Howard Dean

Physician / Political Figure / State Governor
Date Of Birth:
17 November 1948
Place Of Birth:
East Hampton, New York
Best Known As:
Former governor of Vermont and outspoken 2004 candidate for U.S. president

Name at birth: Howard Brush Dean III

Howard Dean served as governor of Vermont from 1991 until 2003, and was a Democratic candidate for president in 2004. Dean had previously worked as a physician; he earned an undergraduate degree from Yale in 1971 and a medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1978. He then moved to Vermont and opened a medical practice with his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg. Dean was elected lieutenant-governor of Vermont in 1986 and became governor in 1991 after the death of Governor Richard Snelling. Dean did not run for re-election in 2002, instead declaring his intention to run for U.S. president in 2004. (He was succeeded as governor by Republican Jim Douglas.) Dean was a hot candidate in the early stages of the 2004 race, helped by his state-of-the-art Internet campaign. However, he ended his campaign on 18 February 2004 after finishing third to John Kerry and John Edwards in the Wisconsin primary. Almost exactly one year later, on 12 February 2005, Dean was elected as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the party's guiding organization.

Extra Credit:

Dean let loose an exuberant howl at a rally to encourage campaign supporters on the night of the 2004 Iowa caucuses; the video clip of Dean’s howl was replayed frequently on TV, and many analysts felt it was the beginning of the end for his campaign… Dean served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1982-86… Dean attended Yale at the same time as Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau and President George W. Bush… Dean’s wife is Jewish; Dean was born Catholic but now is a Congregationalist… The couple have a daughter, Anne (b. 1984) and a son, Paul (b. 1986).

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