As Howard Dean prepares to step down as DNC Chairman, its worth remembering that when he started the right and much of the decaying party establishment insisted that his tenure would be counted in days or weeks, certainly not months. Democrats were in disarray, coming off a losing presidential election and consigned to the dustbin of history. Yet Howard Dean thought the party had to expand, not contract, and show up in our elections from coast to coast.
Howard Dean leaves a Democratic party in a historic moment of strength. Fundraising has been strong, no longer beholden to a few fat cats but instead reliant on individuals. The Dean-led Democratic party took back control of the Senate (with a majority just a few votes short of a filibuster proof majority), took control of the House of Representatives, and of course took a historic leap forward with a landslide in the Presidential race to elect Barack Obama the 44th president.
Thanks to Howard Dean, the state of our party is STRONG.
Gov. Dean worked behind the scenes to develop this strategy and was ready to put his efforts behind that of the Obama campaign. He stayed in the shadows and caught the GOP off guard and overmanned. It is a strategy that needs to be followed by the next DNC chairman. Kudos to my former Governor, he needs to be credited for this work.
No doubt. But then, these are the Democrats, poster-boy party for the “Clearly the strategy has reaped a harvest. Let’s change it.” approach.
The Republicans don’t have a single viable candidate for 2012, let alone a Howard Dean to work behind the scenes. The wheels are off.
The Republicans don’t have a single viable candidate for 2012
Not sure that’s an easy thing to claim 4 years in advance. Obama, Bush jr, Clinton, Carter may all have been left off the lists of “viable candidates” four years before they actually won. Either because they just didn’t seem at all likely (”Obama will never beat Hillary. Maybe for 2016 or 2012 if she looses, but not in ‘08.”) or were just not one’s who would come to mind. (”Jimmy who?”)
Thank You, Dr. Dean!
I remember four years ago when the Good Doctor was named head of the DNC, I got a snarky e-mail from a ‘pub friend of mine, saying “Thanks for guaranteeing a GOP majority for the next 20 years!”
I simply wrote back, “Be careful what you wish for.”
I mentioned President Obama in late ‘06 and got laughed out of a discussion with fellow political science students. Seriously.
“The Republicans don’t have a single viable candidate for 2012,…”
Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney, Tom Coburn, Mike Pence, the Palinator
Jaim,
I see Jindal for 2012 if the GOP isn’t irredeemably racist. (Or if he doesn’t screw up Louisiana, but I think that’s difficult at this point.)
I’d like to add another one to my list: Mitch Daniels (the governor of Indiana).
Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney, Tom Coburn, Mike Pence, Palin, Mitch Daniels…
Bring. It. On.
Mitch, the least insane, billed himself as a cost cutter, and billed Iraq as cheap war.
Dean’s a smart guy to get off while on top. Historically, no party holds this kind of majority for long. The first year of the Clinton Administration begat the GOP’s 1994 revolution and Newt Gingrich. Tread carefully.
Janus Daniels,
Why do you think Bobby Jindal is insane? His push to castrate sex offenders probably violates the 8th Amendment, but it’s precisely the kind of measure that sounds great to the average voter. Yeah, let’s castrate sex offenders! … until your 19 year old son gets into trouble over his 15 year old girlfriend.
Jindal seems pretty calculating to me: he changed his name to something “American,” changed his religion to the majority faith in Louisiana (Catholic), and even learned how to cover up the fact he’s a Rhodes Scholar and talk about LSU football instead. I think he’s got a big future in the GOP.
I mentioned President Obama in late ‘06 and got laughed out of a discussion with fellow political science students.
Today is a good day to look thos mofo’s up, Parthy!
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