Terry McAuliffe, All That Was Wrong With the Democratic Party

For many of us, the single greatest accomplishment that took place as a result of the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for president last year was that the door finally closed (at least for now) on the distasteful era of a national Democratic Party run by good ol' boys who catered nearly exclusively to the big money donors, while leaving small dollar donors and grass roots activists on the political sidelines.

While Howard Dean was the first major candidate to tap into these overlooked masses, it took Obama and his amazing campaign operation to effectively bring these folks to the forefront and win the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

One person who typifies all that was wrong with the Democratic Party over the previous decade was former DNC Chairman -- and big money fundraiser -- Terry McAuliffe. Under his leadership, the DNC atrophied after the 2000 elections and suffered through one of its most disastrous runs in a generation (2001-2005) when it gave President Bush a majority in both houses of Congress (handing back the Senate to the GOP in 2002), lost ground in the state houses, and wholly failed to push back on the Bush-Cheney war machine.

Now, McAuliffe is running for Virginia governor. The fact that Virginia has no campaign contribution limits means that the former DNC and Clinton money man is able to accept numerous individual contributions in excess of $100,000 from the same big dollar donors that helped to nearly sink the DNC during his disastrous tenure. And beyond his big money obsession, McAuliffe's political philosophy has always been rooted in quick sand, always shifting to suit the moment's hoped-for outcome. Recall these moments (here and here) when he was Hillary Clinton's chief media surrogates during her presidential campaign's free fall last year.

So, I guess it should come as no surprise when McAuliffe is exposed for being every bit the shady backroom dealer we expected:

Consumer activist Ralph Nader accused Terry McAuliffe Thursday of orchestrating an effort to remove him from the presidential ballot in 2004 when McAuliffe was chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Nader said that McAuliffe offered him an unspecified amount of money to campaign in 31 states if Nader would agree to pull his campaign in 19 battleground states.

Granted, I feel not an iota of good will towards the reckless and ego-maniacal Nader for all he did to torpedo the excellent candidate we had in 2000 in the form of Al Gore (and who to this day Nader argues was insignificantly better than Bush). But Nader's accusation goes to the heart of the good ol' boy politics that McAuliffe represents and the very type which Obama sought to push out of the DNC's inner circle.

Incredibly, McAuliffe doesn't even deny Nader's accusation in the story:

McAuliffe isn't denying the charge. His spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said in a statement McAuliffe "was concerned that Ralph Nader would cost John Kerry the election as he did Al Gore in 2000 and give us another four years of George W. Bush."

To McAuliffe, this is the way politics is played, especially if the other guy does it too. We used to believe that if we didn't adopt every sleazy tactic of our opponent, we would keep losing elections. And then came Obama, who not only refused to continue politics as usual, but refused to adhere to distasteful political traditions such as doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to urban political party bosses to help turnout the vote, also known as "street money."

By running a campaign grounded in integrity and an understandable political philosophy, and built on the backs of millions of small dollar donors and grass roots activists, Barack Obama showed how to effectively combat the only style of campaigns that McAuliffe understood when he upset the McAuliffe-chaired Clinton machine in the Democratic primary and then smacked down a similar style of opponent in the fall when he routed John McCain and his crumbling Republican Party.

I suspect (and hope I'm wrong) that this new story won't cost McAuliffe the Virginia gubernatorial nomination. He will simply drown his opponents in ads as a result of the tens of millions of dollars he's able to raise and win the June 9th primary. Though, it may very well cost him the general election.

I certainly don't want the GOP to take back the Virginia Governor's Mansion, after the impressive runs by Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. But it sure will be hard to root for McAuliffe if he survives his primary, and I'm one Democrat who won't shed a tear if his distasteful, good ol' boy style of politics gets smacked down once again by his Republican opponent.

Until Democrats stop embracing conviction-less, big money pariahs like McAuliffe, and ignore the lessons of 2008, I'd rather lose a few more elections than continue to embrace these scoundrels. I guess I prematurely hoped that we had finally turned the page on these remnants of our recently bleak past.

I'll say a few prayers and hope Virginia Democrats come to their senses before June 9 and nominate a Democrat who doesn't leave the stench of good ol' boy politics, win or lose. Though, I'm guessing they won't be answered this time...

Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "VA-GOV: Good Ol' Boy Terry McAuliffe." He has no affiliation or relationship of any kind with any candidate in the Virginia gubernatorial race."

Comments

[Jason Osborne]

I say this, as a Virginia Democrat - AMEN!!! Honestly, I'd almost rather vote for the Republican than have TM. The thing is - Brian Moran can get people who would otherwise vote for TM - but there is serious doubt if Moran supporters will help TM. We don't like him. We don't want him.

