Sunday, February 19, 2006
A year after becoming Democratic Party chair, Howard Dean remains controversial.
To much of the party faithful, he's brought the breath of fresh air he promised in seeking the post after his failed presidential bid.
In some top party circles, however, he's seen as both a loose cannon and, more important, an inadequate fundraiser.
In recent weeks, both sides of him have been on display.
When the former Vermont governor accused President Bush of sins from incompetence to corruption in a speech last week, some 1,000 United Auto Workers political operatives responded with enthusiasm to his partisan message.
"I think he's doing an excellent job," said Carl Tillery, a retired Dallas-area UAW official whose sons are both active in local Democratic Party politics. "He's speaking up, and that's what we need."
Fellow Dallasite Frank Inman agreed. "Somebody needs to tell the dirty truth," he said.
But on Capitol Hill, the response has been cooler, in large part because of a continuing contrast in party finances. While Senate Democrats are out-raising Republicans, and House Democrats are competitive with the GOP, the Democratic National Committee lags far behind the Republican National Committee.
Money woes?
The most recent totals show the DNC has $5.9 million on hand, compared with the RNC's $34 million. When that got around, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported, and some key aides confirmed, top Democrats expressed concern to Dean that, when next fall's campaign crunch comes, they won't get enough help from the party.
That view is not universally held. "He has his ground operation in place; he's got his fundraising in place," said Jim Manley, an aide to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "We're confident that the Democrats are going to be competitive with the Republicans."
Dean insists he has met his goals. "We've raised 20 percent more than in the past, we have money in the bank, and we're rebuilding the party," he said.
In addition, the outspoken party chairman has not shied away from expressing his views, even if he sometimes seems to pre-empt the party's elected leaders.
In December, he created a flap by telling a San Antonio radio station that the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."
Several days later on CNN, he said the quote was "a little out of context," but added, "We can only win the war ... if we change our strategy dramatically."
Then, he called for the Senate to reject Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito before the Judiciary Committee had even started hearings, at a time when top Senate Democrats had adopted a policy of not prejudging the judge.
Last Sunday, when several top Democrats used the weekly news shows to criticize Vice President Dick Cheney, Dean went a step beyond the others, saying on CBS' "Face the Nation" that, if Cheney ordered a top aide to leak security information "for political reasons, then this vice president may not be vice president very much longer."
The chairman defends such comments. "I'm basically telling the truth," he said. "And the truth needs to be told."
But his words add to the impression that the party has too many strident voices, and Republicans say he helps them by putting a liberal face on his party.
A problem
"Republicans regard Dean as one of their best secret weapons," said strategist Rich Galen. Despite public support for Dean, he said, "I have yet to find a Democrat who, in private chatter, doesn't think he's a problem for them."
But that doesn't seem to be the major concern about Dean.
"My impression is that whatever sins he's committed would be forgiven if he's raised the money," said Don Foley, a Democratic strategist with ties to Capitol Hill.
Manley said criticism of the chairman is "vastly overstated," and Texas Democratic chair Charles Soechting says Dean's effort to bolster state Democratic parties has helped him hire several field organizers.
For the most part, Dean's behavior as chairman was predictable when he got the post, from the emphasis on grass roots to the loose tongue he often displayed during his presidential bid.
Carl P. Leubsdorf is Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.