The theme of the day seems to be past, current, and future DNC chairs! :) I mean, RK interviewed former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe, and now comes word that current DNC Chair Howard Dean is stepping down early next year. Finally, one possible successor to Dean?
Tim Kaine: Thanks to Virginia's inexplicable one-term limit on its governors, Kaine will be out of office at the start of 2010 and may be looking for a new gig. Kaine was one of three finalists to be Obama's vice president and is very close personally to the president-elect. But, does he want the job?
So there you have it, DNC Chairs past, present, and possibly future.
I think there's a strong argument that the new Chairperson should absolutely replace these folks with new people, not because I think they've done a bad job (actually, I only know Joe and absolutely think the world of him), but because if we're to continue to grow our party, we need a constant and growing stream of experienced and skilled organizers. Also, I am very certain that lots and lots of folks are just as aware of how skilled he is and that he will not have the least bit of trouble finding another job in the Northern Virginia area should he so choose. Personally, I'd like to see him on a ballot sometime soon, but that's just me.
This should be done right, with proper severance (3 months seems appropriate) and health coverage as they find new jobs. The moral of the story is that these positions and the training that comes with them are too valuable as a training ground to just decide that we like the people in them and hunker down for a decade. That would be a significant lost opportunity.
"My sense is that the Obama folks are pretty insular and don't want somebody else building the party and haven't even decided what building the party means for them," explained one aide. "I bet they go with a split chair again ... McCaskill at Chair, and somebody like Steve Hildebrand [Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager] at Operational Chair."
And they also reported some interesting comments on the 50-state strategy.
Regardless of who takes over, the next chair will inherit an organization far different from the one that existed four years ago. Under Dean's tenure, the DNC implemented the hotly-debated 50-state-strategy, a program designed to rebuild the party into a continental force, one in which Democrats drained the resources of Republicans while simultaneously building up younger talent. Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others were critical, believing that the policy wasted valuable resources on impossible races and needlessly forfeited otherwise winnable seats during the 2006 congressional elections. Successes in 2008, however, have largely quieted those critiques.I certainly hope that view prevails.Indeed, four years later, it seems, Dean's vision is poised to become party orthodoxy. Dean told a Democratic operative that he is hoping to extract promises from all potential replacement candidates to preserve the 50-state-strategy. Other insiders, meanwhile, say that the next DNC chair, regardless of who it is, will build upon the model because of its tangible successes.
"The 50-state-strategy was successful in laying the groundwork for 2006 and 2008," said strategist and DNC member Donna Brazile. "Clearly, the strategy has reaped a harvest of new voters for Democrats and the next Chair will no doubt build upon this foundation for 2010 and beyond. Remember, we have some interesting statewide and mayoral elections next year before the all out organizing for redistricting."
Agree that whoever takes on the DNC Chair that he/she, they, continue building on the 50 state strategy.