The Dean

From Kos, a great piece from the Las Vegas Sun about Howard Dean and what he’s meant to the Democratic Party. Money graf(s):

“The Scream.” It’s still funny.

But here’s the thing: Dean was right.

His hypothesis was simple: To be a national political party, you have to compete everywhere. It was called the “50 state strategy,” and it was unveiled in 2005.

Remember 2005? That’s when Karl Rove was building a permanent Republican majority, and when President George W. Bush was going to save Social Security by privatizing it.
In 2005, Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, campaigned among grass-roots activists to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Campaigned to be head of the DNC? That’s an establishment job, hand-picked.

Howard Dean? What a loser.

But politics is all about a little prescience and a little luck. Dean had both. He had the wisdom to know Democrats could win in a lot of places if they bothered to show up and make an argument.

Howard Dean was the first person to get me off my ass. I had for years been an interested observer, but aside from talking up the cause to some co-workers and others, I’d done nothing. Along with Bob and a few friends, I went to a coupla Dean meet-ups in early ’04 ‘cause I liked what he had to say. “The Scream", which was widely and wildly misrepresented in the MSM, sunk his run for the presidency that year, but he knew what was what and has wisely and vigorously led this party to what might be the brink of retaking control of Washington. Obama may win this election, but I think the true credit goes to the good doctor from Vermont.