Dean Poised to Be New Democratic Party Chief

Fri Feb 4, 3:47 PM ET

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean (news - web sites), whose high-flying White House bid crashed a year ago, is poised to win the post of party chairman and tackle the job of leading Democrats back from November's election losses.

One week before the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) votes on a new leader, the outspoken former Vermont governor has more than 250 public pledges from DNC supporters, according to the political newsletter Hotline -- well more than the 214 needed to win.


One of Dean's last rivals, Simon Rosenberg, head of the centrist New Democrat Network, dropped his bid on Friday and endorsed Dean. Former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer and party strategist Donnie Fowler are Dean's last official rivals in what was once a seven-person field to succeed DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe.


"Howard Dean has enough votes to win this thing," Rosenberg said. "It's really now just a question of how this all comes to an end."


The resurgence of Dean, an early and fierce critic of President Bush (news - web sites) during the Democratic primary campaign, comes three months after many Democrats said the November results showed the party needed a more moderate approach that could broaden its appeal in the South, Midwest and Mountain States.


But Dean wooed party insiders with an aggressive campaign that promised to pump up state-based operations, energize the party's grass roots and build an army of small donors similar to the one that aided his presidential bid.


"He just ran a great campaign," Rosenberg said. "They won this thing. It was not in any way handed to him."


Dean made a national splash in 2003 with a presidential bid that used the Internet to help set fund-raising records, attracted young voters to the party and directly confronted Bush on issues like the Iraq (news - web sites) war.


His candidacy collapsed in early 2004 as voters in Iowa and New Hampshire turned to what they viewed as a more electable alternative, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites).


FIRING UP THE BASE


While some Democrats are anxious about putting Dean in charge of the party machinery, others say the strengths he exhibited during his presidential run will serve him well in the organizational post.


"The DNC chairman's job is to raise money, fire up the base and beat up on the Republicans every chance you get," said Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who has endorsed Dean. "Howard Dean can do all of that."


Gordon Fischer, outgoing Iowa state chairman, said Dean's plain talk was part of his appeal but Democrats knew it could also land him in hot water. As DNC chair, however, Dean would not be the party's only national voice, he said, and he had proven his effectiveness in confronting Republicans.


Dean promised to make the party competitive in more states and focus not just on the White House but also congressional and state races.


"Howard Dean gets it, he understands fundamentally the things Democrats need to do. The DNC needs to change to help state parties more," said Joe Erwin, South Carolina state party chairman and a Fowler backer who said he would be satisfied with a Dean win.


Fowler, the son of former DNC Chairman Don Fowler of South Carolina, was viewed as the last obstacle to Dean's election. He says he will stay in the race until the Feb. 12 vote, although many Democrats expect him to call it quits before then.


"We are still committed to staying in the race, we are getting a lot of private commitments," said Jamal Simmons, a Fowler spokesman. "For now, our supporters still want him in."

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I for one, am thrilled with this probability, as a Dean supporter and a great admirer of his grassroots efforts during the presidential campaign. Since the election, I have begun an inevitable pull away from the Democrats, feeling that they messed up big time nominating Kerry, and moving far too much towards the Republicans. I think that Dean recognizes the terrible influence of big money upon his party, as exampled by outgoing chief McAuliffe. He'll be able to rally the base and excite progressives and moderates (despite what the right and the DLC will try to say) towards a more organized and most important, a more principled party. The Democrats would be smart to nominate Dean, and then invoke on a grand restructuring of their party. Kerry simply wasn't it, and neither would be a move towards the 'middle', which is essentially a code for placating the administration and failing to challenge far right policies.

I read this as Dean Poisoned new democratic cheif.

I love Dean. I wish he had gone on to get the Democratic nod in 2004. He should give the DNC the kick in the ass it needs. If DLC-ites like Joe Liberman don't like that, they can go join the Republicans... they already act like them enough.

I like Dean as well, although I dont think he would of had a rats chance of even getting close to President Fuck-face.

I think this is very good news for the party. I think this is where Dean belongs, not necessarily as the presidential candidate.

--PunkDavid

Well, its true. The republicans have their own attack dogs, it is time the democrats have one as well. Each party needs strong and vocal leadership...especially the democrats.

We'll see how it works out though. I'm a bit cautious when it comes to Dean, because he is known for being rather bullheaded (and boneheaded for that matter!). But he is tough and to the point, and in the wake of all of the wishy-washiness promoted by John Kerry, it may be necessary.

Oh, I think it is essential. And as the party chairman, he doesn't need to worry about every word he says. He can speak his mind and try to articulate a vision for this party, something that John Kerry didn't come close to approaching, much less achieving.

--PunkDavid

You're quite right on that!

General Wesley Clark would be a better choice. Dean is a completely idiot.

Clark would make a great Secretary of Defense under a Democrat president... not a Presidental canidate nor a DNC chair.

what can i say, if people are scared of him I think thats a good sign. All of these politicians are so in each others pockets. I dont care what he does but I would like to see him really rattle peoples cages. I read this great article in vanity fair written by Howard Dean, it was really refreshing. Also I read Michael Moore called him a dick and decided to throw his support behind Kerry....well we see where that got us?

I think his first order of business in his new post should be a death match with that prick Mehlman.

Dean was beat by Kerry and Edwards, who were defeated by a Republican who most Republicans really dislike and the majority of democrats hate. Going the Carter route, IMO, is the worst thing the Dems could do. You guys need a Rudy or Arnold that have opinions that transcend both sides. As much as the moderate right may despise the Neo Cons, we are not going to plunge off the side of a cliff for someone like Dean. I think the left needs to find a new voice in that party, one that actually inspires, and then maybe they can start influencing the country. You might as well have Michael Moore lead the party. They both energize the base, while repelling 70% of the populous.

I disagree. I don't think Dean repels 70% of the population. It all came down to the fact that the Dems saw Kerry as someone more "presidential" and electable than Dean. And who cares if Republicans dislike the guy. They can all eat a dick as far as I'm concerned.

Republicans don't eat dick
The point I was making, was that I was looking for every reason in the world to not vote for Bush, and I am that moderate base that seems to decide these things. Actually, why am I even arguing. Put Dean in there.

Exhibit A:





I, too, am in that moderate base. But I feel that the DNC Chairman position is more of a behind the scenes type of deal, which is perfect for Dean because he seems to run into trouble because of how he is perceived when he's on camera. If you think about it, most people outside of politics don't really know/care who the party's chairman is, they focus on the platform and the candidates, who are the "face" of the party. I think it's the perfect role for Dr. Dean, IMO.

If he does stay behind the scenes, then maybe he could do some good. I give credit to Dean for having defined opinions. The democratic party has become the "anti-republican" party, in recent years. What I mean by that is, they have no defined goals, they just take the current administration and either state the opposite or attack them. One thing Dean could do, is actually give them a defined voice again, which would be a positive. "We believe in this, we believe in that, this is our goal....." That could definetly be a plus. But if his red face and his views are the things we are seeing in the nightly news as the figuirehead for the democrats, I think they are going to lose even more ground.

That's what I think won't be happening. Maybe when he first takes the post, but not much after. Besides that, he's a very articulate person, it's just when he gets fired up that ol' beet face comes out.

Actually Dean was defeated by the media playing his little scream once every 5 seconds for 5 days, and then having guests on who said nothing more than "Dean is crazy! craaaaaaazy!", and the general populace who didn't know Dean wrote him off as crazy. CNN would go on to admit that maybe they showed the dean scream a bit too much.