Saturday, July 30, 2005

''Howard Dean's brother exhorts Dems''

"Democrats must stand behind their convictions in a difficult time, said Howard Dean's brother, who now runs his political action committee. Jim Dean was in Wisconsin to attend the state's Democracy for America convention in Stevens Point, scheduled for today. He spoke to about 40 people at a $25-per-person fundraiser at the Inn on the Park on Friday evening.

The organization, set up by Howard Dean after his presidential campaign ended in 2004, is a political action committee that works to boost local and statewide Democratic campaigns. He is now chairman of the Democratic Party, and Jim Dean has taken over Democracy for America.

"People are getting a chance to be trained and work on political campaigns for the first time," Jim Dean said. "This is an off-year, a chance for us to make up a lot of lost ground." The Democratic Party must expand beyond its diehards, Dean said. He urged people to contact the organization if they have a candidate who wants to run for office. Speakers at the event encouraged people to run for the Dane County Board, especially in the outlying areas.

Dean said the potential Democratic candidates for president in 2008 "will require a level of conviction we have not yet seen (from them) in the past."

He said he was "ambivalent" about the possible candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who is widely considered a front-runner for president. Many people feel passionately about Clinton, either for or against, and he said he feels neither.

But right now, the action is at the local level, he said. "To me, it's about Paul Hackett running for Congress in Ohio," he said of the Democratic candidate who is running in a special election."-from the story in today's Capital Times (WI).

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