Cross posted at Drafthoward.com
Governor Vilsack has made the right decision today and withdrawn his name from consideration as DNC Chair.
In a statement issued by his office he cited the work that must be done in Iowa as one of the reasons that he did not seek the DNC Chairmanship. Thank you Governor Vilsack for recognizing this is a full-time job for someone that can rebuild the party.
The momentum is Dean's corner now. The National Journal conducted a poll of DNC members and found the following results:
-- Because of the fluid nature of this DNC Chair campaign, we were careful to start the survey with an open-ended question (i.e. sans candidates). Of the more than 150 DNC members who participated, just two candidates received double-digit support in the open-ended question: Howard Dean and Tom Vilsack, with Dean ahead 17 mentions to 11 for Vilsack.
-- In our 2nd question, we read a list of 12 names and, again, Dean and Vilsack were 1-2 with Dean garnering 45 mentions to Vilsack's 37. Finally, in our 3rd question, we matched up Vilack and Dean in a 2-way and this is where the story changed. Vilsack led Dean 54-46.
-- While we caution from drawing too many conclusions from our survey (since another 250+ voters did not respond), the trend for Dean is certainly worth noting, i.e., there's clearly an "anybody but Dean" contingent in the party that can be coalesced
There is no question that Dean could be the next Chair of the DNC, it is important that we sieze the momentum and make sure that it gets done.
Tell everyone you know to
sign the petition today.