Dean to head DNC?

Donald Lambro -Washington Times

Democrats say the party's needs a new aggressive spokesman to replace DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. One name that has been popping up in the past week, some Democrats say, has been that of former presidential candidate Howard Dean.

Mr. Dean's candidacy imploded just before the first winter primaries began, but he was the first to challenge his party leadership on the war in Iraq and put together a grass-roots campaign that ignited the anti-war movement that eventually turned to Mr. Kerry when his own campaign failed.

"Howard Dean's name has come up in several conversations. He would be terrific as the DNC chairman. He would be a passionate spokesman for the Democrats, but also would be able to continue to revitalize participatory politics that is needed to grow the party," said Mr. Grossman, who was the national chairman of the Dean campaign.

Mr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont and the former chairman of the National Governors Association, is now running his own grass-roots organization, called Democracy for America, which helped more than 100 candidates this year and some think could become the vehicle for a second presidential bid in 2008.


Asked if Mr. Dean is interested in the DNC chairmanship or has plans to run for president again, his communications director Laura Gross, said, "Every option is on the table, but this is really too soon to be talking about anything."

"We have over 700,000 people who are part of our Internet community. Our phones are ringing off the hook. We've raised about $5 million in the past six months. People want to stay involved," she said.


I hadn't given much thought to who should replace McAuliffe, and Dean would really bring life to the party. Not a bad idea at all. Al Gore would be a really good choice too, and I think Gore would really shine as the head of the DNC. Now that he's shaken off his Clintonian handlers he's really come to life.

...but then, I think they should both be running for president too.

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