DEATH OF 50-STATE STRATEGY? This note from the Progressive Populist:
[Since] Howard Dean is expected to be replaced as Democratic national chairman, [this clears] the way for President-elect Barack Obama to name the new party chairman. Also out the door, apparently, is the 50-State Strategy, as the 200 organizers who had been deployed nationwide to organize state parties are being laid off at the end of November. The new DNC chair will decide whether to continue the 50-state policy, but Chris Bowers of OpenLeft.com noted that firing the organizers “effectively kills the program, no matter the messaging and commitment of the remaining staffers.”
Well, it figures. It's no different from when Gov. Dean set up a health care system for the people of Vermont only to have it largely dismantled by the governor who followed.
It's like, as soon as Dean leaves a place, a black hole closes around where he used to be and the whole thing implodes, sucked back into nothingness.
I wonder how all the new registered Democrats will feel going back to being ignored.
Dean Party Disaster: Fighting Howards! by Linda Thieman
There is no weirdness too weird for the genuine Deaniac. I should know. I’m one of them.
Recently, after the big electoral college Obama-electing election, Dr. Alta Price of Democracy for the Quad Cities gave a Howard Dean party at her home. (There is simply never a wrong time to have a Howard Dean party, according to Iowa’s de facto head Deaniac.)
The more sober Deaniacs (if there is such a thing) sat and gazed in rapture at that moment in history that defined Howard Dean as unafraid to speak out, representing the “Democratic wing of the Democratic party” – a slogan borrowed from the late, beloved U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone.
Amazingly, a large number of these rabid Dean supporters had never actually SEEN the beloved gov deliver his famous “What I Want to Know” speech from 2003. So, Alta obliged them by showing her video tape of the event. (Does this thing still work?)
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, there was a choreographed fight going on between Howard Dean and, well, Howard Dean. Connie Wilson, press-credentials seeker extraordinaire, had brought her Dean doll along, and her Dean doll had tangled with Alta’s Dean doll. Heads landed on cake plates and forks were thrown. (These Dean dolls were a prototype made up by, of course, a Deaniac several years ago. All their parts move—wrists, elbows, arms, etc. I wondered aloud if you could take off its suit jacket and roll up its sleeves! Alta was unable to provide me with that information.)
So, long story even longer, some of the Deaniacs relegated to the kitchen started posing the two Howards and taking pictures. It was an epic battle for the soul of the doll-faced Howard Dean (I’ll let you guess what I mean by that.) There was even an appearance put in by Flat Howard, and if you don’t know what that is, what are you doing reading a Dean blog, pray tell? (Not that you aren’t perfectly welcome, mind you.)
Connie's daughter, Stacey Wilson, has transferred the photos of the altercation to video, which is now being hosted at You Tube. The tag line is hysterically funny. Enjoy.
Happy Birthday, Howard! (Give here) Today is a national holiday in Deanland--the 60th birthday of our beloved gov, Howard Dean. You don't look a day over 59, Howard!
As snark-master Bill in Portland Maine over at Daily Kos points out, the DNC took out massive loans to meet the objectives of Howard Dean's visionary 50-state strategy. Now that we've won, it's time to pay up.
So, all of those in favor of making a little contribution in honor of the birth of Howard Dean, click here.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean Will Not Seek Second Term According to the AP, Howard Dean will honor his committment to a one-term chairmanship of the DNC.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean plans to step down from his post when his term expires in January, wrapping up a tenure in which the party heavily invested in all 50 states for a payoff that helped elect Barack Obama president.
Dean, who was briefly his party's presidential front-runner in 2004, was elected DNC chairman in 2005 and has long vowed to serve only one, four-year term. At a postelection news conference in Washington last week, Dean indicated again that he didn't plan to stay on, aides said on Monday....
Dean was the architect of a "50-State Strategy," investing money and staff in every state — including those where Democrats had long fared poorly — to build party infrastructure and lay the groundwork for electoral gains. The Obama campaign, working with DNC organizers in all 50 states, won several states that had not elected a Democratic president in decades, including Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana.
State party chairs were generally thrilled with Dean's approach, while some Democratic leaders in Washington complained early on that the party's money would be better spent helping candidates who had a real chance of winning.
The disagreement broke into open warfare in 2006, when Dean clashed over money and strategy with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who ran the party's successful effort to win back control of Congress. Last week, Emanuel accepted the job of White House chief of staff in an Obama administration. Yeah, I heard Emanuel absolutely hates Howard Dean. National progressives are not too thrilled with Obama's choice for Chief of Staff, if you hadn't heard.
To cheer yourself up, go over to Salon and read this great article by Mike Madden:
As Dean leaves the helm of the Democratic National Committee, one thing is clear: He got it right with his controversial 50-state strategy.
A true man of vision, he is. This is actually the first Dean article I've seen that makes any mention of a potential Cabinet position. Health would be appropriate, not necessarily because of his background as a physician but because of the brilliant way he instituted health care for the people of Vermont when he served as governor. There's a lot of experience there I'd hate to see go to waste just because the guy who's got Obama's ear hates Dean.
Or check out this Salon article called "Howard Dean, vindicated" by Joe Conason.
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
This note from the Progressive Populist:
There is no weirdness too weird for the genuine Deaniac. I should know. I’m one of them.
Today is a national holiday in Deanland--the 60th birthday of our beloved gov, Howard Dean. You don't look a day over 59, Howard!
