The roughly 240 members of the DNC will elect a new chair early next year. Several names are already being mentioned, including former Clinton aide Harold Ickes; Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign, and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

Seems to me that Dean would guarantee the continuing presence of a destructive anti-war voice as the center of the Democratic Party. Brazile's association with Gore makes me think she'd probably be more incompetent than McAulliffe, who's been an unmitigated disaster.

If I remember correctly, Vilsack threw in with Kerry in the primaries. At the time, Kerry appeared to be a moderate candidate. That could indicate that Vilsack might be the most moderate of the current crop of likelies. Although I know nothing else about him, so I could be completely wrong.

Ickes just makes me think of Monica's blue dress (ick). I don't remember his position with the Clintons, but it seemed like his name came up a lot in association with Clinton's worst side. On the other hand, if he's a Southern moderate, he might be a good choice to wrest control away from the whack jobs currently running the show.

On the third hand, after McAulliffe, who was Clinton's boy, drove the Party into the can, I'm thinking the Party might not be favorable to another of the 'nistas.

Based on the denial rhetoric coming from the Dems over the past week, I'm inclined to think a lot of them would be willing to jump off the Dean cliff. I'm hoping I'm wrong, and that this election was the first step in muting the shrill activists who've done serious damage to our efforts in the wars in Iraq and Afgahnistan over the past 2 years.

- served up by Nomad @ 4:45 PM