I guess last night’s loss is registering with Howard Dean:
Presidential hopeful Howard Dean on Tuesday toned down his “red meat” rhetoric, hoping to recoup a stunning loss in Iowa with a more subdued campaign in New Hampshire in the Democratic battle to challenge President Bush in November’s U.S. election.
After coming a distant third in Iowa behind U.S. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, Dean seemed to be searching for the right tone as he touted his own record of balancing budgets and providing health care as governor of Vermont and criticized Bush’s record as president.
“Today, I am going to give a different kind of speech,” Dean told supporters in Manchester. “Those of you who came here intending to be lifted by … a lot of red meat rhetoric are going to be a little disappointed.”
On second thought, I take that back. The Iowa result is probably at least as well excused by the suicide-pact negative-ad campaign Dean and Gephardt waged against one another.
Instead, what probably registered with Dean was the backlash to his silly, scary concession speech last night.
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