I just talked to State Democratic Party Chair Paul Berendt, who’s in Phoenix, where the DNC is holding its annual meeting right now.

With Howard Dean at the helm, the 400 DNC members are working on “messaging” for the big ‘06 election. Berendt said antsy Democratic voters shouldn’t expect a Democratic version of Gingrich’s ‘94 “Contract w/ America” just yet. (He reminded me that the Republicans’ Contract w/ America didn’t hit until Sept. ‘94, just 2 months before the Rs’ big takeover.)

However, Berendt did say the Republicans’ “Culture of Corruption” (DeLay, Frist, Libby, Halliburton, Cunningham) is figuring prominently as the Dems start to determine how to frame 2006.

Berendt also reports that while the Democrats in Washington, DC might have problems with Howard Dean, support remains “rock solid” among the DNC delegates who are gathered at the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Phoenix.