Howard Dean recently announced the Dean Dozen, twelve candidates for office that he urged people to support in this year’s elections. In looking at this list it’s clear he has no intention of departing the national scene in the near future. Why? Well, almost all of these people are running in safe Democratic districts. Therefore he seems particularly interested at this point in securing the election of intra-party allies who will shape the party in ways that match his interests. Now this approach will probably result in some criticism from those who think that Democrats should be aiming their fire on Republicans. But that criticism is somewhat short-sighted. In today’s gerrymandered-political world, there are few districts or states that are really competitive, and it’s primary elections that have real, substantive consequences (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating the point, but I think it’s generally valid).
Beyond that I’m thrilled with the two candidates for federal office he’s thrown his support behind (most of the candidates are running for state or local office) – Jeff Smith for Gephardt’s House seat and Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate. These are two of the most appealing candidates to run for Congress in the last several years. Obama should soon be presidential timber if he wins, and Smith seems to be smart, appealing and a hard worker. Plus, it would be nice to see a vigorous, progressive beat the old-school, pro-life state senator who is currently leading in that race in Missouri.
Posted by armand at May 19, 2004 02:25 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics