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http://newsmax.com/politics/dean_interview/2008/03/28/83674.html
Dean: Bickering Democrats May Hurt Party
Friday, March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democratic Party chief Howard Dean says Barack Obama, Hillary
Rodham Clinton and their supporters should beware of tearing each other
down, demoralizing the base and damaging the party's chances of winning the
White House in November.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Dean also said he hopes the
Democratic nominee will be determined shortly after the voting ends in June
and that he will encourage the superdelegates who will play a role to make
up their minds before the August convention in Denver.
Dean said the charges and countercharges between Clinton and Obama have
gotten too personal at times. He declined to say how they have crossed the
line, but he said he's made it clear privately when it has happened.
"You do not want to demoralize the base of the Democratic Party by having
the Democrats attack each other," he said Thursday during the interview in
his office at Democratic National Committee headquarters. "Let the media and
the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry
on, fulminate at the mouth. The supporters should keep their mouths shut
about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential
victory of a Democrat."
Superdelegates _ the nearly 800 party and elected officials who can support
whomever they choose at the convention, regardless of what happens in the
primaries _ should make up their minds before August to avoid a fight at the
convention, Dean said.
"There is no point in waiting," he said. The Democratic political
organization "is as good or better as the Republicans', and we haven't been
able to say that for about 30 years. But that all doesn't make any
difference if people are really disenchanted or demoralized by a convention
that's really ugly and nasty."
Dean commented during a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview about his
leadership during a nominating season that has lasted longer than most
expected and that has left the party with some tough issues to resolve.
Among them:
_ Florida and Michigan Democrats brazenly violated party rules by holding
primaries ahead of schedule and lost their delegates to the convention as
punishment. Both states are now demanding that they not be shut out of the
decision-making process because of it.
_ Since neither Clinton nor Obama are likely to secure the nomination with
just the delegates won in the primaries and caucuses, the nominee will
probably be determined by the superdelegates. That has some activists
objecting that insiders could overturn the will of the voters.
_ Dean has raised record amounts of money _ the $51.5 million the DNC
brought in in 2007 was a record for a non-election year. And he's spent it,
too, on trying to build organizations in the 50 states. Campaign finance
reports this month show the party with $4.5 million after accounting for
debt, compared with $25 million for the Republican National Committee _ and
the Democrats have no nominee to help replenish the coffers.
_ Not to mention that Clinton's and Obama's campaigns spend every day trying
to tear each other down _ and are unlikely to stop anytime soon _ while Sen.
John McCain of Arizona, the certain Republican nominee, is busy preparing
for the general election. Even Dean said he doesn't expect the campaign to
end until the last nominating contest is held in June.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont and 2004 presidential candidate, said
he knows his critics say he should take a bigger leadership role in
resolving some of these disputes. But he said that's not his role. Rather,
he thinks of himself as a referee who enforces the rules in a close
basketball game.
"Somebody is going to lose," Dean said. "My job is to make sure the person
who loses feels like they have been treated fairly so that their supporters
will support the winner."
Dean said the massive numbers of people showing up to participate in
Democratic nominating contests across the country gives him encouragement
that the eventual nominee will be well positioned to win the White House.
He said it is good for the candidates to debate controversies like the
incendiary sermons by Obama's pastor and Clinton's different accounts of
danger on a trip to Bosnia as first lady. If Democrats didn't deal with them
now, he said Republicans will surely make use of them in the fall.
Dean also reflected the concerns of many Democrats who worry about Obama and
Clinton tearing each other down.
"What I don't want to do is have the Democrats make a stupid mistake in
April and then be sorry they said that in October and end up with some more
right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court," he said.
Dean's supporters say he's working behind the scenes to resolve some of the
issues. He's been consulting with party stalwarts about how to wrap up the
nomination quickly after the voting ends in June, including former Vice
President Al Gore, former presidential candidate John Edwards, former Sen.
George Mitchell, former president Jimmy Carter, Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and
former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
"There'll be some nasty fights if it goes to convention, and people will
walk out," Dean said. "But I've also been talking to a fairly significant
number of, by and large, nonaligned people about how we might resolve this."
Dean wouldn't talk in detail about what the plan is, but it likely involves
encouraging superdelegates to pick a candidate shortly after the voting
ends. He said he will not encourage any delegate to vote one way or another.
"I am going to stand up for the rules, and I know I'm doing the right thing
most of the time because I've got both Clinton people and Obama people mad
at me," he said.
For instance, while Obama's campaign has been encouraging superdelegates to
support the candidate with the most pledged delegates _ which almost
certainly will be Obama _ Dean says the rules don't require that and
superdelegates are free to chose who they want.
On the other side, Clinton has been arguing lately that even pledged
delegates _ awarded to a candidate based on the outcome of state contests _
aren't bound to vote for that candidate at the convention. Dean called that
"a very technical argument."
"You aren't going to get pledged delegates to move unless something really
shocking happens," he said. And he thinks it unlikely the superdelegates
would support a candidate who did not have the most pledged delegates.
Dean also said the Michigan and Florida delegates will be seated at the
convention. But he won't force a resolution because he said there's nothing
the Obama and Clinton campaigns can support at this point.
"You bring both sides together and say, `Don't you think it's time that the
two campaigns made a deal on how we're going to do this?'" Dean said. "Let
me just say that the campaigns believe that kind of a deal is premature
right now."
