Dean Exodus

From Libertarian Wiki

During the Clinton presidency something like 450 Democrat elected officials evacuated the Democrat Party and never looked back. From US Senators to local officials, long-time Democrats just felt the party no longer represented them.

Two weeks into Howard Dean's chairmanship of the Democrat National Committee, the scenario is beginning to replay itself.

Annapolis Alderman George Kelley has crossed the aisle.

The long-time Democrat announced Monday that he had become a Republican.

Kelley said he made the decision after several years of "soul-searching" and said his core values were different from those espoused by the Democrats.

Kelley, who is African-American, was too polite to say so, but a highly placed elected official in Maryland confided in me that Howard Dean himself had a hand in the party switch.

"George has always been conservative. And he is a man of God. So this isn't a huge surprise. But I think it's safe to say Howard Dean's recent "hotel staff" comment helped push him over to the Republicans," the source told me on the condition of anonymity.

Kelley is a close friend of Maryland's Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, who lashed out at Dean last week for his racially insensitive remark.

Appearing on national television, Steele criticized Dean's statement as insensitive to minorities, and called it a message to black voters that, "We've got your vote. Where are you going to go?"

Steele was responding to Dean's appearance last Friday before black Democratic members of Congress when the former presidential candidate and Vermont governor questioned the ability of Republicans to get support from minorities. "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room?" Dean asked to laughter. "Only if they had the hotel staff in here."