Dean to step down as chairman of the DNC

[partofme]

Anybody have any ideas as to who might take his place?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jrEkClUNTi-YFgdg9UD_X-N2MO-AD94C9K400

[Americano]

I don't think it'll be James Carville.

Here's the Post's guesses:

"Claire McCaskill: McCaskill's name was prominently mentioned in the HuffPo piece but according to sources close to her it is unlikely she would take the job. McCaskill was one of Obama's most prominent -- and effective -- surrogates during the primary season and is respected by the operative class for her political acumen.
Tim Kaine: Thanks to Virginia's inexplicable one-term limit on its governors, Kaine will be out of office at the start of 2010 and may be looking for a new gig. Kaine was one of three finalists to be Obama's vice president and is very close personally to the president-elect. But, does he want the job?
Kathleen Sebelius: Obama made no secret of his admiration for Sebelius during the primary and general election campaign. Sebelius will be term limited out of office in 2010 and might be interested in such a prominent national post. On the other hand, Sen. Sam Brownback (R) is widely expected to leave the Senate in 2010 to run for governor -- leaving an open seat in which Sebelius would almost certainly be considered a favorite.
Bill Richardson: Like Sebelius, Richardson will be term-limited out of his office in 2010 and is clearly interested in coming back to Washington as either a member of the Cabinet or perhaps chairman of the DNC. Richardson's Hispanic heritage could further aid Democrats' outreach to this critically important voting bloc and his political chops are unquestioned."


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/11/dean_to_step_down_as_dnc_chair.html


Richardson looks good to me. He'll get something big.

[partofme]

I think Bill Richardson would fit better there than secretary of state as some have suggested.

[Michael]

I'm very sorry to see Dean go. You have to give that man credit, he took the reigns of the DNC in 2005 when it was highly discredited and much hated or treated as irrelevant and managed to improve the organization and oversee two major election victories (2006 and 2008), both of which had a lot to do with Dean's 50-state organizing strategy as well as a highly successful (and high profile) Primary race. Very impressive record for Dean here.

As for new DNC chair, Richardson or Tim Kaine would both be a good fits for DNC chair - Dean already did most of the hard work of repairing a disfunctional institution.

It will be interesting to see if Dean has something else lined up soon... rumor has it that Dean wants to be Secretary of Health - that post is likely to be a high profile one for this administration if they move on the universal healthcare issue. Dean should get any post he wants after his highly successful terms as Governor of Vermont and now a highly successful term as chair of the DNC.

I'm not a big fan of either Richardson or Kerry for the SoS position. I don't have anything against either man, just that they don't interest me as one who can swing a deal with the M.E. mess. That takes either high charisma or lots of low-level nuts and bolts stuff (years of working ME diplomacy issues). Neither man has that. Holbrooke has the latter, Hagel the former. (of course, Bill Clinton has both...)