Howard Dean

At 75 years old, Howard Dean has this physical status:

In 1980, Dean spearheaded a grassroots campaign to stop a condominium development on Lake Champlain, instead favoring the construction of a bicycle trail. The effort succeeded, and helped launch his political career. That same year, he was also a volunteer for Jimmy Carter's re-election campaign. In 1980, he was a Carter delegate at the Democratic National Convention. In 1981 he was elected chairman of the Chittenden County Democratic Committee. He served in this position until resigning in May 1984.

In 1982, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives; he was reelected in 1984 and became assistant minority leader. He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1988 and reelected in 1990. Both were part-time positions, and Dean continued to practice medicine alongside his wife until he became governor.

On August 13, 1991, Dean was examining a patient when he received word that Governor Richard A. Snelling had died of sudden cardiac arrest. Dean assumed the office, which he called the "greatest job in Vermont." He was subsequently elected to five two-year terms in his own right, making him the longest-serving governor in the state's history. From 1994 to 1995, Dean was the chairman of the National Governors Association.

Dean was faced with an economic recession and a $60 million budget deficit. He bucked many in his own party to immediately push for a balanced budget, an act which marked the beginning of a record of fiscal restraint. During his tenure as governor, the state paid off much of its debt, balanced its budget eleven times, raised its bond rating, and lowered income taxes twice. Robert Dreyfuss wrote that as a fiscal conservative,

Dean also focused on health care issues, most notably through the "Dr. Dynasaur" program, which ensures near-universal health coverage for children and pregnant women in the state; the uninsured rate in Vermont fell from 10.8 percent in 1993 to 8.4 percent in 2000 under his watch. Child abuse and teen pregnancy rates were cut roughly in half.

The first decision of his career to draw significant national attention came in 2000, after the Vermont Supreme Court, in Baker v. State, ruled that the state's marriage laws unconstitutionally excluded same-sex couples and ordered that the state legislature either allow gays and lesbians to marry or create a parallel status. Facing calls to amend the state constitution to prohibit either option, Dean chose to support the latter one, and signed the nation's first civil unions legislation into law, spurring a short-lived "Take Back Vermont" movement which helped Republicans gain control of the State House.

Dean was criticized during his 2004 presidential campaign for another decision related to civil unions. Shortly before leaving office, he had some of his Vermont papers sealed for at least the next decade, a time frame longer than most outgoing governors use, stating that he was protecting the privacy of many gay supporters who sent him personal letters about the issue. On the campaign trail, he demanded that Vice President Dick Cheney release his energy committee papers. Many people, including Democratic Senator and failed 2004 presidential candidate Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who left the party after losing his primary for re-election in 2006, accused Dean of hypocrisy. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit to force the papers be opened before the seal expired, but lost.

Post-DNC career

Supporters of Dean were angry that he was not given a position in the new Obama administration and not invited to the press conference at which Tim Kaine was introduced as his successor as Democratic National Committee chairman. Joe Trippi, who was Dean's presidential campaign manager in 2004, told Politico, "[Dean] was never afraid to challenge the way party establishment in Washington did business, and that doesn't win you friends in either party." Trippi further explained the apparent snub of Dean by stating, "You don't have to look any further than Rahm Emanuel." Trippi was referring to the tension between Emanuel and Dean over Dean's 50 state strategy. Sources close to Emanuel dismissed these charges.

Dean said: "I didn't do this for the spoils. I did this for the country. I'm very happy that Barack Obama is president, and I think he's picked a great Cabinet. And I'm pretty happy. I wouldn't trade my position for any other position right now. I'm going to go into the private sector, make a living making speeches, and do a lot of stuff on health care policy."

When asked about not being selected for a position in the Obama administration, Dean responded, "Obviously, it would have been great, but it's not happening and the president has the right to name his own Cabinet, so I'm not going to work in the government it looks like." When asked how he felt about not being selected, Dean replied he would "punt on that one."

After the withdrawal of Tom Daschle's nomination for the position, Dean had been touted by many for the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services. After being passed over for the post once again, Dean commented: "I was pretty clear that I would have liked to have been Secretary of HHS but it is the president's choice and he decided to go in a different direction."

Outside the US Dean is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats party of the United Kingdom. He has close links with the party and has spoken at their party conference in the past. Since the UK began the Brexit process he has continued to tweet his support for the party.

After leaving office Dean emerged as a major supporter of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK), calling for it to be delisted as a terrorist group by the United States, which occurred on September 21, 2012.

Dean endorsed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election instead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders from his home state in September 2015.

Dean questioned on Twitter whether Donald Trump's sniffing during a presidential debate was due to cocaine use, and later apologized for "using innuendo."

In a January 2009 interview with the Associated Press, Dean indicated he would enter the private sector after 30 years in politics. Dean told the AP he would deliver speeches and share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties around the world. He became a contributor to the news network MSNBC in shows such as The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. He has also guest hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show. He is on the board of the National Democratic Institute.

Dean also serves as a Senior Presidential Fellow at Hofstra University. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a visiting professor at Williams College. He been a Senior Strategic Advisor and Independent Consultant for the Government Affairs practice at McKenna, Long & Aldridge. In December 2018 Dean joined the advisory board of Tilray, one of the world's largest cannabis companies. As of 2021 he worked in the lobbying division of Dentons where he has lobbied against waiving intellectual property requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine for developing countries. Dean is a member of the Canadian American Business Council's Advisory Board.

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