The 447 members of the Democratic National Committee met in Washington, D.C., on February 12 and made former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean their chairman by acclamation.
It was a fitting choice made in a fitting manner.
Dean represents the mainstream of his party, even if, given the party's miserable performance in recent national elections, other members of the Democratic establishment would prefer to be more coy about its fundamental beliefs.
Dean energized the party's grassroots in his unsuccessful bid for the party's 2004 presidential nomination, and is likely to do it again as party chairman. But he is more likely to intensify party loyalty in the pink states the Democrats already dominate than expand its base in the Red States they need to win to become a national majority party again.
How similar are Dean's views to those of other leading spokesmen of the Democratic Party?
Raising Taxes
"[W]e need to repeal all of the President's tax cuts. These tax cuts weren't written for the majority of America. These tax cuts weren't written to return economic power back to the people. These tax cuts, like Enron's finances, are a scheme to make the rich richer, to starve Social Security and Medicare and to put our nation's financial strength at risk by creating the largest debt in history."
"The Bush tax cuts have failed. They are not making this economy better, they are not helping people get jobs, they are not covering anybody with health insurance.... If you like George Bush's tax cuts, stick with him, vote for him.
Greens and Global Warming
"President Bush's idea of an energy policy is to tear up our most treasured wild places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and raid the treasury for billions of dollars in subsidies for the coal, oil and gas industries all the while worsening global warming. We must pursue a responsible energy policy based on energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy technologies (including biomass, wind and solar power), curbing global warming, and protecting our health and our environment."
"George Bush has been the worst environmental President in our history-much worse than his father. Environmental protection has always been a passion and priority of mine.... That means enforcing the environmental laws that are on the books now, protecting our national open space and wildlife treasures and protecting people's health from the threat of environmental pollution in the air and the water."
Same-Sex Marriage
"As governor of Vermont, I was proud to sign the nation's first law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples. Today's decision [legalizing gay marriage] by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court represents a different approach to the same goal. One way or another, states should afford same-sex couples equal treatment under law in areas such as health insurance, hospital visitation and inheritance rights."
"They [same-sex couples] are not a public menace, and they do not threaten anyone. They are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our siblings, our parents, and our children. They deserve to be treated fairly. They deserve to have the rights of any other family ."
Abortion-on-Demand
"Thirty-one years ago, the Supreme Court recognized that American women have a constitutional right to control their own bodies. But the right to choose hangs in the balance of the 2004 election. If George W. Bush gets to appoint even one anti-choice justice to the court, the era of safe, legal abortion in the United States will end. As a family doctor, a board member of my local Planned Parenthood and governor of Vermont, I have worked my entire adult life to promote women's health."
"Women's reproductive rights are rapidly eroding as a result of the unrelenting efforts of the Bush Administration, the Republican Caucus, and powerful anti-choice organizations. And they make no secret that their ultimate goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade."
Socialized Medicine
"There are those who argue that we ought to have a single payer [for health care in America]. I have no problem with a single payer. If I'm President of the United States and a single payer [bill] gets to my desk, I'll sign it."
"Every American will receive a health security card guaranteeing a comprehensive package of benefits that can never be taken away under any circumstance."
