Surprisingly linking to Krugman again...

Any of my regular readers will certainly not be surprised that I seldom agree with Paul Krugman, but I think he is more right than not in this The New York Times >column on Howard Dean:

The Republicans know the America they want, and they are not afraid to use any means to get there,' Howard Dean said in accepting the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. 'But there is something that this administration and the Republican Party are very afraid of. It is that we may actually begin fighting for what we believe.' Those words tell us what the selection of Mr. Dean means. It doesn't represent a turn to the left: Mr. Dean is squarely in the center of his party on issues like health care and national defense. Instead, Mr. Dean's political rejuvenation reflects the new ascendancy within the party of fighting moderates, the Democrats who believe that they must defend their principles aggressively against the right-wing radicals who have taken over Congress and the White House

Ignoring the silly, over the top attacks against Republicans here, he is correct about Dean being more moderate than leftist. He certainly has passion, and from what I can tell sincerity, which will be an interesting change for a party that seems to have had little of either for a while now. The fundamental problem for Dean and the Democrats (catchy name for a rockband that) is the lack of new ideas coming from that party. When conservatives were in the wilderness they took the chance to evaluate their positions, discarding some and coming up with specific plans, and more importantly, broad principles to support them. That wasn't the whole of their success, the alliance with the religious right was certainly important as well, but it was in my opinion crucial.