UPDATE: It appears the full force of the Democratic National Committee came down on North Carolina Democrats in the eleventh hour, just as a legislative measure to divvy up the state’s electoral college was about to be sent to the governor for signature.
See this entry from ThePoliticalJunkies.net blog:
“Chairman Dean asked that NC Democrats withdraw the bill because of concerns related to efforts in California to enact proportional representation in that State. Chairman Dean’s request came literally within hours of the scheduled final passage of SB353.”
As I wrote yesterday, Democratic strategist Chris Lehane — one of the infamous “Masters of Disaster” from the Bill Clinton era — was quoted in an AP wire story saying that a change in California’s distribution of the electoral college would “virtually guarantee that a Republican wins the White House in 2008.”
Howard Dean got the message — and it appears he let out a scream.