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   Dean Reduced to Heading Web Grassroots, Analyst Says   
   By Randy Hall   
   CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor   
   June 30, 2006   
      
   (CNSNews.com) - The chairmen of national political parties usually serve as   
   major spokesmen on a wide variety of issues, but because of a series of   
   controversial remarks, current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard   
   Dean has been reduced to heading up Internet grassroots, a political analyst   
   told Cybercast News Service.   
      
   During a speech this week at a religious conference, even Dean appeared wary   
   of speaking for the party he chairs.   
      
   "I don't want to speak for the whole Democratic Party because every time I   
   do, I get in trouble, so I'll speak for myself," Dean said in Washington,   
   D.C., on Tuesday. During Dean's speech, he predicted that America was "about   
   to enter the '60s again." See Video   
      
   Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics,   
   said that such controversial comments have reduced Dean to being "the   
   'netroots' chairman of the DNC (Democratic National Committee); you know,   
   the blogging community and associated powers within the Democratic Party."   
      
   "Look, it's no secret that [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)   
   and [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have had their differences   
   with Dean," Sabato stated. "So have [Sen. Chuck] Schumer (D-N.Y.), the head   
   of the senatorial committee, and [Rep.] Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the head of   
   the congressional committee.   
      
   "Once you eliminate those groups, as well as the Senate Democratic Caucus or   
   the House Democratic Caucus, I think you're left with two things: the   
   netroots and some of the state parties," he added.   
      
   Sabato also referenced Dean's strategy for financing political campaigns.   
      
   "Remember where he's put the money," Sabato noted. "He's got this 50-state   
   plan, and he's determined to put Democratic resources in Mississippi and   
   Utah. Well, maybe one day they'll be voting Democratic for president. I'll   
   be dead then, but it may happen."   
      
   Paul Herrnson, director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship   
   at the University of Maryland, took a more clinical view of Dean's tenure at   
   the DNC.   
      
   "In a situation when the party does not control the White House, it's   
   unclear whether that person is the spokesman for the party," Herrnson said.   
      
   "Most people would look to the party leadership in the House and the Senate   
   first because those are elected officials in high-ranking positions that are   
   said to represent the party and were actually elected by voters and other   
   elected officials," he added.   
      
   "The party chairman is generally considered the major party functionary in   
   terms of collecting resources to conduct campaigns," Herrnson noted, stating   
   that Dean is "raising money and spending money to build up the party's   
   infrastructure and to prepare for the 2006 and later 2008 elections."   
      
   As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Dean's tenure at the DNC has   
   been marked by several verbal missteps.   
      
   On June 2, 2005, he alleged that Republicans offered a "dark, difficult and   
   dishonest vision" of America and that President George W. Bush had been the   
   "most ineffective" president in Dean's lifetime.   
      
   Several Democratic governors and members of Congress began denouncing Dean's   
   comments, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who responded to Dean's   
   statement that the GOP was "pretty much a white, Christian party" by   
   accusing the DNC chairman of using "religion to divide."   
      
   On Wednesday night, Obama was asked on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and   
   Colmes" whether he agreed with Dean's statement from Tuesday that Republican   
   governance had thrust America into a new "McCarthy era."   
      
   "I think that, as far as I can tell, nobody is being blacklisted," Obama   
   replied. However, the Illinois senator also appeared to rally to Dean's   
   side.   
      
   "There is a mood in the country where dissent is considered unpatriotic, and   
   I think that's a dangerous move," Obama said. "We can have vigorous   
   disagreements without assuming that, you know, the other side is somehow   
   venal or doesn't love their country, and I think that's probably what Howard   
   was trying to address."   
      
   Over the past several months, Dean has attempted to reach out to groups that   
   do not usually vote for Democrats, including religious conservatives. To   
   that end, the DNC chairman was interviewed on the Christian Broadcasting   
   Network's "700 Club" on May 10.   
      
   During that appearance, Dean erroneously stated that his party's platform   
   defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. The remark sparked   
   a "gay backlash" that led some homosexual activists to call for supporters   
   of same-sex marriage to funnel their money to sympathetic candidates and not   
   the DNC.   
      
   Sabato noted that Tuesday's appearance by Dean before the conference on the   
   "Covenant for a New America" was a further attempt by the DNC chairman to   
   reach the religious community with an eye toward the mid-term elections in   
   November and his own political future.   
      
   "If the Republicans actually end up holding their own or gaining seats,   
   there will be pressure for him to leave, no question about it," Sabato said.   
   "There'll be pressure for a whole bunch of people to leave, but it would   
   start with Dean."   
      
   Sabato asserted that the odds are in the Democrats' favor this year because   
   it marks the sixth year of George W. Bush's presidency.   
      
   "There's only been one sixth-year election since 1900 without gains by the   
   opposition party, usually substantial gains, and that was 1998 because of   
   two factors: backlash on impeachment and the fact that [President Bill]   
   Clinton and the Democrats had lost everything that wasn't nailed down in   
   1994," he said.   
      
   Either way, Dean's future is likely to be determined by the party's   
   presidential nominee in 2008, Sabato noted.   
      
   "Of course, it just depends on who that is and what his or her priorities   
   are," he said. "If that nominee wants to send a certain message about the   
   mainstreaming of the Democratic Party, then the nominee may well ask him to   
   leave.   
      
   "On the other hand, if that mainstream nominee is worried about the   
   alienation of the Left and their turnout in November, he may get to stay,"   
   Sabato added.   
      
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