Congressman Frost Eyes DNC Post

Texas senior Congressman, outgoing Democrat Martin Frost (D-Oak Cliff), is considering a run for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Mark Brewer, chairman of the Democratic Party in Michigan and President of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, told AP Frost was among four people making calls to DNC members.

"The following candidates are making phone calls to DNC members - Howard Dean, Donnie Fowler, Martin Frost and Leo Hindery," said Mark Brewer, party chairman in Michigan and president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs.

Frost's staff has confirmed he is making calls:

"Martin is taking some calls and has placed some calls" but emphasized he was merely exploring possibilities," Frost spokeswoman Susan McAvoy said.

Frost was a member of the House Democratic leadership team before a mid-decade redistricting plan spearheaded by fellow Texan and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Sugar Land) was approved by the Texas Legislature last year. Frost also previously headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Aside from former Vermont Governor and failed presidential candidate Howard Dean, Frost is by far the highest-profile Democrat currently making calls. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, two names mentioned to take over after Terry McAuliffe, have said they won't try for the job.

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb is also seeking the post and has sent videos to the state chairmen promoting his interest in the job. Fowler is a Democratic strategist and son of a former national chairman. Hindery is a New York businessman and former chairman of the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network LLC, a New York-based sports cable channel that televises New York Yankees baseball games.

Democrats will vote at their February meeting on a replacement for chairman McAuliffe, who did not run for another term.

Among the candidates, Frost probably has the longest pedigree of party accomplishment and leadership.

In addition to his 13 terms in Congress, Frost was the Ranking Democratic Member of the influential House Rules Committee, and was the highest-ranking Southern Democrat in the Congressional Leadership. The DCCC reports Frost was also a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1976, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996, and was the Chairman of the Texas Delegation to the convention in Los Angeles in 2000. However, Frost--and several other Democratic Congressmen from Texas, skipped the 2004 convention in Boston.

Frost served as Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) from January of 1995 to December of 1998, a time when Democrats made gains in the House in consecutive election cycles, and served as Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus from 1999 until January 2003.

Frost, who clerked for the legendary Federal District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, is also descended from a prominent, politically active East Texas family. His mother's family settled in Rusk County in East Texas more than a century ago; his maternal grandfather, M. H. Marwil, served as Mayor of Henderson in Rusk County, and his uncle, Charles Brachfield, was Rusk County Judge and a state senator.