Yeeargagh!

Today is probably the first time champagne corks were popped simultaneously at the RNC and DNC headquarters, as the Democrats voted in their man, Howard Dean, as chairman of the DNC:

Howard Dean, whose high-flying presidential bid collapsed in disarray one year ago, won the post of Democratic chairman on Saturday and will take up the job of leading the party back from November’s election losses.
The former Vermont governor was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee by acclamation, replacing Terry McAuliffe.

The resurgence of Dean, an early and fierce critic of the Iraq war and President George W. Bush, comes three months after a presidential election that some Democrats saw as a signal the party needed a more moderate approach to broaden its appeal in the South and mountain states.

But Dean countered those concerns and wooed party leaders with promises to focus on state operations, energize the party’s grass roots and build an army of small donors similar to the one that supported his presidential bid.

Which proves once again that the surest way to get promoted within the Democratic party ranks is to lose an election in spectacular fashion. Really, though- can he do any worse than Terry McAwful?

Also, to the folks in the wingnut left realm of the blogosphere:

A majority, 56%, said major changes are needed in the party’s approach to winning elections. Six in 10 said persuading undecided and swing voters is the key to future victories, twice as many as those who picked mobilizing the base. And 52% said they’d rather see the party become more moderate, compared with 23% who said more liberal.

But given a choice between trying to defeat the GOP agenda and draw “clear distinctions” between the two parties or trying to find areas of compromise with Bush and the Republicans, the DNC members picked “clear distinctions,” 68%-24%.

That no-retreat sentiment was reflected last week when the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, decided to put new emphasis on same-sex marriage despite some indications that proposed bans on gay marriage drew conservatives to the polls in November and helped Democrats lose.

“The Marriage Project” will support state and local moves toward same-sex marriage. “It’s a reflection of the importance that we place on the issue,” says Seth Kilbourn, HRC vice president.

You gotta love these guys- over half (depending on the poll) of the population is against gay marriage, so they are going to make a ‘clear distincition’ between Democrats and Republicans by advancing an extremely liberal agenda item that pisses off close to 2/3 of the country. God bless them, for they haven’t learned a damn thing.