Burnt Orange Report

Classy.

I never supported Frost, but it's good that he recognizes that his position was impossible. He doesn't outright endorse Dean, but the message to me is clear: if Dean is going to win, he has to win with overwhelming support of the party.

I think this leaves an opening now for David Leeland. Dare I say... Lee-mentum???

What about Tim Roemer? Who's got some Timentum?

Well, Karl, guess it's time to pop open some champagne. :)

The Die may have been cast, but it's the votes that matter. With Frost and Leeland out today, Webb out yesterday, I'll wait to hear from the other campaigns or something from DFA that says, here are the 224 votes I need, Game over.

karl, leland dropped this morning. it's down to roemer, dean, fowler, and rosenberg.

and i'm sure that someone from martin's staff will pop by BOR, so i'll just echo what i wrote in response to this statement on mydd:

thank you, martin frost

i'd just like to say for the record - one more time - that even though i did not support martin frost for chairman, i think he has served the people of texas quite well during his tenure in congress. i do still believe, however, that his way is the way of status quo and that was the root of my opposition to him as chair.

regardless, i thank him for his contributions to the party and hope he will continue to fight for democratic ideals. i truly hope he'll consider running for senator in texas, or that he'll head up a 527 and continue to raise money for the democratic party. whatever he does, moderates like him should be welcomed to the new party with open arms. thank you for the gracious statement, mr. frost.

I would say that Frost seems to indicate that Dean has all but wrapped up the DNC chair. At least that is the way that I read that first paragraph. I would say based on what I am hearing at the national level that the person running closest is Fowler. I know that quiet a few people that were backing Frost actually were thinking of Dean as their next choice. It will be interesting to see, what happens next.

I think that Donna Brazile's advice to Howard Dean is apt. Many Democrats, average voters and not Bloggers or Liberal operatives, are going to be disenchanted with the apparent victory of Dean as candidate for DNC chairman. A recent poll showed that Dean's unfavorables were very high among Democrats, not to mention non-Democrats. I have voted for every Democratic Presidential candidate since 1976. I have given considerable money to the DNC, the DSCC, DCCC, ACT, MoveOn.Org, and many, many Democratic Senatorial and Congressional candidates. If Howard Dean does end up as DNC chairman, I will cease my contributions to the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, ACT, and MoveOn.Org until and unless Dr. Dean changes my impressions of him. I will now restrict my contributions to individual candidates and my own state Democratic Party here in Virginia.

The apparent victory of Howard Dean is irrational. Dean has not displayed any of the requisite attributes of a good DNC chairman. When he stepped down as governor in Vermont, he was not able to convince voters to return a Democrat to the governorship. Dean raised unbelievable amounts of money on the INTERNET as a Presidential candidate, but won only one primary, Vermont. Indeed, he burned through money at record rates in a disastrously failed campaign. His campaign did not just fail. It imploded. Dean's efforts to elect Democratic candidates last autumn was largely a failure, with most of his candidates losing. Dean adopted the motto of the late ultraLiberal Minnesota Senator, Paul Wellstone, calling himself "a representative of the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party." While Dean calls himself a centrist, he has an extremely Liberal following. With the exception of 2nd Amendment issues, Howard Dean is a cultural Liberal, passing all of the litmus tests of the various Liberal special interest groups. Dean has a reputation for being weak on national security, and not just because of his opposition to the Iraq invasion, with which I and many pro-Defense Democrats agreed. A Dean chairmanship is hardly going to help down here in the South, and in the rest of Red and Purple America. It is also not going to help win over swing voters who distrust the ability of the post-Vietnam Liberals, from McGovern to Kerry, to lead on defense and foreign policy.

