Changing course: Reversing the organizational trajectory of the democratic party from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama

Forum

Volumn 6, Issue 2, 2008, Pages

  Galvin, Daniel J ^a  

^a NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Barack Obama; Bill Clinton; Democratic Party; Howard Dean; Organizational change; Party building; Political parties; Terry McAuliffe

Indexed keywords

EID: 48849098898     PISSN: None     EISSN: 15408884     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2202/1540-8884.1251     Document Type: Review

References (113)

1. Bill Bradley, "A Party Inverted," New York Times, 3/30/05;
2. Rick Albertson, "Bill Bradley's 'A Party Inverted' Revisited," 3/5/08, http://www.johnkerry.com/blog/2008/03/P10/.
3. Ibid. The notion that there is a tradeoff between charisma and structure - or, at least, that charisma and structure are not easily reconciled - finds deep roots in social science scholarship (Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (New York: Free Press, 1997);
4. Max Weber and S. N. Eisenstadt, Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968)).
5. th century as detrimental to the political parties (James W. Ceaser, Presidential Selection (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979);
6. Theodore Lowi, The Personal President (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985);
7. Jeffrey Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987)). Whether or not Bradley was attuned to these scholarly traditions when he penned his op-ed, his contribution was to observe that the two parties have not suffered in equal proportion from the allure of charismatic leadership.
8. Transcript, "The Big Story with John Gibson," Fox News Network, 3/28/08.
9. David Plouffe, "Obama for America" slides: http://obama.3cdn. net/277bb8792237d562f2_9gm6bnupn.pdf;
10. see also "Obama Camp Will Staff All 50 States," The Hill Online, 6/9/08;
11. Jim Rutenberg and Christopher Drew, "National Push by Obama on Ads and Turnout," The New York Times, 6/22/08.
12. Micah L. Sifry, "Obama's Organization, and the Future of American Politics," Personal Democracy Forum, 6/08/2008. http://www. techpresident.com/blog/entry/26265/ obama_s_organization_and_the_future_of_american_politics
13. Ibid.; and Serge Kovaleski, "Obama's Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself," The New York Times, 7/7/08.
14. Ben Smith, Obama's Aim: 14 Bush States and Local Races," Politico.com, 6/5/08.
15. Ari Berman, "The Dean Legacy," The Nation, 3/17/08;
16. Matt Bai, "The Inside Agitator," The New York Times, 10/1/06.
17. Formally, of course, there is no majority or minority party in the United States; read "ostensible" alongside "majority" and "minority."
18. "Six in Ten Democrats Confident of Victory in 2008," Gallup, 5/27/08, http://www.gallup.com/poll/107524/Six-Democrats- Confident-Victory-2008-Election.aspx.
19. Daniel Galvin, Presidential Party Building (Princeton University Press), forthcoming in 2009.
20. Kenneth A. Shepsle, "Losers in Politics (and How They Sometimes Become Winners): William Riker's Heresthetic," Perspectives on Politics 1, no. 2 (2003): 310.
21. Classic works examining the efforts of "out" parties to regain political competitiveness in two-party systems include Maurice Duverger, Political Parties, Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State (London: Wiley, 1954);
22. Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (New York: Harper, 1957);
23. E.E. Schattschneider, The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (Holt: Rinehart and Winston, 1960);
24. William H. Riker, The Theory of Political Coalitions (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962);
25. Robert A. Dahl, ed., Political Oppositions in Western Democracies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966);
26. Theodore Lowi, "Toward Functionalism in Political Science: The Case of Innovation in Party Systems," American Political Science Review 57, no. 3 (1963).
27. Contemporary works include: Philip A. Klinkner, The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994);
28. Martin Shefter, Political Parties and the State (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994);
29. Clyde P. Weed, The Nemesis of Reform: The Republican Party During the New Deal (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994);
30. Kenneth Finegold and Elaine K. Swift, "What Works? Competitive Strategies of Major Parties out of Power," British Journal of Political Science 31, no. 1 (2001).
31. Walter Dean Burnham, Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1970), 6, 27;
32. John Aldrich, Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
33. Aldrich, Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America, 283-287.
34. Everett Carll Ladd and Charles D. Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s, 2d ed. (New York: Norton, 1978), 23;
35. Theodore Lowi, "Party, Policy, and Constitution in America," in The American Party Systems: Stages of Political Development, ed. William Nisbet Chambers and Walter Dean Burnham (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), 264.
36. Ladd and Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System, 23.
37. This is demonstrated in Philip Klinkner's masterful study The Losing Parties (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).
38. This pattern is elaborated in my forthcoming Presidential Party Building (Princeton University Press).
39. Ceci Connolly, "Developing the Sales Pitch for the Overhaul Plan," Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 7/10/93;
40. Ceci Connolly, "DNC Aims to Approach Hill From Ground Up," Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 10/16/93;
41. James A. Barnes, "Politics: Double Identity," National Journal, 11/27/93.
42. Julie Kosterlitz, "Health: The Democratic Steamroller that Wasn't," National Journal, 5/14/94.
43. Ibid.
44. Bob Woodward, The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).
45. Bill Clinton, My Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 631.
46. Ibid., 632.
47. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 288.
48. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Donald Fowler, 6/14/07, Columbia, SC.
