Howard Dean | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dean in 2016 | |
| Chair of theDemocratic National Committee | |
| In office February 12, 2005 – January 21, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Terry McAuliffe |
| Succeeded by | Tim Kaine |
| 79thGovernor of Vermont | |
| In office August 13, 1991 – January 8, 2003 | |
| Lieutenant | Barbara Snelling Doug Racine |
| Preceded by | Richard Snelling |
| Succeeded by | Jim Douglas |
| Chair of theNational Governors Association | |
| In office July 19, 1994 – August 1, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Carroll A. Campbell Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Tommy Thompson |
| 77thLieutenant Governor of Vermont | |
| In office January 3, 1987 – August 13, 1991 | |
| Governor | Madeleine Kunin Richard Snelling |
| Preceded by | Peter Smith |
| Succeeded by | Barbara Snelling |
| Member of theVermont House of Representatives from theChittenden 7-4 district | |
| In office 1983–1987 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Bennett Truman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Howard Brush Dean III (1948-11-17)November 17, 1948 (age 77) East Hampton,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Yale University (BA) Yeshiva University (MD) |
| Signature |  |
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79thgovernor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of theDemocratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009.[1] Dean was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the2004 presidential election. Later, his implementation of thefifty-state strategy as head of the DNC is credited with the Democratic victories in the2006 and2008 elections. Afterward, he became a political commentator and consultant toMcKenna Long & Aldridge, a law and lobbying firm.
Before entering politics, Dean earned hismedical degree from theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978. Dean served as a member of theVermont House of Representatives from 1983 to 1986 and asLieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1987 to 1991. Both were part-time positions that enabled him to continue practicing medicine. In 1991, Dean became governor of Vermont whenRichard A. Snelling died in office. Dean was subsequently elected to five two-year terms, serving from 1991 to 2003, making him the longest-serving governor in the history of the state of Vermont.[a] Dean served as chairman of theNational Governors Association from 1994 to 1995; during his term, Vermont paid off much of its public debt and had abalanced budget 11 times, lowering income taxes twice. Dean also oversaw the expansion of the "Dr. Dynasaur" program, which ensuresuniversal health care for children and pregnant women in the state. He is a noted staunch supporter of universal health care.[2][3][4][5]
Dean denounced the2003 invasion of Iraq and called on Democrats to oppose theBush administration. In the2004 election, initially seen as a long-shot candidate, Dean pioneeredInternet-based fundraising andgrassroots organizing, which is centered on mass appeal to small donors which is more cost efficient than the more expensive contacting of fewer potential larger donors, and promotes activeparticipatory democracy among the general public.[6] As a result of his unconventional strategy, he became the top fundraiser and front runner for theDemocratic Partypresidential nomination. Dean had a disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucus, and his campaign suffered after negative reactions in the media toa hoarse "Yeah" that he shouted after enumerating states that he hoped to win and ending up losing the nomination toSenatorJohn Kerry of Massachusetts. In 2004, Dean foundedDemocracy for America, aprogressivepolitical action committee. He was later elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February 2005. As chairman of the party, Dean created and employed the fifty-state strategy that attempted to make Democrats competitive in normally conservative states often dismissed in the past as "solid red". The success of the strategy became apparent during the 2006 midterm elections, where Democrats took back control of the House and Senate, winning Senate seats from normally Republican states such as Missouri and Montana. In the 2008 election, the Democrats increased their House and Senate majorities, whileBarack Obama used the 50-state strategy as the backbone of his successful presidential candidacy.
