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Howard Dean Chosen to Lead Democratic Party
| quote: | Howard Dean Chosen to Lead Democratic Party
Sat Feb 12, 2005 11:19 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Howard Dean, whose high-flying presidential bid collapsed in disarray one year ago, won the post of Democratic chairman on Saturday and will take up the job of leading the party back from November's election losses.
The former Vermont governor was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee by acclamation, replacing Terry McAuliffe.
The resurgence of Dean, an early and fierce critic of the Iraq war and President Bush, comes three months after a presidential election that some Democrats saw as a signal the party needed a more moderate approach to broaden its appeal in the South and mountain states.
But Dean countered those concerns and wooed party leaders with promises to focus on state operations, energize the party's grass roots and build an army of small donors similar to the one that supported his presidential bid.
The election offers vindication and a new role for Dean, the one-time presidential front-runner who attracted young voters to the party and broke Democratic records with his Internet-based fund raising before his campaign ran out of steam.
Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire soured on Dean's blunt style and turned to what they viewed as a more electable alternative in Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who lost a bitter campaign to Bush in November.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....src=rss/topNews
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well democrats are desperate... time to get crazy!
