Posted on 03/04/2010 11:13:55 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
A lot of people see doom on the Democratic Party's horizon this fall. Respected political analyst Charlie Cook has even said he believes Republicans will recapture the House this year. But Howard Dean, the former governor who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee until last year, believes things might not be as bad as they seem.
"I think what you're going to see in the fall is not so much an anti-Democratic vote, I think you're going to see an anti-incumbent vote, and I think that's going to include Republicans," Dean said in an interview with Salon on Wednesday.
"There are two good signs for the Democrats: One is all this blowup happened 10 months before the election, not 10 weeks before the election. Two, the average American believes that better times are ahead. Those are two important indicators. Now, there are plenty of indicators that aren't so good, but I think a month is a huge lifetime in politics, so I think we're actually going to do a bit better than people are predicting."
One of the reasons Dean sees for hope has to do with the issue he's been most associated with over the past year, healthcare reform. The former DNC chair hasn't been wild about the way Democrats have gone about passing a bill so far, or about the legislation itself, but he's encouraged by what's been happening in recent days.
"Obviously I wish this had been done a while ago, but I really think it's terrific that the president brought the bill back. It's a high-risk strategy and it shows that he can exhibit some strength and leadership, so that's very, very important. And now we'll see what comes out of it."
Salon asked Dean how he'd handle the poltiics of using reconciliation to pass a bill, and the inevitable backlash from Republicans, if he were still heading up the DNC. He responded:
I think it should have been done last July, that would have made life a lot easier, but I'm glad it's being done and I think the president is right to call it a simple majority. Reconciliation is an arcane Washington term, and I think we want to talk about a simple majority. One of the things that's upsetting to the American electorate right now is nothing's getting done in Washington, and the primary reason nothing's getting done in Washington is because Republicans won't pass anything in the Senate ... I think the American people are really ready for somebody who's going to step up and say, "We're going to have majority rule here, we're not going to let these senators hold up things that are good for the country."
Dean also had some words of praise for his successors at the DNC and how they've handled the block that Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., had been putting on a bill to extend unemployment benefits. The DNC and other Democrats had been working hard to make political hay out of Bunning's obstructionism, and Dean says he thinks they did well.
"I think the DNC's doing a very good job and I think that this is a bad thing for the Republicans. You've got a senator [Bunning] who voted against the so-called Pay-go bill and then pretended it was a matter of deep principle and stuck it to hundreds of thousands of Americans who are unemployed or work for the federal government. I think that's a great opportunity and the DNC lost no time connecting that with the Republican attitude towards people in general, which is we'll do whatever it takes and hypocrisy is not a problem for us," the former governor said.
“2010 won’t be as bad for Dems as people think”
And screaming “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh” doesn’t hurt your chances to become president, either...
I think he’s right.
Plus aren’t some of the Dems with little chance no even running again. As dumb as people are, that allows the dems to come up with “New & Improved” guys in their place.
They can essentially run against their own legacy.
Howard who?
AKA Barney Rubble, Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhrrrggg!
yes and no
some retirements help the Dems (ie CT Senate race) but most hurt look at Indiana, North Dakota and Delaware. the GOP opponents in any race can run against Washington since the Dems control all three levers of power
though Dean is correct to a certain degree the Dems will fare worse than the GOP
I agree with that. Also, don’t forget all the ‘stimulus’ cash they’ll have to pass around.
doc is smoking the crack pipe again... FU howie.
LLS
LOL. Thank you for my laugh for the day— yes THAT Howard Dean...
:-)
“Dream on, Dream on, Dream until your dreams come truuuuuuuue”
Much worse for Democrats in November. A naked emperor with no coattails is in play on their side and while divisions between rinos and teapartiers are troublesome, proably not fatal to a Republican ascendency. And I figured all that out without Howard Dean’s help.
Ask John McCain how well that works out. I understand the concept, and there might be a few isolated cases where that's true, probably only in places where the GOP is just a total disaster. But on balance, this is going to be a bad year for Dems candidates, even if the incumbent Dem is retiring.
Dean needs to think outside the box and check the stats for guns and ammo sales for the past 2 years.
Is he living in 2010?
Right now the Pubs are in danger of losing no Senate seats - in fact the only ones they have any chance of losing (MO, OH, NH) are ones NOT being contested by incumbents. So if anything, isn’t that a pro-incumbent wave?
Now, to the Dem side...
Kennedy seat - gone (Coakley wasn’t an incumbent)
VP’s seat - gone
Majority Leader - gone
POTUS seat - could be gone
Dorgan - gone (if it was anti-incumbent, shouldn’t quitting have saved this seat for the Dum’s???)
Lincoln - gone
Specter - gone
etc...
The Dumocrats might do the unimagineable and lose all of the following Senate seats in the same year - President’s seat, Vice-President’s seat, Majority Leader’s seat, and the Kennedy’s seat. Mind-boggling.
Folks, this is anti-Dum.
Right....
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