Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A party of Deaniacs

Yesterdays electoral gains brings the role of Howard Dean in leading the Democratic party for the last two years into focus as far as I'm concerned.

Think about it. Who would you rather have leading your political party if you must choose between Howard Dean and Ken Mehlman. When you see Dean speak you know he's telling it like it is. You listen to Mehlman and just want to scream in frustration. The styles could not be more dissimilar, and it favors Dean mightily.

Dean came to power two years ago just after the Democratic party had taken another electoral drubbing. Republicans held ALL the power in Washington D.C. Tom Delay was majority leader of the house and Republicans routinely shut Democrats out of debate when considering important issues.

Deans strategy was hotly contested by the Democratic elites. The 50 state strategy paid huge dividends last night, and if Dean hadn't pushed his weight around on this we wouldn't be talking about Webb winning V.A. Or Tester winning Montana. These were red seats in red states that the old Democratic establishment would have forsaken in order to prop up perceived threats to Bill Nelson and maybe challenge in certain contested states like Ohio or Missouri. We Democrats owe Dean an enormous debt of gratitude for sticking his neck out on that call. Considering that if the strategy had failed he would have been widely vilified, it is only right to recognize the victory he helped engineer.

Nicely done Mr. Dean. You have cemented your role in American political history as one of the, if not the, most effective party leaders of our times.

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