HOWARD DEAN, whose promising bid to become the Democrats’ presidential candidate imploded with his “Iowa scream” last year, is set to become the party’s leader.

The post of Democratic Party chairman will, to the delight of Republicans, make him the party’s public face and the main opposition spokesman to President Bush.

Martin Frost, a centrist former Texan congressman and one of Dr Dean’s few remaining strong rivals, dropped out of the race yesterday after failing to win support from the national trade unions.

After Dr Dean, a former Vermont Governor, won the endorsement of the party’s state chairmen on Monday, even the Democrat establishment in Washington, deeply uneasy at the prospect, conceded that his elevation to chairman would be inevitable when the Democratic National Committee votes next week.

Dr Dean’s fiery anti-war presidential campaign in the primaries and his ability to raise millions over the internet propelled him to frontrunner status in his bid to challenge Mr Bush for the White House. However, after a series of gaffes, including his contention that a captured Osama bin Laden should receive a fair trial, Dr Dean earned a reputation for being undisciplined and too identified with the anti-war Left.

The party’s primary voters, enamoured with his campaign for most of 2003, rapidly turned against him at the beginning of last year, deciding that he was unelectable. Their rejection was clear when Dr Dean came a distant third in the first caucus vote in Iowa, a shattering loss that triggered the famous “Dean scream” live on national television.

Trying to rally his supporters after the unexpected loss, Dr Dean instead looked unhinged and the rant was mocked as his “I have a scream” speech. Dr Dean ultimately lost 17 of 18 primary contests, winning only his home state of Vermont.

The “scream” has almost become Dr Dean’s theme song, a fact not lost on Republicans, who can hardly believe their luck. “I think it’s a scream,” Richard Bond, former head of the Republican National Committee, said.

Dr Dean has managed to lock up the chairmanship not just because of a lack of rivals. He still has his fundraising abilities — key for a party chairman — has appeared more moderate and has promised that, if elected, he will not seek the White House in 2008. Many believe that he is the man to reinvigorate the party after John Kerry’s dispiriting loss in November.

Centrist Democrats fear that Dr Dean’s victory will be seen as a lurch to the Left by the party.

After a defeat that many say should have taught the Democratic Party to be more moderate and attractive to the American heartland, it risks looking even more closely intertwined with the “liberals” than ever.

Along with Dr Dean, the Democrats most in the public eye since the election have been Ted Kennedy, the veteran liberal, who says that some US troops should be pulled out of Iraq immediately; Nancy Pelosi, the House leader from ultra-liberal San Francisco; Hillary Clinton; and Mr Kerry, a Massachusetts senator.

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