From Ashes of '04 Effort, Dean Reinvents Himself
By TODD S. PURDUM, The New York Times
WASHINGTON (Feb. 5) - A funny thing happened to Howard Dean on his way to becoming a losing footnote in the Democratic Party's past: he gained a winning foothold on its future. So there he was at Café Milano, Georgetown's power joint, buying a pounded veal paillard on Wednesday night for Terry McAuliffe, the man he is all but certain to succeed as party chairman next week.
"A lot of people came by the table to congratulate him," recalled Mr. McAuliffe, who said Dr. Dean had invited him to what became a three-hour dinner to discuss the party's operations. "And he said, 'No, no, not till the vote's over.' But I did tell him, 'You are about to become a human fire hydrant. You will get blamed for every loss. You will get zero credit for any win.' "
At first, almost nobody in the Democratic establishment wanted Dr. Dean as chairman - not senators, congressmen or governors, most of whom looked askance at his insurgent presidential candidacy last year and tried to field their own candidates for party chairman this winter. Only the people - more precisely, a critical mass of the 447 members of the national committee - liked Dr. Dean. They are generally liberal state and local grassroots activists eager for a party leadership that will take on President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress.
By Friday, Dr. Dean said he had rounded up more than 240 votes on the committee, after a dogged courtship of cold calls to committee members and networking with longtime supporters. Two rivals, Simon Rosenberg, the head of the centrist New Democrat Network, and Donnie Fowler Jr., a party operative from South Carolina dropped out on Friday. His remaining opponent, former Representative Timothy J. Roemer of Indiana, does not claim support that is more than in the double digits.
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