Aristocracy: A hereditary ruling class; nobility.

What the...???

Who organized the ASDC vote?  What does it mean?

Come on, Matt.  Give us a clue.

BTW, if Donnie wants to make parallels with Kerry, go right ahead, pard'ner.

Look what happened to Kerry...is THAT where you want the party to be????????

Thoughts?

Interesting that the "anti-Dean" candidate is not so anti-Dean.

Who Cares What The ASDC, SpongeBob, Etc. Think?

Sure ... in a way I do ... but the bigger question is who do you think John Kerry really would like to be DNC Chair.

And since you work for Simon Rosenberg are on the inside ... let's be intelectually honest. Also, tell Simon to redouble his efforts ... he can win!

Matt, I really want to know what you think about why John Kerry did not endorse Howard Yeeeah Dean when Tim Russert asked the question today on Meet The press.

Democratic Dad believes John Kerry is not in favor of Howard Dean being the DNC Chair.

See the actual words Kerry spoke today on NBC's Meet The Press.

Kerry ... like many of the Democratic Party faithful realize we need more of a Modernizer like Simon Rosenberg than a devisive Spokesman like Howard Dean.

Tim Russert Interview Excerpt With John Kerry From Sunday 1/30/05 NBC MEET THE PRESS Concerning DNC Chairman http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886726/

**

MR. RUSSERT:  During the campaign you said that Howard Dean did not have the credibility or judgment to be president.  Do you believe he has the credibility or judgment to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee?

SEN. KERRY:  Sure, absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT:  Do you support him?

SEN. KERRY:  I think Howard Dean proved during this campaign that he was really a loyal and go-to person.  He campaigned his heart out for me.  He wanted us to win.  And I'm very grateful to him for that--as did every other member who's running, incidentally--every other person running for the chairmanship.  They worked hard.  They're capable people and I think any one of them would be able to lead our party and be helpful.

And, you know, we're not looking for a spokesperson in the chairmanship.  I think if you talk to any of my colleagues or any people in the House or Senate or others, what we're looking for is somebody who's going to help the party modernize and do the things we need to do in order to be able to technically, organizationally, structurally be able to catch up to the Republicans.  We're behind.

And I think that--you know, if you figure--I mean, Karl Rove really had six years to prepare for Election Day.  We in many ways had only a few months, notwithstanding the outstanding work that Terry McAuliffe did, but Terry McAuliffe was struggling uphill.  We didn't have a president, we didn't have a House, we didn't have a Senate.  He did an amazing job of raising money, getting voter lists, putting the committee in the best position possible.  But he'd be the first to tell you, we still have a distance to travel in order to catch up.  And I think whoever is chosen as our new chairman, we're going to have a united Democratic Party that is working overtime to put those pieces in place

***

Kerry is being cryptic here:

He says we don't need a SPOKESMAN (he's probably alluding to Dean here)

He says we need a MODERNIZER (he's probably alluding to Rosenberg here ... or at the worst ABD .... anybody but Dean)

Matt ... why don't you guys (Theo etc) go for the Gold and get Kerry / Clinton / Bayh etc. all on the same day endorse Rosenberg.

Democratic Dad ... I only can father Democrats ... but I wouldlike to rear a few Republicans

I know there would be open rebellion in the grassroots and netroots if Frost wins and probably the same for Fowler, although he has a small cadre of netroots supporters. My take is that electing anyone aside from Dean or Rosenberg would send a message to the grassroots and the netroots that their opinion doesn't matter.

I think we all suspected that the reins of power would have to be forcibly removed from the cold dead hands of the DLC. Now that Roemer has fizzled, it looks like Pelosi and Reid pushing for Fowler or Frost. Are they unaware of the grassroots reaction this would cause or do they think we'll just get over it?

Looking more and more like Republicans will hold onto the White House simply because if Dean runs for President in 08 he could split the Dems in half while picking up independent voters. I can't see states like Vermont or Maine picking Dean over Clinton...but I equally don't think Illinois or Michigan is going to be Dean-o-mite. Ergo, Jeb/Hagel/Romney will win around 260-280 of the electors. Even if there is no winner, the House would have to change complexion totally by '08 to not have "four more years".

And this is in spite of all the crap headed the Republicans way between then and now.

And for the Clinton conspiracy theorists out there I propose this:  Don't you think the Ickes endorsement might be partly due to the fact that they'd rather have Dean at the DNC than challenging Hillary in the 2008 primaries?

http://www.stateparty.org/index.php?display=StaffLeaders

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS:

Mark Brewer, President
Paul Berendt, Vice-President
Raymond Buckley, Vice-President
Amy Burks, Vice-President
L Carmichael, Ex-Officio Member
Rickey Cole, Parliamentarian
Herman Farrell, Board Member
Ann Fishman, Executive Director
Chris Gates, Board Member
Sue Hecht, Board Member
Linda Honold, Board Member
Carol Khare, Board Member

If you look at the website it lists 15 members of the Exec Committee not 12. Now with the update does this mean that they are voting in a block or that Fowler just got the majority yet the members will still vote their convictions???

Somebody, anybody...Bueller?

It seems disingenuous at the least to publicly disclose a conflict of interest and then post personal opinion in the same thread, ne? If you won't comment, then don't.

And yes, I support Donnie for the job.

It's hard to read what this will mean. How much weight does this endorsement carry?

I'm guessing that "herman ferrell," who is listed as a board member from new york, is the same as Herman "Denny"Farrell, who is the State Chair from NY.  

This is good news no matter what camp you're in. This means some more voting members swing toward the reform camp. This washes out status quo members on the first vote. This is a good thing.

Down side is that Fowler Sr. seems to have a hand in this. The nepostism claim, whether real or assumed, is something that smacks of old time smoke filled rooms. That's too close to status quo for my tastes.

The way this announcement is being touted is also something that bothers me. You know, the way really high budget low quality movies always have the coolest trailers that get the most PR push. Then you see the movie and find out it isn't all that it was cracked up to be. This endorsement smacks of this practice.

This does however follow suit of the read on Fowler by those following this. He's a great talker who seems to pad his resume. This endorsement seems to fit that description.

Give it a few days to shake out. If anyone was strong armed, I think we'll hear about it right quick. If the vote was divided, I'm sure the Dean people with speak up.

Again, I think much of the emotion here is residual from Dean's experience in Iowa. Too many of us are hoping for vindication and retribution at the expense of the party leadership through a Dean victory. As much as I fall prey to this, we have to move beyond it.

Dean is smarter than he was a year ago. He's built alliances he didn't have a year ago. This only makes the race more interesting.

Regardless, reform is winning at the moment. If Dean isn't the chair, he's freed up for 2008. The one dissapointing issue for me is that if Dean is not the chair, I don't see him being given a role within the party structure.

If Dean is chair, I can see Rosenburg and even Fowler working with him in the party structure. Dean is now too big to play second fiddle. He'd overshadow almost anyone. Maybe he'd still work as a VP, but not second anywhere else.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up for Dean and look at the big picture of reform of the Democratic party. But damn it all, it does remind me way too much of Iowa.

For Dean, it's no surprise that the senior members in the party are polarized about Dean -- he's either a first choice or a last choice.  The real question is whether that first choice/last choice dynamic plays out in the full membership.  If Dean doesn't get into the 40+% range in the first round he may be in trouble.