Fowler, at 37 the youngest of the participants, vowed not to concede any region or group to the Republicans but said that will require changes in the way Democrats do business. "We are a party that has become afraid to talk about our heart and soul," he said.
The Kerry campaign's focus on just a dozen or so states in the presidential race has left state party leaders frustrated, and the prospective candidates for DNC chairman played back that feeling in their remarks, saying the party must develop a 50-state strategy for winning campaigns at every level.
"How are we ever going to regain control of Congress if we're not competitive in the South and the farm belt and in the Rocky Mountain states?" Blanchard asked, adding, "We cannot have our national party . . . be a holding company for presidential campaigns. It doesn't work that way."
Webb showed that in the brief time he has been running for DNC chairman, he has listened closely to state party leaders' concerns, citing the concerns of DNC members from Bush states such as West Virginia and Utah and Nebraska. "As we go forward," he said, "we need to talk about how we expand our base."
Frost stressed his experience running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and said he would be a fighter against Republicans such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who engineered the redistricting plan that cost Frost his seat. Rosenberg said the party needs a 21st century retooling designed to restore the luster of the Democrat brand. "We have to embrace and define our values, not run away from them," he said.
Ickes said after four years spent rebuilding the national party machinery, Democrats now must devote the next four years to state parties, beginning with a communications strategy to counter a Republican operation that many Democrats view now with envy. "I see the next four years as being the years of the state parties," he said.
After five-minute opening statements, the candidates were questioned in private by the state party leaders. Many questions focused on money -- how much the contenders might be willing to commit to the states -- but others reflected the political challenges ahead.
The state leaders wanted to know how Democrats compete for rural voters, what they say to religious voters, how they become viable in the South and how they prevent Bush and the Republicans from making further inroads among African American and Latino voters.
At some point before the election in February, the field of candidates will begin to crystallize but perhaps not until early next year, with much jockeying and debate to come.
