[wideawake]

The party activists despised Terry McAuliffe - who was a skilled and productive fundraiser - for being a pandering centrist who lost elections.

Howard Dean not only loses elections, but he is also a nigh-incompetent fundraiser devoid of media savvy. He's a complete disaster.

However, he is ideologically pure.

[cchandler]

A fact that is often lost on the left is that McAuliffe and the DNC achieved all of their fundraising and GOTV goals during the 2002 & 2004 elections. To their surprise (and their defeat), Rove and the RNC just did better.