I'm getting worried about Dean's "50 State Strategy"

[derby378]

Not one single Democrat has stepped up to run for the Senate against either Richard Lugar in Indiana or Bill Nelson in Nebraska.

And then there's the Brown/Hackett primary debacle in Ohio, which needs no further elaboration here.

Meanwhile, grassroots Democrats are being pressured to drop their primary challenges to the "establishment" candidates.

Somewhere, I'm convinced that Howard Dean is nursing the mother of all headaches with an extra BC powder and looking wistfully on his days as Vermont's governor...

[tritsofme]

1. Great idea for Nebreska...

send a primary challenge to the only Democrat that can win the seat in that state...

That sure works toward our goals of taking back Congress...

[derby378]

2. I think a lot of DUers have had it with Nelson

Time for a change...

[tritsofme]

3. You can have a change.

From a senator that will caucus with the Democrats to a senator that will caucus with the Republicans.

Change is good I guess...

[cali]

4. You sure did pack a lot of misinformation

in one brief post

1) It's Ben Nelson, not Bill Nelson. He's a democrat in one of the reddest states in the country. Do you really want to put this Senate seat in the R column?

2) What does Dean have to do with the Hackett/Brown fiasco? In fact, what does that mess have to do with the 50 state strategy?

3) What grassroots candidates are being forced to drop out, other than Hackett?

[derby378]

5. Okay, so it's Ben instead of Bill...

I'll give you that.

As for grassroots candidates, Ned Lamont is challenging Joe Lieberman in CT, and Rick Chapman is challenging Bill Nelson in FL. (See? I knew there was a Bill Nelson in my fragile little mind...) Both are being pressured to drop out of the race and let the DINOs play on the Hill some more.

And you misread my post - I'm not blaming Dean for Brown/Hackett. But as he's head of the DNC, he has to deal with the resulting shitstorm.

[tritsofme]

9. The party apparatus should and will always favor an incumbent

in primaries.

Its nuts to think the party is going to start purging itself of incumbents.

[cali]

12. Ouick, what's the difference between

Nebraska and Connecticut? That's an easy one, isn't it. The former is an overwhelmingly repub state, and the latter is a strong dem state. There's an enormous difference between running a primary candidate in CT and running one in NE.

On another post, you stated that Nelson votes with the repubs more than the dems. Actually, that's not true, but even if he did, you're forgetting that if dems regain the majority in the Senate, he'll be voting for a dem for majority leader. Now that's a big deal.

C'mon, don't you think we should focus on beating repubs, rather than replacing dems that we deem DINOs?

[sui generis]

7. hey lady misinformation part deux

:P

Ben Nelson is as good as a republican already. It might serve us better to get a more moderate Republican in seat there than that jackass DINO who votes with the republicans anyway.

[sybylla]

6. Grassroots development of the "farm team" takes time

It will be an election or two before you see large numbers of candidates ready to take on the big tickets. The 50-state strategy is about helping lower order candidates for local regional and state offices as well as federal. The lower order candidates are the farm team for the big tickets and, as one of them myself this year, I'm quite comfortable speaking for what I presume is a majority of them when I say they need a little experience under their belt before taking on the challenge.

Your original post also makes the mistake of connecting the Dem Party and Howard Dean with the people who "pressured" grassroots candidates to drop challenges. That came from an established group of elected representatives in DC, not the Dem Party and I have yet to see anyone speaking on behalf of the Dem Party think it was the right thing to do.

I, too, feel for Howard Dean and the headache he must be nursing right now. But I'm still thrilled with his performance as chair of the party and truly believe he is the best person for the job in these times. If anyone can shame the "establishment" in DC to clean their act up in regards to grassroots challenges, he can.

[Plausible]

8. good candidates are hard to find?

seems like the problem is coming up with good candidates to challenge the thugs. Maybe the Dems at local and state levels need some new stragety for finding and promoting good candidates.

[Cocoa]

10. Dean looked fine on Face the Nation last week

didn't seem to have a headache, but thanks for worrying about his health...

http://democrats.org/a/2006/02/dean_on_face_th_1.php

[katinmn]

11. Agreed. Things are not looking very hopeful

The progressive candidates I support are being shunned or even worse - blasted - by the establishment Dems.

[msongs]

13. and what are you doing about it? nt

[katinmn]

14. I'm working on four campaigns and election reform

on a daily basis, both within my state and nationally.

Don't need to preach to me. The system is broken.

[madfloridian]

15. Jim Dean is talking about this issue on WPR right now.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/007519.html

Listen to Jim Dean on WPR
Jim Dean is on Wisconsin Public Radio today at 10:00a.m. CST.

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 10:00AM CST
WPR Ideas Network - with host Kathleen Dunn
Guest: Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America

You can listen online at: www.wpr.org. Click on the Ideas Network or Kathleen Dunn's show.