Democratic Musical Chairs

I just read on Kos that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada beat Send Dodd (CT) and Durbin (IL) to the punch and will now be Minority Leader in place of Daschle.

I don't think people like Marcos are happy, they wanted a true blue Democrat from a blue state like Durbin to be it, feeling that Daschle had to compromise too much because he was from a Red State.

That may well be true, but Reid is from a Purple state. I feel that even though NV wasn't as close as Democrats had hoped and they didn't win NV 03, it is still better to have a moderate from the West as their Leader. If it had been a Durbin or, even worse, a Clinton or a Kennedy, GOPers could paint Democrats running in close races in red states as liberals and tar them with the liberal brush.

Reid is a moderate to liberal Mormon Democrat. I couldn't be happier with the choice. He will keep nuclear waste out of my state and his, he will block nuclear testing, he will understand water issues and forest issues and public land issues that Eastern Democrats have no clue about. Plus, it shows the LDS, hopefully in my state, that you can be a good mormon and be a Democrat, like the late Congressman Wayne Owens.

I don't think it is fair to take down the heads of the campaign committees for the house and senate for the debacle, they did the best they could under the circumstances. There was some bad recruiting for the House, but it was pretty solid mostly. Some of these good recruits failed to produce and campaign properly (like in the Renzi race) others did the best they could (like Carson).

I think though that it is fair to take down the DNC chair. Terry was a good fundraiser but a terrible public speaker and has presided over a series of embarressing losses in 2002 and 2004. I agree with Kos that Howard Dean would be a great choice. However, HoDean will probabbly say no, because he wants to run for president again (However, I don't think the magic will be there like last time Howard).

So if Dean won't take the job, I say give it to poor old Gore. Gore might want to try for 2008, but I doubt democrats will give him much support, even if he is a MoveOn Democrat now. Gore has nothing to do but make angry speeches these days so I think being DNC chair would be really helpful for him. He could always resign in time to run for president.

So who's in and out for 2008 on the Democratic side? I know it is a long ways away, but let's ponder. I will do an IN and OUT, Gore is in both for reasons stated above.

IN

Dean
Gore*
Hillary
Edwards
Clark
Richardson
Obama
Warner

OUT

Kerry
Lieberman
Gephardt
Sharpton
Vilsack
Kucinich
Mosley-Braun
Gore*
Graham

Post a comment if you think I have omitted anyone or added anyone who shouldn't be there.