Dean was named chairman emeritus of the DNC upon his retirement in January 2009.[7] Since retiring from the DNC chairman position, Dean has held neither elected office nor an official position in the Democratic Party and, as of 2015[update], was working for global law firmDentons as part of the firm's public policy and regulation practice.[8] In 2013, Dean expressed interest in running for thepresidency in 2016,[9] but instead supported formerSecretary of StateHillary Clinton's run for president.[10]
Dean was born inEast Hampton, New York, to Andrée Belden (née Maitland), an art appraiser, and Howard Brush Dean Jr., an executive in the financial industry.[11][12]Dean is the eldest of four brothers, includingJim Dean, Chair ofDemocracy for America, andCharles Dean, who was captured by thePathet Lao and executed by theNorth Vietnamese while traveling throughSoutheast Asia in 1974.[11][13]
Howard's father worked at thestock brokerage firm ofDean Witter. The family was quite wealthy, Republican, and belonged to the exclusiveMaidstone Golf Club inEast Hampton. As a child, he spent much of his time growing up in East Hampton; the family built a house on Hook Pond[14] there in the mid-1950s. While in New York, the family had a three-bedroom apartment on theUpper East Side alongPark Avenue.
Howard attended theBrowning School in Manhattan until he was 13, and then went toSt. George's School, apreparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island.[15]In September 1966, he attendedFelsted School, UK, for one school year after winning anEnglish Speaking Union scholarship.[16]
UPI quoted one of Dean's friends in his youth as saying, "By Hamptons standards, the Deans were not rich. No safaris in Africa or chalets in Switzerland. Howard's father went to work every day. He didn't own a company, or have a father or grandfather who founded one, as mine did."[17]Peggy Noonan wrote in theWall Street Journal that:
he doesn't seem like aWASP. I know it's not nice to deal in stereotypes, but there seems very littleThurston Howell, III, orGeorge Bush, the elder, for that matter, in Mr. Dean. ... He seems unpolished, doesn't hide his aggression, is proudly pugnacious. He doesn't look or act the part of the WASP ... It will be harder for Republicans to tag Mr. Dean as Son of theMaidstone Club than it was for Democrats to tag Bush One as Heir toGreenwich Country Day. He just doesn't act the part.[18]
Dean graduated fromYale University with aBachelor of Arts in political science in 1971.[19] As a freshman, he requested specifically to room with anAfrican American. The university housing office complied, and Dean roomed with twoSouthern black students and one white student from Pennsylvania.[20] One of Dean's roommates was Ralph Dawson, the son of a sheet metal worker inCharleston,South Carolina, and today a New York City labor lawyer. Dawson said of Dean:
Unless you operated from a stereotypic understanding of the Yale white boy as rich, you wouldn't know that about Howard. ... When it came to race—and I don't know whether this was a function of intent or just came naturally—Howard was not patronizing in any way. He was willing to confront in discussion what a lot of white students weren't. He would hold his ground. He would respect that I knew forty-two million times more about being black than he did. But that didn't mean he couldn't hold a view on something relating to civil rights that would be as valid as mine. There were lots of well-meaning people at Yale who wanted you to understand that they understood your plight; you'd get into a conversation and they would yield too soon, so we didn't get the full benefit of the exchange. Howard very much thought he was capable of working an issue through. He was inquisitive. And when he came to a conclusion he would be as strong as anybody else. I don't think he's stubborn. He's a guy who's always been comfortable in his own skin. That's something you still see in him today, and it gets him into some degree of controversy.[19]
Though eventually eligible to be drafted into the military, he received a medical deferment because of an unfused vertebra.[21] In response to Tim Russert asking onMeet the Press whether Dean could have served in the military had he not mentioned his back condition during his draft physical, Dean replied "I guess that's probably true. I mean, I was in no hurry to get into the military."[22] He briefly tried a career as a stockbroker before deciding on a career in medicine, completing pre-medicine classes atColumbia University. In 1974, Dean's younger brotherCharlie, who had been traveling throughsoutheast Asia at the time, was captured and killed byLaotianguerrillas, a tragedy widely reported to have an enormous influence in Dean's life; for many years he has worn his brother's belt nearly every day as a memento.[19][23][24]
Dean received hisDoctor of Medicine degree from theYeshiva UniversityAlbert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978 and began amedical residency at theUniversity of Vermont.
