http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=385949
Daayum. Harold Ickes says "I don't want the DNC chair job, it's a demotion from my current seat as puppetmaster of the 527 organizations" and that puts Howard Dean as Terry McAuliffe's successor.Another Term For McAuliffe
Democrats Urge DNC Chair To Stay On
By Marc Ambinder
Top Democrats, including New York Sen. Charles Schumer, are working to convince current Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe to stay at his post for at least another twelve months as the party prepares for the 2006 midterm elections.
McAuliffe is due to give up the post in five weeks when his four-year term ends at the DNC's winter meeting in Washington, DC.
The Democrats trying to get him to extend his tour of duty fear that the large current crop of candidates for chair has not sufficiently inspired the 440-odd voting members of the national committee, and that a chair without a solid mandate would destabilize the party at the very moment when it most needs a steady hand. McAuliffe, they say, could build on his successes and incorporate many of the ideas being proposed by those who want to replace him.
Others worry that no current aspirant for the job has galvanized enough support to prevent former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean from being voted into the chairman's spot at the party meeting, a scenario that some in the party who find the former presidential candidate too polarizing. Dean gained a boost this week as Rep. John Murtha, a conservative House Democrat who supported the Iraq war resolution, wrote to Pennsylvania delegates urging that they select Dean for chair.
A Democrat who has discussed the term extension option with McAuliffe said "He's thinking about it, but I see no indication that anyone has moved him."
This Democrat and others said they would not speak on the record because the overtures to McAuliffe were made in confidence and they did not want to offend the candidates seeking to replace him.
Schumer, the new head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has been among the most vocal of those urging McAuliffe to stay, Democrats said.
"There are many good candidates for DNC Chair," Schumer told ABC News. "Terry McAuliffe has been a great chair and could continue to be one."
"He's flattered, but his only response for now consists of two words: Dorothy McAuliffe," said Jano Cabrera, the Democratic spokesman, referring to McAuliffe's wife and his family.
Under some scenarios, McAuliffe would stay in the post for another year, to prepare for the 2005 and 2006 elections and allow a stronger candidate to emerge.
"It would be great for the party, but I'm not sure it would be great for McAuliffe," said a party consultant who works closely with him. "He has the opportunity now to exit as probably the most popular and highly regarded chair in modern history. If he says, he would end having to own governor's races and the midterm, which might be circumstances beyond his control."
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the minority leader, is aware of the efforts to convince McAuliffe to stay, Democrats said, and has not put the kibosh on the idea. Some Democrats say Reid has tacitly encouraged the scenario were a frontrunner not to soon emerge.
Others who several Democratic sources said had asked McAuliffe to stay include former Nebraska Sen., Bob Kerrey, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the current minority leader. A spokesperson for Pelosi said the minority leader had not endorsed anyone, though she has spoken favorably about one candidate, former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer.
When Democratic Senators meet Wednesday at their party's policy luncheon, the subject of the chair's race and the potential for a contingency plan to retain McAuliffe is likely to be a topic of discussion. McAuliffe friend New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, is the featured speaker.
The two met over breakfast in Washington late last year to discuss the future of the party.
McAuliffe, a master fundraiser who began to rebuild the party's dilapidated technological infrastructure, had said he would not run for another two to four year term. For four years, he used his political savvy and personal charm to snuff out many of the party's intramural flashpoints and is well-liked. As chair, he directly appoints 75 members to at-large positions on the committee, ensuring him a loyal voting cadre.
But while almost every candidate to replace him has paid tribute to McAuliffe's legacy, many have said they want to reform the party around the strengths of a new leader, one who could build the party's get-out-the-vote capacity and to rebuild tattered state parties in places like Florida and Ohio. And critics note that McAuliffe ultimately did not lead Democrats to success in competitive elections, the bottom line measure for any successful chair.
Activists Democrats on the web, calling themselves the party's netroots, are the least kindly disposed to McAuliffe, blaming his tenure for the tilting the party's ideological heart away from its core and too close to its high-money donors. Many of these activists were original supporters of Dean's anti-war populism and believe that Dean possessed what McAuliffe could never buy, even with his fundraising prowess: a clear message that appealed to activists.
