A job very well done, Governor Dean.

Here's to hoping Chairman Governor Doctor Dean will have a place in the Obama administration; we need his leadership and he deserves it.

Thanks Howard! You done us Vermonters proud.

Magnificent job, HD. A nation turns its grateful eyes to you.

No way, no how, no McCaskill!

If I had my druthers, she would shuffle off to head up the GAO and let Jay Nixon appoint Robin Carnahan to her seat so we will have a real Democrat in Harry Truman's old seat to run as an incumbent, and not that Blue Dog waste of skin.

I remember that Rahm Emmanuel and Carville HATED the idea of the 50-state strategy. Carville touted Harold Ford as Dean's replacement (!) Let's all hope Rahm and the DLC'ers can learn from their mistakes in judgement.

Like a wrote last week, make him Secretary of Health and Human Services.

I agree with Jeff II. He'd make a hell of a Secretary of Health and Human Services or even Surgeon General...

The liberal with any authority leaves the Democratic Party leadership.

One word:

YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Indeed, for all of Dean's detractors -- inside the Democratic Party and out -- the former governor leaves knowing that his strategy was vindicated, thanks to unambiguous election results.

Does he really? The 2006 cycle was more successful than this one in electing Dem Senators and Congresspersons, yet Emmanuel ally James Carville and others were loudly calling for Dean to be replaced because the 50-state strategy took too much money that could have been used for last-minute commercials. Emmanuel has been Dean's chief enemy for the last 4 years, and now he is COS and Dean is gone. The report over the weekend on DailyKos about 200 workers assigned to various states being laid off really makes me nervous. Yes, they could be replaced with Obama's people and the 50-state strategy could continue, or we could go back to the way Dems used to do it. We are talking about Democratic politicians here, always guaranteed to shoot themselves in the feet unnecessarily at the worst possible time. I don't trust Emmanuel.

The rest of the story: Dean's 50 state strategy was unpopular with the D.C. pols but the state Democratic parties and the grass root organizations rallied behind Dean and trumped D. C. It is true that Dean and Obama made good use of the Internet, but this should not obscure the fact that the state organizations were working steadily in the background.

That's an important part of the story and must not be overlooked. Dean energized the grassroots. Obama took Dean's grassroots organizations to the moon! YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.

Good. He did great, but I think to remain competitive, new eyes and ears with new ideas should be mandatory after each cycle. Just ask the guys on the other side of the isle how the same blueprint is working.

He's not going any where. He will active at some level doing something great if we should need some advise or someone to stir up the pot or to just fire up the republican base from time to time.

I would like to using his organizational skills to bring back one of our beleaguered agencies, like FEMA or DHS.

All the little duhs are finally figuring out the Big Duh

...the 50-state-strategy...
And that other earlier post: Err on the side of thinking big...

Golly Mister Wizard, maybe if we aim for the stars we might make it to Mars.
Ya think? Which is all to say: Thanks Doc for not being afraid to think big.

Now are we going to do the Grand Solar Plan or not?
Yeah, I know that is harder than going to the moon.
So?

I just hope they don't remove the 50-state strategy with him and revert to the narrow-minded siege mentality of the pre-Dean years. But I'm not getting my hopes too high; I've already read at least two articles where the credit for '06 and this year's wins was given to Emanuel, not to Dean.

And if they put a creepy-crawly DLC-er in his place, they can kiss my money -- little as it might have been -- goodbye, too. Screw 'em; I'll work on the local level, as I had before.

Where is David Plouffe in all this?

The 2006 cycle was more successful than this one in electing Dem Senators and Congresspersons

2006 meant picking a lot of low hanging fruit, especially with all the scandals and Katrina. This year had a lot of retirements, but mostly in pretty solid Red districts. No?

Word is, he's on the short list for HHS Secretary in the new Obama cabinet. Surgeon General wouldn't be bad, either. I remember back in 05 the howls of derisive laughter from the conservative punditocracy (and even some "liberal" douchebags like David Broder) when Dean was made chair of the DNC. Hewitt, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al., still running on premium cocky from the 04 election, were predicting 50 years in the wilderness for Democrats if they put this wacko leftist loon in charge. Turns out, 1. he wasn't wacko; 2. he wasn't some socialist leftist; 3. they can kiss his election sweepin' ass.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Howard Dean saved the Democratic Party from itself. Until he started running, the leading Democrats were falling over themselves to prove which one supported Bush's policies the most, after all he had 70+ percent approval. Pack of idiots showing zero leadership.

