Howard Dean: Zero to hero

Profile by the UK Observer.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1106752,00.html

It is an astonishing achievement for an unknown governor from a tiny slice of New England that the rest of America views (if it views it at all) as a rural backwater. But on his rise to the top Dean has begun a dramatic revolution. He has stormed out of the Vermont hills preaching an anti-war agenda in an age of patriotism. He has waged a grassroots campaign when corporate dollars rule elections. He has abandoned the middle ground when pundits say the White House can only be won by moderation. He has defied convention. And so far it has worked.

America has had numerous warrior presidents, an actor president and now a cowboy president. Dean wants to be a new breed: a physician president. He says it himself on the stump. When asked how he makes policy decisions, he replies simply: as a doctor. He looks at evidence, makes a diagnosis, decides on a medicine and moves on to the next patient. He practises medical tough love. And his prognosis for America is that the country is ill. It needs healthcare, jobs and - perhaps most of all - it needs to reverse its foreign policy. When Dean speaks with this trademark fingerwag he is a healer, firm, but impatient with what he sees as obvious wrongs.

But Dean's radicalness masks a good deal of conservatism. Republicans (masterminded by the genius that is White House adviser Karl Rove) seek to paint Dean as an ultra-Leftist, an interventionist and soft on terrorism. He is a throwback to the radicalism of the 1960s. But the image is simply not true. Much is made of Vermont's Civil Unions (which gave gay couples the same legal rights as marriage). But Dean signed the law only after it had been promoted by a state court. He did not initiate it. Vermont state Democrats saw (and still see) Dean as a fiscal conservative who fought hard to defeat their spending plans. He used his Governor's veto more times than any predecessor, scuppering their ambitions. He left the state with a balanced budget (when its constitution does not even require one). He is also pro-guns, for the death penalty and in favour of using tax breaks to attract business. He is, however, pro-environment, pro-healthcare and anti-big corporations. And, above all, he was against the Iraq war.

His policies seem to reflect his doctor's nature: a blend of practical liberalism mixed with sensible conservatism. Doctors rarely favour truly radical surgery, except as a last resort. Indeed, Dean cannot leave his doctor's surgery behind. He once heard a rumour that campaign manager Joe Trippi had a pain in his left side. He called Trippi and asked about his bowel movements and whether he had blood in his urine. Dean then collared him the next day and gave him a physical. Trippi finally went to a clinic and found he had a cracked rib.

Can we call him Basil?

Dennis Kucnich is a dead ringer for Jimmy Krankie. :eyes:

Anyway, here is another interesting article on Dean.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-931400,00.html

FROM his desk in a converted textile mill overlooking the Merrimack River in New Hampshire, Matthew Bethell has a front-row view of American political history unfolding. As a volunteer in Howard Dean’s Democratic campaign war room, Bethell is one of hundreds of students who have ploughed through winter snowstorms to help propel the mercurial former governor of Vermont into a seemingly unbeatable lead in the crucial opening primary of the 2004 presidential race.

Bethell, 20, a lanky Cambridge university undergraduate, has come further than most to do his bit for Dean. He read a British newspaper account of the outsider’s electrifying surge to Democratic prominence and decided to see for himself if reports of Dean’s high-energy, internet-powered, anti-war candidacy were for real.

Bethell said he had not been disappointed by Dean’s knack for energising supporters who have never voted in American elections before. “He’s rejuvenating a spirit in American society that I just can’t imagine in Britain. Could you see a British person inviting 15 of their neighbours around to discuss a political candidate? Dean makes it happen all the time.”