68 Facts About Howard Dean

Howard Brush Dean III was born on November 17,1948 and is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009.

Howard Dean served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1983 to 1986 and as Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1987 to 1991.

In 1991, Dean became governor of Vermont when Richard A Snelling died in office.

Howard Dean was elected to five two-year terms, serving from 1991 to 2003, making him the second longest-serving governor in Vermont history, after Thomas Chittenden.

Howard Dean served as chairman of the National Governors Association from 1994 to 1995; during his term, Vermont paid off much of its public debt and had a balanced budget 11 times, lowering income taxes twice.

Howard Dean oversaw the expansion of the "Dr Dynasaur" program, which ensures universal health care for children and pregnant women in the state.

Howard Dean is a noted staunch supporter of universal health care.

Howard Dean denounced the 2003 invasion of Iraq and called on Democrats to oppose the Bush administration.

In 2004, Howard Dean founded Democracy for America, a progressive political action committee.

Howard Dean was later elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February 2005.

Howard Dean was named chairman emeritus of the DNC upon his retirement in January 2009.

Since retiring from the DNC chairman position, Howard Dean has held neither elected office nor an official position in the Democratic Party and, as of 2015, was working for global law firm Dentons as part of the firm's public policy and regulation practice.

In 2013, Howard Dean expressed interest in running for the presidency in 2016, but instead supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's run for president.

Howard Dean attended the Browning School in Manhattan until he was 13, and then went to St George's School, a preparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island.

Howard Dean seems unpolished, doesn't hide his aggression, is proudly pugnacious.

Howard Dean doesn't look or act the part of the WASP.

Howard Dean graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1971.

The university housing office complied and Howard Dean roomed with two Southern black students and one white student from Pennsylvania.

One of Howard Dean's roommates was Ralph Dawson, the son of a sheet metal worker in Charleston, South Carolina, and today a New York City labor lawyer.

Howard Dean was willing to confront in discussion what a lot of white students weren't.

Howard Dean received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1978 and began a medical residency at the University of Vermont.

In 1980, Howard Dean spearheaded a grassroots campaign to stop a condominium development on Lake Champlain, instead favoring the construction of a bicycle trail.

Howard Dean served in this position until resigning in May 1984.

Howard Dean was elected lieutenant governor in 1988 and reelected in 1990.

From 1994 to 1995, Howard Dean was the chairman of the National Governors Association.

Howard Dean was faced with an economic recession and a $60 million budget deficit.

Howard Dean 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.

Howard Dean 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.

Howard Dean was criticized during his 2004 presidential campaign for another decision related to civil unions.

Howard Dean began his bid for president as a "long shot" candidate.

Howard Dean began his campaign by emphasizing health care and fiscal responsibility, and championing grassroots fundraising as a way to fight lobby groups.

Howard Dean's campaign made extensive use of the Internet, pioneering techniques that were subsequently adopted by politicians of all political persuasions.

Howard Dean's supporters organized real-world meetings, many of them arranged through Meetup.

In terms of traditional "ground troops" Howard Dean remained at a disadvantage.

Howard Dean adopted a coffee shop strategy to visit grassroot activists in all 99 Iowa counties, but he lacked the campaign infrastructure to get voters to the polls that his opponents had.

In November 2003, after a much-publicized online vote among his followers, Howard Dean became the first Democrat to forgo federal matching funds since the system was established in 1974.

Howard Dean received the endorsement of former vice president and 2000 presidential candidate Al Gore, on December 9,2003.

Senator Harkin was on stage with Howard Dean, holding his suit jacket.

Howard Dean conceded that the speech did not project the best image, jokingly referring to it as a "crazy, red-faced rant" on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Howard Dean said after the general election in 2004, that his microphone only picked up his voice and did not capture the loud cheering he received from the audience as a result of the speech.

The next day, Howard Dean announced that his candidacy had "come to an end", though he continued to urge people to vote for him, so that Howard Dean delegates would be selected for the convention and could influence the party platform.

Howard Dean remained neutral until John Kerry became the presumptive nominee.

Howard Dean endorsed Kerry on March 25,2004, in a speech at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

On March 18,2004, Howard Dean founded the group Democracy for America.

Howard Dean turned over control of the organization to his brother, Jim Howard Dean, when he became Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Howard Dean argued that Nader would be more effective if he lobbied on election law reform issues during his campaign.

Howard Dean supported several election law reform issues such as campaign finance reform, and Instant Runoff Voting.

Howard Dean was elected Chairman of the Democratic National Committee on February 12,2005, after all his opponents dropped out of the race when it became apparent Howard Dean had the votes to become Chair.

Howard Dean was succeeded by Tim Kaine, who at the time of his election was the governor of Virginia, in 2009.

Rather than focusing just on swing states, Howard Dean proposed what has come to be known as the 50-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 single voting precinct.

State party chairs lauded Howard Dean for raising money directly for the individual state parties.

Howard Dean's strategy used a post-Watergate model taken from the Republicans of the mid-seventies.

Howard Dean's plan was to seed the local level with young and committed candidates, building them into state candidates in future races.

Howard 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.

The year after his election, Howard Dean had raised the most money by any DNC Chairman in a similar post election period.

Howard Dean continued to further develop online fundraising at the DNC.

Supporters of Howard Dean were angry that he was not given a position in the new Obama administration and not invited to the press conference at which Tim Kaine was introduced as his successor as Democratic National Committee chairman.

Outside the US Howard Dean is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats party of the United Kingdom.

Howard Dean has close links with the party and has spoken at their party conference in the past.

Howard Dean endorsed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election instead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders from his home state in September 2015.

Howard Dean told the AP he would deliver speeches and share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties around the world.

Howard Dean became a contributor to the news network MSNBC in shows such as The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.

Howard Dean has guest hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show.

Howard Dean is on the board of the National Democratic Institute.

Howard Dean serves as a Senior Presidential Fellow at Hofstra University.

Howard Dean has been a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a visiting professor at Williams College.

In December 2018 Howard Dean joined the advisory board of Tilray, one of the world's largest cannabis companies.

Howard Dean is a member of the Canadian American Business Council's Advisory Board.