Cecile Richards or Tom Perez for DNC Chair
by Robert Kuttner
The Democrats desperately need a new national party leader, technically the chair of the Democratic National Committee. The current national committee, elected at the last Democratic convention based on the relative strengths of the Clinton and Sanders forces, is narrowly divided, and close to deadlock.
Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, an early favorite after Sanders endorsed him, now appears to be at risk. Though Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democrats Senate leader, quickly jumped in and backed Ellison as part of Schumers repositioning as a progressive, there is pressure on Schumer and other early supporters to back off. For now, Schumer says he still supports Ellison, though there is furious backroom jockeying afoot.
Ellison, for his part, stands for the progressive ascendance in the grassroots Democratic Party. His blueprint for party activism reads like a progressive organizers dream.
One problem however, is that Ellison is a sitting Member of Congress. National party chair ought to be a fulltime job, a reality proven by the previous and ineffectual DNC chair, Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schulz.
http://prospect.org/article/cecile-richards-or-tom-perez-dnc-chair
________________________________
Kuttner's been an under utilized asset for a long time despite his copper bottom
record on left of center economics. Robert Reich and Paul Krugman grab all the
headlines.