REBEL WITHOUT A CHANCE: There's an interesting piece by Franklin Foer (reprinted here) in the most recent TNR about how Howard Dean's lack of religiosity could be a liability in a general election against the president. At issue is Dean's decision in the early 1980s to switch from the Episcopal to Congregationalist church due to a dispute over a bike path (I'm more concerned with his Yankees/Red Sox conversion, but that's just me.) Anyway, the piece quotes the brother of the candidate on the subject:
Indeed, when Dean first explained his denominational switch on ABC's "This Week," George Stephanopoulos was incredulous: "Over the bike path?" Most people respond that way, even Dean's friends and family. My questions about the centrality of the bike path take them by surprise. "I have never heard that before," says his brother James Dean.