In 1980, Dean spearheaded a grassroots campaign to stop a condominium development onLake Champlain, instead favoring the construction of a bicycle trail. The effort succeeded and helped launch his political career. That same year, he was also a volunteer forJimmy Carter's re-election campaign. In 1980, he was a Carter delegate at the Democratic National Convention. In 1981 he was elected chairman of theChittenden County Democratic Committee. He served in this position until resigning in May 1984.
In 1982, he was elected to theVermont House of Representatives; he was reelected in 1984 and became assistant minority leader.[25] He was elected lieutenant governor in 1986 and reelected in 1988 and 1990.[25] All were part-time positions, and Dean continued to practice medicine alongside his wife until he became governor.[26][27]
On August 13, 1991, Dean was examining a patient when he received word that governorRichard A. Snelling had died of sudden cardiac arrest.[25] Dean assumed the office, which he called the "greatest job in Vermont." He was subsequently elected to five two-year terms in his own right, making him the longest-serving governor in the state's history.[28] From 1994 to 1995, Dean was the chairman of theNational Governors Association.
Dean was faced with an economic recession and a $60 million budget deficit. He bucked many in his own party to immediately push for a balanced budget, an act which marked the beginning of a record of fiscal restraint. During his tenure as governor, the state paid off much of its debt, balanced its budget eleven times, raised itsbond rating, and lowered income taxes twice.[29]Robert Dreyfuss wrote that as a fiscal conservative:
Dean navigated a triangular course between the two parties, clashing often with the Democrats over taxes and spending -- and helping to drive many liberal-left Democrats into the arms of theProgressive Party and of Representative Bernie Sanders, Congress's lone socialist. Inheriting a fiscal crisis from Snelling, Dean slashed the budget and dramatically reduced taxes. During the 1990s, Dean repeatedly unsheathed his veto pen, and he often allied with a growing contingent of conservative Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans to outmaneuver the Democratic leadership on issues such as taxes.[25]
Dean also focused on health care issues, most notably through the "Dr. Dynasaur" program, which ensures near-universal health coverage for children and pregnant women in the state; the uninsured rate in Vermont fell from 10.8 percent in 1993 to 8.4 percent in 2000 under his watch.[30] Child abuse and teen pregnancy rates were cut roughly in half.[31]
The first decision of his career to draw significant national attention came in 2000, after the Vermont Supreme Court, inBaker v. State, ruled that the state's marriage laws unconstitutionally excludedsame-sex couples and ordered that the state legislature either allow gays and lesbians to marry or create a parallel status. Facing calls to amend the state constitution to prohibit either option, Dean chose to support the latter one, and signed the nation's firstcivil unions legislation into law, spurring a short-lived "Take Back Vermont" movement which helped Republicans gain control of the State House.[citation needed]
Dean was criticized during his 2004 presidential campaign for another decision related to civil unions. Shortly before leaving office, he had some of his Vermont papers sealed for at least the next decade, a time frame longer than most outgoing governors use, stating that he was protecting the privacy of many gay supporters who sent him personal letters about the issue. On the campaign trail, he demanded that Vice PresidentDick Cheney release his energy committee papers. Many people, including Democratic Senator and failed 2004 presidential candidateJoe Lieberman of Connecticut, who would go on to leave the party after losing his primary for re-election in 2006, accused Dean of hypocrisy.Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit to force the papers be opened before the seal expired but lost.[citation needed]
Dean began his bid for president as a "long shot" candidate.ABC News ranked him eighth out of 12 in a list of potential presidential contenders in May 2002. In March 2003 he gave a speech strongly critical of the Democratic leadership at the California State Democratic Convention that attracted the attention of grassroots party activists and set the tone and the agenda of his candidacy. It began with the line: "What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?"
That summer, his campaign was featured as the cover article inThe New Republic and in the following months he received expanded media attention. His campaign slowly gained steam, and by autumn of 2003, Dean had become the apparent frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, performing strongly in most polls and outpacing his rivals in fundraising. This latter feat was attributed mainly to his innovative embrace of the Internet for campaigning, usingMeetup.com to track supporters and encourage grassroots participation in the campaign. The majority of his donations came from individual Dean supporters, who came to be known asDeanites, or, more commonly,Deaniacs, a term coined to describe meetup participants, who passed out campaign materials supporting Dean and the broader movement.[32][33] (Critics often labeled them "Deany Boppers", or "Deanie Babies", a reference to his support from young activists.[34]) Following Dean's presidential campaign, some Deaniacs remained engaged in the political process throughDemocracy for America and similar locally oriented organizations.
