Through Howard Dean’s ‘fifty state strategy’ it was ‘mission accomplished’

Through Howard Dean’s ‘fifty state strategy’ it was ‘mission accomplished’
By Mary MacElveen
November 11, 2006

It has been reported that James Carville would like to replace Howard Dean with Harold Ford Jr. to head the Democratic National Committee, in which he said "Suppose Harold Ford became chairman of the DNC? How much more money do you think we could raise? Just think of the difference it could make in one day. Now probably Harold Ford wants to stay in Tennessee. I just appointed myself his campaign manager."

First of all, this is not the time to go dissecting the Democratic Party after we won back the House and the Senate for the first time since 1994. That only goes to show to the opposition a false weakness and in this past election we only showed strength. This is where Democrats in the past have shown the underbelly of their organization in the past and were vulnerable. As America looks to us for leadership, showing ones underbelly undermines the DNC. On election night, we showed great strength to the American people and with that said, Carville should pay attention to this age old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

At this point, when all thought that the Democrats would implode upon themselves, it is the GOP that is experiencing this when many within the GOP are angry with Bush at not dismissing Rumsfeld prior to Election Day. Many feel that had he done so before Election Day it would have removed the Iraq War as the predominant issue that handed the Democrats a victory.

Personally, I am enjoying the battles going on within the Republican Party which brought about Ken Mehlman to step down as the GOP party chair. It feels great to be on the winning side. More importantly those that have been left behind by the GOP won a huge victory in this past election.

Pay close attention to Wikipedia.com reports, “The chairman of the DNC (currently Howard Dean) is elected by vote of members of the Democratic National Committee. Dean ran against numerous candidates to win his position in early 2005. Rather than focusing just on close "swing states," Dean proposed the "50 State Strategy". His goal is for the Democratic Party to be committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, with Democrats organized in every single voting precinct in the country”

In Ohio which was the state that handed Democrats defeat in 2004, it was great to see a Democrat elected governor. It was great to see a Democrat go on to win the senate seat as well.

This is what the NY Times reported of Democratic wins at the state level, “That shifted the advantage in governors to Democrats for the first time since 1994. The Democrats now control 28 governors’ seats to the Republicans’ 22. Before Election Day, those numbers were reversed.” They also wrote “About 67 Democratic seats were added in the West.” In past years, the west was all but closed to Democrats, that is no longer the case thanks to the fifty state strategy, the Democrats were heard and the voters responded.

A Democratic activist rightly pointed out, “Perhaps he’s (Carville) not aware that under Dean in this midterm election the DNC has raised record cash --- all hard dollars — including three times as much from major donors, eight times as much online and made a $30 million investment in the ’06 cycle, three times as much as the DNC put into the last midterm. Not to mention we made an $8m overhaul of our voter file which was successfully used in 47 states and through the 50 state strategy invested in states like Pennsylvania, Kansas, Indiana and Montana where we had critical victories on Tuesday"

Joe Conason of the New York Observer wrote a column in support of Howard Dean in which he said “In some places this meant taking the chains off locked, dusty offices that had seen no real activity in years; in others, it meant bailing the state party out of literal bankruptcy and convening meetings in counties where party activists had given up.” Through Dean’s stewardship of the DNC, these loyal party activists now have hope.

Conason also wrote “Suddenly the Republicans had to deal with ground opposition where traditionally they had faced no field operation at all — not only in Indiana but in deep-red Idaho, Wyoming, Kentucky and Nebraska, too.” Would Carville have us go back to the way things used to be instead of exploring territories once closed to our candidates?

Conason also pointed out “What Dean and his organizers created, however, was an environment that allowed insurgents and outliers as well as the party’s chosen challengers to ride the national wave of revulsion against conservative rule.” This overwhelmed the Republicans in their ability to respond.

We were all waiting for Karl Rove’s October surprise as well as November surprise and there was nothing for him to surprise us with when our message was clear to the voters. I would have loved to have seen Rove’s face when it was first announced on election night that we took back the house. Mr. Swift-boater had nothing to respond to. For once he was speechless and with that the American people won.

I now wish to get back to Dean’s unsuccessful bid as our presidential candidate back in 2004 when it was his message that was being heard in the Deep South. As other candidates were talking around the issues, it was Howard Dean who brought up real bread and butter issues that affect all Americans and it was his voice that was being listened to.

Mike Hersh wrote of Dean “Dean hopes to re-unite middle class and working families against the greedy elites into a new New Deal Coalition. History shows that real progress is not possible without such an alliance among people of good will from all regions and races. This unity would mark the end of Rove’s Republican dreams of domination and a new beginning of a Democratic American dream — a fresh renaissance of the New Deal and the Great Society.” Dean was connecting to those disenfranchised voters in his bid to become the Democratic candidate back in 2004. When folks were afraid of Karl Rove, it was Dean that was willing to go up against him.

Hersh then went onto write “Dean is even reaching out to Bush’s base. His clumsy phrasing aside, Dean is making a strong appeal to poor and working class white males. If Bush has to defend his base, Bush will lose.” This was uncharted territory as most candidates chose to stay in within the comfort zone known as blue states.

In this past Buzzflash.com article written by me I attacked Al From who heads the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) in which From stated of Dean “"Why is Howard Dean running away from Bill Clinton?" adding, "That’s no way to build on the progress of the most successful Democratic president of our time." If anything it was Dean who embraced the fiscal message of Bill Clinton.

As many states faced bankruptcy, when Dean was governor of Vermont, he put aside funds for a rainy day and it was Vermont that ran on a budget surplus. When Bush entered office the surplus left to all of us was turned into a deficit.

During Dean’s campaign for president, he saw the Internet as a powerful tool in which to raise money for his campaign and many responded. Now everyone is doing it including the GOP. He excited the base of the Democratic Party and that should not be forgotten by James Carville.

On a personal note, to this day, I have a Dean sign hanging on my office wall and often look at it and think of what could have been.

During these past six years when many felt that this country no longer belonged to them, it was Dean’s message during his presidential bid that reminded us all when he said “Take back our country” In this past midterm election, the people did respond to that message. As a result, Americans and not only progressives feel that once again their voices will be heard in Washington, D.C. One only has to look at Senator-elect Jon Tester to realize that anyone can go onto become an integral part of this republic. He will be looked up to by every child within this country who dares to dream that they too can go on to greater things in life.

I will close this column with something that Howard Dean said in his book “Winning Back Democracy” in which he said "Today we face three challenges. Our task is to bring people back into the political process and give them a democracy they can believe in once more, to rebuild the fractured American community, and to restore America’s role as an idealistic moral force in the world."

I would say through our victory with men like Howard Dean leading the Democratic Party, it was indeed mission accomplished.

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