Howard Dean is now the frontrunner. Yes,
Mark Hertsgaard, "with his passion and populist appeal, Howard Dean is exactly the leader the Democratic Party needs right now." Dean secured the frontrunner position with his getting the endorsement from the entire delegation of Florida, with Maddox saying, "I am a Southern chairman of a Southern state, and I am perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as DNC chair." Then, following a handful of other ASDC DNC member endorsements throughout the nation, the DNC insiders are starting to tip toward Dean, with DNC vice-chair Gloria Molina, Ex-DNC finance chair Joseph Cari, and DNC dep chair Ben Johnson all endorsing Dean on Monday (
BFA has a list). A week from now, Art Torres & the California delegation are going to endorse a candidate for DNC Chair; if that's Dean (and who else could it be), "inevitability" becomes the word. Howard Fineman says Howard Dean has "hired shrewd Washington hands to help him, including Jim Jordan, Kerry's first presidential handler", in DC's chatter about
'Anybody But Dean, Part 2', blah-yuch. Dean as the frontrunner presents the usual ABD problems. With no higher to go, Dean's got to go for being inevitable, but this time, the media has much less (if any) power, so Dean won't be hurt by the blantent miscoverage or the production of shitty television ads, and the endorsements (most of them) matter.
Martin Frost, who just came off of spending over $7M in a single CD is decrying "the consultant culture" of DC. He's not been able to gain much traction as the anti-Dean candidate though, but he's got the best shot out of all the alternatives, of capitalizing on the backlash of the sort directed to Oklahoma party chair Jay Parmley, after he endorsed Dean.
"Like most Oklahoma Democrats, I do not believe Gov. Dean shares our values or is the right person to lead our party at this time," state Sen. Debbe Lefwich, a DNC voting member, said last Thursday. It's a good bet that Lefwich is going to be learning about the 'silent revolution' of "most Oklahoma Democrats" the next time a vote comes up for her DNC position. Frost is certainly on the trail of Dean's tracks, with "10 staffers to track support among delegates daily".
Donnie Fowler gets points for his slogan "tired of conceding to the aristocracy of consultants in Washington" being co-opted by Frost. Here's Fowler on his chances: "Let me tell you about where this election is going for DNC chair. Howard Dean last week announced that he had six state party chairs that endorsed him. I have nine, and I picked up two more this weekend at the western DNC meeting. ... It's not Frost and Dean. I'm going to run right up the middle. We've got an anti-Dean. We've got a Dean, and we have an alternative to Dean. Someone who's been in the fight, in the trenches with state parties." Fowler will start releasing the names publically after the ASDC meeting in NY this weekend.
For Simon Rosenberg, has racked up an impressive list of endorsements, and his blogroll of supporters is second only to that of Howard Dean's. But what alludes him to date are public endorsements from DNC members. Not that many have publically endorsed to date. NJ's Hotline tracks Dean leading with 23, Fowler second with 6, Webb with 3, Frost has 2, and Leland just 1. Publically anyway, with Dean 200 votes shy of the majority needed to win, Rosenberg and the others are still in the running.
Wellington Webb had a good comeback to Martin Frost telling others that once Webb dropped out, Colorado's delegation was backing him, Webb, in turn, said, "I have several votes from Texas once Frost backs out." Al Sharpton said he's going to endorse Webb "because he has the proven strength and tenacity to get the job done." One of Webb's handlers, Northwest Denver activist Paul Sandoval, derided Dean as a renegade who won't toe the party line. "If we nominate him," Sandoval said, "we're gonna get killed." Someone should remind Sandoval that Webb endorsed Dean for President.
Tim Roemer has a fiesty staff, reacting defensively to Roemer's pro-government regulation stance over abortion that continues to distract the race. Despite that, he has support in the most liberal area of the nation from three prominant congressional reps that are women, Nancy Pelosi, Ellen Tauscher, and Anna Eshoo. With NARAL’s 27 affiliates are actively contacting DNC delegates against Roemer, the Keenan-Roemer spat does serve to keep the heat off of Dean. It wouldn't shock the world if Roemer dropped out of the race.
Chris Lehane says the race for "the campaign chair has evolved into a proxy fight for the heart and soul of the party." Sound familiar? Douglas MacKinnon has a op-ed today, Playing 'whack-a-mole' that points toward media manipulation of the events that led to Dean's being defeated in Iowa. The "journalistic disgrace" that MacKinnon refers to was their eating from the hand of dirty tricks Lehane.
