Am I nuts or is Terry McAuliffe the worst major party chairman in modern memory? The GOP won big time in the mid-term elections in 2002. In 2003 it won 2 big governorships and lost one to a pro-life, anti-affirmative action, pro-gun Democrat in Louisiana. McAuliffe’s orchestration of the primary schedule was supposed to establish early a strong candidate to run against Bush. One can certainly argue that that part’s succeeded — though we haven’t had a primary vote cast yet and it’s hardly clear that Dean’s anything like the best candidate for the general election. Regardless, the candidate the system has spit out is precisely the one McAuliffe doesn’t want. He’s the Clintons’ boy, after all. And if any of these rumors are to be believed, the Clintons do not want Dean to become president. Indeed, Dean’s already let it be known he wants McAuliffe and the Clintonistas out of DNC headquarters if he gets the nomination. But McAuliffe has stuck to his position that all Dem candidates must be allowed to debate which makes it almost impossible for an alternative to Dean to break out. Meanwhile, George Bush is cleaning the Dems’ clock when it comes to fundraising — and fundraising is the only thing even McAuliffe’s critics thought he was good at.
Oh, by the way, I’ve heard much worse than all of this from Democrats around town.