Prime Minister Dean

Prime Minister Dean

Here's a comparative politics concept I find interesting in light of the DNC chair election:

Tony Blair's got a year or so to go before he has to call the next UK election. Leave aside the huge difference that he gets to choose election day to his own advantage. Look instead at what the opposition does.

The day after the 2001 UK election, defeated Tory leader William Hague resigned. This began the leadership fight in the Conservative Party. The post-defeat "why did we lose" navel-gazing is incorporated into the leadership contest. The New Leader becomes an antidote to the just-finished defeat - and that affects the kind of candidate chosen.

The opposition leader becomes a familiar face, a shadow prime minister, introduced to the people and set up to run the national race in four to five years. (Of course, the Tories changed course mid cycle by dumping Duncan Smith for Howard, but that's just a sympton of their deep deep problems.)

By contrast of course in America we normally have our leadership fight - the primary/convention season - just BEFORE a general election. We have less time to introduce the leader but less time for him* to wear out his* welcome. The choice is fresher but we have less time to heal our intraparty wounds.

The process of the DNC fight, and the choice of Howard Dean as DNC chair, feels a lot like a leadership contest in a parliamentary system. I realize that Dean has pledged not to run in 2008 but as shadow prime minister (a role John Kerry is clearly trying to put himself in) he could have a fair amount of influence.

Another difference in a parliamentary system like the UK is the existence of a permanent local party structure, ready to run a campaign on short notice. That sounds like it's right up Dean's alley.

* I say "he" in the historic American sense of it's always been a he. At least the British have had a she. I hope our first she is both soon and better than theirs.

Politics