'Dean Divers' Search Vermont Records [View All]

[LizW]

By ROSS SNEYD
Associated Press Writer

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- For hours on end, they camp out at the state archives housed in an 1890 mansion, scouring public records, documents and correspondences in a search of crucial details about former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the Democratic presidential front-runner.

State officials have dubbed them "Dean Divers."

With Dean's surge in the presidential race, an increasing number of representatives from rival campaigns, the news media and even Dean aides have descended upon the archives, wading through thousands of pages of material from the former governor's nearly 12 years in office.

"We've gotten requests for everything, every piece of paper," Vermont Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said.

This effort to compile a dossier on Dean - either to use against him or to boost his candidacy - extends beyond the archives in the secretary of state's office. Some searchers have spent hours at Chittenden Community Television, watching public access television tapes of Dean's news conferences and debates.

This is freaky. Hours upon hours spent digging for dirt. something tells me folks are taking Dean very, very seriously.

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEAN_DIVERS?SITE=NHCON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Sorry for the long link.