Top Hillary Fundraisers Rip Into Howard Dean For Saying Super-Dels Should Announce Support "Starting Now"
Two of Hillary Clinton's most prominent fundraisers tore into Howard Dean in interviews with me today, sharply criticizing the DNC chair for saying yesterday that super-delegates should say which Dem candidate they support "starting now."
"Governor Dean should do what he has said he will do -- refrain from injecting himself into the primary process, as millions of Democrats have yet to cast their votes," Hillary national finance chair Hassan Nemazee, one of the most influential fundraisers in the Democratic Party, told me today.
"If he wishes to do something productive," Nemazee continued, "he should exhibit the leadership necessary to resolve the Florida and Michigan impasse, which has disenfranchised millions of Democratic voters."
A second prominent Democratic fundraiser, Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committeeman and key Hillary fundraiser, sounded a similar note in an interview with me today.
"Howard Dean is more committed to pressuring the super delegates to make up their minds before the voting is done than he is to ensuring that Michigan and Florida's votes are counted," Zimmerman charged.
He added that Dean could "best ensure that we have a strong Democratic nominee and a united party" by focusing on those two states, rather than pressuring super-dels.
It's unusual for major institutional players like Nemazee and Zimmerman to attack the party chair in such biting terms, and the comments represent the boiling over of tensions between Dean and top Hillary money people that have simmered out of view for weeks.
Asked for a response, DNC spokesperson Karen Finney said: "Governor Dean's position remains the same and is consistent with what he has said for weeks now, that ideally he'd like super-delegates to continue to make their preferences known by the end of June."
Though it's unclear what Dean can do to force a resolution of the Florida and Michigan situations, Hillary fundraisers are frustrated that Dean hasn't used his role as party leader to push harder behind-the-scenes for a compromise between the campaigns.
Earlier this month, major Hillary fundraisers exchanged sharp words with Dean at a private donor summit meeting in Manhattan. Now they've gone public with their displeasure, and it's probably not lost on the DNC that many major Hillary donors are also major DNC fundraisers.
Hillary money people also targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not long ago, writing her a letter tacitly threatening to withhold funds if she didn't publicly embrace the stance that super-dels should be free to use their own judgment in deciding between the candidates.
The Dean quote that set off Hillary's fundraisers today was this, on CNN:
"I need them to say who they're for starting now...We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time. We've got to know who our nominee is." A bit later, Dean reiterated his previous position that he wants this wrapped up by June.
Late Update: Here's Dean's full quote:
I need them to say who they're for starting now. They really do need to do that. We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time. We've got to know who our nominee is. There's no reason not to know after the last primary on June 3rd. So the superdelegates have been pretty good so far. They've trickled in, made alliances known as things have gone on. They need to keep doing that so we can get all this wrapped up in June.
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