Oh great. Get home from a hard day of caucusing and have your toddler lisp out "Buth lieth ! No blood for Gerbers !"

This is why I expect Howard Dean to win. His followers are willing to go the extra mile (like the Oldman)---and that's very important in a caucus situation. Once again, this is not a primary! The Dean people are covering all the bases. Only the Richard Gephardt folks have anywhere near this type of gung-ho organization. Neither John Kerry and John Edwards can compete at this level.

OK -- this is taking the "government as nanny" concept just a little too far.

Would you let Howard Dean babysit YOUR child?

Take the free babysitter - and go see a good movie.

And you'd leave your child with a totally unknown stranger supplie by a political campaign? Whay not just pick a name at random from the phone book?

This offer has a huge potential upside and a huge potential downside for Dean.

Upside: Good p.r. derails concerns of out-of-state Deanies voting fraudulently, and there is no need to be anything but gracious (e.g. say that there is no quid pro quo, you can have your child back even if you do not caucus for Dean) because almost everyone who has heard about it soon enough to take advantage will already be a Dean supporter.

Downside: Deanies are not the most experienced or sensible human beings. One shaken baby death, one disabled child injured due to inattention, one medicine mix-up and nothing else is in the papers until well past South Carolina, and Dean is less than a footnote.

I have to agree with Terry. Anyone who would leave their child(ren) with a complete stranger is behaving in an incredibly irresponsible fashion. Does Dean really encourage parents to behave in this fashion? Seems like a campaign issue to me ;-)

You guys never ordered a babysitter out of the Yellow Pages or off the Internet while on vacation?

Deanies are not the most experienced or sensible human beings. One shaken baby death, one disabled child injured due to inattention, one medicine mix-up and nothing else is in the papers until well past South Carolina, and Dean is less than a footnote.

Quite certainly the most offensive post I've ever seen. You should be ashamed.

To me, that seems about as smart as leaving small children with Lyndon LaRouche groupies.

Is that legal? I imagine it would be illegal to hand out money to potential voters. Why is providing a service like babysitting any better?

The Unofficial Directory of Howard Dean Internet Resources launched recently. The site is a comprehensive guide to more than 630 Dean related Internet sites including Websites, Yahoo Groups and Blogs. Visit now to find the best sites for you to join to help Dean win!

http://www.DeanSites.com

I'd let Dr. Judy Steinberg Dean babysit my kids, for sure. These are real people, not Washington phonies.

For a prediction of the Iowa outcome -- compiled from 250 predictions by Daily Kos readers -- go here:

http://hudson.typepad.com/line/2004/01/iowa_caucus_pre.html

“For a prediction of the Iowa outcome -- compiled from 250 predictions by Daily Kos readers -- go here:”

This unscientific poll is may very well be accurate:

27.8% — Howard Dean
22.9% — John Kerry
22.0% — Dick Gephardt
19.1% — John Edwards
3.4% — Dennis Kucinich
4.8% — Uncommitted/Other

Would I bet my life? No, but I would bet $20.

Dan,

I assume you are Robin's nephew. I am Bill's mom and a devoted Deaiac(yes at my age). I seem to have influenced Bill and the boys, who are with me on this. Glad you don't live in Iowa.

Hope you and family are well.

Barbara

Thank God Terry wrote what s/he did!

This idea sounds great to people who either don't HAVE kids or don't see much reason to vet the people who take care of them.

The posting about "shaken babies" was unpleasant but does get at a real concern, i.e. the Dean campaign is taking a huge risk with this offer. Quality control will be difficult, unless the kids are dropped off in a largish, central facility with many care providers (in rural Iowa, not feasible).

In other words, like so much else emanating from the Dean camp, this idea looks good at first, but on reconsideration, becomes far less appealing.

And David, for the record, the WaPo just came out with the news that Kucinich is giving Edwards his supporters (okay, officially they're swapping, but it's the same thing). This pushes Edwards into first or second place once the 15% cutoff kicks in.

Curioser and curioser.

“This pushes Edwards into first or second place once the 15% cutoff kicks in.”

John Edwards will probably come in third place. He will be a nice vice presidential candidate. I’m sure that Howard Dean will give him serious consideration.

Life can be very cruel. It’s looking like Daniel Drezner is brilliant and I’m something of an idiot. The initial returns do indeed indicate that Kerry and Edwards are the winners in Iowa. I placed, at least so far, too much importance on Howard Dean’s organization. Yet, I still insist that President Bush is the real winner. Dean’s true believer followers will not drift over to Kerry. They will conclude that the “Bush Lite” Democrats have stabbed them in the back. The Democrats will now experience a blood bath between its various factions.