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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told CNN Sunday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had deliberately made up charges that the Obama administration’s health care bill would lead to euthanasia.

“About euthanasia, they're just totally erroneous. She just made that up,” he said. “Just like the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ that she supposedly didn't support.

“There's nothing like euthanasia in the bill. I practiced medicine for a long time, and of course you have to have end of life discussions - the patients want that. There's nothing... euthanasia's not in this bill.”

Dean was referring comments Palin made late Friday in a post on her Facebook page. In her post, the former Republican vice presidential candidate said President Obama’s health care plan would create a “death panel” that would weigh whether her parents or son Trig were “worthy of health care.”

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Howard Dean's new book will be available in paperback, as an e-book, and through an iPhone application.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former DNC chairman Howard Dean is coming out with a new book that makes the case for Democrats' ambitious plans to reform the country's health care system.

"America has had 'socialized' medicine since 1964,'" Dean writes in the book, according to a release issued Friday. "'It's called Medicare; it covers every American over 65, and they are very happy with the program. The rest of America deserves a similar option.'"

The 2004 presidential candidate's book will be electronically published first, released as an e-book on June 5 and then as a paperback on July 1. The book will also be made available through an Apple iPhone application.

Dean, the former governor of Vermont, was a practicing physician before entering politics.

Two White House officials say it's possible Dean could be tapped for surgeon general post.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - With Dr. Sanjay Gupta taking himself out of the mix as President Obama's choice for Surgeon General, CNN has learned that the name of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has now emerged as a possible pick for the high-profile post.

Senior Democratic officials say that Dean, a medical doctor and former Vermont governor who championed health reform, has privately made clear that he is interested in the post. Dean had publicly expressed interest in serving as secretary of Health and Human Services but lost out, and many Democrats believe he was blocked because of a feud he had with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel back in the 2006 election cycle.

But two White House officials told CNN that while it's too early to compile an official list of candidates for Surgeon General, they believe that it's possible for Dean to get the job. "I would not dismiss it," one of the White House officials said of the possibility that Dean will be selected.

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State party chairs want the '50-state strategy' to continue under Kaine and Obama.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – When Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, the new executive director of the Democratic National Committee, concluded her brief remarks to a meeting of state party chairs in Washington on Wednesday, she got a clear and simple reminder of what DNC members want from the committee’s new leadership.

"Jen, you don’t really need to hear any questions," New Hampshire party chairman Raymond Buckley told her. "We have three words for you: '50-state strategy.'"

That now-famous program, implemented by outgoing chairman Howard Dean in 2005, placed paid DNC staffers in both red and blue states around the country and was premised on the philosophy that Democrats can be competitive anywhere as long as they show up, work hard and ask for votes.

But now that Dean is gone and Virginia governor Tim Kaine has been installed as President Barack Obama's pick to lead the organization, some of the party chairs who gathered at the DNC’s annual Winter Meeting this week expressed anxiety that the precious resources doled out by the committee could vanish as the new administration takes control of the party machinery.

The DNC-funded field staff positions expired on election day, and the party chairs - particularly those in states long dismissed by national Democrats - want the hiring practice renewed.

"Right now all 50 of the state chairs are on pins and needles," said Oklahoma Democratic chairman Ivan Holmes. "It's possible they could undo in one year what it's taken four years for Dean to do if they don't embrace the 50-state strategy financially, and let the chairs have input on who they hire and what their duties are."

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President-elect Obama has selected Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, pictured here with Obama on the campaign trail in August, to head the DNC.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - When President-elect Barack Obama heads to the Democratic National Committee today to formally unveil the new party chair there will be a notable absence, which is prompting some rare Democratic grumblings during these high times for the party.

Current Chairman Howard Dean left this morning for Pago Pago, American Samoa to attend the inauguration of that territory’s governor and a weekend fundraiser to raise money for the party there. Dean has so far visited all 50 states, and all territories except American Samoa.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who was on the shortlist to be Obama’s vice president, will succeed Dean and formally take over the DNC post at the party’s winter meeting on January 21st.

