DNC Winter Meeting Digest: Debate Crack Down

The AP's Nedra Pickler reports on a secret meeting between DNC exec. dir Tom McMahon and the presidential campaigns of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Ex-Sen. John Edwards. They want the DNC to reign in the number of early debates. An adviser to a rival campaign called it a "cabal." Some allies of Sen. Joe Biden worried that the three secret meeters were trying to relegate the other campaigns to the second tier.

** Ex-Gov. Tom Vilsack has the snazziest booth at the meeting. The highlight is a popcorn machine, which is supposed to represent Iowa corn.

** The meeting started about 20 minutes late, and DNC chairman Howard Dean had to stall for a few more moments before Majority Leader Harry Reid arrived. Reid proceeded to talk for about 25 minutes. (Did you know that his mother did the wash for prostitutes in Searchlight?) Reid had kind words for Dean's 50 State Strategy, crediting it with building the Democratic Party in places like North Dakota and Idaho.

** Consider this meeting a valedictory of sorts for Howard Dean. Four years ago, presidential candidate Dean walked up to the podium and began, "What I want to know is..." and brought the house down. His last line: "I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." Today, Dean exulted that he is "proud to be a member of any wing of the Democratic Party. I am proud of what we have stand for, I am proud of what we accomplished, and I am proud of the American people.