Jim Dean and his brother, Howard, have long been working for a "deeper bench" of candidates. A farm team so to speak. A group of candidates statewide and locally to grow the party from the ground up. He speaks about how the media was just obsessed with the powers of Republican governor Rounds.
Jim wrote about this at Huff Post:
For A Deeper Democratic BenchAs this media firestorm unfolded, I wondered where were the prominent South Dakota Democrats who might at least be part of this discussion?
No one mentioned the fact that the voters and taxpayers of South Dakota just handed the Governor and the Republican controlled legislature a resounding defeat of their ill-conceived (no pun intended) anti- choice bill? Who represents these voters, and why are they not part of the political discourse in an important discussion such as this? Exactly right, Jim. We did not hear those voices of South Dakota, all we heard was the angry right being enabled by the media to act in an ghoulish way. Other voices should have been heard.
He then speaks about finding and enabling these people to run for office, to take part in the public discourse. He does not think of SD as just a red state. We are through with that kind of thinking.
He says to look to 2007 and start supporting candidates then. Wait on 08.
The perception that South Dakota is one monolithic political bloc is the kind of provincial thinking that shows why David Sirota and others are so correct about the shift in the political center of gravity of our country. It is not about red-state/blue-state anymore. It's about what voters want. South Dakota may have less Americans than most states, but all Americans are concerned about the War in Iraq, skyrocketing healthcare costs, federal debt and a host of other challenges. Do we really have to beat our heads against the wall "triangulating" this? Hell no.
We need to make a few sacrifices (and contributions) to find and help these folks get into politics at every level of office in South Dakota and everywhere else. If we do, it will become a lot harder for the Governor Rounds of the world to act unilaterally and with partisanship on important decisions that belong to the voters, such as appointing a replacement to the United States Senate. Come to think of it, this kind of effort might even prevent us from having to put up with a President who acts the same way.
So to those who have committed themselves to the next two years wondering who is going to be the next Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, you might consider doing something to help a candidate get elected in 2007. It's probably the best thing you can do to ensure that Democrats keep the Congress and take the White House back in '08. If we do not, it might not matter who the Democratic nominee in 2008 is. And besides, the quest to take our country back for the voters and taxpayers who built it will never succeed if it depends on the health and well being of one individual.
Here is more from Jim's brother, Howard, about building farm teams.
Building a "farm team" for Democrats, training new people for the future.Speaking at Vanderbilt in Roy Neel's class, Howard Dean said:
The class grew quiet. Here was Dean as a Johnny Appleseed, sowing civics in the young. While Democrats have conceded parts of the country considered hostile, Republicans have left no office untested, he pointed out. The result is that Dems have no farm system, no ability to find young political talent in red states and groom it.
Run, he urged the students. Run for county road commissioner. Run for city council. "If you don't have people running for offices like county commissioner, who do you think is going to run for Congress a generation from now?
And that has been his goal ever since he started thinking about running for DNC chairmanship. Someone at HEP posted a thread about his mindset of change as he was considering the option to run. He has had these goals from the beginning.
Dean's remarks from 04 while thinking about running for chairman. 
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