WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (AFP) - Former White House contender Howard Dean on Tuesday formally announced his bid to become national chairman of the Democratic Party, one of the party's most visible and powerful posts.
"Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee," Dean wrote in an e-mail distributed to supporters.
"The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level," the former Vermont governor wrote.
The internal election of the new chairman will be held February 12 in Washington by Democratic party officials.
Several other leading Democrats have also announced that they are contenders for the post, including former Indiana lawmaker Tim Roemer, who served on the September 11 Commission, and Martin Frost, a former US Representative from Texas who lost a reelection bid last November.
Dean enjoyed a meteoric rise to national prominence last year, quickly becoming the frontrunner in the Democratic primary campaign for the presidency thanks largely to his early, outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.
He then suffered a spectacular fall from grace, losing to John Kerry -- the eventual Democratic nominee -- in the early primary election contests.
Dean also became the butt of jokes for his infamous "I Have a Scream" speech -- an overly-zealous call-to-arms delivered to supporters after he finished third in the Iowa Caucus vote.
Still, he maintains that his grassroots campaign makes him uniquely qualified to help his party grow as it tries to recover after demoralizing defeats in the November 2004 presidential and congressional elections.
"Our long term success depends on all of us taking an active role in our party and in the political process, by volunteering, going door to door and taking the Democratic message into every community, and by organizing at the local level," said Dean, who would replace outgoing Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe.
He throws his hat into the ring as the party engages in soul searching over why it was rejected by voters in November and how best to win them back.
The DNC leadership is comprised of nine officials, including the chairman, who leads the 440-member organization.
The DNC is tasked with mapping out party electoral strategy, picking and nominating Democratic candidates for open campaign seats, and raising and disbursing campaign funds, among other duties.
01/11/2005 21:45 GMT - AFP