new" Democrat. This time around people are attracted to an outspoken, in-your-face risk-taker. It's all about balance.

The pattern of the "outside the beltway" candidate is well-established, just look at the number of governors to win nominations, rather than Congresscriters. In that sense, Dean is nothing new. However, for the most vocal segments of the Democratic primary - the heart and soul of the invisible primary - outside the beltway means anti-Bush.

You could look at this another way. Gore damn near got the presidency by playing to the center. Bush just happened to be a tiny, tiny, tiny bit better in a particular fashion that netted him some hotly contested electoral votes.

On the other hand, what typically happens to candidates that run away from party moderates in the primaries? Usually, (and I think this will happen here) they can crush in the primaries and then discover themselves with a terribly narrow base in the general election.

In this particular case, Dean (in his, as you put it, anti-Gore manifestation) is simply going to wreck any credibility the Democrats had on defense issues. Barring, of course, some epic disaster that (contrary to every other presidential popularity bubble) doesn't unite folks behind the current man in the Oval Office.

Kevin Phillips has not absorbed the real electoral implications of 9/11/2001 anymore than the Democraic Party.

We were attacked at home as the opening shot of a war of survival. The American people are rallying around against the foreign enemy.

The Democrats, OTOH, are playing 1990's impeachment vintage partisan politics against President Bush.

It is as if the Republicans of 1942 were saying good things about Hitler and Tojo because they both opposed Roosevelt.

The 2004 election results are going to leave the Democrats dead and damned for their lack of pro-war patriotism.

Let's also not forget the role of Bob "Tax Collector for the Welfare State" Dole's part in undercutting Gringrich during 1995. He chose Clinton's side because he thought it would enhance his chances of becoming president by being "bi-partisan" and reverting to his true self. Hah!

And let's not forget the part that Wallace played in keeping Johnson's VP from becoming his successor by taking a sizeable part of the Dem's "Solid South" and unionized midwest away.