Ellison: I’d consider quitting Congress to head DNC

Keith Ellison might Congress to chair the Democratic National Committee.

Ellison of Minnesota, whose pursuit of the chairmanship of the beleaguered Democratic National Committee has drawn growing skepticism over his views on Israel, faced questions of a less incendiary sort at a party forum on Friday: Could he do the job as a part-timer?

As the gathering began, Howard Dean, a former committee chairman who had been Mr. Ellison’s most prominent rival, announced that he was withdrawing his bid. But before making that announcement via video recording, Mr. Dean argued that the committee must be “rebuilt from the ground up” and that only a full-time chairman could accomplish that task.

More than two hours later, as the forum came to a close, Mr. Ellison offered an unexpected response. He revealed that he was considering resigning his seat in Congress, in answer to those on the committee who want the next chairman to focus exclusively on remaking a party shut out of power in Washington and many state capitals.

“I’m in the process of deciding this issue of whether I can perform both roles,” Mr. Ellison said at the gathering, a meeting of Democratic state chairmen that served as the first tryout session for the committee post.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.