DR. DEATH?: When I said the other day that Howard Dean's candidacy is a "flash in the pan," I admit I was being facetious. Clearly Dean has legitimate appeal, and he's been able to galvanize in the way none of his opponents can the 15-20% of the population that, due to various combinations of Florida resentment, Iraq resentment, and "he's a moron" resentment, think that George Bush is the devil.
But now there's another controversy on the horizon: since Dean did a med-school rotation working at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Vermont, the question has been raised of whether or not the good doctor ever performed an abortion. If the answer is yes (and he has said no thus far), it's unlikely to hurt him with his base, but could cause him trouble with swing voters.
If it turns out to be true, expect "Abortionist Howard Dean" to take is place in the Republican attack-ad pantheon, along with "Liberal Paul Wellstone" and "Draft Dodger Bill Clinton."
Oh well, it's not like he experimented on cats when he was in med school, like Bill Frist did.