With all due respect to Senator Reid, his statement says much more about him than it does about Howard Dean.

Because, next to Senator Clinton, Dean is the most polarizing figure in the Democratic Party . . .

Democrats are Democrats, at least once they’re in public office. They stick to their own, whatever they may or may not really feel about them. Dean may eventually be criticized for mismanagement or something of the kind. But he will not be seriously criticized by major figures in the party for his hatred and extremism. "Moderate" Dems are good for one or two little whimpers now and then, but they never follow through on them.

Presumably, the Democratic governor of Kansas does have to be more careful than almost any other Democratic officeholder. Her views on this wouldn’t seem to be a straw in the wind.

Here in OK, some "Democrats are Democrats" (Brad Carson) and some "Republicans are Republicans" (Frank Keating). Neither is good quality to have if the opinions of the public don’t line up with those of the National Party, leading to a limited number terms. Some politicians are better at hoodwinking their public than others (they don’t send their voting records "back home", and campaign as the opposite of how they vote), thus stay in office longer, and their are, of course, regions that may actually be represented, in truth, by one party or the other.

A politician may be accountable to The Party for money/support, but ultimately he is accountable to his public for votes (or, I suppose, to whoever runs the polling places or counts the votes...), and there are even some Democrats who realize this (and I don’t mean the parenthetical remarks...).

Shoot! a "there" slipped in as a "their"...I hang my head in shame...