An Obama transition aide said the only reason Dean is not going be at the Obama-Kaine event is that it conflicted with Dean’s travel plans. But multiple sources, including party activists, say Dean was not invited and would have cancelled his trip if asked. When told he was not included, Dean is said to have taken the news in stride and continued with his travel plans.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – When President-elect Barack Obama heads to the Democratic National Committee Thursday afternoon to formally announce the name of the party's new chair, there will be a notable absence.

Current Chairman Howard Dean is leaving Thursday morning for Pago Pago, American Samoa to attend the inauguration of that territory’s governor, and to help raise money for the Democratic Party there. Dean has so far visited all 50 states, and all territories except American Samoa.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who was on the shortlist to be Obama’s vice-president, will succeed Dean and formally take over his DNC post later this month.

Click here for an update to this post

Dean will not seek another term as head of the DNC.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As expected, Howard Dean will hand over the reins at the Democratic National Committee when the party meets again in January.

The 2004 presidential candidate's approach - innovative Web outreach techniques and a determination to compete in areas that have not historically supported Democrats - have dove-tailed with those of President-elect Obama.

But incoming Democratic presidents are traditionally given the prerogative to select their own candidate for the post, which is then approved by party officials. The position tends to dramatically recede in importance when Democrats control the White House.

DNC Howard Dean, pictured here with Sens. Clinton and Obama and former Sen. Edwards, said Friday that people of color and women have historically been more successful in the Democratic Party.

(CNN) – Carly Fiorina, a supporter of Sen. John McCain and the chair of the Republican National Committee’s Victory 2008 campaign, took aim at Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean over racially-tinged comments Dean made Friday.

“If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the Republican Party,” Dean said Friday in an appearance on NPR’s “Tell Me More” program.

Fiorina, a prominent female supporter of McCain, fired back at Dean. “It is disappointing to see Howard Dean trying to use gender and race to divide voters," Fiorina said Friday evening in a statement released by the McCain campaign. "His comments are insulting, inappropriate and have no place in this election.”

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is set to face off in November against Sen. Barack Obama, who is about to become the first African-American to garner the nomination of a major political party. Obama beat out Sen. Hillary Clinton in a long, hard-fought primary race that galvanized many women behind Clinton’s candidacy and many African-Americans behind Obama’s.

Dean will travel across the country to encourage new voter registration.

(CNN)—Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is set to embark on a cross-country voter registration tour this Thursday.

The bus tour, called “Register for Change,’ will act as a mobile campaign office as the party seeks to build upon the record voter turnout during the primary season.

The tour kicks off in President Bush’s hometown of Crawford, Texas and coincides with the DNC’s 50-state strategy to hold forums across the country.

“People are really struggling,” Dean said. “They want different leadership, not more of the same failed Bush policies that John McCain will continue.”

From Texas the tour will continue on to stops in Louisiana and Mississippi where Dean will meet with local leaders and go neighborhood-to-neighborhood registering new voters and encouraging previously registered voters to unit around Barack Obama’s “strong message of change.”

The DNC says the tour will travel every part of the country, coming to a close at the party’s convention in Denver at the end of August.

Watch Dean's interview with CNN's Don Lemon.

(CNN) – Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, set forth three principles that he thinks should govern any effort to reach a compromise regarding seating the Michigan and Florida delegations to his party’s nominating convention.

First, “we want to respect the voters who went to the polls,” Dean said. “It was politicians that made a mess of this - not the voters,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon Tuesday.
“Secondly, you have got to respect these two candidates,” Dean said of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “You cannot change the rules at the end of the game and change the outcome.”

“Thirdly, you’ve got to respect the 48 states that followed the rules they way they were supposed to,” the former presidential candidate said.

“So there will be some sort of compromise in the Rules Committee on the 31 of May, I hope,” the DNC chair said. “But we don’t know what that compromise is going to look like right now.”

While Clinton and Obama have continued to battle for the Democratic nod, the DNC has run ads targeting Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, and Dean took the opportunity to take a shot or two at McCain Tuesday.

“He’s wrong on the courts. He’s wrong on Iraq. He’s wrong on the economy. He’s wrong on healthcare,” said Dean.

Dean suggested Monday either Clinton or Obama should drop out shortly after the last primary.

