Some Democrats in Republican-dominated states already look to be putting distance between themselves and incoming Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean, the Vermont firebrand.
These Democrats insist that Dean — who lost the presidential primary after many Democratic voters grew fearful that he was too far to the left to beat President Bush — won’t be a political liability, despite Republican efforts to turn him into a national whipping boy. |
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Patrick G. Ryan |
| Incoming Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean |
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Dean is almost certain to become DNC chairman when Democratic officials vote Saturday on their new leadership.
“Representative Herseth and Senator Johnson don’t have to line up behind Howard Dean on every issue,” Jason Schulte, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said yesterday, referring to the state’s sole House member, Stephanie Herseth, and its senior senator, Tim Johnson.
Acknowledging that Dean is not popular in the agrarian state — which overwhelmingly backed Bush and tossed Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D) in November — Schulte said that Dean had been “tagged with the liberal connotation. I know that folks here equate liberal with negative.”
A Democratic source in Washington observed that “a lot of red-state Democrats turn to their state party chairmen to pump the message or defend the issues. We wouldn’t turn to the national party chairman for these things anyway.”
The source added that Dean’s support for gun rights might help defuse that issue in conservative bastions. But his position could also put him at odds with the majority of Democrats who strongly back curbing Second Amendment rights.
In the coming election cycle, Democrats such as Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.) and many representatives scattered across the country will see whether Dean turns out to be the liability Republicans promise he will be.
Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, offered insight into how the GOP plans to make use of Dean.
“You have Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy and now Howard Dean coming to the forefront as spokespeople for their party,” Nick said, referring to two of the most liberal Democratic senators. “You can’t get much more far left than that.”
Carl Forti, Nick’s counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee, added: “I can think of nothing better for the long-term prosperity of the Republican Party than to have the Deaniacs come to Washington.”
Unlike Dean, Terry McAuliffe, DNC chairman since February 2001, has enjoyed a reputation as a business-minded centrist, in large part because he was installed by outgoing President Clinton.
Dean’s post-election popularity may stem from the fact that, under McAuliffe’s leadership, the Democrats have lost a presidential election and more ground in Congress, despite deep-seated antipathy among many Democrats toward President Bush and a yearlong barrage of bad news for the president leading up to the election.
Also, as Democrats were quick to point out, Dean managed to inject idealism into the party, bringing together hundreds of thousands of computer-savvy students, disenfranchised liberals, antiwar activists, environmentalists and others who felt that the party under Clinton had strayed from its principles.
In recent weeks, Dean has outmaneuvered more conservative rivals, including South Carolinian Don Fowler, a former DNC chairman, and recently defeated Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas). (Frost’s defeat in the DNC race was reminiscent of his 2002 loss to the more liberal Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the contest for House minority leader.)
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said the new DNC chairman would have the support of the entire Democratic caucus. But many Democrats repeatedly stressed that Dean would play, at best, a marginal role in the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, at least one Democrat, Chris Gates, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, argued that Dean did not lose the presidential primary because he was regarded as too liberal but simply could not compete with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the eventual nominee.
This line of reasoning appeared to contrast with mainstream Democratic thinking during the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, when millions of Democratic voters turned their backs on Dean for fear that an antiwar candidate who sat out the Vietnam War and supported civil unions in his home state wouldn’t fare well against Bush.
Dean, Gates said simply, “is the right person at the right time” for the DNC chairmanship.
“I think Howard Dean is going to really shake things up,” Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox said. “He brings energy, enthusiasm and new faces to the party, which are all positive things.”
But some Democrats are worried that all this shaking up will do little but further alienate the bulk of voters from the Democratic leadership. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” a few weeks after the November election, former presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) said he could not endorse the former Vermont governor.
“I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t say that when I ran for president I said quite clearly that I thought to win the election in ’04 we had to have a candidate who would match the president where he is clearly strong — on security and values,” Lieberman said. “Democrats became, to many voters in the country, the antiwar party and, of course, the culturally, morally permissive party. And that’s not where a majority of the American people are, and that’s why they voted the way they did in this election.”
Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Herseth, both regarded as prime GOP targets in the 2006 cycle, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
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