Posted on 12/11/2003 8:45:29 AM PST by EggsAckley
Wife of Presidential Candidate Values her Privacy
The Associated Press
February 15, 2003
By Christopher Graff
As Howard Dean crisscrosses the country in his frenetic pursuit of the presidency, his wife Judy tends to patients in her medical practice.
They speak nightly, discussing their children, her patients and the weather, but not politics.
That's the way it's been for the Deans: He pursues his politics and she practices her medicine.
In the nearly dozen years Howard Dean served as governor of Vermont, Judy Dean was all but invisible. No speeches. No interviews. No campaigning. No public appearances.
This unconventional arrangement stems from a mix of the professional and the personal: Judy Dean loves being a doctor and she is extremely shy.
"I like privacy," she says.
With no governor's mansion in Vermont, governors don't entertain and their spouses have no official responsibilities, so Judy Dean's absence from the public stage drew little notice and few complaints.
A presidential campaign is a different matter. "Judy will do interviews," says Dean. "She will have to because she can't be a mystery person."
Interviews, though, seem to be the extent of Judy Dean's planned involvement in the campaign. "She's a doctor," says Dean. "I can't imagine she is going to stop her practice to be going to Iowa or New Hampshire."
As impractical as it may seem to some, both Deans say Judy will continue to practice medicine even if Howard Dean becomes president.
"I hope so, in some way, some how," she said.
Asked if she sees herself also handling the more traditional duties of first ladies, she adds, "I realize there would be changes and I realize there would be less privacy for the family, but I think primarily I would continue to do what I do."
"If I win, Judy will practice medicine in Washington," says her husband. "That doesn't mean she will never go to a state dinner, but I don't see her job as entertainer."
Her interview with The Associated Press, her first extensive interview ever, marked a cautious coming out for Judy Dean, as she discussed her family, her profession, and her husband's presidential bid.
She said she wholeheartedly supports Howard Dean's candidacy even though it could mean dramatic changes in her life. "He is a terrific, terrific person and I think he would do wonderful things," she said.
She understands there are people who will be upset if she is not out on the campaign trail with him, but believes they will be balanced by those who will support her decision. "Some of the public may be disappointed in that, some of the public may say that's terrific," she said. "In this day and age there are a lot of two career families."
And she said she would not be unwilling to help him, they have just agreed she won't devote herself to his quest. "If he really wants me someplace, I certainly would do it, but it would be between me and him," she said, adding, though, that she doubts many such requests will be made.
"He is very comfortable with what I am doing. I am very comfortable with what he is doing and he is not going to ask me to do something because it is going to be better politically. He just doesn't do that. And that works for both of us."
Judy Dean, who uses her maiden name, Judith Steinberg, in her medical practice, grew up in a Long Island suburb, the daughter of two doctors. She has always loved science; she majored in biochemistry at Princeton before going to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
"The odd thing is I really went to medical school because I like science and what I really like about practicing medicine is the people," she said.
"I love people one to one. I really like talking to people and I really like listening to people. As a doctor, you really get to learn a lot about them and know about them from a very good point of view. You learn a lot of strengths people have, hidden strengths; people who have to deal with horrible things, and you think `How are they going to do this,' and they come through, and their families come through. It is very inspiring."
She mentions an elderly patient she will see that afternoon on a house call. "He is chronically ill; he is very limited in what he can do; he lives all by himself and he just keeps going. He is cheerful and he is happy with what he has."
Dean has a youthful, down-to-earth appearance, with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses that provide a scholarly air. She likes to hike, canoe, bike and watch her children's sporting events; she reads fiction and especially enjoys mysteries.
She flashes a big smile and grows animated when talking about her medical practice and her family but is cautious when the conversation turns to herself and her role in the Dean presidential campaign.
Howard Dean is fiercely protective of his family and has criticized news organizations for reporting on incidents involving children of politicians, once even coming to the defense of George W. Bush. "I didn't think it was proper of the press to print all that stuff about the twins drinking," he said, speaking of Bush daughters Barbara and Jenna. "Those girls are just girls and the only reason they got their names in the paper is because they are daughters of the president of the United States."
He says it would be unfair to force Judy to give up her medical career for politics. "When she married me, she didn't know I was going to run for president of the United States," he said. "I didn't either. She married a doctor."
He does not believe that a candidate's family must be part of a campaign. "I think the traditional feeling among politicians is that they have to use their families as props or as appendages. My kids and my wife are very independent."
Judy Dean met her future husband at medical school. "We were sitting in class doing crossword puzzles."
Howard Dean completed medical school in three years rather than the traditional four and was sent to Vermont for his residency in 1978; Judy Dean followed when she graduated a year later. In 1981, Howard Dean opened his medical practice in Shelburne with another doctor; Judy Dean joined them in 1985 after a fellowship at Montreal's McGill University.
Howard Dean's slide into politics came slowly: He was a volunteer for Jimmy Carter's 1980 re-election campaign and won election to the Vermont House in 1982. "That I saw more as community service because he was representing all of our neighbors and it was part time," says Judy Dean.
In 1986, he won election as lieutenant governor but even that post is part time in Vermont, so he continued his medical practice.
In 1991, though, Gov. Richard Snelling died suddenly and Dean became governor.
