For Dean, it's the empowerment
By Bill Schneider
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Howard Dean went from being the hot new face of 2003 to the laughingstock of 2004. Now he is poised for a Democratic Party takeover in 2005.
This third act earns him the political Play of the Week.
One word captured the message of the Howard Dean campaign for president last year: Empowerment. Now he's conquered the Democratic National Committee. And his message is?
"You have the power."
The turning point in Dean's campaign for party chairman came on January 31, when state Democratic chairs endorsed Dean.
What impressed them was Dean's refusal to go on the defensive.
"Once Howard Dean lost the Iowa primary, there was no licking of wounds; there was no baying at the moon," says Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who has endorsed Dean. "There was, let's move to another stage now. We've got the right idea here."
What did Dean do?
"He formed Democracy for America, which took what was the foundation -- the Internet foundation -- and the enthusiasm, reaching out to the grassroots for his campaign and made it a national campaign," says Abercrombie.
Democracy for America brought resources to grassroots Democratic campaigns all over the country.
"If we can't elect people running for the city council and country commissioner and school board and state assembly, if we can't elect those people, then we're never gonna elect a president of the United States," Dean said.
Dean put together liberals, who have not been so totally shut out of power since the 1920s, and local Democratic activists, who feel disempowered by the DNC.
A coalition of the disempowered has powered the Dean comeback -- and helped him win the political Play of the Week.
The Dean takeover is a lot like the takeover of the Republican Party by conservative activists in the 1960s. Conservatives felt disempowered after 30 years in the wilderness.
In the short run, the Goldwater takeover looked like a disaster for the GOP. But in the long run, well, look at what happened.
