Looks like former Vermont governor Howard Dean will soon step down as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He of the “50-state-strategy” took over as DNC Chair in 2005.

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly speculates on Dean’s replacement:

Rumor has it that Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a close Obama allyand effective campaign surrogate, is a leading candidate to fill Dean’sshoes, with Steve Hildebrand, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, likelyto take over day-to-day operations at the DNC.

But no matter who is selected, Dean has left an indelible mark onhow the party operates, and how it approaches national elections.Indeed, for all of Dean’s detractors — inside the Democratic Party andout — the former governor leaves knowing that his strategy wasvindicated, thanks to unambiguous election results.

There’s also been speculation that our former gov might land a cabinet post. But it looks like Obama won’t be announcing any cabinet appointments this week, so we’ll have to wait and see…

This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2008.

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Seven Days’ deputy publisher and co-owner Cathy Resmer is a writer, editor and advocate for local journalism. She works in the paper’s Burlington office and lives vicariously through the reporters while raising money to pay them. Cathy started at...