Howard Dean: Fool or genius?
By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Elections, General Politics, Good Decisions, News, Partisan HacksIt depends who you ask.
Some disgruntled Democrats want to replace him with Harold Ford, arguing that Dean did poorly at fundraising, and that his “50 state” strategy cost them several additional seats.
Elsewhere, though, he’s being hailed as a genius. Not only did the Democrats not need his help to win, but his efforts to build a truly national grassroots operation paid dividends in several close races, as well as forcing Republicans to defend seats they might not have otherwise.
Me, I think the detractors need to get some perspective. The lackadaisical fundraising is a legitimate gripe. But Dean is right that the party needs to rebuild nationally, and not simply write off large swathes of the country as GOP strongholds. And in hindsight he was right to remain focused on that, instead of throwing all his resources into a mid-term election push that turned out not to need his help.
Dean now has a running start and two years to build a fully functional network for the 2008 presidential elections, with the fundraising and policy help of a Democratic Congress. That’s a huge thing. Dean was right; now Democrats would be smart to leave the man alone to do his job.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 10th, 2006 and is filed under Elections, General Politics, Good Decisions, News, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 11th, 2006 at 12:16 am
The lackadaisical fundraising is a legitimate gripe.
No it’s not, carvill’s stats are sus. Dean raised/spent much more than average for a midterm election (three times 2002 or something?). Carville tends to compare dean’s fundraising to periods which include a presidential election.
November 11th, 2006 at 3:55 am
The lackadaisical fundraising is a legitimate gripe.
No it’s not. This is a complete and total fabrication, and the people who originated this myth KNOW it’s a lie.
Dean raised more money for this election than his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, raised for the previous midterm election.
Critics never mention that fact. Instead they note that the RNC raised a lot more than the DNC during Dean’s tenure.
Guess what? The Repubs ALWAYS outraise the Dems. But when you looks at the DNC/RNC fundraising ratios, Dean AGAIN outperformed McAuliffe.
In short, Dean raised more cash, AND did proportionally better against the Republicans, than his predecessor. His supposed inability to raise money is a malicious fraud, propagated by people who have been trying to undermine him and ultimately kick him out of their cozy D.C. insiders’ club since the moment he arrived in town.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:33 am
Genius! Finally the Dems have somebody SMART at the helm.
November 11th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
That this question is even asked makes me want to scream. Howard Dean is the undisputed architect of the Democratic victory in the mid-term elections with his 50 state grass roots strategy. He is brilliant and as usual under appreciated here. How ironic, the British Labour Party has enlisted his services as a consultant - and so have the Canadians…
And yes, he did raise more cash than his predecessor…so that is all a heap of b.s. served by his detractors of which there are many, both among his so called colleagues and the media.
November 11th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
My letter to Carville:
Dear Mr. Carville,
As an aggressive Democratic contributor and volunteer, I disagree with your appraisal of Howard Dean’s effect on the recent mid-term election. I support his effort to take the long view and re-establish the vitality of Dem organizations in the various states. I think this election was further evidence of the validity of that strategy, even if we may have lost a few close seats because slightly less money was available to throw at them in the closing days. I think Dr. Dean’s leadership will continue to strengthen the Party at the grass-roots level, which will have a bottom-up effect of re-invigorating the state parties (as I have already seen some evidence of here in Indiana) down the line. I appreciate your passionate effort for the party over these past years and continue to support your political brainstorming, but on this one I respectfully think you are wrong.
Best regards,
Bill Westerman
Brookville, Indiana
November 11th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
I’m no fan of Dean’s but I don’t see how you get rid of a chairman who delivered such a large victory. You don’t bench the QB after he throws for 350 and 4 TDs. I’m sure they can find something else for Harold Ford, Jr. to do.
November 12th, 2006 at 8:20 am
Carville needs to shut the f*ck up AND get his head checked. Perhaps divorce his soon-to-be RNC Chair wife? Dean did what he promised to do - he gave up the inside-the-beltway big donors for the small donations from the PEOPLE. Dean RULES.