Debbie Does the DNC

It's not often that Republican reps Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts must be happy about announcements of new Democratic leadership, but the buzz today that congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be elected vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee must have them smiling. As co-chair of the Democratic Party's Red to Blue congressional campaign group, Wasserman Schultz announced she wouldn't be able to campaign against any of the three owing to her friendships. Now that she's slated for a bigger role, don't expect expelling these three to take priority at DNC HQ.

This marks another high point for Wasserman Schultz, who has been a rising star in the Democratic Party since being elected to Congress from a Broward/North Miami district in 2004. She has a solid progressive record and has proven herself more effective than any other Florida congressman, and certainly deserves the job.

Of course, the other sore point about her new gig is that she'll be part of the new leadership replacing the Howard Dean regime. As party chair, Dean engineered one of the greatest turn-arounds the modern Democratic Party has ever seen with his 50-state strategy, helping Dems take back both houses of Congress and the presidency. He was rewarded for his efforts by being replaced with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and coming out empty-handed in the Obama cabinet sweepstakes.