Howard Dean to Announce Candidacy for Democratic Party Chairman

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 11, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Howard Dean to Announce Candidacy for Democratic Party Chairman Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 11, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Pro-abortion former presidential candidate Howard Dean will today announce his bid for the chairmanship of the Democratic Party. The former Vermont governor was criticized throughout the presidential elections for taking a hard-line position in favor of abortion.

Dean has been campaigning for the post for almost two months but had not made his candidacy official.

With a large contingent of liberal supporters leftover from the campaign, Dean is expected to have one of the best chances of winning the April vote of the more than 400 members of the Democratic National Committee who will choose a successor to outgoing chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Dean drew criticism from pro-life advocates during the campaign when it became known that he had done an unrequired stint at a local Planned Parenthood abortion business during medical school.

Dean claimed he did not perform abortions during the internship.

When asked by People Magazine in January 2004 why he and his wife, Judy, who also worked at Planned Parenthood, didn’t perform abortions, Dean said, "Because we don’t do them. They don’t train residents to do that."

Asked whether they had a moral objection to performing abortions, Howard Dean deflected the question.

Would the Deans do abortions if they had the training?

"I’ve learned long ago not to answer hypothetical questions like that," Dean said.

He later served on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of New England for five years prior to becoming governor.

Dean’s announcement comes just two days after pro-life former Indiana congressman Tim Roemer declared his candidacy. Roemer’s bid has sparked an internal debate within the party about the issue of abortion and whether the pro-abortion party should do more to welcome pro-life Democrats to its ranks.

Dean paid lip service to pro-life Democrats in an interview NBC’s "Meet the Press" last month.

He said the party should "embrace" pro-life Democrats.

"I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats. . . . We can have a respectful dialogue, and we have to stop demagoguing this issue," Dean said.