Why not, as Democrats, are we not pushing HARD for a truly progressive candidate? One that is reflective of the real values that underly this party? Why isn't there ONE woman candidate in this race??

As a Democrat, I am ashamed. Which is why -- I would humbly suggest that we DRAFT CECILE RICHARDS! She has the qualifications, the heart, the experience.

She knows how to bridge the progressive community and build coalitions. That is the challenge that faces our Party right now -Can we build a coalition that is strong enough to beat the GOP?

Not sure you can unite the base of the Democratic Party with yet another white male (and certainly not an antichoice candidate).

DRAFT CECILE RICHARDS!!

Rosenberg for Executive Director

Texans will vote in blocks, but why do they get so much say when they have failed to have any statewide electeds and lost 4 seats in the House this fall?

I am still gunning for Fowler to sneak into the second round and gather support.

This means Dean is in the driver's chair? Hmmm....Someone show me where my math is wrong but while this looks good prima facie but I wouldn't start getting too comfortable if I were a Dean supporter. He still has a lot of hard work in front of him.

(btw, who the heck is Webb? <g>)

personally, I think that Dean made a bad decision in discouraging his supporters from getting in touch with DNC members from their states.   I spoke with a DNC member from my state, and her attitude was that she was completely unaccountable to rank-and-file democrats (and I have the feeling this attitude is shared by most DNC members.)  In other words, this decision will be made in the classic "smoke-filled backrooms" of yore.  Dean is at a decided disadvantage there, because reform is a threat to those with seats in those backrooms.

I think Dean should mobilize his supporters, and show the DNC members that they have two choices -- either embrace reform, or face a grassroots revolt.  

As y'all must know by now, former Rep. Tim Roemer did not show up at yesterday's America Votes conclave, provoking much tittering. We checked the Roemer camp's explanation, and the weather out of Albuquerque was very not good. Which is a shame, because many America Votes members really wanted to question Mr. Roemer, particularly about social issues.

According to America Votes, either CEOs or political directors from all organizations were represented at the meeting -- about 50 people in the room. They'll meet in 10 days with a full board to discuss again.

Several sources say that the assembled AV folks thought former Rep. Martin Frost and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean came off particularly well.

The AP Noted Joe Andrews' endorsement of Simon Rosenberg, interpreting it as a slight to his fellow Indianan. LINK

The granddaddy of DNC chairs (and we mean that in the prestige sense) Robert Strauss endorses his old Carter-Mondale North Texas Chairman, Martin Frost.

After their second forum in St. Louis on Saturday, several DNC candidates have meetings with caucuses of Democratic mayors in Washington, D.C. next week.

Also yesterday, the Association of State Democratic Party Chairs announced their executive committee would meet with the candidates in New York on Jan 29.

The problem of endorsing late, as labor, the governors, and ASDC seem wont to do, is that "Howard Dean could have already won by then," according a senior adviser to a leading candidate."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238

If you really want to make a difference, write your DNC members.  Go to www.changetheparty.com to find how to contact your state's DNC voters.

Sylvia Smith (reporter)

Does Roemer have a chance with DNC?

WASHINGTON - Democrats have to pick a strategy and do it quickly.

The 400-some members of the Democratic National Committee will meet in Washington early next month to select a chairman from among seven announced candidates, including former Hoosier congressman Tim Roemer.

The key decision the committee members need to make is whether they want the DNC chairman to function as a shadow president, articulating the party's position on a host of issues President Bush will push or resist in the next few years.

Or do they want a guy (it's only men in contention at this point) who is skilled at the mechanics of running a party: the fund raising, the technologies?

These aren't mutually exclusive talents, of course, but it's the rare person who is brilliant - or even skilled - at both. No one has made the case that Roemer or any of the other top-tier candidates is that unusual blend of policy-articulator, prolific fund raiser, technological geek and loyalty-inspiring manager.

Roemer left Congress in 2002, he said at the time, because he wanted to devote more time to his young family of four children under 8. The fact that a fierce Republican competitor, who had held Roemer to 52 percent of the vote in his South Bend district in the 2000 race, was planning to challenge Roemer again surely didn't influence his decision. Yeah, right.

Roemer's re-election in 2002 would not have been a sure thing in part because Roemer was never fond of aggressive fund raising. He raised enough to win his races, but not enough to scare off potential challenges. So when millionaire Republican Chris Chocola decided he'd like to be a congressman, Roemer did not appear invincible.

That less than wholehearted interest in asking people for money is not a characteristic you'd think would be cherished in the chairman of the DNC. The party did a bang-up job of raising money in the 2004 presidential race, and the shift to online fund raising has somewhat replaced the hat-in-hand variety.

Nevertheless, although the emphasis on personal fund raising by the DNC chairman may be somewhat muted, now is not the time to backslide.

Although John Kerry lost the 2004 race, the Democratic Party had some real successes in raising money, both as a party and within the 527 organizations, and in getting out the vote. In each case, taking advantage of the Internet culture helped the Democrats' success. The next chairman must not just tread water in those areas. The party may not need a technogeek to head it; those sorts can be hired. But the leader must have a vision and thorough understanding of the potential of the arena. If this is Roemer's forte, it's a newly acquired one.

Part and parcel with money raising is traveling. A party chairman is on the road constantly. Roemer's children are only a few years older than when he said he needed to be around more and that the life of a congressman was incompatible with his desire to "be a T-ball coach" and be more involved with his young'uns.

Another reason Roemer gave for leaving Capitol Hill was the "atmosphere of partisan rancor and bickering." He was active in creating a centrist coalition, bipartisan group in the House of moderate Ds and Rs who said there were some areas (such as education) that they could work on together. A party chairman is, by definition, not someone whose modus operandi relies on reaching across the aisle.

Where Roemer might excel in the nuts and bolts of being party chairman is candidate recruitment. He is evidence that the Democratic Party has room for anti-abortion, pro-trade, tax-cutting candidates. If you subscribe to the theory that the Democratic Party is doomed unless their candidates come from the more conservative wing of the party, you might conclude that Roemer would be a good image to project. But not everyone in the party agrees with that approach.

But I suspect the appeal of being DNC chairman, for Roemer, is the idea that he could be a player on national policy. While having a single voice and a single leader might make the Democrats a stronger foil for Bush until a 2008 nominee emerges, it ain't going to happen.

If Roemer is chairman and Howard Dean is not, will that make Dean shut up when he disagrees with Roemer's view? Will Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy or Nancy Pelosi take their cues from the DNC chairman, whoever he is? Hardly.

Roemer has already demonstrated why the DNC chairman should not be a policy setter. His anti-abortion views make for excellent big-tent chatter, but the fact remains that Roemer will hit a firewall of women's groups who think his would be the wrong face to put on the national party. If he puts forth the argument that his high-profile 9/11 Commission work helps make the case that the Democratic Party is just as strong on national security as the GOP, then he has to accept that his anti-abortion views would also be a reflection on the party if he were its chairman.

The head of any national party needs to be a great political strategist. Roemer is telling folks that one of his credentials is that he won six congressional races as a Democrat in a Republican state. Roemer won in 10 percent of Indiana; he never ran statewide. So to say he knows how to turn a red state blue isn't a claim any of the 447 Democratic National Committee members is likely to put much stock in.

Surely all the other candidates for the DNC chairmanship - Dean, Rep. Martin Frost and Simon Rosenberg are the other front-runners - have flaws. There is no ideal candidate, and a column picking apart Roemer just because I know him better than the others does not negate the good qualities he has to offer his party.

But the questions remain, and as the Democratic National Committee members evaluate the candidates, no doubt they'll be asking them.