Anybody But Dean with a Twist
John Ellis discusses Weasley and the Presidential primary mechanics that made him necessary to the HillBillies in General Clark and Anybody But Dean. The usual suspects pulled off a smooth move by compressing the historical primary schedule:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAulliffe, in consultation with former President Clinton and a gaggle of Clintonian consultants, decided that the best solution was to compress the primary schedule down to about five weeks. Republicans had no objection to this scheme (memories of battling Buchanan through June of 1992 were still raw) and so it was that the "front-loading" of every major state primary was moved to the month of March. The result is that by March 2, with primaries in New York and California and a handful of other states, the winner of the Democratic presidential nomination will almost certainly be known.

In the McAuliffe schema, this will leave the Democratic Party with plenty of time to heal wounds, raise money for the interim (between the primaries and the Convention) and focus all concerned on the main event. It's a grand idea and, who knows, it just might work. But like all grand political schemes, the law of unintended consequences lurks. And the iron rule of media bias lurks with it.

Media bias, in this case, is more than the usual - it means that they will inevitably compress the field by their coverage:

But a presidential campaign isn't about delegates, it's about media coverage. The only way to attract media coverage is to win. Iowa and New Hampshire, being first on the schedule, are thus decisive. They determine who gets media coverage on the Super Tuesdays that follow and who does not.

And here's the problem for Terrible Terry and the Clintonoids:

Enter the law of unintended consequences. In practical political terms, the front-loading of the 2004 primary and caucus schedule means that former Vermont Governor Howard Dean will almost certainly be one of the two remaining candidates after the New Hampshire primary. He will finish first or second in Iowa. He will probably win New Hampshire (with Republican cross-over help). At that point, an Anybody But Dean (similar to the Anybody But McGovern in 1972 and Anybody But Carter in 1976 movements) would be all but impossible to organize. There simply wouldn't be enough time.

Which is why the HillBillies are propping up Weasley - he's Anybody But Dean, or as I like to say, "Clark is Bubba's Hubert Humphrey."

So what's the twist?

The twist is that Hillary Clinton's name will soon be floated as his running mate. The message will be that Clark-Clinton will unite the party. All of this has happened or will soon happen before a single vote has been cast. That's how much front-loading the primary schedule has exaggerated the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire and distorted the nomination process.

I guess this is the "Anybody But Dean with Hillary in the Caboose" theory. Hmm, I wonder if Weasley would let Hillary run things the way Bubba did?

For the alternative "Hillary Stalking Horse" theory, read the previous post.