Howard Dean is 'absolutely, categorically not running in 2012'

After the "shellacking" suffered by the Democratic Party, it's only natural that folks would start wondering if President Obama were in danger of facing a primary challenge in 2012. The name that keeps popping up is former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential aspirant Howard Dean. Actually, it got started the morning of the midterm elections with a piece from John Fund of the Wall Street Journal. And Roger Simon picks up the ball today at Politico.
Who knows if there will be a left-flank challenge of the president? But this much is clear. It won't come from Dean.
The former head of the Democratic National Committee is traveling on business in Canada, but his spokesperson, Karen Finney, was as clear as can be on this issue. Pushing back hard on the growing chatter that Dean is thinking about or would undertake a challenge to Obama, Finney said, "It's absolutely not true. He supports President Obama in 2012 and he has repeatedly said so publicly." In fact, Finney said, Dean said so several times on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Nov. 2.
Yes, I did ask the next question. Is the Dean denial categorical? "He is absolutely, categorically not running in 2012." Can't get anymore definitive than that?
By
Jonathan Capehart
| November 4, 2010; 11:44 AM ET
Categories:
Capehart
| Tags:
Jonathan Capehart
Save & Share:
Previous: The Democrats' Plight: Worse than it seems
Next: On 'Democrats in disarray' and other predictable punditry
to Mr Capehart; all,
fwiw, i suspect that BHO will NOT be running for a second term as POTUS. - while he's NOT "the sharpest knife in the drawer", he can see the writing on the wall, which says:
HILLERY, 2012!
as for "screaming howard dean": he's a SELF-important, ARROGANT, leftist, DIMocRAT & everyone knows that he LIES like a rug.= trust NOTHING that spews out of his mouth.
just my opinion.
yours, TN46
coordinator, CCTPP
Posted by: texasnative46 | November 4, 2010 12:24 PM | Report abuse
He would be very entertaining. A laugh a minute.
Posted by: staterighter | November 4, 2010 1:44 PM | Report abuse
He would be entertaining and a laugh a minute. About the best anyone can hope from a politician these days.
Posted by: staterighter | November 4, 2010 1:45 PM | Report abuse
FYI, newshounds: Dr. Dean was at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy with Fred Thompson yesterday talking about the impact of the 2010 midterms.
I wonder what he said...
Posted by: pmcgann | November 4, 2010 2:54 PM | Report abuse
Didn't then-SENATOR Barack Obama once say "I am absolutely, categorically not running for President in 2008"?
Posted by: JakeD2 | November 4, 2010 6:41 PM | Report abuse











We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.