Look at it this way:

It's wartime. Bush cannot lose unless he fumbles the war and the economy in the next 21 months. He very well may do the latter - he is his father's son, after all. The difference between pater et fils is: the war will not be over by Election 2004.

"Not being afraid to lose" could very well mean (especially to us Democrats who wish to be hopeful about the longer future) "not being afraid to hit hard on real issues, to get the country thinking about the mid-terms in 2006 and the next presidential race in 2008." It could mean (I hope) Dean will stand for what he believes, rather than what his handlers think the polls indicate he should be saying.

I admire the hell out of the fictional President Bartlett - while understanding full well that other actors could portray him as well as Sheen does; Sheen has nothing to do with it - and we could do a lot worse than to find a real person of the same caliber.

... but I also said that about Henry Fonda in Fail Safe.