The DNC and DWS

This week's kerfuffle over members of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign staff improperly accessing proprietary voter data from the Clinton campaign may or may not be a big issue in tonight's Democratic candidate debate.  It's good that the Sanders campaign's access to the DNC-maintained data base was restored this morning, while a further review by the Democratic National Committee proceeds. But there are real questions about the timing of the story, and whether DNC leadership used this opportunity to slow down or damage Sanders' campaign.

There's legitimate concern expressed for some time now that the otherwise ineffectual DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been putting her thumb on the Dem primary scales to favor Secretary Clinton's candidacy (Wasserman Schultz was the 2008 co-chair of Secretary Clinton's campaign). In the past, the campaign of former Gov. Martin O'Malley has blasted the DNC for not scheduling more debates, which one would expect an underdog to wish for. Both O'Malley and Sanders are criticizing the DNC's scheduling of a debate tonight, one week before Christmas and on a night traditionally set aside for socializing outside of the home, not watching the tube.

After the mid-term Rethug victories at the Congressional and state levels in 2012 and 2014, the Dems would do far better to find a Chair for their party who doesn't also have a full-time job as a U.S. Representative, and who doesn't have to have her arm-twisted to support the Administration's positions while playing kissy-kissy with Rethugs who want to knife her. Is that too much to ask?