Dean confident he has lock on DNC chair

[Kire]

Dean confident he has lock on DNC chair
Sun Feb 6, 9:40 AM ET

Chicago Tribune
By Jeff Zeleny Washington Bureau

One year after voters rejected his presidential candidacy in a campaign that sought to rewrite traditional rules of politics, Howard Dean (news - web sites) is on the verge of taking the reins of the Democratic Party as it fights to regroup from a punishing year of defeat.

The former Vermont governor, a physician-turned-political firebrand, said Friday he has secured enough votes to be elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites). Though the move will not be ratified until the group votes in Washington next Saturday, rivals continued to drop out of the race, and Dean made plans to move into Democratic headquarters and begin plotting a strategy to rebuild the demoralized party.

"He has learned a lot from his experience running for president," said Linda Honold, the chairwoman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, who decided to support Dean over more than a half-dozen other candidates. "If he hadn't, that would have bothered me."

For Dean, the party chairmanship offers another chapter in an unlikely rise from small-state governor to leading presidential contender to fallen candidate. Along the way he became a Democratic phenomenon, gaining a devoted following through the Internet and in grass-roots political circles.

More: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=3&u=/chitribts/20050206/ts_chicagotrib/deanconfidenthehaslockondncchair

[elshiva]

1. Yes! Oh yes, please let it be so!