Dean refuses to debate GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman

This morning on NBC’s Today show, Democrat National Committee Chairman Howard Dean refused to debate GOP head Ken Hehlman. Meredith Vieira had the following explanation:
Here’s the transcript of the relevant part:

We did invite DNC Chairman Howard Dean to join us, but he declined to be on at the same time as Mr. Mehlman. (As quoted by GOP.com)

So why did Dean break a 25 year history of dialogue between party heads and decline a debate with Mehlman? GOP.com published a list of the top 10 excuses that may appear too political to be believable, but are supported well enough to be considered. Here they are:

DNC CHAIRMAN HOWARD DEAN'S TOP TEN EXCUSES

10. Dean Wants To Break A 25 Year Tradition Of Dialogue And Debate Between Party Chairs.

"Dean So Far Has Avoided Mini-Debates With Mehlman. NBC's 'Meet The Press' Has Failed In Several Efforts To Pin Down Dean For A Joint Appearance With Mehlman." (Robert Novak, Op-Ed, "Wooing Blacks," Chicago Sun-Times, 4/10/05)

Despite At Least 8 Opportunities, DNC Chair Howard Dean Has Refused To Debate RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, Breaking A Streak Of DNC-RNC Chair Debates Of Over 25 Years. (NBC's "Today," 10/20/06; CNN's "Late Edition," 10/15/06; NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/13/06; CNN's "Situation Room," 4/13/06; MSNBC's "Hardball," 1/31/06; CNN's "Situation Room," 10/31/05; NBC's "Meet The Press," 11/13/05; CNN's "Situation Room," 11/10/05)

In The Past, Chairmen Such As Terry McAuliffe And Ed Gillespie, Ed Rendell And Jim Nicholson, Chris Dodd And Haley Barbour, Ron Brown And Lee Atwater And John C. White And Bill Brock All Debated One Another Head-To-Head. (NBC's "Meet The Press," 10/24/04; CNN's "Late Edition," 12/31/00; CNN's "Early Edition," 11/6/96; Valerie Richardson, "Atwater, Brown Agree To Discuss Dirty Campaigning, Redistricting," The Washington Times, 11/6/89; "2 Party Chairman Revive Charge Of Campaign Racism," The New York Times, 9/24/80)

9. Dean Is Ashamed Of His Fundraising And Resource Disadvantage.

"The Republican National Committee ... Continued To Outpace The Democratic National Committee. In September, The RNC Raised $13.1 Million And Reported Total Receipts Of $14.3 Million, While The DNC Said It Collected $5.6 Million." (Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "Democrats Approach Nov. 7 With A Surge In Fundraising," The Washington Post, 10/20/06)

As Of The Latest FEC Filing Period, The RNC Reported It Had $26 Million In Cash On Hand, While The DNC Had Only $8.2 Million. (Michael Forsythe and Kristin Jensen, "Democrats Cut Into Republican Cash Advantage Ahead Of Elections," Bloomberg, 10/19/06)

8. Dean Is Second Guessing Whether He Still Believes All Republicans Are "Brain-Dead."

"One Major Reason [Dean's] Party Lost The 2004 Race To The 'Brain-Dead' Republicans Is That It Has A 'Tendency To Explain Every Issue In Half An Hour Of Detail,' Dean Told The Semi-Annual Meeting Of Democrats Abroad ..." (Peter Gorrie, "Spreading The Message," Toronto Star, 3/20/05)

7. Dean Is Too Busy Debating Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) And Other Democrat Leaders About Strategy For The Midterm Elections.

"Democratic Leaders On Capitol Hill Are Privately Bristling Over Howard Dean's Management Of The Democratic National Committee And Have Made Those Sentiments Clear After New Fundraising Numbers Showed He Has Spent Nearly All The Committee's Cash And Has Little Left To Support Their Efforts To Gain Seats This Cycle." (Erin P. Billings and Lauren W. Whittington, "Dean Comes Under Fire," Roll Call, 1/30/06)

"Sources Also Indicated That Senate And House Minority Leaders Harry Reid (Nev.) And Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), And The Senate And House Campaign Committee Chairmen Charles Schumer (N.Y.) And Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), Have Made Their Concerns ... Known To Dean." (Erin P. Billings and Lauren W. Whittington, "Dean Comes Under Fire," Roll Call, 1/30/06)

6. Dean Is Still Trying To Figure Out How Chairman Mehlman Fits Into His Theory That All Republicans Are "Christian" And "Monolithic."

Dean: "The R.N.C. ... they love to play the victim. The truth is they are a white Christian party." (ABC's "The View," 9/15/05)

Dean: "You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party." (Carla Marinucci, "Dean: The Mouth That Won't Stop Roaring," San Francisco Chronicle, 6/8/05)

5. Dean Doesn't Want To Discuss His Outsourcing Of Microtargeting Operations To Harold Ickes And George Soros.

"[Harold Ickes, A Close Adviser To Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)] Is Raising Millions Of Dollars To Start A Private Firm That Plans To Compile Huge Amounts Of Data On Americans To Identify Democratic Voters And Blunt What Has Been A Clear Republican Lead In Using Technology For Political Advantage." (Thomas B. Edsall, "Democrats' Data Mining Stirs An Intraparty Battle," The Washington Post, 3/8/06)

"[Ickes'] Political Technology Venture Is Being Backed By Financier George Soros. ... [W]ashington Operatives Who Know About It ... [Speculate] That He Is Acting To Build A Campaign Resource For A Possible 2008 Presidential Run By Hillary Clinton." (Thomas B. Edsall, "Democrats' Data Mining Stirs An Intraparty Battle," The Washington Post, 3/8/06)

4. Dean Is Too Busy Frantically Filling Out Loan Applications.

"The Democratic National Committee Has No Plans To Help Finance A Last-Minute Push Because It Just Took Out A Loan To Spend Up To $10 Million More ..." (Jim VandeHei, "Funding Constrains Democrats," The Washington Post, 10/18/06)

3. Dean Is Still Trying Really Hard To Assemble A Ground Game.

DNC Will Spend $12 Million On Midterm Elections, While RNC Will Spend "$60 Million Or More ..." (Alexander Bolton, "Mehlman To Spend $60M, Five Times Dean's $12M," The Hill, 9/13/06)

Dean: "Look, I don't pretend, for a minute, that we have the kind of election machine that the Republicans have." (CNN's "The Situation Room," 9/26/06)

2. Dean Doesn't Want To Use The Talking Points Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) Sent Over On The "Culture Of Corruption."

"Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Who Has Sought To Portray A GOP 'Culture Of Corruption' As A Central Theme In His Party's Midterm Messaging ..." (Tory Newmyer, "Democrats Seek To Enact Lobby Reforms By Rule," Roll Call, 7/3/06)

"[H]arry Reid Has Been Using Campaign Donations Instead Of His Personal Money To Pay Christmas Bonuses For The Support Staff At The Ritz-Carlton ... Federal Election Law Bars Candidates From Converting Political Donations For Personal Use." (John Solomon, "Reid Used Campaign Money For Christmas Bonuses At Personal Condo," The Associated Press, 10/16/06)

"Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid Collected A $1.1 Million Windfall On A Las Vegas Land Sale Even Though He Hadn't Personally Owned The Property For Three Years ..." (John Solomon and Kathleen Hennessey, "Reid Got $1 Million For Land He Hadn't Owned For 3 Years," The Associated Press, 10/11/06)

1. Dean Hates Republicans.

Dean: "I hate what the Republicans are doing to this country. I really do." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 5/22/05)