"It was a crazy day," says Judy Dean. "I was at home and he was seeing a patient. He called me and I came in and finished his patients for that day."
Without warning or any discussion, Howard Dean was now a full-time politician. Judy Dean and her other partner took over his patients.
Although their career paths diverged at that point, Judy Dean believes both play important roles.
"I feel that I do good on a one-to-one basis," she said. "He is very good at improving things on a much bigger scale, and I think that is wonderful."
The Deans have two children, a daughter at Yale and a son who is a junior in high school. The family is especially close and Howard Dean did his fair share of child care even while governor.
"He was always home when he needed to be home," said Judy Dean. Much of the family's activities have revolved around the children's athletic schedules and Dean has even arranged his presidential campaigning around his son's hockey games.
In 1998 Howard Dean considered running for the 2000 presidential nomination but backed off when neither Vermonters nor his family favored the idea. Judy Dean says that was because the children were younger then. "It is just a better time now," she says.
She acknowledges that developing any sort of public persona is going to be a challenge for someone whose last speaking engagement - a medical presentation before a small group of about 20 people - was nearly 20 years ago.
Although she may not be beside her husband every day to urge him on, she is excited by the strength and energy of his candidacy.
"He is very, very smart and I think he is very honest and I think that comes across," she said. "He is sincere about what he wants to do and he has a lot of good ideas and he has accomplished a lot."
Asked if she wants him to win, she replies, "Of course. It may scare me a little bit, but I think it would be great for him and great for the country. I really do."
Dean put his records in a lockbox and is trying to hide his wife too. Will the press continue this free pass or start doing it's job. I leave that up to you all...
A little more of Dr. Dean: Interviewed by Judy Woodruff on CNN, he talked religion, and his departure from an Episcopal church over a dispute concerning a bike path: "You know what it really says? [The "it" refers to public curiosity over this bike-path affair.] It says the Republicans are talking like they're out of the Pharisees. Because if you're a Christian, you're a Christian. I don't believe it ought to matter what kind of a denomination you are. As a matter of fact, if you're a religious person, you're a religious person. I don't think it ought to matter what religion you are."
I will keep quoting: Woodruff: "Was it just over a bike path that you left the Episcopal Church?" (Even Judy Woodruff seems incredulous, doesn't she?) Dean: "Yes, as a matter of fact it was. I was fighting to have public access to the waterfront, and we were fighting very hard in the citizens group to allow the public to use it. [Notice how these people are always "fighting"?] And this particular diocese decided to join a property-rights suit [please gasp here] to close it down. I didn't think that was very public-spirited. One thing I feel about religion, you have to be very careful not to be a hypocrite if you're a religious person. It is really tough to preach one thing and do something else. And I don't think you can do that."
His English is incoherent, his reasoning shallow, his understanding weak. The amazing thing is that Democrats, and probably not a few others, consider this guy the mental superior of George W. Bush. Dean doesn't reach to Bush's knees.
Dean's wife makes pitch for funding
September 19, 2003
By Ross Sneyd
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTPELIER - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean's wife, up to now wary of the media spotlight, is joining his drive to raise record amounts of campaign contributions.
Judith Steinberg Dean is writing to 128,000 previous contributors to her husband's campaign asking them to give again. The letter is expected to go to up to 500,000 more people in coming months, those involved with various women's groups as well as to Internet supporters.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, is a much more personal appeal than is typical of campaign fund-raising pleas.
She recounts how she and Dean met while both were attending the Albert Einstein medical school and then moved to Vermont for their residencies. Both are medical doctors and Steinberg Dean still has a thriving practice in suburban Burlington. That's why she has done little with the campaign, she writes.
"I enjoy helping people on a one-on-one basis getting to know them and their families and helping them deal with illness," she writes. "That is my way; while Howard is much more talented at improving things for people on a bigger scale."
A senior campaign aide who was responsible for the letter said the candidate's staff wrote it with Steinberg Dean's participation and approval.
"There's a genuineness about this letter that I think is atypical," said the aide, who asked not to be named.
A campaign spokeswoman said Steinberg Dean did not want to be interviewed about the letter. Courtney O'Donnell said Steinberg Dean's medical practice would continue to be her priority, but she also wants to help her husband's campaign.
"The governor has said she will participate," O'Donnell said. "As the campaign continues she'll be involved in various capacities, but will continue her job as a doctor."
Steinberg Dean addresses that in her letter, as well, acknowledging that the plea for cash is the first formal role she's taken.
"Despite his intense passion for public service, Howard has never made his public aspirations become my personal obligations," she writes. "As a doctor and a partner in a medical practice, I have responsibility to my patients. That's why my time 'on the campaign trail' is limited; when people are sick they want and need to see a physician who knows them."
Steinberg Dean appeared with her husband at his formal announcement in June and has agreed to a limited number of interviews with the news media. But her role other than that has been low key.
Campaign staff were excited when she drove over to their headquarters to watch Dean's appearance in a debate in Baltimore earlier this month. The Deans don't have cable television at home, so she had no other choice if she wanted to see it, O'Donnell said.
The first mailing of her letter is designed to help the campaign add to its fund-raising total for the third quarter, which closes Sept. 30. Subsequent mailings to women's groups will go out during the final three months of the year.
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