1/29/2004
The results of yesterday’s New Hampshire primary signals yet another win for Democrats, and a loss as well. In both Iowa and New Hampshire, voters signalled their understanding of what Republicans have known all along; Howard Dean cannot defeat George W Bush.
So voters in both states made an astoundingly rational choice, they went with a candidate whom they thought could win. Iowa was the first real signal from Democrats that Republicans may have a real fight on their hands in the upcoming presidential election. Kerry’s clear victory in New Hampshire reinforces that message.
But Democrats should not be entirely happy with these results. Clear victories for Kerry also serve as victories for the DNC establishment, and thats not all entirely to the good.
Had both Iowa and New Hampshire gone over to Dean, it would signalled the coming of a few positive changes for the DNC itself. The primary step forward for the DNC, of course, would be to replace Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
If Dean had won both states and had begun to apply pressure on DNC Chairman McAuliffe to step down, there would have been an interesting irony to the situation. After all, Dean has been using a campaign tactic championed by Mr. McAuliffe himself, “anger politics,” to critisize “Washington insiders” within his own party, not just President Bush.
Mr. McAuliffe, has consistently employed anger politics in his attempts to stir Democrats into a voting frenzy, but with mixed results. But now, along comes Howard Dean, a man who has mastered the art and who had reportedly planned to turned it against Mr. McAuliffe himself. If Dean had succeeded in ridding his party of Mr. McAuliffe’s influence, it could have been, depending on who took McAuliffe’s place, a huge step forward for the party.
Terry McAuliffe has been a disaster for the DNC. Though a highly effective fundraiser before taking the chairmanship, Democrats have struggled to compete with Republicans in fundraising during Mr. McAuliffes term of leadership at the DNC. Whats more, Mr. McAuliffe was not able to insure a presidential victory for his party in 2000 and was caught with this pants down (no pun intended) during the 2002 mid-term elections.
Had McAuliffe been the GOP Chairman, he’d be gone already. Not because the GOP is not loyal or consistent, rather, its because political parties bring leaders on board for one reason, to help win elections! If you can’t do that, then you don’t deserve the job.
So, had Dean been able to remove McAuliffe, it would have been a huge step in the right direction for the DNC. At the same time, Democrats’ choice of Kerry in both Iowa and New Hampshire is also a huge step in the right direction.
If they keep Kerry and lose McAuliffe, there might even be hope for them. I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out what happens next. Stay tuned!
David Flanagan
1 Comment
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