I am hardly a Conservative, not even a Conservative Democrat. I am

-- pro-Labor
-- pro-Civil Rights
-- pro-Civil Liberties
-- a believer in the legacies of the New Deal, Fair Deal, New Frontier and the Great Society
-- in favor of open government and an opponent of the rampant corruption in the Bush Administration, which seems to want to return us to the Gilded Age
-- pro-Social Security
-- pro-Medicare and in favor of the extension of health insurance to the uninsured
-- pro-Environment
-- pro-Choice
-- pro-Human Rights
-- an opponent of the Iraq invasion, albeit pro-Defense and in favor of pro-democratic internationalism
-- and a reluctant Kerry supporter

If Howard Dean cannot appeal to a traditional Democrat like me, then both he and the DNC are going to have problems, big problems. Pop your champagne corks if you must. However, I am not sure that Dean's ascendancy and apparent triumph will be cause for celebration. I may hold George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in contempt, but am no fan of Howard Dean.

Well considering you are too chicken to leave an e-mail address, I can't help but to wonder if that post would count as troll worthy, because it's that same as typical Republican talking points. Stop letting them define our party or candidates.

Remember, the American public isn't voting for Party chairman, and the chair isn't on anyone ballot. So it has nothing to do with, oh the poor south. The problem there is organization, support, and commitment not the name of the person running the DNC. With the Reform movement coming out on top in all this, you will likely see more help coming down from DC to your Southern and other often ignored states. That's where the affect will be.

Oh please, troll, go home. For every dollar you withhold, three dollars will pour in from elated Dean supporters and Democrats thrilled that the party "elite" finally get it.

Also, are you still trying to claim the moral high ground because you were pro-war? That was laughable even before we anti-war types were proven 100% right in our fears that the Bush administration was lying about WMD and all its other various changing rationales for war and would screw up the occupation, making the US far more unsafe than if Saddam had simply been contained.

One highly flawed election that changes nothing on the ground and has cost $200 billion and 1,400 soldiers' lives, along with thousands of Iraqi lives, is not worth it.

I congratulate Dean for apparent victory for DNC chair. I just hope he realizes that himself and the Deaniacs weren't the only good Democrats in 2004. There were other organizations K/E 04, ACT, MoveOn, Bye Bye Bush in Ohio, and Labor that worked hard in 2004. We want to win from the city halls to the white house. I look forward to sharing ideas with the new DNC. I think Frost did as well as he could, and I know he won't go away. If you want to run for Dallas County Judge in 2006 Martin, we'll clear the field for you.

Dean has won support because he is promising results. He will need to deliver on those results. Running a 50 state campaign will be a good start.

As for Frost, I am kind of glad to see him lose, because I would much rather see him on the ballot here in Texas next year for Lt. Governor.

Jeb

Karl T. -- Perhaps I am a chicken, but I did not hide behind name calling. I put forward my arguments. In contrast, you have never explained why former Governor Howard Dean, an abject falure as a candidate, would be able to rebuild the Democratic Party, except to the extent that you echo Dean's own platitudes about reform. Think for yourself! You keep justifying your support of Dean by reminding us that Senator Kerry lost, but Kerry did devastatingly defeat Dean and the Deaniacs in the primaries. By the way, I have noticed that you seem to accuse anybody with whom you disagree of being a Republican and also accuse them of parroting Republican talking points. You did this to Andrew D., Bryan LaMasters and me. I guess anybody who disagrees with you and your positions is by definition the "hated enemy." This sort of attitude is certainly going to help in coalition building. I put down my E-MAIL address this time, so you may send me hate mail if you like.

Chicago Jason -- I never said I supported the Iraq invasion. I said that I opposed it. I believe the invasion was a strategic blunder, but that does not stop me from being pro-Defense. There is a difference. You should read more carefully, although you got a lot of mileage out of your misreading of what I wrote. As far as my importance as a voter and contributor is concerned, I have very little importance as an individual. However, the fact that Dean has such poor favorability ratings even among Democrats hardly bodes well. Moreover, it will take more than the Deaniacs, Kossacks, and Bloggers to raise the money for a winning Democratic Presidential candidate. Dean proved that by burning through tens of millions of INTERNET dollars that he spent to no avail as his primary campaign failed and his DFA-supported candidates went down in flames. Furthermore, you are not going to win elections by turning off traditional Democratic and swing voters alike, which is what Dean did in 2004.