Former Governor Dean Eyeing Democratic Nomination

Author: Kelsey Rinehart

After announcing in May 2002 that he would run for president after an 11-year stint as Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean has elevated his campaign, visiting voters all over the country and gaining the attention of the national media as he continues on the campaign trail. Dean proclaims in his campaign slogan, "I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party!" He is running on a platform of nation-wide health care, fiscal pragmatism and smart foreign policy.
Dean Campaign Manager Rick Ridder '76, the president and cofounder of the political consulting firm Ridder/Braden, worked on the campaigns of Bill Clinton in 1992 and Bill Bradley in 2000. "When I look at Howard Dean and what he is speaking -- health care, fiscal responsibility -- and the direction he wants to take the country, it's extremely invigorating and exciting," he said in November, before formally joining the campaign. Ridder teamed up with Dean in January, working from the campaign headquarters in Burlington and standing behind the former governor as he traverses the country.
Proud of his medical background, Dean announces, "The doctor is in!" on his campaign signs. After earning an undergraduate degree at Yale University and a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, Dean shared a medical practice with his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg, before launching his career in public service. After serving in the Vermont House from 1982 to 1986, Dean was elected lieutenant governor. He was appointed governor in 1991 after then-governor Richard Snelling died in office.
Secretary of the College and Professor of Political Science Eric Davis commented that in 1998, "Dean felt there was still some unfinished work to do at the Statehouse. At that time, his family had some concerns about his running. Also, Vice President [Al] Gore was seen as the 'heir apparent' to Bill Clinton, the logical person for the Democratic nomination in 2000." Dean, however, saw his opportunity to emerge on the national level soon after Bush was elected, and took action in 2003. "The idea that he could be as strong a presidential candidate as anybody else, including people with a lot of Washington experience, was very much in his mind," Davis said. Ridder agreed and said in an interview with The Middlebury Campus, "I think many people knew that he had national ambitions."
Dean has now broken through the barrier of anonymity to emerge as one of the national media's five leading Democratic candidates, along with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), John Edwards (D-N.C.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephart (D-Mo.). Coming from the Green Mountain State, Dean differs from his Washington-based running mates. "Someone like Lieberman, who's run for vice president before, or someone like Gephart, who's been a leader in Congress for a long time -- these people have much more name recognition than Dean, who's been governor of a small state," Davis said.
Dean also seems to diverge from the other candidates in his campaign method of running a tight budget, which some see as evidence of his independent nature. "With little money in his political bank, he is a long shot for the Democratic presidential nomination. But these supposed weaknesses differentiate him from his competition. He has financial and ideological independence and is the only Washington outsider considered to have a chance," wrote Timothy Phelps in Newsday.
Others, however, cite Dean's lack of funds as the central danger zone in his campaign. Dean has been compared to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), whose bid for the presidency in 2000 fell short when he lost the Democratic primary in South Carolina by a wide margin. "If you look back over the several most recent presidential elections, there's always the candidate who receives a lot of media attention, gets a good press pack following him around, and usually that's a candidate who's done better than expected in one of the two key early races: the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary," Davis stated. All the Sunday talk-show appearances in the world, however, cannot guarantee the nomination. "The candidate who has media attention but not money runs into a problem once the campaign switches from just Iowa and New Hampshire to 20 or 30 states that have primaries in rapid succession in February and March."
In his 2000 campaign, George W. Bush spent $72 million to get to the White House. This year, Bush is expected campaign on "the fattest campaign war chest in history, maybe $300 million, totally financed by private contributors," noted Dick Polman in The Philadelphia Inquirer. To be a "credible candidate," Davis said that a Democratic candidate would have to raise about $40 million. "I'm just not sure whether Dean can raise that kind of money," he said.
With its primary on Feb. 3, 2004, South Carolina may make it or break it for Dean, as it did for McCain. In South Carolina, Dean will have to focus his energies on attracting African American voters. "That's a constituency that Dean is going to have to reach out to if he wants to win the nomination," Davis said. If Dean does win in South Carolina, many contend that it will be a noteworthy feat. "'Northerner wins South Carolina Primary' -- that's a great headline," said Davis. If Dean does not find glory in South Carolina, however, and loses badly, as McCain did in 2000, his campaign, Davis said, "may be over."
