Howard Dean Launches Campaign To Flip State Legislatures

[DFW]

42. You are pretty much wrong, but it wasn't all Obama's doing

Howard is a personal friend, so I have this from the man himself. Howard explained that when a party is in opposition without a clear presidential candidate frontrunner (rare right after a lost election), its party chairman is THE head of the party, charged with getting the party back into power. In 2004, Howard ran for DNC chairman, and was not a lock to be elected. But he was, and worked tirelessly (and well!!). His 50 state strategy may seem obvious now, but at the time, it was considered risky, especially given the Democratic Party's limited financial resources. Rahm Emmanuel had screaming sessions with Howard telling him the party had to concentrate its efforts on those areas that were lock wins. Howard said that what we lacked in money, we made up for in people, and told Rahm he was going ahead with the 50 state strategy no matter what. Howard was right (Rahm never forgave him for it, either), and 2006 was a minor miracle while 2008 was a major triumph.

But then---what? When a party has its own man in the Oval Office, their President is the head of the party, not the National Committee Chair. Howard would have stayed on if asked, but only reluctantly, as he would no longer have had free rein to do whatever he wanted (notice how Priebus is in the news far more than DWS?). So he stepped down. Sure, he expected to be asked to join the Obama government. But he wasn't, and he took it like a man. I asked him straight out what he would do in 2009 if Rahm shut him out. He said he would lend his name to some law firm for their prestige and for some steady income for himself, and then (his exact words here) "spend the rest of the time raising hell for causes I care about."

For now, this is what he cares about. So do I, and I intend to back him to the extent I can from this far away.