Is Tom Perez's election as DNC chair good news for Democrats?

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Probably mildly bad.

Keeping the Obama faction in power is likely going to lead to more money being spent on DC consulting firms and fewer dollars going to state parties and substantive, persuasion oriented field programs. The party will be marginally thinner come 2020 than it would have been under Keith.

Plus, as I brought up endlessly in the days leading up to the election, Perez has raised about $200,000 in his political life. I certainly hope he's a fast on-the-job learner.

That said, the fact that the outgoing President had 200 whole votes against his candidate has got to inflict a little humility on Perez and Co. I'd much rather the "Obama faction"* aligned with the Sanders faction against the Clinton/Bluedog faction within the party since a) that could reasonably be described as a "progressive" coalition and b) the Sanders faction is honestly the future of the party, and I don't just say that as a shameless Bernie hack. I really do wish that they had seen good sense and put us at the head of the coalition, though.

*I say Obama, Clinton and Sanders faction as a shorthand for loose ideological and social groupings of party officials, electeds, activists, and staffers. It's not like Obama, Clinton and Bernie are directly guiding any of this 100% of the time, and indeed the inheritor of the Clinton faction appears to be Schumer/Manchin more than anyone.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Plus, as I brought up endlessly in the days leading up to the election, Perez has raised about $200,000 in his political life. I certainly hope he's a fast on-the-job learner.

This is why I think bringing Ellison on as Deputy is significant. Perez and Ellison have a decent personal chemistry, and both invoked similar themes during the race, (build up state/local parties) so I have a hunch that the real reason why Perez was so quick to bring on Ellison was that Perez knows his inexperiences and wants help/input from his friend in those areas.

I could be overly optimistic, but that's exactly what I would do were I in Perez's position

Yeah. I'm a bit more pessimistic, especially since we've still seen no hint at Ellison's portfolio other than "he should be the face of the party!"

Like, and I realize this would be difficult, but if they could have worked out each other's hypothetical portfolio as "deputy"* this would smell a lot better to me.


*this operating off the widespread rumor that each had agreed to make each other the deputy if one won.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Plus, as I brought up endlessly in the days leading up to the election, Perez has raised about $200,000 in his political life. I certainly hope he's a fast on-the-job learner.

This is why I think bringing Ellison on as Deputy is significant. Perez and Ellison have a decent personal chemistry, and both invoked similar themes during the race, (build up state/local parties) so I have a hunch that the real reason why Perez was so quick to bring on Ellison was that Perez knows his inexperiences and wants help/input from his friend in those areas.

I could be overly optimistic, but that's exactly what I would do were I in Perez's position

Yeah. I'm a bit more pessimistic, especially since we've still seen no hint at Ellison's portfolio other than "he should be the face of the party!"

Like, and I realize this would be difficult, but if they could have worked out each other's hypothetical portfolio as "deputy"* this would smell a lot better to me.


*this operating off the widespread rumor that each had agreed to make each other the deputy if one won.

I'm willing to chalk that up to the idea of bringing the runner-up on as deputy was probably a bit last-minute. But even if Ellison has no official portfolio, he could still be influential. Biden had no official powers as VP and he was a major influence on the Obama presidency, for instance.

I'll be more than willing to eat my optimism if a hear or two passes and Perez is little different from DWS, but I highly doubt that'll happen.

Well actually, Biden seems like a pretty good model. Sure, he had little portfolio actually on paper, but it was widely understood from the beginning of the 2nd term that he would have pretty significant latitude on foreign policy. I am worried that there's been *nothing * so far even as detailed as that.