Dean began his campaign by emphasizing healthcare policy[2] and ‘fiscal responsibility’, and championinggrassroots fundraising as a way to fightlobby groups. However, his opposition to theU.S. plan to invade Iraq (and his forceful criticism of Democrats in Congress who voted to authorize the use of force) quickly eclipsed other issues. By challenging the war in Iraq at a time when mainstream Democratic leaders were either neutral or cautiously supportive, Dean positioned himself to appeal to his party's activist base. Dean often quoted the late Minnesota SenatorPaul Wellstone (who had recently died in a plane crash) as saying that he represented "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." His message resonated among frustrated Democratic primary voters who felt that their party hadn't done enough to oppose the policies of the Republicans. Thus, Dean also succeeded in differentiating himself from his primary opponents.[citation needed]
Dean's approach organizationally was also novel. His campaign made extensive use of the Internet, pioneering techniques that were subsequently adopted by politicians of all political persuasions. His supporters organized real-world meetings, many of them arranged throughMeetup.com, participated in online forums, donated money online, canvassed for advertising ideas, and distributed political talking points. In terms of money, publicity and activism, Dean therefore quickly staked out a leadership position in the field of candidates. In this way, he was able to bypass existing party and activist infrastructure and built his own online network of supporters. In terms of traditional "ground troops", however, Dean remained at a disadvantage. Dean adopted a coffee shop strategy to visit grassroot activists in all 99 Iowacounties, but he lacked the campaign infrastructure toget voters to the polls that his opponents had.[citation needed]
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In the "Invisible Primary" of raising campaign funds, Howard Dean led the Democratic pack in the early stages of the 2004 campaign. Among the candidates, he ranked first in total raised ($25.4 million as of September 30, 2003) and first in cash-on-hand ($12.4 million). However, even this performance paled next to that ofGeorge W. Bush, who by that date had raised $84.6 million for the Republican primary campaign, in which he had no strong challenger. Prior to the 2004 primary season, the Democratic record for most money raised in one quarter by a primary candidate was held byBill Clinton in 1995, raising $10.3 million during a campaign in which he had no primary opponent. In the third quarter of 2003, the Dean campaign raised $14.8 million, shattering Clinton's record. All told, Dean's campaign raised around $50 million.
While presidential campaigns have traditionally obtained finance by tapping wealthy, established political donors, Dean's funds came largely in small donations over the Internet; the average overall donation was just under $80. This method of fundraising offered several important advantages over traditional fundraising, in addition to the inherent media interest in what was then a novelty. First, raising money on the Internet was relatively inexpensive, compared to conventional methods such as events, telemarketing, and direct mail campaigns. Secondly, as donors on average contributed far less than the legal limit ($2,000 per person), the campaign could continue to resolicit them throughout the election season.
Dean's director of grassroots fundraising,Larry Biddle, came up with the idea of the popular fundraising "bat", an image of a cartoon baseball player and bat which appeared on the site every time the campaign launched a fundraising challenge. The bat encouraged Web site visitors to contribute money immediately through their credit cards. This would lead to the bat filling up like a thermometer with the red color indicating the total funds. The site often took suggestions from thenetroots on their blog. One of these suggestions led to one of the campaign's biggest accomplishments: an image of Dean eating a turkey sandwich encouraged supporters to donate $250,000 in three days to match a big-donor dinner by Vice President Dick Cheney. The online contributions from that day matched what Cheney made from his fundraiser.[35]
In November 2003, after a much-publicized online vote among his followers, Dean became the first Democrat to forgo federal matching funds (and the spending limits that go with them) since the system was established in 1974. (John Kerry later followed his lead.) In addition to state-by-state spending limits for the primaries, the system limits a candidate to spending only $44.6 million until theDemocratic National Convention in July, which sum would almost certainly run out soon after the early primary season. (George W. Bush declined federal matching funds in 2000 and did so again for the 2004 campaign.)
