Dean Warns Democrats Against Becoming ‘Republican Lite’
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WASHINGTON – Potential candidates angling to take over the helm of the Democratic National Committee are meeting with party officials over the weekend in Orlando and presenting their visions for the party’s future in 5-minute “campaign stump” speeches.
A failed presidential contender, Howard Dean, got a jump on the weekend auditions with a speech here yesterday, unleashing aggressive criticism of the Democratic Party in the wake of last month’s presidential election defeat.
Dr. Dean called for “internal reforms” within the party and continued to warn its leaders against becoming “Republican-Lite.”
“Here in Washington, it seems that after every losing election, there’s a consensus reached among decision makers in the Democratic Party that the way to win is to be more like Republicans,” he complained. “We’ve tried it; it doesn’t work.”
Democrats should make a greater effort to run in all 50 states, rather than focus on Democratic strongholds, Dr. Dean said.
“We can no longer be a party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state campaign,” he told several hundred students at George Washington University, who greeted him with a standing ovation and pleas for autographs.
He also called on the party to pay more attention to grassroots members, small donors, and candidates for local offices.
“The way to rebuild the Democratic Party is not from the consultants down, but from the ground up,” said Dr. Dean, whose own campaign was based on sharp criticism of the Iraq war and a promise of universal healthcare and balanced budgets.
Another potential candidate who will speak on Saturday is New York businessman Leo Hindery.
A prolific fund-raiser for Democratic causes and candidates – including the outgoing Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle – he plans to use the speech to introduce himself to the party in a new role.
The successful business executive is expected to describe his colorful life and humble beginnings on a chicken farm outside Tacoma, Wash. He will described how a career that culminated at the helm of companies such as AT&T Broadband and the YES network began with jobs ranging from Merchant Marine to un-packer of boxes for UPS. Mr. Hindery will emphasize to the Democrats that he is the grandson of a Democratic committeeman and was once a members of the Teamsters union.
“He is going to talk about his professional career, personal history, and why he is qualified to be and passionately committed to being the DNC chair,” said a spokeswoman for Mr. Hindery, Jennifer Bluestein.
Mr. Hindery is also expected to explain his plan of applying his business management skills to make the party work “in all 50 states, all the time, every year,” she said. The plan includes sophisticated consumer-style research into the habits and preferences of voters to better target messages and campaigns.
Another potential candidate scheduled to address the group is the head of the New Democrat Network, Simon Rosenberg, who, unlike Dr. Dean, will make a pitch for a centrist approach.
“Simon wants to play a key role in this emerging national dialogue about the direction of the party. …We are going to be advocating for a centrist vision that incorporates all the values and ideals that make centrist Democrats such a powerful force,” said his spokesman, Guillermo Meneses.
Echoing the theme of a 50-state campaign, an African-American former mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb, will also speak on Saturday to make the case that the party should be led by someone from a Western state.
“Our next chairperson should come from a ‘red state’ and should not be from inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway,” Mr. Webb wrote in a letter to Democrats promoting his candidacy.
A current vice chairman of the committee, Mr. Webb is also calling on Democrats to develop a message “to target Southern and Western states rather than writing off these important voting parts of the country before the election even starts.”
Like Dr. Dean, he is calling for building the party “from the bottom up,” and is urging the party not to choose a leader with any ties to a 2008 presidential candidate.
Other potential candidates who have confirmed their attendance at the meeting are a former Detroit governor and former ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard; a defeated congressman, Rep. Martin Frost of Texas; political strategist Donnie Fowler, and a former mayor of Dallas, Ronald Kirk.
The gathering of the Association of State Democratic Chairs is a chance for the chairmen, vice chairmen, and executive directors of the state parties to meet the candidates, party officials said.
The speeches on Saturday will be open to the press, while a question and answer session afterward will take place behind closed doors.
Other people who have been discussed as potential candidates for the chairmanship are Governor Vilsack of Iowa and Harold Ickes, a former chief of staff to President Clinton.
The successor to outgoing chairman Terence McAuliffe will be chosen by a vote of 477 committee members in February.