How's Dean Doing?

Editor's Note: Howard Dean's first 100 days as chair of the Democratic National Committee recently passed. Marty Kaplan, host of the Air America Radio show What Else is News?, ran a two-hour special taking a look at Dean's performance as party chair and the issues Dean and the DNC will face in coming elections.

Kaplan spoke with Democratic party organizer Tom Cosgrove, In These Times author Chris Hayes, Antonio Gonzalez of the Velasquez Institute, and Emily's List founder Ellen Malcolm. What follows is a transcript from segments of Kaplan's show.

Marty Kaplan: A few weeks ago, Tom Cosgrove wrote a letter to Howard Dean... which goes on to say that the Democrats should bring back their mid-term convention, which the Democrats discontinued in 1982: "Define the agenda of this convention, now, as having a debate about ideas -- for the United States, at home and abroad. Set up a process focused on getting ideas, collecting data that determine whether these ideas are good or bad, and invite people from all ranks of the Party, to debate those ideas as participants."

Eventually, Tom got a response from Dr. Dean: "Dear Tom, You kind letter means a lot to me. Thanks for your kind words of congratulations. We're very committed to reaching out to voters across the country, and certainly will consider lots of ideas to accomplish our goals. I do appreciate your suggestions, and am grateful for your support, and I'm looking for the challenges that lie ahead, and I hope that we can all look forward to a great convention in... 2008."

Tom, I've worked in offices that you have. That sounds like robo #6 that got to you.  

Tom Cosgrove: It's either a robo of #6 or a merger of #6 and #7, I'm not sure which.

Kaplan: Do you think that someone was asleep at the switch, or do you think that Dean was so overwhelmed that the best they can do is send blanket acknowledgement?

Cosgrove: I'm not trying to imagine what's goes on inside the DNC these days... I do know that the idea got a tremendous reaction from people all across the country. I've had members of Congress — both current and former — who like it, party leaders, party fundraisers. And it's been joined by people like Walter Kronkite, who summed up the meat of it. I took two pages, he took two sentences. He said that the Democratic Party needs to organize a convention this year to debate and resolve a platform that would provide the confused electorate some of what the party stands for — a regretfully missing ingredient in the politics of the moment.

Kaplan: Let me ask you about previous mid-term conventions that the Democratic Party has held. In 1982 the mid-term convention turned out to be a cattle show for all the prospective Democratic [presidential] nominees, and the reporting about it was not about who had the best ideas, but who had the best applause lines. How do we avoid the fratricide, and the entertainment-icide?

Cosgrove: I think you raise a good point. But to be fair, the headlines, if you search, were all about Reagan, and what was wrong with Reaganomics, and in November of that year, we went back and won a record number of House and Senate seats. So the idea that the '82 convention hurt the party, which was the premise behind those who killed the mid-term convention post-1984, I think was wrong.  

Kaplan with Chris Hayes:

Kaplan: Howard Dean is a big fan of retail politics. Have you seen any signs that the DNC is moving to organizing around [issues of personal debt, health care coverage, and the living wage?]

Chris Hayes: Yes, Dean's candidacy changed him. It converted him to this belief in retail politics — I don't know if he started out that way. I've been talking to a few people associated with Dean at the DNC, and one of the things he's been talking about is hiring two organizers for every state party office; his big focus is to rebuild the state parties. I think people have in mind that there are people running around in these offices, but it's just not true.