In a sign that the Dean campaign was starting to think beyond the primaries, they began in late 2003 to speak of a "$100 revolution" in which two million Americans would give $100 in order to compete with Bush.
Political commentators have stated that the fundraising ofBarack Obama, with its emphasis on small donors and the internet, refined and built upon the model that Dean's campaign pioneered.[36]
Though Dean lagged in early endorsements, he acquired many critical ones as his campaign snowballed. By the time of the Iowa caucuses, he led among commitments fromsuperdelegates– elected officials and party officers entitled to convention votes by virtue of their positions. On November 12, 2003, he received the endorsements of theService Employees International Union and theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Dean received the endorsement of former vice president and 2000 presidential candidateAl Gore, on December 9, 2003.[37] In the following weeks Dean was endorsed by former U.S. senatorsBill Bradley andCarol Moseley Braun, unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidates from the 2000 and 2004 primaries, respectively.
Other high-profile endorsers included:[38]
Several celebrities from the entertainment industry endorsed him:Joan Jett,Martin Sheen,Rob Reiner,Susan Sarandon,Paul Newman,Robin Williams,[40] andJoseph Gordon-Levitt.
Many pundits blamed such endorsements for the campaign's eventual collapse. In particular, Al Gore's early endorsement of Dean weeks before the first primary of the election cycle was severely criticized by eight Democratic contenders particularly since he did not endorse his former running mate,Joe Lieberman.[41] Gore supported Dean over Lieberman due to their differing opinions on Iraq which began to develop around 2002 (Lieberman supported the war and Gore did not).[42] When Dean's campaign failed, some blamed Gore's early endorsement.[43]
On January 19, 2004, Dean's rivalsJohn Kerry andJohn Edwards pushed him into a third-place finish in the2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses, representing the first votes cast inprimary season. Dean'sloud outburst in his public address that night was widely rebroadcast and portrayed as a media gaffe that ended his campaign.
According to aNewsday editorial written by Verne Gay, some members of the television audience criticized the speech as loud, peculiar, and unpresidential.[44] In particular, this quote from the speech was aired repeatedly in the days following the caucus:
Not only are we going to New Hampshire,Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York. ... And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House!Yeah!ⓘ[45]
Senator Harkin was on stage with Dean, holding his suit jacket. This final "Yeah!" with its unusual tone that Dean later said was due to the cracking of his hoarse voice,[46] has become known in American political jargon as the "Dean Scream" or the "I Have a Scream" speech.[46][47] Comedians and late-night comedy show hosts such asDave Chappelle andConan O'Brien satirized, mocked, and popularized the sound bite,[47][48] beginning a media onslaught that many believe contributed immensely to his poor showing in the subsequent races.[49]
Dean conceded that the speech did not project the best image, jokingly referring to it as a "crazy, red-faced rant" on theLate Show with David Letterman. In an interview later that week withDiane Sawyer, he said he was "a little sheepish ... but I'm not apologetic."[50] Sawyer and many others in the national broadcast news media later expressed some regret about overplaying the story.[51]CNN issued a public apology and admitted in a statement that they might have "overplayed" the incident. The incessant replaying of the "Dean Scream" by the press became a debate on the topic of whether Dean was the victim ofmedia bias. The scream scene was shown an estimated 633 times by cable and broadcast news networks in just four days following the incident, a number that does not include talk shows and local news broadcasts.[52] Some in the audience that day reported that they were unaware of the "scream" until they saw it on TV.[51] Dean said after the general election in 2004, that his microphone only picked up his voice and did not also capture the loud cheering he received from the audience as a result of the speech. On January 27, Dean finished second to Kerry in theNew Hampshire primary. As late as one week before the first votes were cast in Iowa's caucuses, Dean had enjoyed a 30% lead in New Hampshire opinion polls;[citation needed] accordingly, this loss represented another major setback to his campaign.
