While Democrats Debate Abortion, Howard Dean Running Away With Race 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 27, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — While Democrats debate abortion and whether a pro-life person should become the next chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean is lining up so many supporters he appears to be well ahead of the other candidates.
Using the grassroots strategy and Internet organizing that made him effective in the presidential primaries, Dean has secured the support of at least 40 percent of the 447 Democratic leaders that will vote for a new party chairman in February.
However, some party leaders say Dean is too liberal on issues like abortion to effectively lead the party.
"He’s perceived by some elements in our party as being on the extreme side," Arizona State Democratic Chairman Jim Pederson told the Washington Times.
Yet, Pederson said that Dean is the front-runner and that "if the election were held today, he would probably win."
Meanwhile, former president Bill Clinton and likely presidential candidate Hillary Clinton don’t want Dean to run the party and are actively working to elect a more moderate candidate.
Hillary Clinton signaled her willingness for the party to reach out more on the issue of abortion with a speech earlier this week that surprised abortion advocates by its conciliatory tone. |
A recent poll conducted by the Hotline, an inside the Beltway political newsletter, had responses from 42 percent of the DNC members who will vote. Dean led the group of candidates and ex-Texas Congressman Martin Frost came up second.
Frost, who clerked for the lower court judge who made the Roe vs. Wade ruling that the Supreme Court sustained, supports abortion.
Simon Rosenberg, an abortion advocate who heads the centrist New Democrat Network, is considered by most to be in third place.
Former Indiana congressman Tim Roemer, who is pro-life, is the combined first or second choice of just 11 percent of the Democrats who answered the survey.
Democrats have been waging an internal battle with in the party about whether Roemer should be elected chairman because of his views against abortion. Leading pro-abortion groups, such as NARAL and Emily’s List, have been working to prevent that from happening.
