Dean’s making a national party?
U.S. News & World Report offers a look at how Democrat National Committee
Chairman Howard Dean is trying to create a national party again. However,
there is concern that he will lose the bid to control Congress:
The strategy is also a reaction to the past two presidential cycles, when
the shrinking number of battleground states the Democratic nominee was
competing in left no room for error. Both elections were arguably determined
by a single state: Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Says Dean: "We've
gotten to the point where we're almost not a national party."
But Dean's plan has helped feed a fierce intraparty battle between the DNC
and the committees tasked with electing Democrats to Congress: the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee. DCCC Chair Rahm Emanuel has been especially vocal to
Dean over concerns that the DNC is misallocating resources in a year when
the Democrats are poised to take back the House. Grousing about insufficient
funds from the DNC, Emanuel recently told Roll Call "there is no cavalry
financially for us." Emanuel declined interview requests, but DCCC sources
say more money should go to Democratic candidates in tight races, not to
field organizers in long-shot red states.
A big bet. With the future of the Democratic Party at stake, Republicans are
watching closely, too. "Dean could wind up looking like a genius
eventually," says a top GOP strategist. "Or this could be the election that
could have been."
Brownback’s support
Not many people have Sen. Sam Brownback’s name on the tip of their tongue as
a possible Republican presidential nominee. However, Susan Page of
USA Today offers a look at how he is playing with the Christian Right.
It is a good read and offers insight into how even among Christians there
are different viewpoints depending on how often you attend church:
"It doesn't get much better than this," he [Brownback] tells several dozen
people perched on folding chairs and listening politely. "You've got a
Friday evening, the sun's going down — sitting in a church basement, talking
about big issues."
Big issues like ending abortion, banning same-sex marriage, battling
indecency on TV and refusing to fund embryonic stem cell research fuel
Brownback's long-shot hopes for the Republican presidential nomination in
2008. Most Americans have never heard of him, but the conservative Christian
leaders who play a critical role in the GOP take him seriously.
Bush will attend NAACP
The
Washington Post reports on President Bush’s agreement to attend NAACP
convention:
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the president will appear before the
nation's oldest and largest civil rights group tomorrow after years of
trading rhetorical jabs with its leadership.
"I think the president wants to make the argument that he has had a career
that reflects a strong commitment to civil rights," Snow said at a news
conference.
With the appearance, Bush will avoid becoming the first president since
Warren G. Harding to snub the predominantly black organization throughout
his term.
Conservatives' foreign policy anger
The
Washington Post reports on growing dissatisfaction among conservative
foreign policy experts over President Bush’s new foreign policy bent. Former
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s appearance on NBC’s "Meet the Press"
was one such criticism of the Bush administration’s policy:
"It is Topic A of every single conversation," said Danielle Pletka, vice
president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise
Institute, a think tank that has had strong influence in staffing the
administration and shaping its ideas. "I don't have a friend in the
administration, on Capitol Hill or any part of the conservative foreign
policy establishment who is not beside themselves with fury at the
administration."
Conservatives complain that the United States is hunkered down in Iraq
without enough troops or a strategy to crush the insurgency. They see
autocrats in Egypt and Russia cracking down on dissenters with scant comment
from Washington, North Korea firing missiles without consequence, and Iran
playing for time to develop nuclear weapons while the Bush administration
engages in fruitless diplomacy with European allies. They believe that a
perception that the administration is weak and without options is
emboldening Syria and Iran and the Hezbollah radicals they help sponsor in
Lebanon.
Check, please
The
Associated Press reports on the Democrat National Committee’s attack on
Governor George Pataki (R-NY) about hosting New Hampshire Republicans for
dinner at the Governor’s mansion.
The article appeared in the Union Leader:
Gov. George Pataki should make public the guest list and reimburse the state
for a June 20 taxpayer-financed dinner at the Executive Mansion in Albany
for about a dozen Republican activists from New Hampshire, the Democratic
National Committee said yesterday.
"New Yorkers have a right to know who they took to dinner last month.
