Jacqueline Salit at the Choosing an Independent President 2004 project has offered her perspective on the Dean campaign and the Democratic primaries. I am not persuaded by all of it, but they're definitely another voice that should be heard. The title provides some sense of their take: "How the Democratic Party sabotaged an independent movement to beat Bush."

We continued to press for Dean to appear at ChIP’s New Hampshire conference, urging him to use it as a national platform to reinforce his political independence and pursue a winning “Beat Bush” coalition with the independent voter. But the campaign was trapped in a downward spiral. Dean was getting pummeled by his rivals for the nomination, by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe and by the media – left and right. He desperately committed everything to winning in Iowa and New Hampshire, gambling $40 million and all of his political capital on the hopes of salvaging his candidacy. Although the negotiations with the Dean campaign were ongoing and intense up until 48 hours before the ChIP New Hampshire event (including the possibility of having independent Senator Jim Jeffords come in to rep him), he did not show nor did he send a rep. At the nation’s most significant gathering of independent voters on the eve of Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean was fighting for his life. But the sad truth is that he was already dead. As soon as he gave his post-Iowa “I Have a Scream” speech, the Democrats buried him.

[via Dean Independents]