WHO DESERVES THE CREDIT FOR TUESDAY'S VICTORIES?

For the last 3 days-- not to mention 3 months-- you've been hearing me tearing down Rahm Emanuel. I hope I've made the case that, despite the repetition in the spoon-fed media that Rahm is a genius and that Rahm won the war and that Rahm did this and Rahm did that, Emanuel is not only not responsible for winning the House-- except for FL-16 (and for the reactionary Heath Shuler's victory, two mixed bags for progressives anyway)-- he actually prevented us from winning many more seats. So if not Rahm, to whom do we owe thanks? Ah... glad you asked.

This was a grassroots victory that had little to do with the machinations of the near universally loathed Inside the Beltway establishment. MoveOn.org did far more than Rahm Emanuel. Activist blogs, big and small, from Daily Kos to FDL to SayNoToPombo did far more to insure victory than Rahm. Ned Lamont did far more than Rahm to bring about Democratic victories. The hard working men and women inside the DCCC who actually did the day to day grunt work for candidates did far more to bring about victories than Rahm. Wes Clark, Bill Clinton, Jack Murtha, Max Cleland and half a dozen other effective and tireless surrogates had a lot more to do with our victories than Rahm. Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder, Al Franken, even that loudmouthed knucklehead, Big someone or other from Fargo, had more to do with creating the atmosphere to win the 2006 battle for Congress than Rahm.

But the inspiration and the overall strategy that helped bring everything together and that was unrelenting in keeping people from falling for the pathetic, weak, careerist strategy that Rahm espoused and that would have insured Republican retention of both Houses of Congress? Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. It's a plan for a grassroots Democratic Party and it's the most feared and hated kind of citizen empowerment by strutting little bosses like Rahm.

Beyond the fact that Howard Dean raised more money for Democrats in a midterm election cycle than any other DNC Chair in history, it is his 50 state philosophy that won the day for Democrats in the House, the Senate, the state legislatures and the governors' races. Today's Salon features a piece by Joe Conason, Howard Dean, Vindicated, that lays it out beautifully.

Despite all the complaints and demands directed at him over the past 18 months, Dean stuck to his principles. He and his supporters in the netroots movement believed that their party needed to rebuild from the ground up in every state, including many where the party existed in name only. These Democrats prefer to think of their party as one of inclusion and unity. They openly disdain the divisive strategies of the Republicans who have so often used racial, regional and cultural differences to polarize voters.
And they believe that relying on opportunistic attempts to grab a few selected states or districts as usual -- rather than establishing a real presence across the country -- conceded a permanent structural advantage to the Republicans that would only grow more durable with each election cycle.
Breaking that advantage would be costly and difficult, as Dean well realized, but it had to be done someday, or the Democrats would fulfill Karl Rove's dream of becoming a permanent minority party -- or fading away altogether. Against the counsel of party professionals, whose long losing streak has done little to diminish their influence, the new chairman began the process of re-creating the Democratic Party in 2005. And contrary to the gossip and subsequent press reports, he succeeded in raising $51 million last year, about 20 percent more than in 2003 and a party record for an off year.

Dean's work with Virginia Democrats, scoffed at by establishment party hacks like From, Emanuel, and Carville has paid off handsomely-- with a Governor, a senator and, in fact, control of the U.S. Senate. "Equally significant," explains Conason, "was the spending on hundreds of organizers and communications specialists -- and their training -- in every state. In some places this meant taking the chains off locked, dusty offices that had seen no real activity in years; in others, it meant bailing the state party out of literal bankruptcy and convening meetings in counties where party activists had given up."

In Indiana, among the reddest states north of the Mason-Dixon line, the Democratic National Committee placed two field organizers and a new party communications director on the ground a year before the midterm elections. While that doesn't sound like a very impressive assault on a Republican stronghold, those few organizers created a party presence and started preparing for battle in vulnerable congressional districts. Suddenly the Republicans had to deal with ground opposition where traditionally they had faced no field operation at all -- not only in Indiana but in deep-red Idaho, Wyoming, Kentucky and Nebraska, too.
The Democrats didn't win in all those districts, of course, although they did enjoy several unexpected victories. What Dean and his organizers created, however, was an environment that allowed insurgents and outliers as well as the party's chosen challengers to ride the national wave of revulsion against conservative rule. That enterprise, in turn, surprised and overwhelmed the Republican capacity to respond. Faced with many more viable challenges than anticipated, the Republicans made mistakes in allocating resources -- and were forced to defend candidates in districts that are usually safe.

Yesterday's Adam Nagourney hackery in the New York Times about the greatness of soon ex-RNC head Republican closet case/robocall queen Ken Mehlman included a passing reference to Democratic throwback James Carville-- a guy who was useful 14-15 years ago to Bill Clinton and has since become just a loser and a pest married to some right wing operative. The Nag dredges Carville up in his piece because Carville called him, "unsolicited," to heap praise on the man who masterminded the theft of the New Hampshire Senate seat by John Sununu several years ago but who, unlike his lieutenants in the operation, was never prosecuted and is not in prison. "'The R.N.C. did a better job than the D.N.C. this year,'
Mr. Carville said, referring to the Democratic National Committee. He said Democrats succeeded because the party's House and Senate campaign committees compensated for what Mr. Carville described as the shortcomings of the Democratic National Committee, allowing the party to take advantage of a wave of voter resentment directed at Republicans."


UPDATE: THE WORST ELEMENTS IN THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT ARE ALREADY TRYING TO MAKE THEIR MOVE

If you want to know what the reactionary corporatists and their allies are thinking, all you have to do is turn to the New Republic. These pro-Big Business, anti-gassroots, Republican-lite scumbags are already calling for a Democratic Party civil war.

Some big name Democrats want to oust DNC Chairman Howard Dean, arguing that his stubborn commitment to the 50-state strategy and his stinginess with funds for House races cost the Democrats several pickup opportunities.
The candidate being floated to replace Dean? Harold Ford.
Says James Carville, one of the anti-Deaniacs, "Suppose Harold Ford became chairman of the DNC? How much more money do you think we could raise? Just think of the difference it could make in one day. Now probably Harold Ford wants to stay in Tennessee. I just appointed myself his campaign manager."