Democratic Governors Want Outsider to Lead

[Tab]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic governors, determined to grab control of their party, said Thursday they will jointly support moderate candidates from outside Washington to lead the Democrats.

No sitting governor is interested in heading the Democratic National Committee, said the governors who gathered for the first major meeting of party officials since widespread Democratic losses in the presidential and congressional elections last month.

The Democratic governors said their party must move geographically from Washington and philosophically to the middle to attract moderate voters. That move starts with the party leadership, they said.

"This for us is our moment to push an agenda that in my view is centrist and that speaks to where most people are," said Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who added that the governors will be interviewing prospective candidates in the next few weeks.
More> http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2004/dec/02/120209992.html

[JI7]

1. seems like they are looking for someone from midwest or south

[quaoar]

2. It is definitely time

to pick someone who is not a Washington insider.

[RedEarth]

35. Yep....I agree

it sounds reasonable to me.

[mark414]

3. ""This for us is our moment to push an agenda that in my view is centrist"

yes, that's the idea. become more like republicans.

fucking idiots

edit to say that i do agree that it should not be a washington insider.

[mazzarro]

12. Everytime I read of another democratic notable suggesting the party

move more to the center, I cringe because it means that democratic leaders have still no gotten the message - we do NOT want to be more like the reThugs. The independents we so much clamored for in this recent election did not do us any more good than before.

[frank frankly]

4. Zell Miller is available.

Gotta move to the "middle", ya know!

PNAC-lite sounds perfect!

[Bread and Circus]

5. Dean. An outsider in many ways. And moderate. Gets My Vote.

[mzmolly]

18. Mine too!

:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Mine too, but I wonder how moderate they think he is.

[frank frankly]

23. sarcasm aside, i signed the petition for Dean.

i hope he gets it. we need someone like him badly.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. I agree...

Dean's the best thing that's happened to Democrats in a long time. I'm tired of feeling disenfranchised by my own party.

[Radical Activist]

6. I like the geography comment but

I wish people would get away from the simple-minded notion that being moderate is the only way to attract swing voters. We've been trying that for the last eight years and it isn't working. We used to win when we ran on economic issues. Clinton didn't run as a moderate in '92, he ran as an economic populist. Universal Health care, jobs, opposing NAFTA. It wasn't a moderate platform that put Dems in power.

[Julien Sorel]

8. Clinton supported NAFTA.

Continuing to pursue universal healthcare would have made him a one term president had he not ditched it and moved to the center -- for the zealots here that's to the right.

And Clinton sure as hell did run as a moderate. He was a "new kind of Democrat." For the death penalty, for lowering taxes, for businesses. How much revisionism can this place take before it implodes under the pressures of sheer fantasy?

[Radical Activist]

10. Not during the '92 campaign

Clinton said he would renegotiate NAFTA before signing it. He only changed his position after getting elected. Clinton *governed* as a moderate but he won in '92 by campaigning as an economic populist. Clinton proposed raising taxes on the wealthy (which he did) and cutting them for the middle class, which is very much an economic populist theme. What do you think "I feel your pain" was about if not economic populism in sentiment?

Refresh your memory before you make accusations of revisionism.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Radical Activist]

17. I just discredited everything you wrote

I guess it isn't worth the time if all you're going to do is forget what happened.

Clinton ran on:
Change v. More of the Same. That's a reform argument. Not, we're like Republicans, but not as bad.

It's the economy stupid: Economic populist themes and yes he did say he would include worker and environmental protections in NAFTA.

Don't forget healthcare. Democrats today are too afraid to campaign on Universal healthcare but it worked for Clinton.

You fail to recognize the difference between the Clinton who governed as a moderate and the Clinton who campaigned as a populist progressive.

If you can refute my arguments go for it, but you don't seem to have an argument.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

26. Dude, Clinton Ran as a Moderate

Sister Souljah ring any bells?

DTH

[AP]

29. But he definitely wasn't moderate on race as president. Furthermore,

Clinton was running against Tsongas, who didn't believe in Keynes (he believed that governments should not run deficits or surpluses, which, I'm sorry to say to Dean fans, is an extremely conservative policy, and is why Tsongas was known as very fiscally conservative), and against Jerry Brown who was for a flat tax, which is incredibly regressive and would have shifted a great deal of the tax burden to the middle class, which would ulitimately have driven Americans to the wealth poles, even if everyone paid the same tax rate.

Clinton may have run as a moderate on race and crime so that he could win a lot of states in the south (which he did), but to anyone with a little bit of understanding of policy and campaigns could have told you, he was probably the most liberal person running. Of course, that probably says more about the state of the party in '92 than it does about Clinton (flat taxers??? anti-keynesians???), but for anyone looking for change and progress, the choice was pretty obvious.

Ok, Harken was a great candidate. But after him, it was Clinton.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

33. The Beauty of Clinton Was That He Could RUN as a Moderate

He could SELL himself as a moderate, while slipping in progressive proposals. He was the ultimate stealth pol, skilled in the message while remaining true to our ideals.

DTH

[bvar22]

39. The BIG Dog could run as a NAZI...

...and still get elected.

