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David Plouffe For Democratic Party Chief?

UPDATE: Marc Ambinder reports that Plouffe sent him an email saying he won't be taking the DNC chair. But Plouffe wouldn't say what he might be doing post-election.

Howard Dean is stepping down as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. This is no surprise; it's been known for months he would be departing after the election. The question is, who's next?

HuffingtonPost reports one possibility is that Dean will be replaced by a duo: Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who would be the talk-show face of the party, and an operative who would do the operating (perhaps Steve Hildebrand, who was deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama's presidential bid).

But shouldn't the DNC job go to David Plouffe?

As the manager of Obama's campaign, Plouffe steered the best-run presidential campaign in years. He put together an effective campaign structure. He efficiently matched man, message, money, and machine. Developing his own version of Dean's 50-state strategy, Plouffe expanded the electoral map for Democrats. In public, he projected an image of calm, confidence, and competence. His public spin was always tethered to reality. He came across a master mechanic who believed in the mission, not an ideologue or a grandstander. And he beat the toughest, most experienced operation in politics: the Clintons.

It's no put-down of McCaskill to suggest Plouffe. Naming her DNC chief--with or without a partner--would have symbolic value. And she was an effective advocate for Obama, especially when he was locked in a fierce battle with Senator Hillary Clinton, though Obama appears to have lost her home state by 6000 votes. Perhaps if McCaskill becomes DNC head, that would help Obama and Dems narrow that narrow gap next time.

But Job One of the new DNC chair is to win the 2010 congressional elections as a prelude to winning reelection for Barack Obama in 2012. The party doesn't need a visionary or public leader in the position. Obama can handle those tasks. (The party on the outs is the one that requires a posterboy or postergirl who is good on television.) The Democrats need an uber-operative who can simultaneously oversee scores of critical House and Senate races, supervise the early reelection effort, and chart out the overall mission of advancing the party's interests across the country. The next DNC chair should also know a thing or two about fundraising and be able to transform the party into the receptacle for all the grassroots energy and passion that poured into the Obama campaign. Who better than Plouffe to do all this?

Maybe he doesn't want the job. (His wife just gave birth to their second child.) And there have been far-fetched rumors that Plouffe, a Delaware native, could be appointed to fill Joe Biden's Senate seat. But Obama's victory is transformational in many ways, and one potential transformation could occur at the Democratic Party, with the party becoming something of a central command and midwife for a diverse array of Internet-enabled grassroots activity across the country in support of the Obama presidency and its policy initiatives. Making that happen would certainly increase the odds that the Obama presidency will be a successful one. Judging by the election results, Plouffe is someone who can turn a heady vision like that into an on-the-ground reality.

Photo from flickr user Barack Obama used under a Creative Commons license.

Comments

YAY!
Why, I just recommended David Plouffe for some OTHER thing, on some other website, just today!
So David Pouffe: as the fortune cookie says, "Many opportunties will come your way!"

Posted by: plaidsportcoat on 11/10/08 at 3:02 PM Respond

Great piece and well reasoned.

Assuming he wants it - it should go to Plouffe.

Posted by: capt on 11/10/08 at 3:20 PM Respond

Wow, what a stunningly perfect choice for DNC chief! This is about ensuring a positive, and cohesive unity--and he would be an exquisite choice. :-)

Posted by: Chaucea on 11/10/08 at 4:12 PM Respond

Unfortunately, David Plouffe is uneducated. He does not even have a Bachelor degree. Bad choice for any position. Good for Sarah Palin and those type of people. But we liberals expect somebody with at least one graduate degree. We do not respect uneducated people.

Posted by: Doc Holliday on 11/10/08 at 4:57 PM Respond

He would make a great choice for DNC chief..

I would also like to commend Howard Dean..I think he was the first one to use the internet for fundraising and competing in all 50 states.

Posted by: doober on 11/10/08 at 5:01 PM Respond

I disagree with Doc Holliday -- one does NOT have to PAY for a degree to become highly educated, on the contrary... Bill Gates is a perfect example.

Posted by: Scoppertop on 11/11/08 at 5:15 AM Respond

Plouffe is no Bill Gates.

