Before anyone else posts it, I'd like to offer
this rumor on the conservative American Spectator magazine's website. (Keep in mind, this magazine and column once said Republicans were investigating the "forged" Schiavo memo.)
Democratic political strategist par excellence James Carville is often credited with saying: "When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil!"
Now it appears that Carville and other Democrats may be preparing to use his "Anvil Rule of Politics" against one of their own.
With the DNC being out-fundraised almost 3 to 1 in the most recent reporting cycle, there are already rumblings the DNC chairman Howard Dean may not last a year in his position.
More ...
Much of the concern was laid out in a Bob Novak column earlier this week: poor fundraising and crazy talk from Dean, not the least of which was Dean's recent endorsement of Socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders in his bid to replace Vermont independent Sen. Jim Jeffords, and policy talk on Social Security that wasn't in the Democratic playbook.
"We're not far from the talk of dumping Dean becoming action," says a knowledgeable Democratic operative, who has worked on both Capitol Hill and at the DNC. According to this source, none other than Democratic loyalist Carville, as well as other senior Democrats, have been talking about how to blunt Dean and get a more positive message and messenger out into the public eye.
"The problem is Dean hasn't really been in the public eye," says the Democratic operative. "At least not nationally. The appearance on Meet the Press [this coming Sunday] will really help clarify for people just how desperate we need to be."
Critics of Dean inside the DNC say the former Vermont governor rarely sticks to the party talking points that are presented him, and he chafes at being overly prepped by staff before party events.
"He is popular with some of the younger party types, but established Democrats here in headquarters can't stand him. From their perspective, he's a disaster," says the operative. "When it comes time to raise the money, that won't be a be a problem. We'll just trot out Bill [Clinton] and scary pictures of Bush and Frist and DeLay. But in terms of building state and national party organizations, that is something we're committed to financing, and that is where the real problems are."
So ... does anyone believe this? Or is it as specious as it sounds?
IMHO it's bullshit. Yes, the DNC's fundraising was 1/2 of the RNC's in the first quarter. Yes, Democratic governors in red states have not been photographed with him.
But does that fundraising thing surprise anyone? The DNC went through a contentious election for its chairman, while the RNC installed a Bush-Cheney 04 chairman who simply reactivated their powerful fundraising machine.
The psuedo-disses by Dem governors are sad, but are they a reason to fire the chairman? How many swing seat Republicans have been photographed with Tom DeLay?
The rest of the column just sounds too Machiavellian - Dean is secretly being put on Meet The Press to embarrass him? I mean, Dean's last MTP appearance before the DNC race was a complete success. Why won't this be?
UPDATE: Someone points out below that the RNC probably raised truckloads during the inaugural balls. This seems likely, although I don't recall reading it in the first-quarter report stories. Obviously it wasn't a good thing that Dem fundraising was so weak in the first quarter, but there were many reasons why that don't taper with the Novak "the money flow will cease if Dean becomes chairman" theory.