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Dean's new defining moment

By wire services
Published February 12, 2005

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is poised to claim the Democrats' party chairmanship today. His victory represents a personal triumph one year after his presidential campaign was in ashes and Democrats say it symbolizes the strength of the party's revitalized grass roots in the aftermath of Sen. John Kerry's loss to President Bush in November. But Dean does not come without controversy.

HOW HE DID IT: Dean has no remaining challengers. He capitalized on his prominence then outworked and outmaneuvered his opponents.

HIS PROS: Supporters say Dean will rebuild moribund state parties, raise money and keep President Bush and the GOP on the defensive. Dean's successful race for chairman highlights the new importance that party officials place on maintaining the enthusiasm of grass roots activists, whose energy and wallets Dean first tapped in his presidential campaign.

"It's a party that's transformed for the good by the 2004 election," said Democratic pollster Geoffrey Garin. "Despite the disappointment and frustration of the election outcome, the core assets that were developed in 2004 are still quite strong and vibrant. (Those activists) see Dean as the kind of person who will continue building a strong grass roots party that's better able to take on the Republicans."

HIS CONS: For a party grappling with the question of how it can become more competitive in the red states of the South, Midwest and Mountain West, some Democrats say the decision to elect as its chairman a confrontational New Englander with a liberal identity and a penchant for making controversial statements sends a message that little has been learned from the losses in 2004.

Some fear he will push the Democrats' image farther left and drive moderate voters to the Republicans. Dean's ascendance worries the party establishment, whose members tried to field an alternative. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Dean should take his lead on policy from congressional leaders.

"I think Howard Dean would be viewed as synonymous with being upper East Coast liberal, and that just makes the burden on southern Democrats that much more difficult," said state Sen. James Kyle Jr., the minority leader in the Tennessee Senate. "Hopefully he will try to be chairman of the entire party and not the chairman of a niche of the party members."

DEAN'S CHALLENGE: To make the transition from more than a decade in elective politics, in which he was often in the limelight, to chief technician of an institution in which he will be expected to get the machinery ready for the elections of 2006 and 2008.

Dean symbolizes two of the major challenges Democrats have in regrouping after Bush's victory. He represents the antiwar wing of a party debating where it should stand on national security issues, and he offers a secular vision of the world at a time when Democrats worry that they have ceded the values of faith and spirituality to Republicans.

Harold Ickes, deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, supports Dean's candidacy but said Democrats must find a way to talk differently about such issues as abortion, gay rights, gun rights and the environment.

"We're on the right side of those issues, but they have hurt us with a lot of people in too many jurisdictions," he said. "We have to learn how to talk about those without ceding our principles."

DEAN'S TAKE: Dean has said the party chairman is not the chief messenger for the Democrats, but he comes in with a determination to make good on his pledge of two years ago "to change this party." In a recent interview, he described it this way: "I think we have to be the party of reform, reforming our dreadful fiscal situation, reforming our budgetary process, reforming our electoral politics, reforming health care, reforming education, reforming our foreign policy."

But he said he sees no need for the party to change its message.

"The real message of my campaign was stand up for what you believe in and pursue the politics of conviction," Dean said. "That's frankly why George Bush was successful, because he gave the appearance that he had some deep-seated convictions. If you want to excite people in politics ... you've got to be a party of convictions."

On Wednesday, he told hundreds of mostly young supporters: "Most of you know there are a lot of people in this city who are afraid I'm going to be very unorthodox - and I am."

CLINTON'S TAKE: "All that has to happen is you have to have a clear vision, a plan for the future, good campaign tactics and fight like the devil. We need to brand ourselves better. There were too many people who didn't know why we were Democrats except that we were against President Bush's policies."

THE REPUBLICANS' TAKE: If Democrats are looking for an attack dog in their new chairman, Republicans see that as keeping Democrats in the minority. "This is akin to (the idea) that you've got to get sicker before you get better," said Matthew Dowd, chief strategist in Bush's re-election campaign. "... It's reflective of a problem they have, which is they haven't arrived with a positive, proactive vision."

HISTORICAL PARALLEL: Sixteen years ago, after a Massachusetts liberal lost the presidential race to a Republican named Bush, Democrats selected as their chairman a man with deep roots in the liberal wing of the party.

Republican strategists claimed the election of Ronald H. Brown Jr. showed Democrats did not care about the concerns of ordinary Americans and southern Democrats worried that the party was writing off their region. Four years later, under Brown's chairmanship, Bill Clinton won the presidency.

Few Democrats are ready to suggest that with Dean history is about to repeat itself, but former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry said Dean has much more to work with than Brown had to rebuild the party.

THE OUTGOING CHAIRMAN: Terry McAuliffe leaves behind a solid foundation, having updated voter lists and technology, renovated the headquarters building and, by revamping fundraising, left the DNC is a strong position financially. "Never again will money be a crutch for this party," he said. "The money problem is now solved for our party forever."

Compiled from Washington Post, New York Times and Associated Press reports.

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]