Donnie Fowler’s straight-talk campaign for Democratic National Committee chairman is causing a stir among the party faithful.

They like it. Many find it refreshing. It’s not the same-old, same-old.

Fowler, a 37-year-old political consultant who grew up in Columbia, is one of seven candidates seeking the top party job.

The others are former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, Democratic activist Simon Rosenberg, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, former Ohio Democratic chairman David Leland, and former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer of Indiana.

The race is wide open.

Fowler, an up-and-coming Democratic strategist and son of former national chairman Donald Fowler, feels good about his chances.

“I’m competitive,” he says.

The DNC will meet in the nation’s capital Feb. 12 to elect a replacement for Terry McAuliffe.

The man to beat is Dean. His hard-charging race is gaining momentum. It recalls the streaking start of his 2004 bid for the White House, which went down in flames after his bizarre “yeee-ah” shout during a post-Iowa-caucuses rally.

Fowler sees Dean as the 800-pound gorilla in the race, but he’s not alarmed.

Moderate Democrats have been searching for an alternative to Dean, concerned he would lead the party in a more liberal direction.

That opens the door for Fowler.

He may surprise some people, said California-based political consultant Bill Carrick, himself a South Carolina native.

“Donnie is making headway with actual DNC members,” Carrick said. “He is working each of the state delegations. That’s where the real work is done. And Donnie is doing all that stuff.”

The election of a new chairman is expected to take more than one ballot. Dean is said to have about a third of the 431 votes on the DNC. The question is, can he get to 50 percent?

Says Carrick, “Donnie has a lot of second choices.”

Dean had the “oranges” in his well-financed 2004 presidential campaign, Fowler says, “but he couldn’t make orange juice.”

Fowler’s plain-talk is resonating with members who are tired of losing elections.

It’s time for new approaches, they say.

Fowler is not timid. He shows no hesitance in taking on party insiders. His basic message is this: Let’s take back the party from the Washington-based consultants and return it to the people.

“The problem is not with the Democrats in the states,” he says. “The problem is with an array of D.C. consultants who have a stranglehold on the committee. Democrats must remember that voters don’t live in Washington.”

The party has “turned itself over to a professional political class,” Fowler says. “Issues that folks in D.C. believe are life-altering and world-changing are usually small or non-existent to those beyond the Beltway.”

At a recent Democratic gathering in Orlando, Fowler scolded party leaders for having ceded huge swaths of the country to the GOP: “We’ve got to quit conceding to Republicans what rightfully belongs to us.”

In a personal message to DNC members, Fowler vows not to concede any region or voter, and “no longer will an aristocracy of consultants dictate to you or your colleagues... how to run campaigns in your own backyards.”

Dean, Fowler and Frost are said to be the top three.

The Association of State Democratic Chairs is scheduled to meet in New York today to endorse a candidate.

Fowler hopes it’s him.