Dean's Scream, Broadway Bound?

(CBS)

Apparently, Jake Gyllenhaal just can't quit Howard Dean.

As The Washington Post recently reported:

Last week, Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal did a private reading of "Farragut North" (written by playwright and former Dean campaigner Beau Willimon) about the presidential hopes of a charismatic, unorthodox candidate and his staff. The 26-year-old "Brokeback Mountain" star would play the idealistic young communications director sabotaged by old political dogs with dirty tricks, reports the New York Post. If he's cast, it would be Gyllenhaal's Broadway debut.

"Jake was a big campaign supporter of mine, so I hope he takes it," Dean told us yesterday. "But I want him to play me." The DNC chairman likes the concept -- "Hell, I'll go to it" -- even if it includes his famous scream. "I'd like to see him do that."

Though we at Public Eye shy away from the prognostication business, I don't think it's a stretch to assume that "Farragut North" will be a hit in New Hampshire! And South Carolina and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico! And then it's gonna be a smash hit in California and Texas and New York! Yaaaaa!!!

[ronmwanga]

I never quite got what was so damning about that scream (which was meant as an exhuberant cheer to rouse dispirited Iowa campaign workers -- many of them college age and easily dispirited), or why Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer get all the credit for the 2006 Congressional victory, when it was his idea -- and hard work -- to be competitive in overlooked Republican strongholds. Howard Dean is the most overlooked political player in American politics. And, like a true Vermonter, he goes about his business for the betterment of his party, avoiding the spotlight.