Iowa and New Hampshire were the first in a string of losses for the Dean campaign, culminating in a third place showing in the Wisconsin primary on February 17. Two days before the Wisconsin primary, campaign advisorSteve Grossman announced through an article written byThe New York Times Dean campaign correspondent Jodi Wilgoren that he would offer his services to any of the other major candidates "should Dean not win in Wisconsin." This scoop further undermined Dean's campaign. Grossman later issued a public apology. The next day, Dean announced that his candidacy had "come to an end", though he continued to urge people to vote for him, so that Dean delegates would be selected for the convention and could influence the party platform. He later won the Vermont primary onSuper Tuesday, March 2. This latter victory, a surprise even to Dean, was due in part to the lack of a serious anti-Kerry candidate in Vermont (John Edwards had declined to put his name on the state's ballot, expecting Dean to win in a landslide), and in part to a television ad produced, funded, and aired in Vermont by grassroots Dean supporters.
The New York Observer attributed Barack Obama's success in the2008 presidential election to his perfection of the internet organizing model that Dean pioneered.[53]
On October 11, 2007, it was reported thatLeonardo DiCaprio andGeorge Clooney were in early talks about making a "political thriller" based on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, tentatively titledFarragut North.[54] The movie, finally titledThe Ides of March, was released on October 7, 2011. It is based on the playFarragut North, which was named after theWashington Metro station located in the center of the lobbyist district. The play was written byBeau Willimon, a staffer on the Dean campaign. The main character is based on a former press secretary for the Dean campaign.
In November 2008, a documentary film about Dean and his campaign,Dean and Me, was released and shown at several film festivals around the country.[citation needed]
Following Dean's withdrawal after the Wisconsin primary, he pledged to support the eventual Democratic nominee. He remained neutral until John Kerry became thepresumptive nominee. Dean endorsed Kerry on March 25, 2004, in a speech at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
On March 18, 2004, Dean founded the groupDemocracy for America. This group was created to house the large, Internet-based organization Dean created for his presidential campaign. Its goal is to help like-minded candidates get elected to local, state, and federal offices. It has endorsed several sets of twelve candidates known as theDean Dozen. Dean turned over control of the organization to his brother,Jim Dean, when he became Chairman of theDemocratic National Committee.
Dean strongly urged his supporters to support Kerry as opposed toRalph Nader, arguing that a vote for Nader would only help to re-elect President George W. Bush because he believed that most who vote for Nader are likely to have voted for Kerry if Ralph Nader was not running. Dean argued that Nader would be more effective if he lobbied on election law reform issues during his campaign. Dean supported several election law reform issues such ascampaign finance reform andinstant-runoff voting.[55]
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Dean was elected Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on February 12, 2005, after all his opponents dropped out of the race when it became apparent Dean had the votes to become chair.[56] Those opponents included former CongressmanMartin Frost, former Denver MayorWellington Webb, former Congressman and 9/11 CommissionerTim Roemer, and strategists Donnie Fowler,David Leland, andSimon Rosenberg.
Many prominent Democrats opposed Dean's campaign; House LeaderNancy Pelosi and Senate LeaderHarry Reid are rumored to be among them.[57] Dean satisfied his critics by promising to focus on fundraising and campaigning as DNC Chair and avoid policy statements. He was succeeded byTim Kaine, who at the time of his election was the governor ofVirginia, in 2009.
Dean ran for the position a second time in 2016. Two days afterHillary Clinton's defeat in the2016 presidential election, he announced that he would again seek the chairmanship. There were other contenders at the time who had been endorsed by SenatorBernie Sanders ofVermont, and Senate Minority Leader-electChuck Schumer ofNew York.[58] On December 2, 2016, Dean withdrew his candidacy.[59]
During his 2005-2009 tenure, he promoted a "fifty-state strategy" and developed innovative fund-raising strategies.
After Dean became Chairman of the DNC, he pledged to bring reform to the Party. Rather than focusing just onswing states, Dean proposed what has come to be known as thefifty-state strategy, the goal of which was for the Democratic Party to be committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, with Democrats organized in every singlevoting precinct. State party chairs lauded Dean for raising money directly for the individual state parties.
