Tim Kaine Feeling The Heat on The 50 State Strategy

by Todd Beeton, Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 11:26:30 AM EST

Yesterday, Tim Kaine was officially elected DNC Chair. During his acceptance speech, Kaine had much praise for his much loved predecessor as well as some reassuring words about the 50 state strategy.

As I posted in my liveblog yesterday, this is what appeared in Kaine's remarks as prepared for delivery:

There's no question it'll be hard to match Howard Dean's record as chairman of this party. His 50-state strategy was simple and powerful. The Obama campaign adopted it and the results speak for themselves.
The basic point-and the principle I'll carry with me as DNC Chair-is that everybody matters...
...You don't have to be a big donor for your donation to matter.
...You don't have to be an expert for your idea to matter.
...You don't have to be a full-time campaign worker for your effort to matter.
I will be true to that strategy-every state, every community, every person matters.
Together, we'll do some new things-because we can never rest on what worked yesterday. But we will never again as a party write off states or regions or people.

Kaine added a line that was not in the prepared remarks.

The 50 state strategy is now and forever what Democrats do.

He's clearly feeling pressure from the netroots but even more important to Kaine, as he spoke to that room yesterday, is the pressure he's feeling from state party chairs who are seeing their funding cut and fear Kaine will not be the second coming of Dean.

At a press avail after the meeting, Kaine was asked about the concern that state party officials were expressing. Kaine offered no specifics of how the 50 state strategy would be implemented under his stewardship but again offered reassurance.

We're going to play strong in all 50 states. We're going to have an intense strategic plan but exactly how we make it work in each state still needs to be assessed.

He said details would be coming out over the next couple of months.

Kaine is saying all the right things. We need to keep the pressure on to make sure he does as he says he will do.

Tags: 50 state strategy, DNC, Howard Dean, Tim Kaine (all tags)

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Someone smarter than me said . . .

expect a "reelect Obama strategy" NOT a "fifty state strategy".
Incumbents will behave differently than insurgents. It's the nature of the beast.

by kosnomore 2009-01-22 11:36AM | 0 recs

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Re: Tim Kaine Feeling The Heat

Realistically, it seems like Obama is the "problem" here, not Kaine. If Obama wants the DNC to focus on more than just his reelection, that's what they'll do. This is a case where the cossacks work for the czar.

by Steve M 2009-01-22 11:49AM | 0 recs

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He can worry about his own reelection

He can raise all of the money in the world. Let the DNC work on the downballot races that are crucial to his success as President.

by Kent 2009-01-22 11:56AM | 0 recs

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of course

But if Obama cares about the long-term building of the party that means that Organizing for America may end up doing the DNC's job and the DNC doing OfA 2.0's job. Which is kinda backwards, but with only Kaine (and half-time at that) it might work out better.

by Bob Brigham 2009-01-22 12:25PM | 0 recs

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"Kaine is saying all the right things"

Actions speak louder than words:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ruled out serving a new Democratic White House as chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday.

Speculation about Kaine heading the party began after DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced Monday he will step down in January.

Kaine said at a news conference Obama's transition team asked him if he was interested in the position. He said his response was that he'd rather be governor and won't do both jobs.

"That's not something I'm going to do. I don't view that, frankly, as consistent with being governor, so I'm going to be governor," Kaine said. "I would view it as taking my eye too much off the ball about things that need to happen here."

Great catch on how 50-State Strategy wasn't in his statement. I was pretty freaked out when I searched for the term before even reading the whole thing.

How he could have appreciated the program enough to thank Dean twice for the success but not include a statement of continuation is pretty strange. I don't see how he couldn't have seen this coming unless he is extremely out of the loop. Which isn't a good sign for somebody who will only be a part-time Chair and needs to hit the ground running instead of getting up to speed.

by Bob Brigham 2009-01-22 12:14PM | 0 recs

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Not to mention

that Tim Kaine comes from a state that DIRECTLY benefitted from that strategy. He's not from New York, or Connecticut, or California. He's not from the Democratic power states.

Without that strategy, Jim Webb would almost certainly NOT be Senator today. We likely would not have won the 2 VA US House seats that we won. And Obama, likely, would not have carried Virginia in the general election.

Kaine would be damn smart to embrace it. And it's good that we got a chairman who is NOT from the Democratic Power states (New York, MA, California or IL). those officials are often blind to the needs and possibilities in red states. Kaine is not.

by southernman 2009-01-22 01:53PM | 0 recs

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Re: Not to mention

Unfortunately, Kaine is actually one of the biggest examples of excessive targeting as Terry McAuliffe's final action as Chair was to empty the DNC bank account and sent it to Kaine. He is actually the example of only focusing on the next race instead of on party building. And the fact that the other part of McAuliffe's move was to screw over Dean and the 50-State Strategy is no small coincidence.

by Bob Brigham 2009-01-22 03:03PM | 0 recs