Carville And Greenberg Vs. Dean

by John Hawkins | November 16, 2006 11:11 am

From the New York Times[1]:

“So it was that Stan Greenberg, the Democratic pollster, and Mr. Carville used the forum of a Monitor Breakfast, a gathering of newsmakers and reporters, to say Mr. Dean wasted an opportunity to make historic gains by refusing to take resources out of his effort to build up parties in all 50 states and put them into Congressional races.

Mr. Greenberg said that Republicans held 14 seats by a single percentage point and that a small investment by Mr. Dean could have put Democrats into a commanding position for the rest of the decade.

“There was a missed opportunity here,” he said. “I’ve sat down with Republican pollsters to discuss this race: They believe we left 10 to 20 seats on the table.”

Mr. Carville, whose close ties to former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York have prompted speculation that he is attacking Mr. Dean on their behalf, said the Democratic National Committee had taken out a $10 million line of credit and used barely half of it.

“They left money on the table,” he said.

Asked whether Mr. Dean should step down, he responded, loudly, in the affirmative. “He should be held accountable,” Mr. Carville said.

In an interview later, he asked, “Do we want to go into ’08 with a C minus general at the D.N.C.?”

In the end, the biggest thing that the GOP had going for them in the miserable 2006 elections was Howard Dean. Because he was a little too extreme for a lot of Democrats, he probably cost them millions in fund raising to begin with. Then he frittered away countless millions of dollars on his ridiculous 50 state program. Then, to top it all off, he takes a line of credit and decides not to use all of it to help Democratic candidates. Did that lead to the Dems leaving, “10 to 20 seats on the table?” Yeah, it probably did.

So to tell you the truth, I think Carville is being way too generous in giving him a C minus because the Democrats won IN SPITE OF Howard Dean in 2006, not because of him. Fortunately for Republicans and unfortunately, because Dean is the darling of the netroots crowd and because the Dems won in 2006, he’ll probably escape the ax and still be around in 2008.

Endnotes:
  1. New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/us/politics/16dems.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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