Rich Lowry over at The Corner makes an astute observation about running for president:

... what it takes to get into the first tier of presidential candidates and what it take to emerge from that tier as the winner are often two different things. If you keep just doing the things that got you into the first tier, you may hurt yourself. Romney got into the top tier partly by getting to the right on everything through various Massachusetts controversies. I can see how his annoucement yesterday on illegals, though, might have made some conservatives begin to think, "Geez, you're really pandering to me."

Howard Dean made this mistake in 2004. Being the liberal/outsider/blog guy got him noticed -- but in the end -- it also brought him down. His message about "you have the power" may have inspired his revolutionary supporters -- but it surely didn't inspire undecided Democrat voters in Iowa (who probably cared more about jobs, health care, etc., than about using the internet to revolutionize politics).

In retrospect, Dean should have used his liberal blogger image to separate him from the pack and get him into the top tier -- and then he should have pivoted into running a more traditional campaign.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Still, it will be interesting to see if future candidates have to re-learn this lesson ...