Dean's strategy used a post-Watergate model taken from the Republicans of the mid-seventies. Working at the local, state and national level, the GOP built the party from the ground up. Dean's plan was to seed the local level with young and committed candidates, building them into state candidates in future races. Dean traveled extensively throughout the country with the plan, including places like Utah, Mississippi, and Texas, states in which Republicans had dominated the political landscape. Many establishment Democrats were at least initially dubious about the strategy's worth—political consultant and former Bill Clinton advisor,Paul Begala, suggested that Dean's plan was "just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose."[60] Further changes were made in attempting to make the stated platform of the Democratic Party more coherent and compact. Overhauling the website, the official platform of the 2004 campaign, which was largely criticized as avoiding key issues and being the product of party insiders, was replaced with a simplified, though comprehensive categorizing of positions on a wide range of issues.
Dean's strategy arguably paid off in a historic victory as the Democrats took over control of theHouse of Representatives and theSenate in the2006 mid-term elections. While it is likely this is also attributable to the shortcomings of the Republican Party in their dealings with theIraq War and the scandals that occurred shortly before the election, Dean's emphasis on connecting with socially conservative, economic moderates in Republican-dominated states appears to have made some impact. Indeed, Democratic candidates won elections in suchred states as Kansas, Indiana, and Montana. And while former Clinton strategistJames Carville criticized Dean's efforts, saying more seats could have been won with the traditional plan of piling money solely into close races, the results and the strategy were met with tremendous approval by the party's executive committee in its December 2006 meeting.[61] While he was chairman of the DCCC,Rahm Emanuel was known to have had disagreements over election strategy with Dean; Emanuel believed a more tactical approach, focusing attention on key districts, was necessary to ensure victory.[62] Emanuel himself was criticised for his failure to support some progressive candidates, as Dean advocated.[63]
The 50-state strategy relied on the idea that building the Democratic Party is at once an incremental election by election process as well as a long-term vision in party building. Democrats cannot compete in counties in which they do not field candidates. Therefore, candidate recruitment emerged as a component element of the 50-state strategy.
To build the party, the DNC under Dean worked in partnership with state Democratic parties in bringing the resources of the DNC to bear in electoral efforts, voter registration, candidate recruitment, and other interlocking component elements of party building. Decentralization was also a core component of the party's approach. The idea was that each state party had unique needs but could improve upon its efforts through the distribution of resources from the national party.
The 50-state strategy was acknowledged by political commentators as an important factor in allowingBarack Obama to compete againstJohn McCain in many states that were previously considered solidly Republican during the2008 presidential election,[64][65] most notably when it comes to Obama's victories in Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Throughgrassroots fundraising, Howard Dean was able to raise millions more than the previous DNC Chairman at the same point after the 2000 election. The year after his election, Dean had raised the most money by any DNC Chairman in a similar post election period. This was especially apparent when the Federal Election Commission reported that the DNC had raised roughly $86.3 million in the first six months of 2005, an increase of over 50% on the amount raised during the same period of 2003. In comparison, the RNC fundraising activities represented a gain of only 2%. Additional attempts to capitalize on this trend was the introduction of "Democracy Bonds," a program under which small donors would give a set amount every month. Although it only reached over 31,000 donors by May 2006, far off-pace from the stated goal of 1 million by 2008, it nonetheless contributed to a new small-donor funding philosophy of the DNC. Dean continued to further develop online fundraising at the DNC. Just one month before Election Day 2006, he became the first to introduce the concept of a "grassroots match," where donors to the DNC pledged to match the first donation made by a new contributor. The DNC stated that the resulting flood of contributions led to 10,000 first-time donors in just a few days.
