The first setback for Dean came on Sunday afternoon. - DNC Executive Committee endorses Fowler.
Time magazine is reporting:
A dent was knocked into the aura of inevitability surrounding Howard Dean's run to be the next Democratic Party chair Sunday afternoon when the executive committee of state party chairs voted to endorse Donnie Fowler rather than Dean. Just last week the former Vermont governor had touted endorsements from some state party leaders. But it was Fowler — bespectacled, Southern, and, at 37, the youngster of the field — who prevailed in Sunday's vote.
Fowler, a South Carolinian who lives in California and is the son of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler, headed Al Gore's field operation in the 2000 presidential election. Last year he ran the field operation in Michigan for John Kerry, who won that state by three percentage points.
Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost had been considered the front-runner among the Anybody-But-Dean crowd, which includes a large number of Democratic elected officials. But Dean has been the odds-on favorite, in part because the 478 delegates of the Democratic National Committee who will vote next month on the replacement for current chairman Terry McAuliffe are more liberal than many of the party's most prominent faces.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and her counterpart in the Senate, Nevada's Harry Reid, are among those working behind the scenes to drum up anti-Dean sentiment, but other party stalwarts like Harold Ickes are backing the former presidential contender whose candidacy dissolved with a misplayed yowl in Iowa. Now Fowler thinks he has the inside shot to unseat Dean in much the same way that Kerry eclipsed the front-runner in 2004. "Inevitability is dead, just like it died in 2004," said Fowler in an interview.
The race now moves to the house of labor, where a committee of the AFL-CIO could vote to endorse one of the candidates on Tuesday. If there is no endorsement, the individual member unions of the AFL will likely make their own picks.
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Prior to posting this, I wanted confirmation. Not that I have to go by such rules, but it is such a big thing. I looked in vain on the major newspapers online. Although I could not find anything about it on cnn.com, I just found it on foxnews.com, and thus am posting.
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Based on the coverage of this important matter, I feel compelled to update my reporting. I missed the following developments earlier in the week:
Dean, whose appeal with minorities was questioned during his presidential race, won support Tuesday from several black Democratic National Committee members for his bid to be DNC chairman -- Yvonne Atkinson Gates, chair of the DNC's black caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois and Minyon Moore, a longtime DNC member and former aide to President Clinton.
Last Tuesday Dean also announced the backing of Bob Farmer, former finance chair for John Kerry's presidential campaign, and Joe Cari, a former finance chair for the DNC. Dean also is getting the backing of former national party chairs David Wilhelm and Steve Grossman, who was a key supporter in his presidential race.
(The Washington Post, 01-25-05.)
A dent was knocked into the aura of inevitability surrounding Howard Dean's run to be the next Democratic Party chair Sunday afternoon when the executive committee of state party chairs voted to endorse Donnie Fowler rather than Dean. Just last week the former Vermont governor had touted endorsements from some state party leaders. But it was Fowler — bespectacled, Southern, and, at 37, the youngster of the field — who prevailed in Sunday's vote.
Fowler, a South Carolinian who lives in California and is the son of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler, headed Al Gore's field operation in the 2000 presidential election. Last year he ran the field operation in Michigan for John Kerry, who won that state by three percentage points.
Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost had been considered the front-runner among the Anybody-But-Dean crowd, which includes a large number of Democratic elected officials. But Dean has been the odds-on favorite, in part because the 478 delegates of the Democratic National Committee who will vote next month on the replacement for current chairman Terry McAuliffe are more liberal than many of the party's most prominent faces.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and her counterpart in the Senate, Nevada's Harry Reid, are among those working behind the scenes to drum up anti-Dean sentiment, but other party stalwarts like Harold Ickes are backing the former presidential contender whose candidacy dissolved with a misplayed yowl in Iowa. Now Fowler thinks he has the inside shot to unseat Dean in much the same way that Kerry eclipsed the front-runner in 2004. "Inevitability is dead, just like it died in 2004," said Fowler in an interview.
The race now moves to the house of labor, where a committee of the AFL-CIO could vote to endorse one of the candidates on Tuesday. If there is no endorsement, the individual member unions of the AFL will likely make their own picks.
_______________
Prior to posting this, I wanted confirmation. Not that I have to go by such rules, but it is such a big thing. I looked in vain on the major newspapers online. Although I could not find anything about it on cnn.com, I just found it on foxnews.com, and thus am posting.
_______________
Based on the coverage of this important matter, I feel compelled to update my reporting. I missed the following developments earlier in the week:
Dean, whose appeal with minorities was questioned during his presidential race, won support Tuesday from several black Democratic National Committee members for his bid to be DNC chairman -- Yvonne Atkinson Gates, chair of the DNC's black caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois and Minyon Moore, a longtime DNC member and former aide to President Clinton.
Last Tuesday Dean also announced the backing of Bob Farmer, former finance chair for John Kerry's presidential campaign, and Joe Cari, a former finance chair for the DNC. Dean also is getting the backing of former national party chairs David Wilhelm and Steve Grossman, who was a key supporter in his presidential race.
(The Washington Post, 01-25-05.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 10:35 PM
2 Comments:
Aren't we getting really, really close to a decision?
No. When the formal election is held by DNC in Washington in two weeks, the committee will keep voting until a candidate gets more than 50 percent, eliminating one candidate with each ballot. Dean will end up ia a one-on-one contest by the end of the balloting, with Frost I still think.
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