49. Edward Walsh, "State Democrats Retreat In Search of Answers," The Washington Post, 11/19/94.
50. Ibid.
51. Al From and Will Marshall, "Editorial," The New Democrat, January/February 1995, 5.
52. Dick Morris, Behind the Oval Office (New York: Random House, 1997), 34-41, 80-85;
53. Bill Clinton, My Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 660;
54. George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human: A Political Education (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1999), 334-6.
55. George C. Edwards III, "Campaigning Is Not Governing: Bill Clinton's Rhetorical Presidency," in The Clinton Legacy, ed. Colin Campbell and Bert A. Rockman (New York: Chatham House Publishers, 2000), 40-48.
56. Barnes, "Politics: States of Repair," National Journal, 9/16/95.
57. The story of Clinton's 1996 campaign strategy is now well-known. See, for example, Alison Mitchell, "The Fund Machine: A Special Report," The New York Times, 12/27/96;
58. Bob Woodward, The Choice (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996);
59. Morris, Behind the Oval Office.
60. Personal Interview with former White House Political Director Craig Smith, 6/25/07, Washington, D.C.
61. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Donald Fowler, 6/14/07, Columbia, SC.
62. Public Papers of President Clinton, "Remarks to a Democratic National Committee Meeting," 1/21/97.
63. Arthur H. Rotstein, "Vice President Urges Democratic Chairmen to Build Party's Base," The Associated Press, 12/6/96.
64. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Steve Grossman, 6/11/07, Boston, MA.
65. Richard L. Berke, "Debate Aside, Fund-Raising Doesn't Stop," The New York Times, 10/3/97;
66. "Inside Washington: No Tricks Please," National Journal, 10/11/97;
67. James A. Barnes, "Administration: No Rest for the Fund Raiser in Chief," National Journal, 11/22/97;
68. Personal Interview with former White House Political Director Craig Smith, 6/25/07, Washington, D.C.
69. Katharine Q. Seelye, "Clinton Follows the Money from Boston to New York," The New York Times, 7/1/97.
70. James A. Barnes, "Politics: Campaign Circuit," National Journal, 7/18/98.
71. Alexis Simendinger, Peter H. Stone and Richard E. Cohen, "Presidency: Impeachment Improv," National Journal, 10/10/98;
72. Peter H. Stone, "Politics: The Politics of Survival," National Journal, 10/24/98.
73. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Steve Grossman, 6/11/07, Boston, MA.
74. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Joe Andrew, 6/26/07, Washington, D.C.
75. Ibid.
76. "America 2000," Democratic National Committee, March 1999.
77. "DNC National Chair-Designate Joe Andrew, Keynote Address, DNC Full Committee Meeting, Washington D.C., March 19, 1999," in "America 2000," Democratic National Committee, March 1999.
78. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Joe Andrew, 6/26/07, Washington, D.C.
79. "America 2000," Democratic National Committee, March 1999.
80. Ibid.
81. Melinda Henneberger, "Democratic Chairman Plays Humble Hoosier Effortlessly," New York Times, 8/14/00.
82. Personal Interview with former DNC Chairman Joe Andrew, 6/26/07, Washington, D.C.
83. Ibid.
84. Terry McAuliffe and Steve Kettmann, What a Party!: My Life among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007), 281, 285, 385.
85. Ibid., 374
86. Ibid., 285.
87. Brian Reich, "Please standby...The DNC Is Still Experiencing Technical Difficulties," Personal Democracy Forum, 4/18/05, http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/536.
88. McAuliffe and Kettmann, What a Party!, 298, 374;
89. Elaine C. Kamarck, "Assessing Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy and the 2006 Midterm Elections," The Forum, 4, 3 (2006);
90. Matt Bai, "The Inside Agitator," The New York Times, 10/1/06.
91. Kamarck, "Assessing Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy and the 2006 Midterm Elections";
92. Bai, "The Inside Agitator."
93. McAuliffe and Kettmann, What a Party!, 303.
94. Matt Bai, "The Framing Wars," The New York Times, 7/17/05.
95. Kathy Kiely, "'New Direction' is new theme for Democratic plan," USA Today, 6/14/06.
96. Howard Kurtz, "Making A Left at The Mike," The Washington Post, 3/21/04.
97. David Paul Kuhn, "DNC Blunts GOP Voter Targeting Efforts," Politico.com, 5/23/08;
98. "On the Download: DNC Launches Vote Builder," The Hotline, 5/3/07.
99. Ibid.; Press Release, "DNC Launches McCain Ad and New National Field Organizing Effort," Democratic National Committee, 4/21/08, http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/04/for_immediate_r_5.php.
100. Kamarck, "Assessing Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy and the 2006 Midterm Elections"; and see: http://www.democrats.org/a/party/ a_50_state_strategy/.
101. Bai, "The Inside Agitator."
102. See, for example, Adam Nagourney, "Dean and Party Leaders in a Money Dispute," The New York Times, 5/11/06;
103. Dan Gilgoff, "Dean's List," U.S. News & World Report, 7/24/06;
104. Kamarck, "Assessing Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy and the 2006 Midterm Elections";
105. and Daniel Galvin, "How to Grow a Democratic Majority," The New York Times, 6/3/06.
106. Bai, "The Inside Agitator." 70 Transcript, "The Situation Room," CNN, 5/11/06.
107. Paul Begala, Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight, HuffingtonPost.com, 5/19/06, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/bringing-a-knife-to-a- gun_b_21275.html.
108. John Dickerson, "The Doctor Is In: Howard Dean isn't getting tossed from the DNC," Slate.com, http://www.slate.com/id/2154259/.
109. Kamarck, "Assessing Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy and the 2006 Midterm Elections".
110. Jay Cost, "Evaluating Obama's Campaign Finance Decision," Realclearpolitics.com, 7/1/08, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ horseraceblog/2008/07/evaluating_obamas_campaign_finance_decision.html.
111. Ben Smith, "Obama's Aim: 14 Bush States and Local Races," Politico.com, 6/5/08.
112. Transcript, "Barack Obama's New Hampshire Primary Speech," The New York Times, 1/8/08, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/us/ politics/08text-obama.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
113. Bradley, "A Party Inverted."