He stepped down as DNC chair after a solid sweep in the 2008 election because the DNC chair is only the head of the party when we don’t have the White House. After 2008, we had not only the White House, but also the House and the Senate. He had a very deserved “my job is done here” moment. He was hoping Obama would name him as HHS Secretary, which would have been the perfect post for him. Judy would not have liked it, since she already didn’t see him much from 2003-2009. But Obama’s WH chief of staff hated Howard’s guts for being right about the 50 state strategy, and talked Obama into freezing Howard out of the administration.
Howard then said he would spend most of his time “raising hell for causes he cared about.” He has certainly done plenty of that. He has attended the Davos forum strictly as an environmental advocate. Sanders once refused to speak to Howard for four years after Howard won an environmental dispute in the city of Burlington. Sanders sided with some housing developers, and Howard won the dispute. Howard also organized a march from Bangkok to the Burmese border to raise awareness about human trafficking in the area. I know few people who ever give him credit for his involvement in either area, and Howard has never felt a pressing need to toot his own horn. He has also been very busy with a project together with Hillary Clinton working to recruit young Democrats to run for low-level political office, to try to build up a Democratic base within municipalities and then states. He never forgot how his 50 State Strategy worked so well when he was DNC chair.
If he does run for VT governor, at least Judy wouldn’t go nuts on him, since it wouldn’t involve him trying to commute to Burlington on weekends from the four corners of the earth any more. If he does it and wins, I would get something new out of it, too, I must confess. Of all the places we get together, including Washington, New York, South Carolina, Denver—we have never met up in Vermont! At least we’d get some more guitar time in. He is a Leo Kottke fan, like me and Al Franken.
I don’t know how strenuous the governor’s job in Vermont actually is, but I do know that since Montpelier is relatively close to Burlington, Judy would probably finally be cool if he took it. He would still have to campaign in the primary and the general. It has been a long time since he has himself campaigned for public office, but there are few people alive who have helped more candidates win elections. Several years ago, a friend of mine in Iowa decided to campaign for State Auditor. During his campaign, we had lunch in Washington while he was fundraising there. I told him he should contact Howard for advice. He said, “I’d love to, but how does someone like me contact Howard Dean?” I said, “like this!” I took out my phone, dialed Howard, and handed the phone to my friend from Iowa. I thought they would speak for five minutes, but they spoke for half an hour. My friend won his election, and is currently the ONLY Democrat to hold statewide office in Iowa. He is popular there, and is now considering running for governor.
Howard will be 76 this November, but he is still razor sharp, and knows the ropes of this game like almost no one else. If he runs, it will be because he thinks he has a chance of winning.
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And Women's Rights & Health Access across the board!!
