(D) Presidential Candidate
Howard Dean
Notes from Evan Smith
"Howard Dean -- Former Vermont's Governor Howard Dean is most well-known as one of the candidates in the Democratic primary who was most vocal against the War with Iraq.
Credited for leading Vermont with a firm fiscal discipline and focusing on children's health care, education and the environment; Governor Dean is a physician who previously shared a medical practice with his wife.
He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1971 and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. He served in the Vermont House from 1982 to 1986; was elected lieutenant governor in 1986, and became governor in 1991 with the death of then-Governor Richard Snelling.
Governor Dean, who served for 11 years, says he was able to pay off an inherited $70 million deficit and work with lawmakers to build "rainy day" reserves to help the state through any future economic downturn.
He also takes credit for creating more than 41,000 new jobs and increasing the state's minimum wage twice. He says he also focused on incentive programs to help downtowns attract new businesses, and that he used tax incentives to attract and keep new companies, according to his campaign materials.
Governor Dean says he was able to guarantee health coverage to virtually every child in Vermont age 18 and under. Vermont has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the country -- and highest rates of immunized children, according to Dean's campaign.
Programs to help seniors afford prescription drugs were also a focus for the Vermont Governor. He says he signed into law one of the toughest managed care consumer protections in the United States.
However, it is preservation of Vermont's natural resources and landscapes that the governor considers his legacy." - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 6.26.03
