Monday 10 November 2008
by: Adam Nagourney, The New York Times
Howard Dean will step down as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)
Howard Dean will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, ending a tenure marked by an aggressive attempt to reshape the mission of the committee - and to court support by the so-called Netroots - but also marked by frequent quarrels with Democratic leaders over his abilities and the direction he was taking the party.
Mr. Dean's decision not to seek a second-term was expected after the victory of a Democrat, Barack Obama, in the presidential election last week. New presidents typically install their own leaders of their political party.
Beyond that, Mr. Dean's advisers said he had little interest in being party chairman with a Democratic president in the White House, if only because, historically, the power and visibility of a party chairman is substantially diminished in such circumstances, when much of the political power goes to the White House political director.
Mr. Dean's name is circulating in Washington circles as a possible member of Mr. Obama's cabinet, potentially as secretary of Health and Human Services. He is, by profession, a medical doctor, and as governor of Vermont, his tenure was marked an aggressive effort to expand the state's health care coverage.
Mr. Dean was a unusual chairman, defeating a slate of more established candidates, in no small part because of the broad support he enjoyed among the Netroots. Mr. Dean was a pioneer in appealing to this emerging constituency and the legacy of his otherwise unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign was his use of the Internet to organize and raise money; it provided a template upon which Mr. Obama built.
As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Dean pressed the party to expand its efforts and set up offices in all 50 states, arguing that the party was making a mistake in effectively ceding states to the Republican Party. That position led him into some famously pointed clashes with Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who at the time headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign, and who was angry that Mr. Dean was not sending money he had raised to help in Democratic efforts to take back Congress.
Mr. Emanuel was appointed by Mr. Obama last week as the White House chief of staff.
Mr. Dean also came under fire in this election cycle because the party lagged far behind the Republican National Committee in its effort to raise money to spend on the presidential campaign.
The legacy of the Democratic National Committee itself is hardly clear going forward. Mr. Obama effectively subsumed all the responsibilities in his campaign: fund-raising, voter turn-out and opposition research.
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