SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Why would anyone care what Howard Dean has to say? Why would anyone read Salon to find out what Howard Dean has to say?

Life is full of mysteries, and the answers to the questions above are two of the greatest.

We haven't the slightest insight into these enigmas and would not have wasted a nanosecond of consciousness on them, had not someone brought to our attention the existence of a recent Salon interview with Dean that touches on Texas politics.

There's nothing mysterious about our interest in Texas politics. It's endlessly fascinating, even when discussed by a has-been politician in an irrelevant ezine.

As chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2008, former Vermont governor and self-immolating presidential candidate Howard “The Scream” Dean labored assiduously to create blue outposts even in the reddest of states.

Gung-ho Dean told Salon he “got lucky in Texas,” politically at least. What happened was “a group of trial lawyers took over the party and funded it, and it wasn’t perfect, but we knew each other, and they were OK.”

We're not surprised they knew each other, but whether they were OK or not is debatable.

The late Fred Baron of the Baron & Budd asbestos law firm in Dallas used his asbestos-settlement assets to rebuild the state party and establish the Texas Democratic Trust to fund candidates amenable to his interests.

Other trial lawyers have followed suit, spending millions in an effort to install plaintiff-friendly politicians in positions of power.

Has it worked? Ask Steve Mostyn.

The Houston attorney plowed more than $3 million into Wendy Davis’ lame campaign for governor and dumped another $2 million on other races.

“I believe in the South the Democrats will come back,” Dean predicted in the Salon interview, despite all evidence to the contrary, “but you can’t do it if you don’t pay attention.”

You can't do it if you're delusional, either.