Supporters of Dean were angry that he was not given a position in the newObama administration and not invited to the press conference at whichTim Kaine was introduced as his successor as Democratic National Committee chairman.Joe Trippi, who was Dean's presidential campaign manager in 2004, toldPolitico, "[Dean] was never afraid to challenge the way party establishment in Washington did business, and that doesn't win you friends in either party." Trippi further explained the apparent snub of Dean by stating, "You don't have to look any further thanRahm Emanuel." Trippi was referring to the tension between Emanuel and Dean over Dean's 50 state strategy. Sources close to Emanuel dismissed these charges.[66]
Dean said: "I didn't do this for the spoils. I did this for the country. I'm very happy that Barack Obama is president, and I think he's picked a great Cabinet. And I'm pretty happy. I wouldn't trade my position for any other position right now. I'm going to go into the private sector, make a living making speeches, and do a lot of stuff on health care policy."[67][66]
When asked about not being selected for a position in the Obama administration, Dean responded, "Obviously, it would have been great, but it's not happening and the president has the right to name his own Cabinet, so I'm not going to work in the government it looks like." When asked how he felt about not being selected, Dean replied he would "punt on that one." After the withdrawal ofTom Daschle's nomination for the position, Dean had been touted by many for the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services.[68][69] After being passed over for the post once again, Dean commented: "I was pretty clear that I would have liked to have been Secretary of HHS but it is the president's choice and he decided to go in a different direction."[70]
Outside the US Dean is a supporter of theLiberal Democrats party of the United Kingdom. He has close links with the party and has spoken at their party conference in the past.[71] Since the UK began the Brexit process, he has continued to tweet his support for the party.[72]
After leaving office Dean emerged as a major supporter of thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran (Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK), calling for it to be delisted as a terrorist group by the United States, which occurred on September 21, 2012.[73][74]
Dean endorsedHillary Clinton during the2016 presidential election instead ofVermont SenatorBernie Sanders from his home state in September 2015.[75]
Dean questioned on Twitter whether Donald Trump's sniffing during a presidential debate was due to cocaine use, and later apologized for "using innuendo."[76][77]
In a January 2009 interview with theAssociated Press, Dean indicated he would enter the private sector after 30 years in politics. Dean told the AP he would deliver speeches and share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties around the world. He became a contributor to the news networkMSNBC in shows such asThe Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.[78] He has also guest hostedCountdown with Keith Olbermann andThe Rachel Maddow Show. He is on the board of the National Democratic Institute.[79]
Dean also serves as a Senior Presidential Fellow atHofstra University.[80] He has been a Senior Fellow at theYale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a visiting professor atWilliams College.[citation needed] He has been a Senior Strategic Advisor and Independent Consultant for the Government Affairs practice atMcKenna, Long & Aldridge.[81] In December 2018 Dean joined the advisory board ofTilray, one of the world's largestcannabis companies.[82] Dean is a member of theCanadian American Business Council's Advisory Board.[83]
In 1981, Dean married fellow doctorJudith Steinberg, whom he met in medical school, and together they began a family medical practice inShelburne, Vermont (where she continued to use hermaiden name to avoid confusion).[84]
Although raised as anEpiscopalian, Dean joined aCongregational church in 1982 after a dispute with the local Episcopaldiocese over a bike trail.[85] By his own account, he did not attend church as of the early 2000s; at one point, when asked to name his favorite book in theNew Testament, he offered theOld TestamentBook of Job, then corrected himself an hour later.[86] Dean has stated he is "more spiritual than religious".[85] He and hisJewish wife Judith Steinberg Dean have raised their two children, Anne and Paul, in a secular education, and both children self-identify asJews.[87][88]
On Tuesday, Dr. Dean, who rarely mentions his family on the stump, interrupted his schedule to announce that a search team had found his brother's remains buried in a rice paddy in central Laos. ...
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Texts from Wikisource| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by John Carnahan | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Vermont 1986, 1988, 1990 | Succeeded by David Wolk |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Vermont 1992,1994,1996,1998,2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic Governors Association 1996–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic National Committee 2005–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of Vermont 1987–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Vermont 1991–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Governors Association 1994–1995 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded byas Former Governor | Order of precedence of the United States | Succeeded byas Former Governor |
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