[johnny7]

Comforting to know there are plenty of Senior Editors out there just waiting Hillary's coronation.

[mewzilla]

I hope they hold their breath while they wait :)

[Pondman88]

So basically, if the economy tanks everything is hunky dory for the Dems. Allright, now that is a battle cry!!!

[USA4ME]

It didn't matter who the DNC chair was going to be. By desiring the job, the person seeking it already knew they were going to be a sock-puppet for the Clinton's. So, Screamin' Dean is the new sock-puppet. All these left-wing nuts interchangable.

[Billthedrill]

But if Iraq gets significantly worse, if a wider conflict, perhaps with Iran, erupts in the Middle East, and, most important of all, if the soaring federal deficit triggers a precipitous collapse of the dollar and flight of international central banks out of U.S. Treasury bonds, then having a focused, angry aggressive message is exactly what the Democrats will need in the campaign of 2006.

Good Lord, what is this, an open admission that what's bad for the United States is good for the Democrats? Didn't they learn from the last election that this just isn't a winning ticket?

I look at it another way - Hill wants someone in place to take the rap for an anticipated Dem debacle in 2006, after which she will be in a position to put her own people there without opposition. Dean's a sacrificial goat.

[jveritas]

Very pathetic.

Instead of looking at Howard Dean taking control of the DNC as huge defeat for the Clintons, now the political pundits are making it as something good for Hillary Clintons.

Make no mistake about, the Clintons wanted to put their man as chair of the DNC and failed? Why did they fail? because they do not have the power that many people think they have. They lost, period.

If you think Kerry was killed by his flip flops then you have seen nothing yet when Hillary Clinton try to move to the middle. The 2004 election taught us few very important things:

1. A majority of the American voters are smart enough to see fake, lies, and flip flops.

2. The DLM (defeated liberal media) cannot protect the democrat liberal candidates anymore. They will be exposed by the new media (radio talk shows, Internet, Foxnews, etc..). In case of Hillary the radio talk shows are already destroying any attempt she is planning to make to the so called middle and try to fool people. She is caught red handed.

[CyberAnt]

And .. Hillary doesn't need the DNC for fund raising. She has other options already available to her - and already in fund raising mode.

[GVnana]

Comforting to know there are plenty of Senior Editors out there just waiting Hillary's coronation.

Indeed. I think I'll wait for Michael Barone's assesment on this one.

[45Auto]

"But if the country should be plunged into crisis by 2006 and Dean's hard-charging approach restores the party to a power and credibility on Capitol Hill it has not known for 12 years, then Clinton, like another pragmatic and charismatic New York senator 40 years before, will move to the left and reposition herself with the anti-war left."

Lunacy, sheer lunacy.

[Don Corleone]

She has been doing that highly effectively.

Depends on your point of view I would say. In addition, history shows that Senators rarely get elected to the Presedency. With a few notable exceptions most of the presidents came from the ranks of governors or the executive branch.

[Nick Danger]

This is stupid. The guy totally ignores the high probability that Dean is positioning himself for his own run in 2008, and that him having the keys to the Democratic Party machinery in the meantime is not a good thing for Hillary Clinton. It's a good thing for Howard Dean.

Dean doesn't have to anything nearly as dramatic as re-capturing the House or the Senate in 2006 to be perceived as a winner. If he can just stanch the losses, he'll be considered a success. To gain one seat in either house would be a Great Victory with the way things have been going for Democrats lately.

By 2007, Dean will have the state chairmen in his pocket; he'll have the big donors in his Rolodex, and he'll have Hollywood asking "how high" when he says 'jump.' The "Democratic wing" of the Democratic Party will be screaming for him to run.

Dean is no idiot. If Hillary doesn't see that she is going to have to get past a very well organized and very well funded Howard Dean to get the nomination for herself, she's an idiot.