''BATTLING FOR SEATTLE''

"The Election Is Over but the Dean-Kerry Rivalry Continues--In case you missed it, Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who now chairs the Democratic National Committee, just blew through town. He was here April 13 for a downtown DNC fundraiser that was closed to the press. If you're tearing up at the thought that you missed him, calm down and put on a happy face. He's going to be back soon enough--on Sunday, June 5, events TBA, according to the seattlefordean.com website. And here's a bit of breaking news: I have it on good authority that John Kerry is dropping by as well. He'll be here on May 1 and 2. The early word is that he'll do a fundraiser for the state Dems and an event at Town Hall to tout his health care proposal to cover uninsured kids. With all of this attention from the national leaders of the party, am I the only one wondering if Seattle hasn't entered some kind of strange time warp? It feels more than a little like February 2004, when Kerry and Dean were still battling mano a mano in Seattle for the Democratic presidential nomination, rather than April 2005, when morose Dems find themselves slouching towards irrelevance. That is probably more than coincidence. The election may be long lost, but in this era of the permanent campaign, the slugfest goes on. It's a championship bout between the heavy-punching Dean and the dancing Kerry. The title at stake? Supreme leader of the Democratic Party, at least until a new presidential frontrunner (okay, Hillary) emerges after the 2006 election."-Sandeep Kaushik in today's new Stranger. Thanks for the plug, ole buddy, but I'm not sure I buy the "battle" story.