Democratic leaders stand up for Dean

WASHINGTON -- A round of criticism from fellow Democrats and major donors about Howard Dean's four-month tenure as Democratic National Committee chairman has prompted Senate leaders to rise to his defense at a public event planned for today.

Originally scheduled as a private meeting between Dean and the leadership team of Senate minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, today's session instead will now include a news conference and photo opportunity as a public embrace of Dean, who has rocked the political world over the past week with provocative condemnations of the Republican party. On recent occasions, Dean has said many Republicans ''never made an honest living in their lives," described the Republican Party as ''pretty much a white, Christian party," and declared that House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas, who is facing ethics questions but has not been charged with any crime, ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence.

''I do not agree with those comments," said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House Democratic whip. ''A party chairman's job is to organize the party, to support policy-makers."

Despite criticism of his remarks since the weekend from Hoyer and other congressional Democrats, Dean yesterday refused to back down, asserting in an interview on NBC's ''Today Show" that Republicans are ''outside the mainstream." In an interview last month with the Globe, the former presidential candidate said Republican policy makers had ''gone off the deep end," and called the party's stance on gay marriage and other cultural issues ''despicable."

Some leading Democrats and major donors are concerned that Dean is jeopardizing the party's ability to reach beyond its traditional base to win close elections, particularly for the White House. Dean has repeatedly said his goal is to build the party's ranks not only in Democratic-dominated states, but also in culturally conservative regions where Republicans usually prevail.

Most of the criticism of Dean has come from prospective presidential candidates in 2008, such as Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, who said Dean does not speak for the majority of Democrats, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who said Dean is not the spokesman for the Democratic Party.

''Time will tell" whether Dean has undercut his standing, said Harold Ickes, a longtime Clinton adviser who supported Dean's bid for DNC chairman. ''There are people who are unhappy about it and think his comments are less than helpful. Some of his comments will reinforce the view that he sometimes talks before he really thinks through the implications."

Meanwhile, some donors are upset that the DNC under Dean's stewardship is falling behind in fund-raising, failing to appeal to party high-rollers. In the first quarter of this year, the DNC raised $14.1 million, compared with $32.3 million by the Republican National Committee. One donor, who declined to be named, noted that a DNC fund-raiser in New York City in May was substantially downsized and moved from a facility in the Javits Convention Center to a room in the Essex House Hotel.

Federal Election Commission records indicate Republicans held a big edge in first-quarter fund-raising last year, too -- $50 million to $29 million. Yet by the end of the election year, the DNC, then under the chairmanship of Terry McAuliffe, had outraised the RNC.

Bridget Siegel, who resigned last week as the DNC's finance chair for New York State, defended Dean in an interview yesterday. ''He's actually been great in New York, meeting with a number of donors," she said. ''The donors have been very responsive."

The departure of Siegel and two other top financial aides in Washington and California had been cited by Dean's critics among party donors as a sign of turmoil at the top, but Siegel denied any falling-out with Dean and stressed that she supports his mission. She said the New York City fund-raiser had been moved to the Essex House because ''it was a more central location."

She also noted that the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which outlawed unlimited soft-money contributions and now caps annual individual contributions to a national party at $26,700, hurts Democrats, who historically relied on huge donations from a few dozen wealthy donors.

Dean's popularity in the 2004 presidential primaries opened up a new avenue of fund-raising through smaller Internet donations. His supporters dismiss criticism of Dean as inside-the- Beltway carping and maintain that Dean intends to build a new, more grass-roots donor base.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that while some of Dean's phrases have been inartful, he has been an effective party chairman so far. He accused Republicans of trying to ''divert the attention" of the American people by focusing on Dean's comments instead of what the GOP has failed to accomplish on pressing issues, such as jobs, health care, and adequate armor for US troops in Iraq.

''There's some areas where you may have used other kinds of words, but I think he's done a pretty good job," Kennedy said.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi also defended Dean, saying he had ''energized the base of the party. He has a plan for building the infrastructure of the party. People feel very involved in terms of issues, organization, and communication."

Yesterday, Republicans attacked Dean for his comments, calling them a desperate attempt to appeal to the party's liberal base.

Asked on the ''Fox & Friends" show about Dean's characterization of the Republican Party as white and Christian, Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who is Jewish, joked that ''a lot of folks who attended my bar mitzvah would be surprised" that he heads a Christian party.

Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, blasted Dean for the same remark in a speech on the Senate floor.

''This is racial demagoguery, pure and simple, done by the chairman of the national Democratic Party," Hatch said. ''If I didn't know how bright he was, I'd call him a raving idiot."