New math

Might as well face the new Washington Post/ABC poll head on. The headline, of course, is Dean's big lead. He's polling 31% of D's, with the rest of the field in single digits (for the record, Gep and Lieberman are tied at 9, Kerry's at 8, Clark's at 7 and no one else breaks 5).

Of course, support from a third of a Party that represents about a third of the electorate is hardly commanding, and Bush leads the Doc 55 to 37% in the head to head. (On national security, the Bush lead is 67-21)

There are other numbers worth a closer look, too. According to the WaPo analysis of the numbers, "...Dean's strength against his rivals masks how little Democratic voters know about him. More than half of Democrats surveyed said they know "hardly anything" or "nothing" about Dean's experience, leadership capabilities or positions on the issues. "

You'll pardon me if I express doubt that "People who don't know me like me." represents a position of strength.

It's also noteworthy that while Lieberman, Clark and Gephardt have all fallen 4 to 5 points, Kerry's number is holding. So who deserves to be the anti-Dean? I'd say the guy with the committed base among the 69% of Democrats who aren't ready to drink the Dean kool-aid.