Tooting Some Serious Horn
14 November 2006 9:54 am by Taylor Marsh
An article on Hotline deserves some space.
As the result of Dean's own 50 state funding initiatives, when states like
Indiana and Wyoming and Nebraska suddenly featured competitive races, the
DNC had trained field staffers on the ground. But even Dean’s admirers
admit that there’s no concrete way to know whether the 50 State Project
gave these races a bigger boost than the DSCC and DCCC efforts.But give Dean credit for setting the tone and style of Democratic politics.
Successful, Democratic politics, that is, in an environment that Dean first
detected three years ago.
The reason it deserves space is because no one doubted Dean more than me. Not
his sincerity, but whether he could run the DNC with any effectiveness at all.
But slowly, week after week, amid my own continuing
harsh criticisms, which have been ongoing,
Dean built a Democratic farm house all across this country. He deserves an enormous
amount of credit for what was accomplished this past year, which will be built
upon after our wipe out of all things Republican, at least in this cycle.
I met him during his campaign for president, when he flew in and out of Las Vegas, stopping long enough to give a speech at some real nice digs in town. When he found out I did radio, we talked for a split second about the 2004 race inside Nevada. But being national, I didn't have a whole lot to offer him. He spoke, but nothing gave me the impression he could pull off the DNC leadership or the 50 state strategy. Boy was I wrong.
There are many others deserving credit and taking their fair share as well.
There is Senator Chuck Schumer, who at least acknowledged the blogosphere's
role last week on Bill Maher's “Real Time.” But the person who has
been in the line of fire recently is Rahm Emanuel. First Chris Bowers took out
after him, but good. Over at Howie Klein's digs, Paul
Lukasiak does round two on Rahm. Paul and I met during the 2004 election, when he
did a chat for me on Bush being AWOL from the Guard. He's an expert on the subject.
There is a lot of credit to go around, but I wanted to say today that I know
Howard Dean and I will disagree many more times, as I will with other Dem leaders.
However, it's time to give him credit for sticking to his plan of a 50 state
strategy and being ready to rock 'n roll when the time came. I, for one, believe
that without Dean's 50 state plan, Rahm and Chuck and all the rest of us couldn't
have been nearly as effective. Everything clicked this election. A good share
of the credit for that should go to Howard Dean.
