Dean To Step Down as DNC Chair
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who rose to national prominence during a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, clearing the way for a loyalist of President-elect Barack Obama to be named to the soon-to-be vacant post.
The news of Dean’s departure after a single four-year term in office was first reported by the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein and confirmed to The Fix by a Democratic Party source.
“At this point he has said that he doesn’t intend to run again,” said a DNC source granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He has said so publicly for a while. He has not said what he will do next.”
Dean’s tenure at the DNC has been marked by a sharp disconnect between the grassroots of the party and the operative class.
Grassroots — and netroots — activists, who propelled Dean’s presidential bid and then helped get him elected as chair of the party in early 2004, love the former Vermont governor and credit his chairmanship of the DNC with the rebirth of Democrats as a national party. (Dean’s pioneering accomplishment of his four years in office is the 50-state strategy, a plan that put staff and organizations on the ground in every state in the country.)
Dean was not as well received among members of the permanent political class in Washington, many of whom dismissed him as a lightweight — particularly on the fundraising front.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...