Howard Dean and Utah

Democrats’ Fifty-State Strategy Goes West

By Jonathan Weber, 6-20-06

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean has taken some heat for his "50-state strategy," which some Dems see as diverting resources away from competitive races to places where blue pols have no chance. And yes, Utah would be right at the top of the list of Democratic lost causes. But Dean isn't backing down, as evidenced by today's email to the party faithful with the subject line "Utah? Yes, Utah." The missive includes a letter from Utah state party chair Wayne Holland, Jr., who, not surprisingly, is more than a little excited about the 50-state strategy.

"A whole generation of Utahns have never seen a representative from the Democratic Party except on TV," writes Holland. "Democrats had become outsiders who do things to us, not insiders who do things for us. The 50-state strategy has turned that around." Holland goes on to say the the Utah party has had its "best candidate recruitment in over 15 years" - which in Utah means actually getting a Democratic candidate to show up for all the state legislative races. But lest people forget, Utah does have a Democratic Congressman (Jim Matheson) and a Democratic mayor of its largest city (Salt Lake City's Rocky Anderson), and the forces driving a blue resurgence in nearby Colorado and Montana are at least partially present in the Beehive State as well.

And it's hard to argue with Holland's objection that a "win for today" strategy "has left millions of Americans and vast areas of the country without a healthy political dialogue." We're all in favor of robust argument and competitive races, and thus we like Dean's approach - whether or not it's ultimately the most pragmatic thing for the Democrats.

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