Indy Dems win 3 House seats, thank Dr. Dean for sending nose-pickers!

[IndyOp]

Remember when Paul Begala said this about Dr. Dean: "Yes, he's in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it's a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That's not how you build a party. You win elections. That's how you build a party." - Paul Begala on Howard Dean and the DNC's 50 State Strategy.

You may have missed the head of the Indiana Democratic Party's response regarding the attack on Dean's 50-State Strategy. It is an open letter so I include most of the letter:

Dear Mr. Begala:

I write to express my extreme dismay at the comments you recently made concerning Gov. Howard Dean’s leadership of the Democratic National Committee and his implementation of a national vision that includes a funding component for every state.

You clearly aren't aware of the political landscape in the Midwest and have spent too much time in Washington, D.C. You've done a great disservice to our Party and to those of us working at the grassroots level to win back Congressional seats, as well as statewide and local offices.

<snip>

We couldn't be doing the work we're doing without the support of the DNC and Howard Dean.

Indiana has always been one of those passed-over states when it comes to federal funding because we don't look useful to the 'Presidential-only' pundits. Howard Dean doesn't see it that way. He sees a country where every state-– even those oozing Republican red-– is home for at least a few good Democrats.

The 50-state funding we received from the DNC last year has allowed us to employ a full-time communications director and two field staffers who are organizing party support at the grassroots level in two of our nationally targeted congressional districts.

They're hardly walking around "picking their noses."

They're helping Democrats win.

In our primary election two weeks ago, the two Congressional candidates with DNC-funded field staff members outpolled their GOP opponents by thousands of votes. Did I mention those results came in Republican-leaning districts in which John Kerry received 38 and 40 percent of the vote in 2004?

Without the DNC employees, we only have five full-time employees at our state party. The addition of a full-time communications director has allowed the rest of our staff to focus on fundraising while she deals with the media and disseminates our statewide message. This addition also has been partly responsible for the dramatic slide of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ approval ratings.

As an aside, I also want you to know that the DNC is committed to helping Indiana fight a strict GOP-backed voter identification law that passed our General Assembly last year. After we lost at the district court level, the DNC pledged both financial and legal resources for our appeal. We never would have received that kind of assistance before.

At the heart of my frustration with your comments is the notion that we should all be in this together. We're all Democrats. And you should be building the party up, not slinging mud at someone who’s helping the cause both financially and psychologically.

I think you owe a personal apology to Howard Dean, to the state chairs across America who have benefited from his leadership and to the DNC-funded staff members who are working hard to elect Democrats at every level of government.

On a personal note, I want you to know that I've issued an edict to my staff that if they pick Their noses, scratch their derrieres or pop their pimples on work time, they have to move to Washington to work for you.

Democratically yours,

Daniel J. Parker
Chair
Indiana Democratic Party

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2006/05/paul-begala-gross-nose-picker-groovin.html

Thanks, to Dr. Dean...

:kick:

Baron Hill:

:kick:

Brad Ellsworth:

:kick:

with no thanks at all to Begala, Carville, and all of the other behind the beltway elitist scum like Rahm Emmanuel.

:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: