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I really think that the Dean Internet Machine is out in full force getting as "conservatives" and trying to put a false position on their man... Have you even heard Dean on TV. The guy has to take ridalin or something to bring down his BP.. I mean the anger and the vitriolic hatred...
I would recommend everyone to read the following link where David Brooks talks about Dean "My moment of illumination about Howard Dean came one day in Iowa when I saw him lean into a crowd and begin a sentence with, "Us rural people. . . ."

Dean grew up on Park Avenue and in East Hampton. If he's a rural person, I'm the Queen of Sheba. Yet he said it with conviction. He said it uninhibited by any fear that someone might laugh at or contradict him.

It was then that I saw how Dean had liberated himself from his past, liberated himself from his record and liberated himself from the restraints that bind conventional politicians. He has freed himself to say anything, to be anybody...

Dean runs less on biography than any other candidate in recent years. When he began running for president, he left his past behind, along with the encumbrances that go with it...

The newly liberated Dean is uninhibited. A normal person with no defense policy experience would not have the chutzpah to say, "Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense." But Dean says it. A normal person, with an eye to past or future relationships, wouldn't compare Congress to "a bunch of cockroaches." Dean did it."
The guy is as phony as a 2 dollar bill....

I'm not being fooled that Dean is totally conservative, that's for sure. I do think he is fiscally conservative though - just look at the Vermont records. I also know that he hasn't squashed anyones 2nd Amendment rights there.

As far as being rural, Vermont is a pretty rural state - and he probably has a feel for what the needs of that community is. He's also travelled and lived with very rural people in other countries.

On a local New Hampshire political show, I heard him say that he is proud of his background and not going to make any excuses about the fact that his parents worked hard and were well-off.

Growing up on Long Island, though, I can say that the Eastern End of LI is thought to be rural (the "boonies" as we used to call it) as compared to the rest of LI and the city. Although, now that I've lived other places I can see that it is not rural compared to other areas of the US.