Howard Dean A Failure…
… as a boogeyman!
I
thought I would point out this post at the Daily Kos commemorating the
one-year anniversary of Howard Dean's election to chairman of the DNC.
We're
now at the rough one-year anniversary of the DNC chairmanship battle,
in which us netroots hooligans helped propel Dean to the top of the
DNC. We outmaneuvered Kerry, who wanted to install Vilsack and then
Sheehan by fiat. We outmaneuvered Reid and Pelosi, who wanted Tim
Roemer. We outmaneuvered Mark Brewer of the Association of Democratic
State Chairs, who wanted Donnie Fowler. (Here's Ryan Lizza's take on
the whole affair.)
This
was the first tangible “victory” for the netroots in its struggle for
supremacy of the Democratic Party. But I don't bring this up to gloat.
Rather, I bring it up to point out how little of the Dean Doomsday
Scenario actually played out.
More
specifically, the notion that Dean would be a boon to Republican
propaganda efforts has completely fallen flat. Remember those? Dem
insiders were quaking in their shoes, Republicans were salivating at
the chance to remind America how far-left and craaazzzyy those
Democrats were with Dean at the top….
While
the true measure of Dean's success will be the 2008 elections
(rebuilding the party takes time, regardless whether we make gains in
2006 or not), the early praise from his fiercest Democratic detractors
and the unilateral ceasefire from the Republican side proves that he's
not the Scary Liberal Boogeyman many feared he'd be.
Read the rest of the post
for a rather funny set of press releases put out by the Virginia GOP
set out to associate “now governor-elect” Tim Kaine with the
“boogeyman” Howard Dean.
(I hope I didn't ruin too many lunches with my post title….
)
Blog For Iowa 
I guess it depends on how you gauge success. The traditional way to measure success is by fundraising. According to that dean has been a failure, being outraised 2-1 by the GOP. Specifically, the Washington Post says:
“Now, the latest financial numbers are prompting new doubts. From January through September, the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $81.5 million, with $34 million remaining in the bank. The Democratic National Committee (DNC), by contrast, showed $42 million raised and $6.8 million in the bank.”
It sounds like Dems are caught in a conundrum of their own making…cash to make a noise without a soul having a worthy sound or a having soul with a worthy sound without cash to make a noise.
Is it one or the other?
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I read the article to which you are referring, Doug, saying that Dean is a failure as a fundraiser in comparison to the GOP. Well, it's always like that with the Dems – can't ever match the GOP when it comes to fundraising. In fact, if you had read on, you would have discovered that Dean, as a fundraiser, is far superior to former DLC chairs, primarily because he goes to the little guy and will not be beholden to giant corporations.
Linda
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May I throw this into the dialogue from The Hill – link to the story below.
Dean has raised more money by this point in the presidential election cycle than any other DNC chairman had.
Through the first three months of this year, the DNC raised $14.1 million, ahead of the pace Chairman Terry McAuliffe set in 2001, when he raised $23.5 million in the first six months of that year.
Dean
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Linda:
Don't you think there is a mix of money that should be involved rather than all of it from just one sector of the populace/electorate?
Doug
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All things considered, let's not forget the fact that the GOP will go as far as breaking the law in order to obtain campaign contributions, from money laundering to special favors and kickbacks.
Howard isn't about that.
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Now, now, Caroline…the GOP doesn't have a corner on the market of political hi-jinx and the Dems. don't have a corner on the market of moral purity and clarity of purpose. I think that everyone realizes that there are, unfortunately, too many scoundrels in both parties.
Doug
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I read the article posted as a new topic, then Doug changed the subject and brought up something about “guage success”. I may be dense, I guess, as I don't see the connection between Doug's comment and the point of the article, which, I took to be about the GOP's hoping to be able to marginalize Dean and the Dems. Can someone help me understand what fundraising has to do with “success”?
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Bush, I believe announced this week he wants an Iraq that is “peaceful, united, stable and secure,” according to his 35-page White House strategy document. With that in mind, let's see how well the GOP has managed our country, and just how many of those requirements for getting out of Iraq, we can declare possessed by America, today. “Success” might well be measured in the GOP's chosen leader's own words, eh?
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Actually, Tom, the original post I responded to brought up the idea of success and I simply added a question as to how we “guage (sic) success,” as you said.
My post was quite relevant and brought to the fore the question of what the DNC/Democrat idea of success is if the DNC is still behind 2-1 in fundraising. A number of people responded to my question of the idea of how to with very good posts about how to “guage (sic) success,” as you said.
They indicated that Dean has done better than others had following a comparable time on the job and at a comparable time on the calendar.
Doug
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Doug: I reread the article, once again, and I now realize my confusion lies with your comment that “The traditional way to measure success is by fundraising.”
Could you expand on that, and give me a pointer to learn more about why fundraising is considered “traditional”? way of measuring the success of rebuilding a political party?
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First, I would say that each party is constantly rebuilding. On one hand you have the GOP in the process of rebuilding because of polling numbers over the war in Iraq. The Dems are rebuilding based on the defeat handed to them during the last presidential election.
Short of any milestone elections, and we have had none since the 2004 elections, and short of conclusive polling data, we are left with fundraising as the only barometer.
By the way, the generic polling shows a lead for Dems. in most of the polls, which is not unusual. Most of them, including the most recent polls also show a lead within the MoE.
What other ways of measuring success do you have in mind?
Doug
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Doug: Excellent question. Our SOS has officially eliminated the voter's right to vote, relying on a passing of the buck, that he can only do what the HAVA and state election laws permit, i.e., only choose from among the “approved” vendors. So, how can the voters “guage success” for their party, now, or into the foreseeable future?
Suppose we had reached the point, where broadband was accessible by all communities in Iowa. Suppose, also, these communities utilized community-based wireless networks. It would then be inevitable, that the communities would engage in local (within the community) projects that were multimedia projects, as well as regional and state. It wouldn't take much effort to realize individual participation in what might be described as, “home-based town hall meetings”. Heck, I'd love to have Blog for Iowa hosting conferences on a wide range of issues, and sign in, have my computer's webcam capture my “best side”, and spout off for the record. 🙂
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