Burnt Orange Report

Ruminations: Roemer & Rosenberg Out

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

From a source in the know, "Roemer and Rosenberg are out now too. That leaves just Fowler still pecking around the barnyard. Also, I'm not sure if this has hit the press yet or not, but the DNC Hispanic Caucus voted this afternoon to endorse Dean."

Of course the DNC Hispanic Caucus has endorsed Dean before, back in 2003 for President.

Update!: After another e-mail from said source, I am willing to put my weight behind it that Roemer and Rosenberg are out of the race and it is just a matter of time before this hits the public media and confirmations pop up here in the blogosphere. This person has been ahead of the curve of every development in the past week and it was only my class schedule that didn't allow me to get things out such as the Webb endorsement and such in advance.

Will Donnie mount a last man standing challenge? Will there be a sudden surge of Mary Beth Malcolmentum? Give us a few more hours and this whole thing could be over.

I doubt Fowler will stay in with the whole Michigan debacle now hitting the mainstream press in that state as of right now. It's not a smear campaign, it's something that has been developing over time, but it could hurt his chances of party leadership under the Dean banner if he is stained by it, which is a shame because I think he and Rosenberg would make a couple of really great organizers for the DNC.

UPDATE:: First confirmations coming out. Donnie Fowler himself lets one cat out of the bag on his blog, saying that only Dean, himself, and Roemer remain in the race. And to think that he thinks he's ahead of the curve... heh, we'll see.

In the last two days, several candidates have withdrawan from the race for chair -- David Leland, Martin Frost, Simon Rosenberg, and Wellington Webb. Only three remain, including Governor Dean, Former Congressman Tim Roemer, and myself. And only I and Dean have proven that we have the message and organization to gather any substantial support. It's a two-man race.

I am still in this race for the reasons I first outlined after the November election....

Brewer said the complaints against him are really an attempt to tarnish the Michigan director of the Kerry/Edwards campaign, Donnie Fowler, in his campaign for DNC chairman.

"It's my belief that this is nothing more than a smear against Donnie Fowler, and the only reason this is being raised is because he's become a candidate for DNC chair," Brewer said. "If this was such an important issue, why did we not hear about it for over two and a half months, until Donnie becomes a serious candidate for DNC chair?"

Fowler's bid appeared to lose momentum Monday after the Association of State Democratic Chairs endorsed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who now appears to have the best chance to win the DNC chairmanship. The association's executive committee had voted the day before to recommend endorsing Fowler.

Brewer said he didn't vote with the committee or participate in Monday's vote.

Fowler declined to return phone calls Tuesday. But he issued a statement recently in which he tried to distance himself from the Michigan campaign spending dispute, saying that he and other Kerry/Edwards state directors did not manage or set up tracking processes for campaign budgets because of federal laws.

But Fowler legally could have participated in discussions about how the DNC money should be spent and would have been aware of how the DNC money was being handled in Michigan, especially since the Kerry campaign office shared quarters with the coordinated campaign.

Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at February 1, 2005 05:33 PM | TrackBack