Governor Pataki has an obligation to release the guest list, reimburse the
state for the full cost of the dinner, and pledge to never again use state
resources for his Presidential campaign," said DNC spokesman Damien LaVera.
Schumer’s lament
The
Washington Times "Inside Politics" column has a great report on Sen.
Charles Schumer’s (D-NY) take on his party:
"It was a bit startling the other morning to hear Sen. Charles Schumer of
New York — the garrulous poster boy of Democratic liberalism — intone that
New Deal Democracy is over. But also, he added just as surprisingly, so is
Reagan Republicanism," syndicated columnist Jules Witcover writes.
"Schumer, who as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is
charged with leading his party's effort to retake control of the Senate in
November, was in a reflective mood. He said he was looking past that
critical challenge to the longer-term prospects of the party, and he didn't
sound optimistic," the columnist said.
"As important as it was to regain a majority in the Senate to put the brakes
on President Bush in his final two White House years, Schumer said, the
greater test for Democrats was to connect with average voters in a time of
his party's disconnect with them.
"At a breakfast with political reporters, the free-wheeling New Yorker said
the Democrats have relied too long on the Franklin D. Roosevelt formula of
patching together 'a conglomeration of groups' with special concerns as the
route to electoral dominance.
"'We stopped being Democrats talking to small people on the issues' as
Reagan so effectively did, he argued. Then he launched into a monologue on
his party's failure — and the Republicans' success — in communicating to
average voters about the day-to-day matters that concern them most."
Howard Dean no Truman
The Democrat National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is trying to win over
the home state of the muscular Democrat Harry Truman. He seems to think that
Missourians want to have more taxes. Dean is reported as saying in
St. Louis Today.com:
Those cuts, he said, [exemplify] the difference in governing between the
Republicans, who he called "the ‘me’ party," and Democrats. "We’re the ‘we’
party," Dean said.
He went on to say that, "You can’t trust Republicans to handle your money."
Dean was trying to make the case that the, "incredible damage that Governor
Blunt has done to rural… white Missouri…" is so bad that Missourians will
never vote for Republicans again.
Governor Roy Blunt (R-MO) office didn’t seem to agree with Dean, again
according to St. Louis Today.com:
State Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloca just emailed this response:
"Northeast liberals like Howard Dean obviously have no clue about the
dramatic turnaround the state has made under Gov. Matt Blunt who helped
restore the state to prosperity after years of Democrat neglect.
"Gov. Blunt’s promise to make fiscally responsible decisions has led to the
lowest state unemployment rate in five years, helped put more Missourians to
work than during any other time in state history and pushed state revenues
well above expectations. This improvement in the quality of life for
Missourians was accomplished without the kind of job-killing tax increases
and reckless spending Democrats like Howard Dean, Claire McCaskill and other
Democrat Party bosses continue to support.
" Howard Dean represents a radical liberal agenda that includes support for
abortion and a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq. The more Howard Dean talks to
Missourians the more he makes the point that Democrats are out of touch with
Show Me State values."
Iowa Dems' early bird sale
The Iowa Democrat Party offered an early bird sale on their electronic voter
file. The discounted sale price was $50,000. After the early bird sale, this
same file list will cost would-be presidents $75,000.
Four possible candidates in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses took advantage of the
discounted price: Sen. Christopher Dodd, CT; former Sen. John Edwards, NC;
Governor Tom Vilsack, IA; and former Governor Mark Warner, VA.
Embryos to be sacrificed
The U.S. Senate approved killing embryos. The Senate approved the
overturning of President Bush’s policy to only provide federal research
funds to an existing number of stem cell lines. The Senate bill would enable
more embryonic stem cells to be killed to create more lines for research.
The following link is to the
roll call vote.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) was a leading advocate for the legislation and
appeared in a joint victory press conference with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).
President Bush has promised to veto the bill.
House approves gay marriages
The U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass an amendment to the
Constitution that would ban gay marriages. The following link to the
roll call vote.
Vilsack to Denver
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is traveling to the DLC meeting in Denver this
weekend.
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