He's done it! Howard Dean has completed his remarkable turnaround from laughingstock to party chair. He originally seemed like a longshot to get the chairman spot, especially considering the ascendant postmortem election analysis, which is that the "moral values" people won the election and that Democrats are out of touch with them. But Dean managed to pick off his rivals one by one until no one was left. His strategy, as I can see it, was to make everyone endorse someone as early as possible, and then to win enough of those endorsements to starve out the field. He did the same thing in the primary last year, but he learned that endorsements from union heads and politicians mean nothing in the cornfields of Iowa. Evidently they mean more in Washington.

What makes Dean's ascent especially remarkable is the obvious animosity between him and the entrenched Democratic party operatives in Washington. Back when Dean was a candidate, he made no secret about his desire to clean house at the DNC. Now, he is the leader of the party, and he will have free rein to do so. While Terry McAuliffe was able to raise money like a Republican, his operation was outworked and outsmarted by the RNC at every turn. We'll see if Dean can correct that.

Republicans and Dick Morris are ecstatic about this turn of events. (They also can't seem to shake their inexplicable belief that Hillary Clinton is or might be behind everything.) I must admit, "Chairman Dean" is a catchy nickname. But what Rs should remember is that people don't vote for party chairs, they vote for candidates. And if Dean can recruit good candidates, raise money, and keep the party on a (moderate) message, he'll succeed.

He wasn't my first choice for party chair, but after some reflection, I think he has a real chance to do the job well.