They blame McAuliffe, who pushed for a compressed nomination calendar, for creating the conditions that led to Dean's loss and the nomination of Sen. John Kerry, a man many of these activists believed was too close to the Washington establishment to reform it.
Bloggers like the Daily Kos have made ridding the party of McAuliffe a central political crusade.
Though Dean has been critical of the party in the past, his relationship with McAuliffe is not personally sour. "Governor Dean has said that Terry McAuliffe has left this party in great financial shape," said Laura Gross, Dean's spokeswoman." For once after the election, the party is not in debt.
Still, in the absence of a clear frontrunner, McAuliffe's name comes up in often wistful discussions of the party's future. The large crop of candidates includes , be it Dean, Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, organizer Donnie Fowler and New Democrat Network president Simon Rosenberg.
"It's very wide open among the existing contenders," said Harold Ickes, who had been considered a favorite for the post but who decided Monday not to seek the bid.
Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk told ABC News late Tuesday that he too would not run.
Other top Democrats, including allies of McAuliffe's, say they believe that a consensus candidate will emerge in the next forty days.
"It's time for the party to move forward with someone else," said Donna Brazile, a top operative and organizer. "Terry has made his mark and he'll be honored."
Many party leaders — including former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Clinton, Sen. Kerry, and former Vice President Al Gore — have watched the race from afar, but are not known to have settled on a favored candidate.
More active have been congressional leaders Reid and Pelosi, who remain officially neutral but have publicly urged Roemer to make the race.
The first of four regional candidate forums takes place in Atlanta on Saturday.
ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin contributed to this report.
"Please, PLEASE Mr. McAuliffe, STAY ON FOR A YEAR OR TWO!"
/shudder.
This is more vicious than releasing that live "yeeaaaarrrgghhh!" feed straight from his microphone during the primaries. With friends like that, who needs Republicans?
The Seattle Post Intelligencer has another version of the story here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/ ... 0McAuliffe
Thursday, January 6, 2005 · Last updated 2:04 p.m. PT
Senate Democrats regroup, work on strategy
By WILL LESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Senior Democrats are trying to persuade national Chairman Terry McAuliffe to continue as party chairman, especially if none of the current candidates gains momentum in the race to succeed him.
The job will be filled in February when the Democratic National Committee holds its winter meetings.
In a meeting Wednesday with several Democratic senators, McAuliffe against was asked to consider serving for an additional year or two, Democrats say. McAuliffe's response was not immediately known; he has been cool to such overtures in the past.
Among those reportedly at the session were Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.
"Terry McAuliffe has been a great chair and he could continue that," Schumer said Wednesday. "The bottom line is that Democrats have a lot of good candidates to lead us."
None of the early candidates for chairman has gained momentum. Some potential candidates - Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Democratic activist Harold Ickes and former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman - have dropped out.
The Association of State Democratic Chairs is seeking a full-time chairman who will work from the party's headquarters and pledge not to run for office during the four-year term. The state leaders also want the national party to coordinate all fund-raising efforts with the state parties and continue to develop an online base of small donors.
Democratic Party spokesman Jano Cabrera said McAuliffe appreciates the request to stay on but is concentrating on passing along an modern and debt-free national party to a new leader.
Possible successors include former Texas Rep. Martin Frost, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, Democratic strategist Donnie Fowler and Simon Rosenberg, head of the New Democrat Network.
Rosenberg, who announced his bid Thursday, highlighted his raising of millions of dollars for the centrist group and coordinating an ambitious Hispanic media campaign in 2004.
He urged Democrats to "imagine a party that is talking to America not just in English, but in Spanish - and sees the exurbs, the South and rural America not as places to run from, but as places in which to run and win."
Others who have been considering a bid include former presidential candidate Howard Dean, former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard and former Texas state chairwoman Molly Beth Malcolm.
Democratic governors are watching the contest closely and will send representatives to several regional Democratic meetings where candidates will make their pitch, including a session this weekend in Atlanta.
"Right now, the governors are interested in the concept of an outside-the-beltway candidate and we still have not coalesced around any one candidate," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, head of the Democratic Governors Association.
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