If it wasn't for Dean, 2004 would have looked a lot like 1972 or even 1984 in the electoral college.

If it was my job to offer, I would get Paul Hackett on the phone and beg as hard as I had to to get him to take it.

Personally, whatever else he is planning for the future, I hope Gov. Dean will return to Vermont long enough to campaign for a strong Democratic and/or Progressive Party candidate for Vermont in 2010. We really need some energy for the upcoming race. This year we definitely didn't have it - unless you count the Dems floating a joke candidate in order to keep the Progressive from winning as "energy."

Surgeon General Howard Dean?

What winner said. Dean got the party moving in the right direction back in 2003. Because of him, the party was ready for Obama and was prepositioned for the changing mood of the country.

I find this a good sign re the 50 state strategy: just moments ago I received a fundraising e-mail from the Obama campaign helping to retire the debt that DNC incurred at the last second to double down on increasing the margins in the House and Senate. The e-mail expressly notes

The Democratic National Committee poured all of its resources into building our successful 50-state field program. And they played a crucial role in helping Barack win in unlikely states like North Carolina and Indiana. We even picked up an electoral vote in Nebraska. . . The DNC began building a 50-state organization in 2005. The infrastructure they put in place over the last four years opened up a new batch of battleground states where a Democratic nominee hadn't been competitive for a generation. In the final few months, the DNC went above and beyond to expand our ground efforts and ensure victory.

If there is a Messiah in the Democratic party it is and will be Howard Dean. I hope he runs for something or gets a cabinet post. We need him in our politics.

And who put Howard Dean where he is? We did. The Netroots. Take a bow people, we just saved this planet.

Neither Leahy nor Sanders is particularly young. One or both will surely call it quits in the forseeable future. While being 1 of 100 in the Senate would likely be a bit tedious for someone who was Governor, who had a taste of a big time Pres campaign, and who was party chair, I can't imagine there is anyone better positioned or more qualified to fill either of those sets of large shoes. And it would keep him in the arena, giving voice and backbone to the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.

Thank you Governor Dean for a job well done, and hopes are that you will remain active in the Democratic Party.

If it was my job to offer, I would get Paul Hackett on the phone and beg as hard as I had to to get him to take it.

Paul Hackett, the guy who disparagingly and insultingly posted on Kos that Obama was "blowing" the Ohio campaign? That Paul Hackett?

hate to repeat a post but

as i tell mrs. dean
[she is also an md.]
every time i take
my mother there
please tell dr.dean
we are all very proud
of him and i mean
all of us

Something else to post to change.gov: Thanks to Dr. Dean (all praise be to his name), we're finally back on track again. Now don't let those DLCers screw it up!

I doubt Howard will run for office again, but HHS or Surgeon General? Two good ideas. I'd back him for Attorney General too, even if he's not a lawyer. There's a department that could use a good cleaning out Dean-style. Just imagine the YouTube clips.

Kos says the rumor is that Obama wants Tim Kaine for DNC chair.

My uncle, who lives in Salt Lake City -- a city that Barack Obama won, believe it or not -- was extremely impressed and encouraged that Governor Dean's commitment to the 50 State Strategy included offices and staff in the historically Most Conservative State in the Union. Based on the results from last week, Utah no longer holds that distinction.

I also have to say that the D.C. Villagers, when they gleefully pronounced Dean's political career over after he tried to energize his supporters with his "Mighty Yalp" in 2004, seem to be as poor at political prognostication as do the NeoCons.

Emanuel will insist Tammy Duckworth replace Dean.

I'd back him for Attorney General too, even if he's not a lawyer

Whaaaaaa...? Would you back a lawyer without a medical degree for surgeon general?

Emanuel will insist Tammy Duckworth replace Dean.

More to the point, Blago may want Duckworth for Obama's Senate seat. Not a good idea.

Seconding all the shout outs to the man who saved not just the Democratic Party, but the Democratic Party's soul. Once more with feeling: no Dean, no Obama. Repeat: no Dean, no Obama. No slight to President-elect Obama - he's the man with a plan who can. But the hard working, fearless, and largely invisible man who changed the very fabric of the Democratic Party, and American politics, is Howard Dean. Thanks, Howard. We Vermonters salute you.

I wasn't one of those scared. I thought his 50 state plan was excellent. Of course I was never in favor of ignoring any state that may not go Democratic anyway. You may not win the state in presidential but there may be times that it may matter (ex 2008). It will help with the local elections. And lastly it signals to the GOP that the party is engaging all-over, and not rolling over and playing dead.

Of course the next person needs to build on that and not look backward.