Editorial - Seattle Times - Why triple-talented Dean spells trouble for

[mandyky]

Republicans
By Reed Davis
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002185662_reed21.html

Some Republicans get Dean. "Reed Davis is an associate professor of political science at Seattle Pacific University. He ran for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate last year, and is a former chairman of the King County Republican Party."

<snip>
Well, maybe so, but that's not the secret to Dean's charisma or his recent DNC election. Dean's appeal doesn't lie primarily in the fact that he's a great speaker (although he is) but in the fact that he's a great listener.

Grass-roots activists in both parties have been so starved for attention and support during the past 20 years that they will flock to the first person who promises to listen and do what he can to support them.

And that, more than anything else, was the message that Dean took to the party faithful in his campaign for the party chairmanship: He's there for them, not for the insiders, not for the professionals, and certainly not for the consultants. Dean will be there for the hardworking activists who make up the rank and file.

Contrast this to the state of the Republican base right now. No less a figure than Rush Limbaugh is warning the president that he faces a mutiny if he and the Republican Congress don't control spending and protect the borders, the two top concerns of the GOP rank and file.

In fact, if Republican leadership fails here, the GOP will have bigger problems than Howard Dean.

Now more than ever, the Republican Party needs to toss its heavy-handed, top-down management style overboard and rejuvenate its grass-roots parties. Howard Dean already has.
</snip>

[rox63]

1. Is the Seattle Times a Repug-leaning paper?

Just wondering...

[GCP]

2. Not ususally, IMHO

This is an opinion piece by a republican.

[carpediem]

3. He's right

The GOP has put us in the one position they shouldn't want us in- one where we have nothing to lose. That is when someone like Dean can inspire the base to fight. I was nervous when I first heard he was going to run for chairman, I was afraid his reputation could hurt us. Now I realize that was wrong. By the time it matters, his scream will simply be a novel anecdote while his reputation as an energizing, listening to the base leader will have grown and replaced it. And with Reid, Boxer and others fighting back publicly against the lunacy of the GOP, as well, we have a good chance of beating the GOP not at their game, but by playing the game differently. Bottom up.