If Andrew Romanoff thought he could whisk Howard Dean in and out of Colorado for a fundraiser and not create some kind of controversy, he must not know Howard Dean very well.
Last week, former DNC chairman Dean headlined a fundraiser for Romanoff—a candidate that repeatedly decries the hyper-partisanship of Washington. So to contain the partisan screeds (“They are not American,” Dean said of the Republican Party), the Romanoff campaign limited press to a handpicked journalist—a move which prompted a blistering critique from Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry:
Of course the whole thing goes back to the wisdom of keeping partisan hell-raising and fund-raising out of the press. They would have been better off shunning all the media …
“This country has been sold down the river by the right wing for their own purposes,” Dean told the wildly enthusiastic crowd. …
I knew it would be a show.
That stunt was followed by what had to be loud groaning from the Romanoff camp and some fast verbal tap-dancing by Romanoff himself, who Luning said told the crowd:
“I’m not asking you to demonize my opponent or question his character or disparage his patriotism,” Romanoff said. “Mike Coffman loves this country. So do I. So do you. Let’s not make that an issue in this race…”
Tap, tap, tap, tapity, slide and shuffle, shuffle, tap, tapity, tap …
UPDATE: Here’s the video of Dean’s remarks that the Romanoff campaign didn’t want anyone to see: