The fight between Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel over how the Democratic National Committee should be spending its money demonstrates the difficulties facing the Democrats as they try to restore the party to power.
Both men have valid arguments. Howard Dean is spending money in all 50 states in a long-term strategy to rebuild the party from the ground up. This strategy makes sense, and he should stick to his guns.
On the other hand, Rahm Emanuel sees the huge opportunity this fall to retake the House and Senate. He wants Dean to conserve resources so they can weather the inevitable GOP onslaught in tight House races. Emanuel doesn’t want to lose this opportunity. He’s also correct.
Unfortunately, even with solid fundraising, there’s only so much money to go around. Emanuel will probably lose this argument.
That said, the Washington Post article points out the Emanuel’s House committee has roughly the same amount of cash on hand as their GOP counterpart, and Chuck Shumer’s Senate committee actually has more money than their GOP counterpart (run by the hopelessly incompetent Elizabeth Dole).
On a more humorous note, the Post article is worth reading just for its description of Emanuel:
Emanuel, a recreational ballet dancer with the vocabulary of a longshoreman, has for 15 years fashioned a reputation as one of Washington’s most aggressive figures — first as an operative on Capitol Hill and in the Clinton White House, and after 2002 as a representative from Chicago.
Priceless.
