This comes from Democracy for NYC, though I have seen similar things on Daily Kos and other blogs:

GOV. DEAN NOT GOV. BREDESEN FOR SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

President Obama is considering nominating Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee as HHS secretary. This would be a disaster for Medicaid according to information on his record from the Tennessee Justice Center.

Enthusiasm for the appointment of Gov. Howard Dean MD as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services is growing within and without Democracy for NYC and sister groups. Among the great arguments for his appointment are:

· Dean was the longest-serving Democratic governor in the country when he opted not to run for his 6th full term; he twice won more than 70% of the vote for re-election, which is the very definition of bipartisan

· He was elected chairman of the National Governors Association by a bipartisan group of 50 other members

· He reformed health care in his state to provide universal coverage for children and pregnant women, an achievement that leveraged his experience as a medical doctor and reflected his practical approach as a governor  read more »

The Times reports that Howard Dean is stepping down as DNC chair.

Howard Dean will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, ending a tenure marked by an aggressive attempt to reshape the mission of the committee – and to court support by the so-called Netroots - but also marked by frequent quarrels with Democratic leaders over his abilities and the direction he was taking the party.

Mr. Dean’s decision not to seek a second-term was expected after the victory of a Democrat, Barack Obama, in the presidential election last week. New presidents typically install their own leaders of their political party.

Whether or not this is a good or a a bad development depends on the governor's successor, obviously. Among the names being tossed around are David Plouffe and David Axelrod, who led Obama's campaign to a stunning victory. Whoever gets chosen, however, can't just be some D.C. placeholder. The job is too important for that.

When Howard Dean took the reins at the Democratic National Committee, he did so with a mandate to return the party to its members and to launch a Fifty State Strategy that competes for votes everywhere, in every state, every district, every precinct, every block. Ever since Dean's accession, the DNC has put enormous resources to work on this simple idea.

Today, this strategy makes its full debut in New York, with the release of what is probably the most advanced and most open voter contact tool ever built. The principle is simple: the DNC and NYSDC have put their voter file online, enabling every Democrat to print out walk lists in their immediate neighborhood and take charge of voter outreach themselves. It really doesn't get more grassroots, more people-powered than that.

What's really revolutionary is this: the feedback process built into this tool crowdsources the maintenance of this file to you, the voter. You now own the Democratic Party's voter outreach, not Washington (or, these days, Chicago), not Albany, not the party committees themselves. It's your party now.

In charge of the effort here in New York is one Dave Pollak, who is in my considered opinion probably the best person to have in this kind of a key position.

And where it gets really exciting is when you consider that this tool, built to get out the vote for Barack Obama, will be modified to enable you to also knock on doors for candidates further down the ballot. Given that we have four competitive House races and at least eight for the state Senate, you're looking at a way to channel the excitement for Senator Obama further down the ballot.

The size of our victory in November now rests on your shoulders, dear Democrat. Get out there.

I have been pushing two special elections, one in Ohio and one in Virginia. Both were in traditionally DEEP red districts. The very fact that we seemed to have a shot at EITHER of them was a big surprise.

What happened in the end was the Republicans held their own. They performed pretty much as expected in both districts easily winning both. But what did happen was the strength of the Democratic challenge forced them to fight harder than they ever had to for these two districts. They had to fight harder than ever to stay where they were.

In and of itself this would be meaningless. But as part of a broader strategy (an extension of Howard Dean's contest every district philosophy) the Democrats did something pretty smart. The DCCC has far more money these days than the NRCC. This is unusual. Generally the NRCC does far better at fundraising. But people are so fed up with Bush that the Republicans are having a really hard time fundraising while the Dems are doing great.  read more »

Howard Dean in many ways brought the Democratic Party back to life. Although others share in the 2005 and 2006 success stories, Howard Dean in 2004 recreated the Democratic grassroots and since then has forged an alliance between progressives and moderates that has been winning big. He did this not by creating a rival force to the Democratic Party the way Nader did. He created a force WITHIN the party that led him to the head of the DNC. And under him the Democratic Party, with help from Rahm, Pelosi and Schumer, among others, has prospered.  read more »