HOWARD DEAN, whose high-flying presidential bid imploded last year with his infamous “Iowa scream”, vowed yesterday to transform the Democrats’ electoral fortunes “from the grass roots up” after winning the post of party chairman.

Staging a remarkable political comeback after his demise in the Democrat primary race one year ago, the former Governor of Vermont was elected the party’s new leader by its 447-strong national committee, having outmanoeuvred a remarkably weak field of a dozen rivals to stand unopposed.

Dr Dean, whose victory has caused deep unease among moderate Democrats and delight among Republicans, immediately signalled his belief that the future of his party lies with its liberal activists — the people who fuelled his insurgent presidential campaign — and not with the more moderate Washington establishment, whose most prominent members are Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“Today will be the beginning of the re-emergence of the Democratic Party,” Dr Dean declared to the cheers of hundreds of party diehards.

He added: “Strength does not come from the consultants down, it comes from the grass roots up!” Dr Dean, whose presidential campaign was marked by a populist, tub-thumping anti-war liberalism, struck a more moderate tone yesterday.

In his first press conference since his victory, he largely steered clear of the Iraq war, promised to reach out to Republicans on issues such as abortion and religion, and pledged to leave the party’s policymaking to its leaders on Capitol Hill.

But there was also little doubt that the man ultimately rejected by his party’s primary voters last year as too outspoken, too undisciplined and ultimately unelectable, has lost little of the fire in his belly.

It is a passion that excites the left wing but leaves Democrat centrists deeply anxious, particularly as his will be the party’s public face until a 2008 presidential contender emerges. They question whether Dr Dean, an ardent secularist who last year said that Osama bin Laden should be presumed innocent and receive a fair trial, is the right man to lead a Democrat resurgence in America’s increasingly conservative Southern and mountain states, and transform the fortunes of a party reeling from two consecutive presidential defeats and growing minority status on Capitol Hill.

Reflecting Democrat concern and Republican glee, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, said recently that Dr Dean would be the perfect leader for Democrats if they had a “death wish”. Only 31 per cent of Americans have a favourable view of him, according to a recent poll. But Dr Dean said he looked forward to proving Mr Gingrich wrong. “I am not a Zen person. I am who I am,” he said. Democrats should not be afraid to stand up for what they believed in. “I intend to be living in the (Bush) red states,” he said.

Reprising themes from his presidential campaign, he tore into Mr Bush for his “fiscal recklessness”. He attacked the President’s recent budget for “bringing Enron-style accounting into the nation’s capital”. He added: “You cannot trust Republicans with your money.” Dr Dean called Mr Bush’s plan to partially privatise the state pension scheme “dishonest”.

Whether he successfully shakes up his party or leads it further into the political wilderness will soon be tested in several key governors’ races this year and next year’s mid-term congressional elections.

Dr Dean’s fundraising abilities, particularly using the internet, are still formidable. Many Democrats also believe that a pugnacious street-fighter is just what the party needs to break the current Republican dominance.

COMEBACK KIDS

Peter Mandelson made two comebacks. Forced out as Trade and Industry Secretary in 1998 after less than six months over a mortgage-related indiscretion, he came back as Northern Ireland Secretary, only to be ousted in 2001 over a passport scandal. Mr Mandelson is now EU Trade Commissioner

CNN chief resigns over speech

Washington: CNN’s chief news executive, Eason Jordan, has resigned after remarks that he was said to have made at last month’s World Economic Forum about the death of journalists in Iraq. He denied telling an audience in Davos, Switzerland, that US forces had targeted journalists, but said that his remarks were “not as clear as they should have been”. (AFP)

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