C'mon Howard

But for a personal obligation, I almost certainly would have been glued to NBC yesterday morning, watching Meet the Press. It was being hyped as Ken Mehlman v. Howard Dean and, frankly, I was starting to long for the old days of Ed Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe duking it out with Tim Russert.

Yet, as things would have it, I didn't miss much. The DNC and RNC chair appeared separately on the Sunday morning blab fest, meaning that only Mr. Russert was left to throw barbs, and stellar an interviewer as he may be – and he is certainly amongst the best – Mr. Russert is certainly a touch too classy to mediate the sort of all-out political brawl I was hoping for.

So why the separate appearances? According to Matt Drudge, because Mr. Dean refused to appear on air with Mr. Mehlman. IE – the DNC chair is afraid to be dealt direct questions from his counterpart. And given the nature of Mr. Dean's lips to land him in trouble without any genuine rivalry – as was evidenced by his arguably slanderous comments on the program yesterday – this comes as little surprise.

Still, Mr. McAuliffe almost never out-jabbed Mr. Gillespie. The RNC chair was a slightly better speaker and it made a notable difference. But the two men had enough confidence in their abilities to at least do the shows together. Apparently Mr. Dean just doesn't feel the same way.

I consider myself lucky insofar as I have actually had the privilege of interviewing Messrs. Dean, Mehlman, McAuliffe and Gillespie, each individually during the 2004 election. Sure, some are more gifted speakers than others – I still think Gillespie the most talented of the group – but I can attest that there is no substantial gap here. We've all seen Mr. Dean debate. Hell, we've all seen the “Dean Scream.” So what is he so afraid of?

This is getting to be ridiculous. Especially at a time when the RNC is not in the best of conditions, the DNC chair should be able to stand up for himself and his party against his adversary – face to face.