[kirotahoe]

All that is necessary to determine the type person McCauliff is one only needs look at the perpetual dorky smile he always wears. It is so obviously a mask. The only references I have heard to Terry speak of his money raising ability. The Clintons were remarkably dependent on his talent. Like the author of this piece, I cannot abide a sleazy fake no matter his political affiliation. There are many in my democratic party that I could do without, as well as a very few republicans that I would welcome, Arlen Spector is not one. We need a third party of moderates in our country. Too many of us have to go against our values to belong to either party.

[cam]

I fail to see the issue. There seems no obvious legal or moral transgression.

[TheHandyman]

"Granted, I feel not an iota of good will towards the reckless and ego-maniacal Nader for all he did to torpedo the excellent candidate we had in 2000 in the form of Al Gore (and who to this day Nader argues was insignificantly better than Bush)."

Let me get this straight Mark, even tho both the American public did not find Gore to be an excellent candidate, for if they had the elections, in spite of the tampering in Florida, wouldn't have been close enough to matter. Gore himself has said on numerous occasions that Nader had nothing to do with his lose and yet willfully ignorant people like you continue to support a party that is no less corrupt than the GOP and want to blame Nader.

As for this grand illusion that Obama has somehow come to power with out the aid of the good old boys network is just more of the same old koolaid of the Gopers made with a different food coloring.
Obama surronded himself with the good old boys of the Clinton Administration who had surronded himself with all the good old boys of corporations and wallstreet.

[melissamsouza]

Agreed. McCauliff is hopelessly incompetent. Even he does manage to win the race, he'll probably be a terrible governor and a not-so-good asset for the Democrats in 2012.

[maxfax]

McAuliffe only did what it took to keep up with the Republicans, and a sign of the time. If that time is over, I don't see it, not when you're looking at the $$millions being spent by lobbying groups on the Hill to get their point made and their corporations to remain in control of America. Health care is the perfect example, and how they own a guy like Baucus.

You've understated the problem imo.

[mizerello]

I couldn't agree more. I sincerely hope this good ol' boy loses in the primary and decides to leave Democrats alone. Does this man have any principles?

[NotMcCain]

McAuliffe's a used car salesman whose car is the Democratic Party.

I will always be grateful to Governor Dean for taking him and running for Chairman of the DNC--and, remarkably, winning.

Thank you, Howard Dean (We miss you).

As for Nader---he's even worse than McAuliffe. If it was up to Nader, he would gladly have thrown the election to another Republican just to make his point that "there's no difference".

Well, there IS a difference. And, no thanks to you, Ralph Nader, Americans now have a fine President--and a BIG difference from McCain-Palin,.

[rabiddog6708]

Your opening paragraph destroys any good intentions you meant with your article and shows your lack of understanding of reality. Obama staffed his admin with the same old crowd of insiders. Obama raise more money then any other candidate and it all was not from small donors. The same group still runs Washington, they just got themselves a more popular spokesman in Obama (not that this would have been difficult after the debacle that was Dubya).

[epiphany1234]

As a Dem I always liked McCauliffe on a personal level, but he could never seal the deal.....G­ore, Clinton...­.could never WIN.

I predict the same for his campaign in Va.

[Biscuit]

We've had a good run in VA with Governor Warner and Governor Kaine. McCauliffe will hand the state to a Republican governor. That sucks. There are other good Dems in the state.

[sector1463]

And let's see. Brian Moran was the chair of the House Democratic Caucus when the Democrats went from 47 members to 34 members in one election cycle. It took the next six years for the party to regain 10 seats. They even changed the Wikipedia article to erase these facts. Is he OK by you? He has used the most misleading ads to date about his opponents and himself.

Deeds has been less "good ole boy" by your definition but his stand on the rights of Virginia's women leave me asking where is the difference between him and McDonald.

You can hate McAuliffe but you have just given the Republicans ammo if he wins the primary.

[k6007]

Poor virginia. You have my sympathy if TM wins..

[Hekerui]

You sound like the President of a Democratic "Club for Growth" - you won't be sorry if the Republican wins? McAuliffe has many good ideas.

[DeWayne]

Reading these posts prove my point, half blaming the DEM, and half blaming the GOP, and neither realizing that both arguments are valid and correct.

An intelligent person seeing that both of two choices leaves them scr_wed would use this knowledge not to be scre_ed. But not in America, no wonder Europeans believe we are the most stupid people on the planet.

[TheHandyman]

Exactly the point Nader made years ago, but the People know best....or not!

[research]

where are those publicly financed elections?