Whoops!

Reports giving credit to Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, for helping Democrats win control of the House and Senate, plus additional governorships and Legislatures have apparently been greatly exaggerated.

According to a story in today's New York Times, some top Democratic strategists are saying Dean ought to be fired because he is to blame for the party not winning even more seats in the House. The Dems won 29 seats (maybe more once all the reccounts are done) but longtime party stategist James Carville said they could have won 40 if Dean had worked closer with House and Senate leaders. To read the full story click here.

“He should be held accountable,” Carville said. “Do we want to go into ’08 with a C minus general at the D.N.C.?” Carville proposed that Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., who lost a close Senate race, should take Dean's place as head of the DNC.

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is also quoted iin the Times article as saying if the DNC had just spent a little more money, the party could have thumped the Rs even more. The DNC took out a $10M loan in the last stages of the campaign season, but spent only half of it.

“There was a missed opportunity here,” Greenberg said. “I’ve sat down with Republican pollsters to discuss this race: They believe we left 10 to 20 seats on the table.”

Don Fowler, a veteran party strategist, told the Times it was "nuts" that Greenberg and Carville are attacking Dean.

“Asking Dean to step down now, after last week, is equivalent to asking Eisenhower to resign after the Normandy invasion,” Fowler said. “It’s just nonsense."

Ya think?

-- Sam Hemingway