Newsflash (although it shouldn't be): Howard Dean will not be the next Chairman of the DNC.

There is way too much animosity toward him from "the party" to let him take charge of the whole system.

While it's good that Dr. Dean is making a play for it and his grassroots supporters are pushing forward with their drafting movement, they need to be prepared for what happens when he doesn't get it:

If Republicans do not stop talking down to the voters who don't have the same religion as they do - or even worse, no religion at all, they are never going to win another election.

If 300 voters in Florida in 2000 voted for Gore instead of Bush, or if a few thousand votes were switched (or eaten) this year in Ohio, the national discourse might be completely different. With a few minor changes in states that aren't even that religious (in comparison to the rest of the bright red states), the discussion would be completely different.

Instead, we get treated to a vacuous debate about religion's role in the public life. Pundits warn the left that it must be serious and should no longer condescend to people who believe that we can never have peace until Jesus comes to earth or that the other is going to receive rapture soon so there is no point in being a steward for the environment.