(Howard) Dean Prepares To Step Down As DNC Chair

[sabra]

Source: Huffington Post

After four years at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean is preparing to relinquish his chairmanship.

Dean, who has been serving in the post since 2005, has said in the past that he would serve only one term, though his successful work with the Obama campaign had led some Democrats to wonder whether he would stay on into the next administration. This won't be the case, officials at the DNC confirm. He will serve as chair until his term ends in January. The party will settle on a new head when it hosts a meeting during the week of Obama's inauguration.

In sheer political terms, the choice really wasn't Dean's to make. Indeed, any decision on who will serve as the next DNC chair will come with directives from Obama and his aides. And a name being floated around as a possible Dean replacement is one of the president-elect's closest allies: Claire McCaskill, the junior Senator from Missouri and a national co-chair of the Obama campaign.

"My sense is that the Obama folks are pretty insular and don't want somebody else building the party and haven't even decided what building the party means for them," explained one aide. "I bet they go with a split chair again ... McCaskill at Chair, and somebody like Steve Hildebrand at Operational Chair."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/dean-prepares-...

[Parche]

1. With Claire at Chair

I hope she would not relinquish her Senate seat?

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. maybe with the split chairmanship she won't have to...

and let Hildebrand do the day to day running of the DNC

[PBS Poll-435]

7. She doesn't have to.

That is why they have the "split-chair" system. The Opperational Chair does the day-to-day stuff. The Chair position is largely symbolic.

Look at the RNC. Senator Mel Martinez held both a Senate seat and the RNC Chair.

[eissa]

3. WHY?!

I am honestly disappointed. I think Dean has been great as DNC Chair. It was Dean that initiated the 50-state strategy. He's been a great leader. And as much as I like McCaskill, I would hate to take such a strong ally out of the senate, especially one from Missouri.

[judasdisney]

20. Removing McCaskill makes zero sense, I agree -- and is Dean "leaving" or being ousted?

I'm packing my bags and putting on my travelling shoes. Adios, United States. I was under no illusions about Obama, but I can see there's not even any pretense of progressivism ahead.

[Alexander]

34. Good luck with that.

Obama will pass more progressive legislation than any Democrat since LBJ.

A pity you can't see the forest for the trees. But let me know how your new home is in four years.

BTW, Dean is "leaving". He promised one term, and stuck to that promise.

But don't let the facts confuse you.

[Pastiche423]

23. Rahm Emanuel

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. McCaskill will remain in the Senate

She will raise money and give speeches, but will not be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the DNC.

[glinda]

4. Hope Dean heads up healthcare

because husband and I met with my aging mother, father and brother yesterday and three out of five of us needed heath care help for surgeries and dental that we can no longer afford.

[Phred42]

6. Probably be Hillary

[Bette Noir]

16. I'd like Hillary in Reid's position.

Whatever anyone can say about Hillary, it's not that she lacks spine.

[Phred42]

39. agree - even my dog in Reids position would b an improvement

[Phred42]

5. Howard made all of this Possible!

It's a damn shame

[Turn CO Blue]

8. David Plouffe for Chair of DNC

Benefits:
~We get to keep the 50-State strategy because Plouffe is a true-believer in it -- and we get to have it improved dramatically all over again with Plouffe's understanding of building better technology and databases.

~We get to keep Claire in the Senate





I'm glad Howie is going because he said he only wanted one term and he is obviously about to move on to better things (for him).

Dr. Dean for HHS or Health Care Czar! Yeeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrr! (Dean Scream!)

[9119495]

14. Yes on Plouffe...I had not thought of him as a choice

Must keep the 50 state strategy alive.

[Turn CO Blue]

18. Plouffe is not going to the WH (his preference apparently)

He'd rather organize and run campaigns. I say, he should take over where Dean left off with DNC. We need to beat the RNC to death for generations to come.

[KellyW]

9. at a minimum

ambassador to Canada

[Debi]

10. Thank you Howard Dean!

What a great job!

I think Paul Tewes would be a great Chair or Co-Chair w/McCaskill (look what he did for Obama in Iowa?!)

[Backwoodsrider]

11. position in Obama's cabinet?

Well I can dream cant I!

[meow2u3]

28. Dean as Surgeon General, maybe?

Possibility.

[MiaCulpa]

35. that's what I'm hoping!

Surgeon General Howard Dean, MD! Of course, Secretary of State would be good, too. I just don't want to see him not involved with this new administration in some form.

[cali]

37. gad. I wish folks would better inform themselves. Dean doesn't have the background

for Surgeon General, and he wouldn't be particularly interested in it. He DOES have the background- obviously- to be Sec of HHS. He's implemented innovative health care programs on the state level. He's very well acquainted with federal health programs, he dramatically expanded health care in VT through those programs and through state funded programs. He's managed large budgets and organizations- the state of VT and the DNC. And he has a background as a family care physician.

[Zorra]

40. He's obviously an extremely innovative, talented. and successful administrator.

Which cabinet post would be best for him?

Or maybe he could run the EPA?

[fla nocount]

12. Howard Dean ....2012

He would have all the support and time I could give him. Howard has an axe to grind and I'll help supply the stone and the labor to spin it. There's not a damn thing liberal, progressive, populist or proactive about the incoming administration as evidenced by the selection of "No base" Rahm. There is a base and it's been suckered. Why do you think Dean screamed, the sudden realization that he'd been made a stooge?

I think that the good Doctor has a plan, at least I hope he does and I would like to help bring it's fruition. Dean is not the one trick pony we've learned to accept and vote for.

