Just 90 minutes south of Chattanooga last night, in Atlanta, our
party leadership focused on bringing Democrats a 50-state, especially in the South. See
here for story.
Dean said that "if you want to know my Southern strategy, show up."
"You can't compete in just 19 or 20 states," said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, another candidate for national party chairman. "You get better odds in Las Vegas than with that program."
"Some people think we need to steer left. Some people think I would steer the party right. It's not about that. It's about expanding the bus," former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer said.
But the politician who caught my attention was not those seven candidates running for DNC chair. It was my Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat who has
actually proved a Democrat can win in the South.
Gov. Bredesen, a fellow Democrat, told the candidates that the party needs to listen more to local officials. He said he is proof that Democrats know how to win on the statewide level in the South, and that can be translated to the presidential election with a more comprehensive strategy.
"The next time around, we want a 50-state platform. We want a 50-state party," Bredesen said to loud applause. "To my party, get out of Washington more."
Shouldn't Bredesen be running for DNC or presidential candidate? I'm not sure, given his age.
From the Kansas City Star, this analysis:
Not the best time, in other words, for a big decision. Nevertheless, with DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe expected to depart next month (after presiding over the Kerry defeat and severe congressional losses in `02), maybe the Democrats will pick Martin Frost - a Texas congressman who lost his seat in November essentially because the state's Republican lawmakers erased his district. Or Rosenberg, a Washington strategist who has clashed with the party's liberal interest groups. Or Wellington Webb, an ex-Denver mayor. Or Tim Roemer, an ex-Indiana congressman. Or Southerner Donnie Fowler, whose dad once served as chairman.
But Frost is not telegenic (age 63, bald), Roemer is opposed to abortion (which automatically renders him unacceptable to litmus-test Democrats), Webb has never served east of Colorado, and Fowler and Rosenberg are widely seen as either insufficiently seasoned or too youthful in appearance. In the words of DNC member Bob Mulholland, "When I get on a plane and look in the cockpit, I want to see a pilot with gray hair."
Is the party aging or just looking for sagacity?