If there is one issue that will bring Dean to the forefront, it is health care. Dean announces on his Web site, "As a doctor, I understand the fear facing families without health insurance. As a Governor, I am proud that virtually every child under 18 and more than 92 percent of adults in Vermont are eligible for health coverage." Dean, recognizing a nationwide need, plans to universalize health care if elected. Davis noted, "I think the health care one is the issue he can really run with, and part of it ties into his background as a physician, of course." Dean outlined his national plan, "Similar to our program in Vermont, states should be required to guarantee coverage for all children under age 23. In return, the federal government should assume responsibility for drug and acute medical care for Americans over age 65." Ridder said of the health care plan, "Voters find that very attractive."
Another stance that has attracted voters has been Dean's ardent opposition to unilateral war in Iraq. Dean has proclaimed repeatedly that he is against Bush's plan of going ahead without the support of the United Nations. He declared on Sunday on "Meet the Press," "Going to war pre-emptively and preventively has a very high moral threshold. Other countries will look to us as an example of what is permissible. We really have set the bar in terms of permissible conduct in this world, in terms of international intervention, for a while. If we go to war preventively against Iraq ... my concern is what it's going to do to the bilateral institutions and multilateral institutions that we have built up in this world for the last 50 years." In response to Bush's recent remarks to the press, Dean said, "He continues to tell us what we all agree on: that Saddam Hussein is a ruthless, tyrannical despot. But he does not make the case that we should take on this crisis without the full backing of the United Nations. It is no wonder that we cannot convince our long-standing allies to go to war when we cannot demonstrate that an imminent threat exists."
Dean has also chastised his democratic opponents for not standing up to Bush. In address to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), he asked, "What I want to know ... is why in the world the Democratic Party leadership is supporting the President's unilateral attack on Iraq?" As the days pass and the threat of war draws nearer, Dean's fiery rhetoric attracts a larger and larger crowd of anti-war activists across the country. Ridder noted, "Dean has clearly become the voice for the anti-war in Iraq movement."
The war, however, is no
t up to Dean at this point. "This is an issue that Bush has more control over than Dean does right now," Davis said. In fact, Dean's chances, as well as those of the other Democratic candidates, seem to hinge on Bush's actions. Davis explained in a recent column in The Rutland Herald, "If the U.S. invasion of Iraq is swift, if Saddam Hussein is killed or captured, if the oil fields do not erupt in flame, if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict moves toward settlement, if nuclear tensions remain under control on the Korean peninsula, and if the U.S. economy recovers smartly in the second half of this year, President Bush will be strongly favored for re-election. However, if these six assumptions are not borne out in the next 12 months, the 2004 democratic presidential nomination may yet turn out to be a valuable commodity."
While Bush grapples with the presidency and Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and Gephart deal with their Congressional duties, Dean is free to spend all his time campaigning. The candidates "have to be going to committee meetings, voting on the floor, holding press conferences. They have to meet with constituents, do all the things that senators and House members are expected to do," Davis explained. Dean, on the other hand, has been railing against war and proposing health care solutions to constituents in Iowa in preparation for the state's early primary. Davis said, half-jokingly, "Dean can probably even rent a place in Iowa or New Hampshire for the next year."
Whether Dean's years of experience as governor of Vermont, strong feelings on health care and foreign relations, free time to campaign, and constant presence in the national media will bring him success in the primaries remains to be seen. Many, however, see Dean and his campaign as Michael Tomansky of The American Prospect does. "My impression of Dean is that he is a liberal-leaning but pragmatic executive whose medical training has made him more of a task-oriented problem solver than a dreamer anxious to uncork the next New Deal. If he's going to get the media to take him seriously, he has to put that Dean on display alongside the fire breather, and maintaining the balance between the two will be a challenge," he wrote.
Dean said to the cheering crowd at the DNC, "We're going to bring hope to America, jobs to America, peace to America. We're going to bring pride to the Democratic Party. I need your help. Let's go get it. Let's go do it. Let's win the White House in November 2004!"

Coming next week: Dean and the liberal identity: civil unions, the environment, education and balancing the budget