[Bette Noir]

17. You've turned on Obama, before he's even been inaugurated?

Give him a chance!

No one on this board ever said he was the Most Liberal Senator in History, only the most liberal one who could win. I, for one, have great hopes for the Obama administration.

[fla nocount]

26. FISA and the...

Bungling-Banker's Buffoonery Bill are not going away and as these measures and others like them exact their inevitable results the corporate whore's responsible will find a circle drawn on their backs that not even "dead-eye Dick" will mistake for a game-bird.

The mid-terms in 2010 should be a cake-walk for the progressive movement. The clean up in 2012, I hope and feel, will be the rebirth of the country.

Obama has been "Carter-ized", economy in the dumps, military involvement on multiple fronts, gold and oil yo-yo's, international disgust in the way our leadership handles the trust given us by the global community, he doesn't stand a snowball's chance. While he might arguably blame this on the situation that he inherited, the FISA thingy and the Bungling-Banker's Buffoonery Bill still won't have gone away. He will be seen, and rightfully so, as causative and complicit in the country's ills.

While the urbane, glib and facile Daley-Democrat called Obama expresses his confidence over the bull he's drawn, let's see what happens when he comes out of the chute. Let's see if he adds military involvement in Iran due the interference of a foreign nation in this nations policies to the burdens his administration already faces.

I've done what little I can to influence, now I, like the rest of the world, will wait and see while preparing for and anticipating what must be done next.

[LTR]

22. It's not a Democratic Party without the circular firing squad

[Pastiche423]

29. I love the sound of Howard Dean ....2012!

[ozone_man]

30. It does sound nice.

Give Obama his chance of course.

But if he can't create change in four years, then it's up for grabs to those who can.

Seriously, The next four years are going to be like no other since the Great Depression. It's going to take some real courage to make the changes necessary.

[9119495]

13. I'm going to say "I told you so." Welcome to Health and Human

Services Secretary Dean. Good to have you in the cabinent.

[mwooldri]

15. Well Dr. Dean is a man of principles if he said only one term...

... then I can understand.

But if he wanted to continue to be chair then I think we should let him. I hope that he is considered for a position in the new administration.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. Obama is a centrist Dem. Dean is too liberal for him. Watch for the Dems to pull to the right.

I hate to say I told you so, but a lot of liberals at places like the Huffington Post who just assumed (you know what that say about assume) that because Obama was Black that he was the most liberal candidate in the field are in for a rude awakening.

A centrist Dem is still better than any Republican in my book, but anyone who ever voted for him over Edwards, Clinton, Kucinich, Gravel, Dodd thinking that he was more liberal was an idiot.

[NashVegas]

31. I've Always Felt Dean Was Centrist

But just generally more principled and common sense than the DC tribe.

Here's text from AP:

State party chairs were generally thrilled with Dean's approach, while some Democratic leaders in Washington complained early on that the party's money would be better spent helping candidates who had a real chance of winning.

The disagreement broke into open warfare in 2006, when Dean clashed over money and strategy with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who ran the party's successful effort to win back control of Congress. Last week, Emanuel accepted the job of White House chief of staff in an Obama administration.

Some of Dean's most vocal detractors were former advisers to President Clinton. They include strategist James Carville, who once called Dean's leadership at the DNC "almost Rumsfeldian in its incompetence."

During Dean's tenure, Democrats regained control of Congress in 2006, and captured the presidency in 2008 while increasing their numbers in the House and Senate.

[cali]

38. Wrong. People still know so little about Dean.... and Obama

Obama has a MORE liberal history than Dean. I love Howard, but he's truly a centrist. Nothing wrong with that.

And anyone who supported Edwards thinking that self serving Mr. Hedge Fund is a liberal is a complete moran. Edwards history is a hundred fold more conservative than either Obama's or Dean's. And Hill's history is certainly NOT more liberal than Obama's.

I suspect those insisting that Obama is really a center right guy, are in for a surprise. For most of you, it won't be a pleasant one, because you folks value being right above anything else.

[clear eye]

42. Nice going, smearing all progressive who are finding

Obama's choices and actions so far, depressingly anti-progressive. I guess you must know us all personally since you can unequivocally state we "value being right above anything else". I wonder how many DUers have just added you to their "ignore" list.

[DogPoundPup]

21. Dean to Step Down as DNC Chair

Source: WaPo

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who rose to national prominence during a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, clearing the way for a loyalist of President-elect Barack Obama to be named to the soon to be vacant post.

The news of Dean's departure after a single four-year term in office was first reported by the Huffington Post's Sam Stein and confirmed by a Democratic Party source.

"At this point he has said that he doesn't intend to run again," said a DNC source granted anonymity in order to speak candidly. "He has said so publicly for a while. He has not said what he will do next."

Dean's tenure at the DNC has been marked by a sharp disconnect between the grassroots of the party and political operatives.

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/10/d...

[Cha]

24. Thank you, Dr Dean!

We couldn't have done it without your pioneering the 50 state strategy.

[JI7]

36. thank you Dr. Dean

hopefully you will get the HHS position in the administration.

[Doctor_J]

27. His greatest accomplishment as a doctor - brought the party back from dead

[quiet.american]

32. Well said! nt

[unkachuck]

33. not good, I smell rahmbone.....

....the stench of DLC is in the air....betrayed, less than a week after the election....

....waiting to hear what the Good Doctor has to say....I too will support the Good Doctors' future efforts....

[Jacobin]

41. Job Well Done