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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has been catching grief from some in his party for dumping precious funds into Democratic campaigns in red states like Utah.
The critics fear that could mean too little money being available for the critical races that would the party its best chance at taking back one or both houses of Congress.
But Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland says the criticism is wrong and the party's growth across the state shows Dean's "50-State Strategy" is paying off.
"I can't even put into words how much I think this vision is going to change politics," Holland said.
Under Dean, the national party is paying three full-time staffers in Utah -- a political organizer, communications director and a grass-roots coordinator. That's a resource the Utah party never had before.
"It's us learning what the Republicans did in the '80s and '90s to win," Holland told The Salt Lake Tribune. "They created a nationwide network, and I think now it's falling apart."
According to The Washington Post last month, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which focuses on House races, had an angry exchange with Dean over the national party's spending. Paul Begala, a former political adviser to President Clinton, mocked Dean's strategy.
"What he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose," Begala said on CNN.
That drew a pointed letter from Holland. Begala apologized in an online column for denigrating those working "in the trenches." But he said he's still concerned about whether the national party will be able to be a player in the 2006 race.
A Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman wouldn't discuss the exchange and said Emanuel isn't talking about it, either. Begala did not return messages from the Tribune.
"The party ought to be spending money in Utah. It ought to be spending in Idaho and Montana and Wyoming," said former Rep. Martin Frost, who once ran the DCCC and challenged Dean for DNC chairman. "The question is: Has the party been spending its money wisely over and above what it has spent out in the states?"
Right now, the party is on pace to eclipse what it raised in the last non-presidential election, but it also has spent more. Through the end of April, the most recent figures available, the party had raised $79.5 million and had spent all but $9.4 million. The Republican National Committee has $44.7 million in the bank, according to Political Moneyline.
Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Amaya Smith said the fundraising has been strong, but raising money costs money, as do organizing tools such as e-mail lists, voter databases and technology investments.
It has cost money to rebuild a technological and grass-roots base that will help in elections, from local races to presidential campaigns, Smith said.
"If you don't have those organizations on the ground and those people available, it's often hard for Democratic candidates who are running to do this last-minute organization and this last-minute" get-out-the-vote effort, Smith said.
"It's a commonsense approach if you really think about it. If the state parties are suffering and not up to speed, then it's hard to run congressional races and even statewide races," she said.
Holland said Dean's 50-State Strategy is creating benefits now and opportunities for the future, as well, including laying the groundwork should someone like Rep. Jim Matheson run for statewide office.
"To do that we need to build a statewide party," Holland said.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
