(Newswire.net — March 27th, 2013) Fairfax, VA – You may remember Howard Dean as 6-term Governor of Vermont who ran a spirited but unsuccessful campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. Howard Dean also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Now Dean wants to influence Virginia politics and the 2013 Race for the Virginia House of Delegates.
Howard Dean was an early front-runner for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination until he finished third to John Kerry and John Edwards, thanks to a last-minute surge during the 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses. The former governor established himself as a pioneer in raising the profile of Internet-based fundraising and grassroots organizing.
Howard Dean had gained a large group of loyal supporters during his campaign for the presidential nomination, which he later parlayed into the organization Democracy for America prior to being elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February 2005.
John Fredericks host of The John Fredericks Show, a statewide DC – Virginia based political radio talk show that focuses on political issues that affect Virginians, said “His presidential campaign recruited an activist group of over one million national Dean disciples — 21,000 strong in Virginia — who follow their ideological hero to this day.”
John Fredericks went on to say, “now Dean wants to reignite his support base and put them to work in the Commonwealth to elect House Democrats.”
Through the political organization he founded, Democracy for America (DFA) Howard Dean has targeted five key House of Delegate seats in Virginia currently held by Republicans that he desperately wants to win in 2013. The former DNC chair calls it: “turning purple districts blue.” And Howard Dean is putting his money and his reputation where his mouth is.
“This is a proving ground for key state legislative races in 2014,” Howard Dean said in a conference call with reporters on March 26. “Republicans control 58 percent of all state legislatures in the country,” Dean lamented. “That is where they enact their radical right-wing agenda. We have to change that.”
Howard Dean promised to pump $750,000 of his organization’s war chest into the five races, and pledged a super micro-targeting campaign effort that would rival the infamous Obama for America 2012 effort.
Fredericks says that “Dean’s group has chosen two of the five House seats held by Republican incumbents targeted for takeover: districts 86 and 87, both in Northern Virginia” and reports that sources at Howard Dean’s political group said the other three districts would likely be in Northern Virginia, the Peninsula and Virginia Beach. “The 93rd district’s Mike Watson, another freshman (R-Williamsburg-Newport News), is said to be a prime target,” Fredericks concluded.
John interviewed Jim Dean, Chairman of Democracy for America on his radio show this morning. You can hear The John Fredericks Show segment now up on YouTube http://youtu.be/8bn_jHjCnwU.