Democratic opinion on Dean

The following report from Political Wire on a WSJ poll on Howard Dean brings to mind something I've talked about before:

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Howard Dean is fighting "a tarnished image in bid for Democratic chairmanship. Just 27% of party backers view the Vermont ex-governor positively, down from 48% a year ago. But he's less of a lightning rod for Republicans than during his presidential bid; 37% view him negatively, down from 58% in January 2004."

After the "Dean Scream" moment in Iowa, a lot of Democrats who were considering supporting Dean ran for the hills. Yet I have met more than a few Independents and Republicans since that time who have told me that it was that moment that first turned them on to Dean. The irony here is that many Dems ran from Dean on the assumption that The Scream would make him political dynamite. They never understood that Dean's passionate nature is just what makes him such a compelling figure for those outside the Democratic establishment.

The moral: often the people least capable of seeing the solution to a problem are the people who are closest to the problem.