contrapositive

Too Little Too Late? The Dean team--stunned by the results in Iowa and the fallout over the Governor's growling concession--now faces the challenge of pulling its campaign back from the brink.

Dean may very well recover (the odds are better than the spin suggests) but it's clearer than ever that his campaign squandered a huge opportunity in November and December. (See "The Center Beckons.")

They simply weren't willing to risk anything on Dean's left flank with gestures to conservatives and moderates--even though his left flank was stunningly secure.

If the Dean camp had leveraged some of the press coverage and general Democratic good will late last year by making louder, more prominent efforts to tout their candidate's issue positions on subjects other than the war, my bet is they would've been able to nail down some of the support now migrating to Kerry.