Yesterday’s news that Howard Dean is stepping aside as Democratic National Committee chairman to make way for an Obama loyalist means the screamer will enter into a new phase of his political career. Beloved by grassroots liberals for his failed 2004 presidential campaign, more seasoned Democratic hands take a dimmer view of his DNC tenure. Dean has gotten more credit for the 2006 and 2008 elections than he probably deserves. He heads the only major Democratic committee that was outraised by its Republican counterpart and didn’t have much to do with recruiting the candidates who helped the Democrats retake Congress — or with Barack Obama’s campaign to win back the White House.
