Dean snubbed by Obama?

Jonathan Martin of Politico is reporting some supporters of outgoing DNC Chair Howard Dean are not happy after Dean was not invited to the press conference announcing Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s appointment as DNC Chair:

The conspicuous absence of Howard Dean from Thursday’s press conference announcing Tim Kaine’s appointment as Democratic National Committee chairman was no accident, according to Dean loyalists.

Rather, they say, it was a reflection of the lack of respect accorded to the outgoing party chairman by the Obama team.

Despite leading the party in consecutive triumphant election cycles — as well as through off-year races such as when Kaine was elected Virginia governor in 2005 — Dean has become all but invisible since Election Day, passed over for the Cabinet position he coveted and apparently not in line for another administration post.

Indeed, when President-elect Barack Obama introduced Kaine at party headquarters Thursday afternoon, Dean was 7,023 miles and seven time zones away, closer to French Polynesia than to Washington, doing party grunt work in American Samoa.

This is exactly the kind of “circular firing squad” that always dooms Democrats, and to be honest, it seems a little early for Democrats to be attacking each other.