avram | Howard Dean for President in 2004 (Reply)

As it always does, conversation at my family’s Passover seder turned to politics, and there was a discussion of various Democratic presidential hopefuls. When I mentioned my current favorite — Vermont Governor Howard Dean — the entire table (except Chris) responded “Who?”. OK, there’s that name recognition thing. Since some of you out there in LJ-land might not be following politics as closely as I am, and may not have heard of Dean (and I figure the readers of my weblog probably have), here’s the lowdown:

Official website: DeanForAmerica.com

Stands on the issues:

The Environment:: “As Governor, I ordered emission controls in Vermont to be more stringent than those required by Kyoto, I led the conservation of over 470,000 acres of Vermont land, and I created the nation's first 'energy efficiency' utility to provide statewide strategies for conserving energy.” — Dean’s Earth Day 2003 speech
Health Care:: Wants to guarantee coverage to all Americans — require states to cover everyone up to the age of 23, the federal government covers everyone 65 and over, expanding Medicare to include pharmaceutical coverage, and for the rest use current employer-based system, adding tax credits and federal subsidies for those currently uncovered.
Abortion:: Favors abortion remaining legal, is willing to say outright that the idea of “partial birth abortion” is “nonsense [...] simply a cynical example of political grandstanding”.
Gay Rights:: Legalized civil unions for gay couples in Vermont.
Gun Control:: Wants to keep and enforce the federal laws we have, use Insta-check to close the “gun show loophole” (I admit I’m not really sure what that means), and leave anything further to the states. This is actually a bit more restrictive than I’d like, but I expect it’s as good as I’ll get from a Democrat.
The Economy:: Wants to repeal the Bush tax cuts, return to a balanced budget. As governor of Vermont, Dean reduced income taxes, removed sales taxes on clothing, reduced long-term debt, and balanced the budget, while providing health insurance for all children and increasing school funding.
The War on Iraq:: He spoke out against the war.