Posted by: Doc Holliday on 11/11/08 at 1:49 PM Respond

Funny thing is that Palin went to what, 6 colleges, before she got her degree? Let's see how many degreed professional politicians could have run a campaign as tight, sweeping, and effective as Plouffe

Posted by: Eric Politzer on 11/11/08 at 5:57 PM Respond

Eric, persistency pays off(it was 5, not 6). She is a good example to all you college drop outs(aka losers) out there to go back to college and you too can be a VP candidate.

In 1982, she enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College but left after her first semester. She transferred to North Idaho community college, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major. From there, she transferred to the University of Idaho for two semesters. During this time Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant, then finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award. Afterwards, Palin attended the Matanuska-Susitna community college in Alaska for one term. The next year she returned to the University of Idaho where she spent three semesters completing her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.

Gov Palin accomplished more than Senator Clinton. Palin was a VP candidate, Senator Clinton got the goose egg from the President elect.

Posted by: Doc Holliday on 11/11/08 at 7:13 PM Respond

Doc Holliday and you Are not Doc Holliday. 5 Colleges didn't seem to make her any smarter. You have to use your brain no matter how small to learn and some people don't. All I can see is that she learned to use people to her advantage and you don't need a College Education to learn how to do that. Also you don't kneed a College Education to shoot MOOSE!
David Plouffe would be Great for Mr. Dean's place.

Posted by: BOO HOO on 11/12/08 at 1:14 PM Respond

Boo Hoo wrote: "Also you don't kneed a College Education". Boo Hoo you need to go back to school to be able to spell "need" instead of "kneed". You make my point. What a loser.

Posted by: Doc Holliday on 11/12/08 at 4:18 PM Respond

While I'm not sure whether or not Plouffe is the best one for the job, I don't agree with Doc Holliday's contention that you need to have completed a degree to be effective as DNC chairman. Personally, I would prefer a person with proven results to one with a good array of degrees, even if the former didn't take that last semester of classes at University of Delaware

Posted by: Meng Bomin on 11/12/08 at 8:11 PM Respond

So MR. Holliday You are calling me, a college drop out, a loser even though I own and run a highly successful small business. It turns out highly marketable skills pay off three times more than any bachelors degree. Why don't you click your heels three times and return to the New Republic. Go Plouffe

Posted by: Whootentown on 11/13/08 at 2:10 AM Respond

Didn't Bush Jr get a college edumacation? And he sure does come across as edumacated. That a large portion of society considers a piece of paper to be a get a job free card just reflects how lazy our society is. All to often, the only thing our institutions teach is how to think inside the box.

Posted by: shane adelman on 11/13/08 at 7:53 AM Respond

hey Doc,

In the real world you actually do have to knead a college education to make it pay off. Of course he did spell knead wrong.

A formal education is not worth a damn unless a person uses the skills acquired with it to continue learning after the fact.

You read overblown and verbose, I can only assume it is more pronounced in person.

Posted by: Jicky Narus on 11/13/08 at 11:16 AM Respond

As Karl and Tom Delay said, the democrats are the ones who didn't want regulation of the banks and things were woking fine until the democrats decided to mess things up. The REPUBLICANS were the ones who tried to save America. Sarah told the truth about Obama Hussein. He has not been up front about his connections with the muslim terrorists. Rush said that he might not even have been born here. Like all the other muslum marcsist fashists, he probably wants to take the gunrights out of the constitution.

Posted by: deane on 11/13/08 at 3:06 PM Respond

Oh dear god NO!! NOT David Plouffe! The D.N.C. needs someone able to identify more with EVERY demographic. David Plouffe is not that person. The D.N.C. needs to get back to being a bottom UP organization. I'm a little disgusted with a few of their actions over the last few years. In fact..since we have change now let's just get a whole NEW set of people in there with more of a vision to really address some issues they've been ignoring for years.

I worry about the D.N.C. Soros thing too. I lived in China for a while and his foot print in Asia is not a good thing. The Chinese call him "The Crocodile" because he smiles and gives on one hand while ruining things for the poor with the other.

I've got a lot of concerns with these considerations for head of the D.N.C. AND with who might be choosing them.

Posted by: Alice on 11/14/08 at 2:54 AM Respond