This weekend - December 10 and 11, 2004, the Association of State Democratic Chairs (~100 DNC members out of 447) and the DNC Executive Committee (62 DNC members) met in Orlando, Florida. While other discussions occurred, including analysis of the 2004 election, the primary purpose of the meeting was to begin the race for a new DNC Chair by meeting and speaking with the candidates.
The election analysis was enlightening, and the Chair race started in a sprint with one candidate stumbling at the sound of the gun and already calling it quits. Leo Hindery - backer of Democratic candidates and organizations with big money and big energy - quit the race with a press release Friday morning after showing up to Orlando with a campaign staff of 11 professionals and cancelled the meet-and-greet breakfast he had placed on the schedule. Howard Dean jumped at that opportunity and announced an unscheduled breakfast to compensate for Hindery's retreat.
Saturday morning a forum was held during which each candidate had the opportunity to give a five minute opening statement and then answer questions offered by the officials present. While most candidates showed up Friday and mingled with the voters, the most interesting and productive event of the weekend was the candidate forum. All of them declared different versions of the same message and each came to the table with different background and experience. Here are the candidates - most of whom have not yet declared that they will actually be running:
Martin Frost - Texas Congressman, former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (Declared Candidate)
Simon Rosenberg - President of the New Democrat Network
Donnie Fowler - High-tech businessman, campaign activist and son of former DNC Chair (Declared Candidate)
Jim Blanchard - Former Governor of Michigan
Harold Ickes - Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff and Founder of ACT and The Media Fund
Howard Dean - Former Governor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential candidate
Ron Kirk - Former Mayor of Dallas and U.S. Senate candidate
Wellington Webb - Former Mayor of Denver
The most often heard phrase of the weekend was, "50 state strategy." There has been a great deal of frustration within the leadership of State Parties because of the lack of coordination between the DNC and state operations. And the DNC has focused on efforts in the few battleground states on behalf of presidential campaigns to the detriment of down ballot races that Democrats could win with greater resources. The State Chairs held this meeting to flex their one/quarter of the total vote-muscle to force that set of issues as the primary issues of the campaign. Mission accomplished - all the candidates said the right things, so who do we pick?
Most of the candidates, in fact, complimented rather than contradicted one another. They differed very little on their goals and only occasionally on how to attain them. Only one of the candidates had prepared a campaign message and materials. Donnie Fowler presented a multi-paged plan and went further than any other of the candidates in stating specific changes that need to be made to the DNC and its operations.
While fairly uniform in purpose, nearly all of the candidates shared innovative and unique ideas on how to move the party forward - and at the very least illustrated their strength for the job.
Governor Blanchard comes across as highly energetic and passionate about the Democratic message, but seemed a little too focused on Democratic Governors being a focus of organization in the national party considering that we have so few these days. Howard Dean presented some strong ideas - my favorite of which was having the national party pay the salaries and benefits of Executive Directors and grassroots workers in every State Party office (several states have no paid Party staff.)
Martin Frost emphasized his history of doing as head of DCCC exactly what everyone is saying they want done now at the DNC and was the only candidate other than Fowler to submit a written plan. Harold Ickes discussed his role in the formation of two of the largest 527's - the Media Fund and ACT. Wellington Webb concentrated on the utilization of local officials, such as mayors, to guide national party direction.
Simon Rosenberg spoke of modernizing our political techniques and utilizing technology and targeting in the dissemination and development of message. Ron Kirk proved himself to be the personality of the group - he drew by far more applause than any of the other candidates and without saying it, made the case for having a party spokesperson and a CEO. And Donnie Fowler, the youngest candidate at 38, illustrated his superior understanding of the history and functioning of the National Party and put forth an aggressive message of change.
One interesting thing is that while Dean has been pitched as the agent of change, Fowler far out-Deaned Dean by declaring specific goals and taking everything Dean said one step further.
But neither of them, in my mind, is the frontrunner at this point. In the end, I really do not believe Dean will run, for a number of reasons.
While the State Chairs had hoped they might have the strength and ability to create a frontrunner this weekend, there were just too many candidates and too much uncertainty. They were successful, however, in making all of the candidates focus on party reform and a state-focused DNC.