Howard Dean on the Democratic Party

At Dean's talk yesterday, he emphasized that the Democratic Party needed to start focusing on local elections. This means racing hard for city councils, state legislatures, and governorships. He noted that the majority of governors are Republican and that the Democrats need to fight hard for these seats in 2006. I think that this is terrific advice. First, the biggest problem the Democrats had in this past election was the lack of great candidates. In the past one hundred years, only two presidents have been elected directly from the Senate, and none have in the past forty years. Four out of our last five presidents were elected after last serving as governor. This is for good reason, the skills needed to be a successful Senator do not overlap nearly as well with becoming a successful President. The American people want someone who has a clear record of accomplishment. Also, governors can be far more moderate while still being principled, since if they are too far out their state will soon be in very bad shape. This is also terrific advice because it will help Democrats rebuild a vision for the future. The Democrats can point out a lot of problems but they are short on realistic solutions. By focusing on local matters perhaps they can get out of the rut of expecting the federal government to do everything. I thought a Dean presidency would have been a disaster for the country, but after hearing him speak I was impressed. With his views on what the Democratic party needs to do to succeed, I think he could make an excellent DNC Chairman.