Race Under Way for Parties' Top Slots
Tue Nov 9, 6:11 PM ET
story.news.yahoo.com Politics - AP
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Jockeying for the top job at the Democratic Party is
under way after Election Day losses, with former presidential hopeful
Howard Dean indicating an interest in the post while
other names are circulating. Republicans may reward a GOP operative
who helped engineer President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election.
With the presidential election over, both
parties are expected to pick new national
committee chiefs early next year, with the
Democrats replacing Terry McAuliffe and the
Republicans finding a successor to Ed
Gillespie.
For the GOP, the choice is easy: whomever
President Bush recommends. Republican
activists said a likely candidate is Ken
Mehlman, the former White House political
director who served as campaign manager
for the Bush-Cheney team.
Democrats face a much tougher challenge.
The next leader of the Democratic National
Committee (news - web sites) will be
responsible for rebuilding a party battered by
two straight presidential election losses,
finding a way to stanch the flow of voters
away from its ranks and picking up seats in
congressional elections in 2006.
Democrats agree the party needs an
aggressive activist to replace McAuliffe,
whose term is ending. But finding the party's
next leader could trigger another internal
battle about the future direction of the party,
which has now lost seven of the last 10
presidential elections and is the minority
party in both the House and the Senate.
"The most important thing we can do is get our message right," said Al
From, head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.
Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) met with Democratic leaders in
Congress on Tuesday - a week after his loss to Bush - and told them,
"We need to be unified and we have a very clear agenda. I'm going to be
fighting for that agenda with all my energy and all the passion that I
brought to the campaign." Kerry met with House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Dean, the former Vermont governor who waged an unsuccessful bid for
the Democratic nomination, told associates earlier this week that he is
considering running for the job. Although his own campaign fizzled,
Dean's Internet-fueled campaign and his willingness to take on the
president on the Iraq (news - web sites) war tapped into a deep anger
among many voters.
His activism would help energize the party's liberal base, but some
Democrats question whether he is the right person to broaden the party's
appeal to mainstream voters.
Also mentioned for the DNC post are Govs. Tom Vilsack of Iowa and
Mark Warner of Virginia, and former Gov. Roy Barnes of Georgia.
Harold Ickes, a New York lawyer who was a White House aide in the
Clinton administration and has close ties to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
(news - web sites), D-N.Y., has a large following, especially in the
Clinton wing of the party. Ickes is a passionate advocate and successful
fund-raiser, but his Clinton ties might work against him among
Democrats backing other candidates.
Other names being circulated: Inez Tenenbaum, South Carolina's
education superintendent and unsuccessful Senate candidate; and
Simon Rosenberg, founder and president of the centrist New Democrat
Network.
Of course, the party's real boss will be chosen in 2008 when a nominee
is selected. But the next party leader will be responsible for trying to
build support for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections.
Some Democratic activists would like a black party chief, such as
Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore (news - web sites)'s campaign in 2000;
former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and
former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.
It's a job that nobody at this point wants to say they are seeking.
Dean said he still hadn't made up his mind and Brazile said Tuesday, "I
haven't tossed my hat in the ring for that job. It should be somebody from
outside Washington. I'm not ready to take on that task, but I want to
help whoever will."
Among Hispanics, Antonio Villaraigosa, former speaker of the California
Assembly and now a Los Angeles city councilman, is getting some
attention.
Several party activists suggested Sen. John Edwards
(news - web sites) of North Carolina, the Democratic
vice presidential nominee who decided not to seek
another term in the Senate. Edwards seems like an
ideal choice: telegenic, son of the South and in need of
a platform if he's to launch a bid for the 2008
presidential nomination. However, Edwards'
representatives discouraged the notion.
Still to be decided is whether there should be a single
party chief to run the day-to-day operation and be the
party's public face, as McAuliffe has done, or whether
the job should be split between a chairman and chief
operating officer, a model also used in the past.
The tenure of the post also remains to be decided -
two years or four, with a possible promise not to seek
the presidency.
Although the job won't be filled until early February,
campaigning is expected to begin in earnest when
several preliminary meetings are held in December.
Among Republicans, Gillespie is widely admired and
has Bush's support, but he has indicated he does not
intend to serve another term.
Tom Rath, New Hampshire National Republican
committeeman, said, "there is no way we will not take
who the White House suggests."
Charles Black, a longtime GOP consultant, said the
new party chief "needs to focus on the races for '06,"
noting that historically the party holding the White
House loses seats in midterm elections.
___
Associated Press writer Will Lester contributed to this
report.
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