The "Dean Scream"

This time ten years ago, during the United States presidential election of 2004, Vermont Governor Howard Dean gave this infamous speech after finishing third in the Iowa Democratic Caucus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FzCeV0ZFc

At the time, Dean had been ill with the flu and the crowd was filled with highly enthusiastic and loud supporters. He had to bellow above the roar of the crowd in order to be heard; unfortunately for him, to those watching television, it appeared as though he were needlessly yelling at a quiet audience. Dean later confirmed that the "Yeah!" he screamed out at the end was due to his voice cracking.

Dean's speech and scream was highlighted as a major reason for his loss in the Democratic primaries to Senator John Kerry. The media subsequently overplayed and mocked his speech, which brought down his poll numbers: at the time of his speech, Dean had held a significant lead in the New Hampshire primary, but when it came to voting day in that state on January 27th, he came in second to Kerry. By the end of the Democratic primaries and caucuses, Dean had only won Vermont and Washington, D.C.

It's a shame, as back then I thought that Dean would have been a good Democratic candidate and president; I also thought that his scream speech was impressive. Fortunately, despite his defeat in the presidential primaries, Dean is far from being some forgotten politician: his 50-state strategy to help Democrats compete and win elections in heavily Republican areas and his campaign's use of the Internet to mobilize voters were used by President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates in the 2008 and 2012 elections, and I'm sure that Democratic candidates will continue to use the Dean-Obama model for the foreseeable future.

I should also note that it was because of Dean that my brother and I became interested in politics. We might not have followed the 2004 election - and might have had less interest in subsequent elections - had it not been for him.