Newsweek's Howard Fineman says look to and for Brian Schweitzer

Howard Fineman has been the sometimes recipient of netroots venom at times, myself mea culpa. However, he is right on target with the following article. The next generation of Democratic Party leaders will thankfully come from outside D.C. as our nation will be looking for contemporary ideas and solutions, uncontaminated political blood and the new speakers who can connect when offering their respective narratives.

Best of all, Fineman concludes his column with a salute and call out to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Outside the Beltway

To regain control in Washington, Democrats need to look for new ideas and new leaders from across America—and from cyberspace.

Howard Fineman
Newsweek

June 7, 2006 - OK, so the Dems didn’t quite start their revolution in San Diego. Their candidate railed against the corruption of Washington—logically enough, since the race was to replace the disgraced Randy (Duke) Cunningham. The Republicans were forced to pour in $5 million and hundreds of staffers to defend a House seat in a famously conservative district. The Democrats can take heart from the fact that the race was close. But they also should learn a lesson, which is that talking about Washington—even if you’re attacking the immorality of the place—isn’t the only strategy, or even the main one.For Democrats hoping to claw their way back to national power, this is the strategic paradox: to regain control of the political Establishment, they must forget about it.

Democrats aren’t likely to find leaders and answers here in the capital, and can’t expect the traditional media to light the way. Instead, Democrats need to be a “states' rights” party in a new sense, shunning the sclerotic political machinery of the capital for the new ideas, programs and tactics sprouting in the states—and in the digital netroots of America.

Americans want optimism and ideas, and are tired of hearing about the capital...

...But perhaps the netroots’ favorite avatar in waiting is Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana. In their eyes he’s the rootin’-tootin’ real deal, a rancher turned politician who believes in government activism set free from traditional liberal thinking and interest-group methods. This week a protégé of Schweitzer’s, a rancher named Jon Tester, won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate...

...So that’s the place to start from in this new political era: not Washington, but the middle of nowhere.

To read the entire article, go here.