A RECIPE FOR FAILURE
Times Argus published an Associated Press editorial today labeling Dean as doing a balancing act. I guess it can be viewed that way but I dont see it like that. Certainly he has to keep the people at the top happy and the people at the bottom and in between happy. But, we all know what happens when we try to keep everyone happy. Its a recipe for failure.
ITS NOT A BALANCING ACT
and ITS NOT AN ACT! ITS REAL!
I assume this article is published because Dean appeared at the DNC meeting over the weekend.
Dean is not performing a balancing act. He is re-building the party from the bottom up. Those at the top fear they wont get theirs.
VISUALIZE A PYRAMID
A pyramid needs to be built from the base, upward. It would be a balancing act if he tried to build the top first, without a foundation. He has the courage to do the job correctly, building the foundation first.
I have seen that foundation and it is sorely in need of repair. He is doing exactly what needs to be done.
Also, the TIMES ARGUS does not mention his message – his 6 point platform for the year. The Dems have been exorciated for not having a message and he has repeated our message over and over again: Maybe that’s too much too expect of the AP…
1) Honest Leadership and Open Government
2) Real Security
3) Jobs in America that stay in America
4) Strong Public Education System
5) Health Care System that works for everyone
6) Retirement and Pension Security
Dean doing a balancing act
April 24, 2006
By Liz Sidoti Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Howard Dean, long known for bucking the establishment, has spent much of his time as Democratic chairman trying to strengthen the party outside of Washington — and his rank and file loves him for it.
“He is truly nationalizing the Democratic Party and he’s looking to the future,” said Steve Achelpohl, head of the Nebraska state party.
Dean’s approach, however, does not sit well with some Democratic critics in the nation’s capital. They grumble, in private, that Dean perhaps is not focusing enough on fund-raising for House and Senate races in November, particularly when the party sees an opportunity to reclaim power in Congress.
“When you first elected me, I said that we would take our country back vote by vote, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood,” Dean told members of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday. “We are making progress toward our goal.”
He said the party no longer is just about building up presidential candidates.
In practice, that means part of the DNC’s attention — money and manpower — is going to state parties to try to elect Democrats to offices at all levels, from city hall to Capitol Hill and the White House in 2008.
In the speech that ended a three-day meeting, Dean drew comparisons to a late party chief, Ron Brown, who in 1989 pledged to rebuild so Democrats could win elections in every part of the country and at every level.
The current strategy, Dean said, has meant that more than 175 workers, paid for by the DNC, are scattered across all 50 states where they are organizing and reaching voters. He then listed mayoral and gubernatorial races where Democrats have won in states that lean Republican — the red states.
Dean gets high praise from state party leaders for sending resources their way in hopes of positioning Democrats to be competitive. While giving Dean some credit for that goal, some Democrats in Washington are concerned that congressional races this year may get short shrift.
“There’s a natural tension and I think we have to get beyond that,” said Iowa Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson, who also heads the state’s Democratic Party. “I don’t think it’s an either-or equation. We have to do both.”
“I think that Democrats will step up to the plate and put the money necessary” into House and Senate contests, she said.
Democrats see a chance to retake Congress this fall, encouraged by President Bush’s low approval rating and opinion polls that show public disapproval of the majority Republicans.
But fund-raising totals show that the Republican National Committee holds a huge edge over the DNC. That raises questions of whether the Democratic Party is raising enough money to supplement the efforts of the campaign committees for Senate and House candidates.
Dean congratulated Democrats for bringing in $18 million in the first three months of the year. He said it was a record for the DNC in that period in a nonpresidential election year.
Left unsaid, however, was that the DNC has $10.5 million on hand compared with almost the $43 million the RNC has available seven months before congressional elections.
Senate Democrats have $32.1 million and are maintaining a 2-to-1 advantage over their GOP Senate counterparts. House Democrats have $23 million in the bank and are slightly trailing the GOP House campaign committee.
DNC members at the New Orleans meeting defended Dean’s approach.
“He’s doing very well,” said Mitchell Ceasar, a former Florida Democratic Party chairman. “We’re winning races in red states, places where we, frankly, haven’t won anything in 30 or 40 years.”
Andrew O’Leary, executive director of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota, said that because of Dean, the DNC now is paying the salaries of four organizers now working in Minnesota.
“He’s raising the money necessary to be competitive. He’s just spending it in ways the party’s never seen before,” O’Leary said.
“Howard Dean has put his money where his mouth is,” added Jay Parmley, a former Oklahoma Democratic Party chairman who is working in Mississippi as a DNC-paid organizer. “He’s delivered on his promises to help state parties reach out to our counties and precincts.”
Dean has reason to keep state party chairmen and other DNC members happy. They are his constituency — the Democrats who will decide whether he gets to keep his job beyond his current four-year term. He was elected in 2005.