The Democratic Party is about to get a new leader with a spine.

A year later, Dean fits leadership role

HOWARD DEAN is about to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee this month because he says convincingly he wants to be build a stronger national party, not try to lead the upcoming fights with President Bush over Social Security or the war in Iraq, or to enforce ideological orthodoxy. That means that Dean understands the difference between the role he is about to assume in national politics and the roles played by congressional officials like the Democrats' two minority leaders - Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. It also means that his successful candidacy underlines an important distinction that will become more apparent as the next presidential campaign nears.

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  thanks to DANGEROUSMETA!

How the weasels were routed

Earth to Jim, the election was fixed, it's just that you didn't fix it. Four men in a room couldn't fix this, unless they planned to raise money on their own. Let's not be coy about this: Howard Dean can raise millions with an e-mail. No one else could. If they had stuck Tim Roemer in there, the party would have been defunded. That internet money isn't free money from the gulliable. They have their demands as well, and that means a party which fights and stops trying to appease people who want to make us irrelevant. The greatest failure of the Dems is that lack of fighting spirit. We've conceded so much ground to he GOP that the retreat has to stop, and Howard Dean is the place to start. The GOP should hate the DNC chairman, they should see him as a major pain in the ass, not someone who sits quietly and begs. They think the Dems made a mistake with Dean. Well, a lot of people thought Grant was a useless drunk in 1863. They didn't think that at Appomattox Court House.

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