page_title: Howard Dean
section_title: 2004 presidential candidacy
hierarchical_section_title: Howard Dean / 2004 presidential candidacy
caption_attribution_description: Photo from Dean's Declaration of Candidacy speech Burlington, VT 23-June-2003. This was one of the best Political Speeches I have ever witnessed, and helped solidify him as a force in Democratic politicsHoward Dean Declaration of Candidacy
context_page_description: Howard Brush Dean III is an American physician, author, and retired politician who served as Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009 and works as a political consultant and commentator. Dean was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election. His implementation of the fifty-state strategy as head of the DNC is credited with the Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Afterward, he became a political commentator and consultant to McKenna Long & Aldridge, a law and lobbying firm.
  Dean was the Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1987 to 1991, and a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1983 to 1986. In the 2004 election, Dean was the top fundraiser and front runner, prior to the Iowa caucus, for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
context_section_description: 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 in The 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, using Meetup.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 as Deanites, or, more commonly, Deaniacs, a term coined to describe meetup participants, who passed out campaign materials supporting Dean and the broader movement. (Critics often labeled them "Deany Boppers", or "Deanie Babies", a reference to his support from young activists.) Following Dean's presidential campaign, some Deaniacs remained engaged in the political process through Democracy for America and similar locally oriented organizations.
caption: Howard Dean declared his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination on June 23, 2003, in Burlington, Vermont
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