Vilsack Declares Victory; Sullivan Predicts IA/NH Dem Defeats
We asked IA Gov. Tom Vilsack this morning whether he endorsed proposals by the DNC calendar commission to add caucus states between IA and New Hampshire.
As he dodged the question, he seemed to suggest that IA's cautious, private lobbying won out over NH's public campaign. We had also asked, as part of a preface, whether Vilsack regretted not speaking up in public about proposed calendar changes.
"There are two ways to operate this process. You can be public about it and you can be very private about it," he said. IA chose the former. "In fact, I talked with the chairman [Howard Dean] last night."
As for the proposals themselves, he had this to say: "[If you look at] comments from those who are watching this process, Iowa has done very good. Today, you will find that Iowa was number one at the beginning and will be number one at the end."
New Hampshire Dem Chair Kathy Sullivan just issued a statement, which reads, in full: "Frontloading the calendar with new caucuses would make the process narrower and less democratic, and it would be a huge
setback to Democrats' efforts to carry Iowa and New Hampshire
in the future."
"Specifically, starting the nomination calendar with a series of
caucuses - which sometimes have total turnout of less than 1%
of all voters -- would be an unprecedented shift of power away
from the grassroots and into the hands of the party establishment."
"Adding new caucuses ahead of New Hampshire would diminish the
unscripted, face-to-face grassroots campaigning that has been the
trademark of the first in the nation primary for generations."
"Finally, Iowa and New Hampshire are two of the closest swing states
in the country. Frankly, the national Democratic Party would be crazy
to try to strip key swing states of something that is so important to their heritage."
"By failing to find consensus, this commission has opened the door to a long, messy process that will damage key swing states, our national
party as a whole, and our next nominee. We know that Democrats will
not stand for any plan that takes power away from the grassroots, as
this does, and we look forward to working with the DNC and democratic
activists to reverse this mistake." [MARC AMBINDER]