Speaking of Howard Dean, you may have heard he wasn't in Washington, D.C. the other night for Bush's State of the Union address. There were some snickering suggestions this wasn't a coincidence and that Dean's absence was part of a coordinated effort to keep him as far away from a national television audience as possible. Whether there's a shred of truth to this rumor or not, it sure did work: Dean was absolutely invisible.

Instead, Dean spent Tuesday night rallying the faithful in Durham, North Carolina. According to columnist Scott Sexton, however, it looks like Dean's red state strategy might need a bit more fine tuning:

You would think that Democratic honchos in the state might want to be seen with the leader of the national Democratic Party. But a funny thing happened on the way to Dean's Bush bash. Apparently, the state's top elected Democrats would rather be caught cross-dressing in church than be seen with Howard Dean.

Then again, maybe they had some darned good excuses.

Gov. Mike Easley likes to golf and spend time at the coast, so maybe he wasn't even in town. Jim Black, the embattled speaker of the House, might have been meeting with his lawyers. Avoiding jail has to be a higher priority than publicly meeting with your party's leader.

And the roster of Democrats who hope to succeed Easley - Attorney General Roy Cooper, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Treasurer Richard Moore - surely know better than to associate themselves with the national party.

If you want to win a state race as a Democrat, you run away from the national party. Unless you live in Durham or Chapel Hill.

On the upside, Dean did get three Durham city council members and one State Rep. to attend the festivities. Perhaps all that money Dean spent last year is starting to pay dividends after all.