Dean: Bickering Democrats May Hurt Party
Friday, March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democratic Party chief Howard Dean says Barack Obama, Hillary
Rodham Clinton and their supporters should beware of tearing each other
down, demoralizing the base and damaging the party's chances of winning the
White House in November.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Dean also said he hopes the
Democratic nominee will be determined shortly after the voting ends in June
and that he will encourage the superdelegates who will play a role to make
up their minds before the August convention in Denver.
Dean said the charges and countercharges between Clinton and Obama have
gotten too personal at times. He declined to say how they have crossed the
line, but he said he's made it clear privately when it has happened.
"You do not want to demoralize the base of the Democratic Party by having
the Democrats attack each other," he said Thursday during the interview in
his office at Democratic National Committee headquarters. "Let the media and
the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry
on, fulminate at the mouth. The supporters should keep their mouths shut
about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential
victory of a Democrat."
Superdelegates _ the nearly 800 party and elected officials who can support
whomever they choose at the convention, regardless of what happens in the
primaries _ should make up their minds before August to avoid a fight at the
convention, Dean said.
"There is no point in waiting," he said. The Democratic political
organization "is as good or better as the Republicans', and we haven't been
able to say that for about 30 years. But that all doesn't make any
difference if people are really disenchanted or demoralized by a convention
that's really ugly and nasty."
Dean commented during a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview about his
leadership during a nominating season that has lasted longer than most
expected and that has left the party with some tough issues to resolve.
Among them:
_ Florida and Michigan Democrats brazenly violated party rules by holding
primaries ahead of schedule and lost their delegates to the convention as
punishment. Both states are now demanding that they not be shut out of the
decision-making process because of it.
_ Since neither Clinton nor Obama are likely to secure the nomination with
just the delegates won in the primaries and caucuses, the nominee will
probably be determined by the superdelegates. That has some activists
objecting that insiders could overturn the will of the voters.
_ Dean has raised record amounts of money _ the $51.5 million the DNC
brought in in 2007 was a record for a non-election year. And he's spent it,
too, on trying to build organizations in the 50 states. Campaign finance
reports this month show the party with $4.5 million after accounting for
debt, compared with $25 million for the Republican National Committee _ and
the Democrats have no nominee to help replenish the coffers.
_ Not to mention that Clinton's and Obama's campaigns spend every day trying
to tear each other down _ and are unlikely to stop anytime soon _ while Sen.
John McCain of Arizona, the certain Republican nominee, is busy preparing
for the general election. Even Dean said he doesn't expect the campaign to
end until the last nominating contest is held in June.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont and 2004 presidential candidate, said
he knows his critics say he should take a bigger leadership role in
resolving some of these disputes. But he said that's not his role. Rather,
he thinks of himself as a referee who enforces the rules in a close
basketball game.
"Somebody is going to lose," Dean said. "My job is to make sure the person
who loses feels like they have been treated fairly so that their supporters
will support the winner."
Dean said the massive numbers of people showing up to participate in
Democratic nominating contests across the country gives him encouragement
that the eventual nominee will be well positioned to win the White House.
He said it is good for the candidates to debate controversies like the
incendiary sermons by Obama's pastor and Clinton's different accounts of
danger on a trip to Bosnia as first lady. If Democrats didn't deal with them
now, he said Republicans will surely make use of them in the fall.
Dean also reflected the concerns of many Democrats who worry about Obama and
Clinton tearing each other down.
"What I don't want to do is have the Democrats make a stupid mistake in
April and then be sorry they said that in October and end up with some more
right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court," he said.
Dean's supporters say he's working behind the scenes to resolve some of the
issues. He's been consulting with party stalwarts about how to wrap up the
nomination quickly after the voting ends in June, including former Vice
President Al Gore, former presidential candidate John Edwards, former Sen.
George Mitchell, former president Jimmy Carter, Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and
former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
"There'll be some nasty fights if it goes to convention, and people will
walk out," Dean said. "But I've also been talking to a fairly significant
number of, by and large, nonaligned people about how we might resolve this."
Dean wouldn't talk in detail about what the plan is, but it likely involves
encouraging superdelegates to pick a candidate shortly after the voting
ends. He said he will not encourage any delegate to vote one way or another.
"I am going to stand up for the rules, and I know I'm doing the right thing
most of the time because I've got both Clinton people and Obama people mad
at me," he said.
For instance, while Obama's campaign has been encouraging superdelegates to
support the candidate with the most pledged delegates _ which almost
certainly will be Obama _ Dean says the rules don't require that and
superdelegates are free to chose who they want.
On the other side, Clinton has been arguing lately that even pledged
delegates _ awarded to a candidate based on the outcome of state contests _
aren't bound to vote for that candidate at the convention. Dean called that
"a very technical argument."
"You aren't going to get pledged delegates to move unless something really
shocking happens," he said. And he thinks it unlikely the superdelegates
would support a candidate who did not have the most pledged delegates.
Dean also said the Michigan and Florida delegates will be seated at the
convention. But he won't force a resolution because he said there's nothing
the Obama and Clinton campaigns can support at this point.
"You bring both sides together and say, `Don't you think it's time that the
two campaigns made a deal on how we're going to do this?'" Dean said. "Let
me just say that the campaigns believe that kind of a deal is premature
right now."