[proudbluestater]

7. Sounds like an endorsement for DEAN!!! n/t

[Julien Sorel]

9. Except...

In their private meeting, Granholm said most of the governors agreed that they wanted to support a centrist who either "comes from or is comfortable in" a battleground or Republican-leaning state.

But why not? Dean was the pro-war anti-war candidate, the liberal savior who was a moderate, the "outsider" who assiduously pursued the endorsements of the insiders. Why can't he be from one of the bluest states, but from a red state, too?

[JNelson6563]

19. New name, same tired tune

*yawn*

[Forkboy]

34. Should have just changed the nic to HATEDEAN

on edit-the plus side is that everytime I see the word Sorel I think of Boss Hog from the Dukes of Hazzard :)

[Demeter]

36. Considering Vermont's Republican History

there is nothing that disqualifies Dean--except the fact that he (or Clinton) would be the best candidate for the job!

[Radical Activist]

21. They want someone who can appeal to the south and midwest

not another new england ivy league millionaire. They aren't talking about Dean.

[Khephra]

11. kick

[bullimiami]

14. the democratic party is leaving me

i am going to be so much further left as to be irreconcileable.

I guess Ill be going green.

[frank frankly]

16. before you leave for Canada or another "non-fucking-insane country"

here's a terrific idea for the DNC!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1406284

[Clarkie1]

15. Dean for DNC chair!

Wes Clark 08'!

[Goldeneye]

22. I'm pretty new to politics

and it surprises me how much control party leaders have. They decide where the party goes rather than the people. Isn't that backwards. I know they think they know whats best for the party, and sometimes I begin to think that they know more than I do, and I should trust them. But I don't want the party moving towards the center. What do we stand for, if we can so easily pick up and move the whole party right-ward?

[coreystone]

24. I shall repeat my agreement in choosing Dean. I watched ...

part of the news conference earlier today. We definitely need someone who hasn't a lot of "log" time in the "beltway"!

Dean for DNC Chairman!

From Vermont,

coreystone


:-)

[readmoreoften]

27. Okay, when they say MODERATE and outside DC

they don't mean DEAN who is considered a 'loony librul'. So let's not get too hopeful here.

When I hear them say 'move more to the center' what I hear is:

1) continue with pro-war.
2) as far as possible against choice w/o overturning roe v. wade. abstinence ed. bullshit will continue., parental consent forms, required counseling, no availability of morning after pills.
3) maybe even PRO marriage amendment, but gives some bullshit about being pro civil unions in concesssion... or advocates hate crime legislation.
4) pro gun (I'm alright w/ that personally, but that's just me)
5) pro faith based-funding.
6) stern religious father type maybe even.

working class issues will be addressed, he'll push for healthcare reform, talk about job creation, keeping social security.


And me? If this is what they're planning I won't vote for them.

They need to REFRAME THE ARGUMENT... not BE MORE LIKE THE OPPONENT.

But the most laughable thing is... who even knows if there will be a 2008 election (considering the 2004 was pretty much a big ol' sham)

[brentspeak]

28. So now some are turning on Granholm?

Talk about fair-weather friends. Isn't she someone who DOES know how to win?

[Gopens]

30. WTF? Move to the center?

The Democrats already ARE in the center. Democrats are hopelessly centrist. That's why they come across as so wishy-washy. Just because the Repukes say the far left has a stranglehold on the Democratic party doesn't mean it's true, but the Dems let Repugs define them everywhere they turn.

Name one far-left policy that Kerry supported. I'm sick of hearing about Democrats looking for moderates when they've been putting up moderate candidates for years now. Kerry? Moderate. Clinton? Moderate. Gore? Moderate. Dean? Moderate.Clark? Moderate.

Dems are more afraid of liberals than Republicans are. It's not like Bernie Sanders is the party's standard-bearer or anything (Yeah, I know he's and independent, but he's pretty much the definition of a liberal and perhaps what the Dems should be if they had any courage).

Sigh.

[AP]

32. Granholm is arguing that liberal is the center. She's saying the policies

the Democrats currently embrace (economic populism, maintaining the value of labor, progressive taxation, helping the middle class accumulate wealth) appeal to most people, and that most people are in the center, so Democrats are centrists.

She's right.

The current set of policies the Republicans embrace make life miserable for 99% of Americans.

[readmoreoften]

31. fair-weather friends?

Centrists have some right calling liberal democrats 'fair-weather friends'. We supported Clinton pretty enthusiastically.

Sorry. If this party goes to the right instead of doing work necessary to win which is reframing the terms of the debate... then I'm gone.

Go to the right and you lose the base next time, DNC.

[Demeter]

37. Granholm is Not a Good Choice

She's holding an important governorship, and struggling to clean up the mess that 12 years of GOP domination under John Engler and the DeVos/Amway zombies left. She's not making as much headway as we need, but that's because the economy is NOT improving, no matter how much debt Bush inflicts on us. ON the other hand, she has TREMENDOUS support in Michigan. Leave her here to build on that and pick someone currently "at leisure", with nationwide appeal.

[Toucano]

38. I just checked and it turns out I'M AN OUTSIDER!

I'll just sit here by the phone...


;)