GRAHAM, North Carolina (CNN) – Hillary Clinton wouldn’t say Monday whether she agrees with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's latest comments that either she or Barack Obama should drop out of the race following the last Democratic primary on June 3.

“We’re going to go through these next contests, we’re going to see where we end up and we’ll take stock of where we are after they finish,” Clinton told reporters on the trail in North Carolina, adding that she feels the prolonged race has been good for both the party and voters.

Clinton said again that Michigan and Florida’s votes should be counted.

“We have to decide, do we wish to punish Michigan and Florida, two states that we have to win in the fall in order to win back the White House? When there are perfectly acceptable ways of resolving this?” Clinton asked. “So we’ve got to resolve Michigan and Florida and we’ll see how the process plays out.”

Watch Howard Dean on CNN Thursday.

(CNN)— An increasingly firm Howard Dean told CNN again Thursday that he needs superdelegates to say who they’re for – and “I need them to say who they’re for starting now.”

“We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time,” the Democratic National Committee Chairman told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We’ve got to know who our nominee is.”

After facing criticism for a mostly hands-off leadership style during much of the primary season, Dean has been steadily raising the rhetorical pressure on superdelegates. He said Thursday that roughly 65 percent of them have made their preference plain, but that more than 300 have yet to make up their minds.

The national party chair, who has remained neutral throughout the primary process, said again it’s his job to make sure both candidates feel they are treated fairly – but not to tell either of them when to end their run.

(CNN)—The Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue the battle for their party’s nomination Thursday, and Democratic Committee chairman Howard Dean continues his recent get-tough stance.

In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux reports on the campaign trail brawl less than a week before the next critical primary in Pennsylvania.

As the Democratic nominating process drags on on, Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Thursday, he wants a decision, and he wants it ‘now.’ You’ll see Wolf Blitzer’s interview with Dean.

Meanwhile, the pope isn’t the only important figure visiting Washington D.C. this week – Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with President Bush and the presidential candidates Thursday. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano reports on how the president’s meeting went, while Tom Foreman highlights what the candidates hoping to take President Bush’s place discussed with Brown.

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DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Democratic Party on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Federal Elections Commission seeking to force the group to investigate whether John McCain has violated federal spending limits for his primary campaign.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court in Washington, is the latest move by the Democratic National Committee that seeks to prove the Arizona senator locked himself into campaign spending limits earlier this year when he used the prospect of $6 million in federal matching funds as collateral for a December bank loan to his campaign.

The DNC first filed a complaint with the FEC in February, arguing then that McCain should be forced to accept the matching funds - and the spending limits that come with it.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said that McCain not only used the prospect of the funds as loan collateral, but he also accepted automatic ballot access in every state - an advantage given to those who accept federal matching funds. (Those who do not accept federal matching funds are forced to gain ballot access themselves - a task that can cost millions of dollars.)

Full story

Howard Dean says John McCain is a 'weak' candidate.

(CNN)— Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Thursday he feared his party's nominee facing Mitt Romney in the general election more than any other candidate.

“Frankly, Mitt Romney was the candidate I feared the most in the general because he’s got plenty of money, he’s wealthy,” Dean told reporters at a committee briefing. “He’s very articulate and he willing to say practically anything, and Republican voters want discipline.”

When asked if he'd fear a McCain-Romney ticket, Dean said the former Massachussetts governor was the best candidate the Republicans were probably “ever going to get.”

Romney dropped out of the presidential race last February saying that if he continued his campaign it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign…making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win." His departure from the race essentially secured John McCain’s place as the presumptive Republican nominee.

Dean also characterized McCain, as a “weak candidate,” one who is very out of touch with “21st century Americans” on issues like the economy, Iraq War, and health care. He added that McCain has no plans to get out of Iraq or solve the mortgage crisis.

(UPDATED with RNC response after the jump)

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CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from the Best Political Team.

(CNN)— Hillary Clinton’s lead in Pennsylvania is beginning to narrow with less than three weeks to go before the state’s crucial April 22 primary. In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley reports on the candidates push for union support.

John McCain’s on the receiving end of fresh criticism that he’s dividing the Republican Party. CNN’s Dana Bash reports on the presumptive Republican nominee’s response and who may be on his list of potential Vice Presidential candidates.

Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke suggested more Americans may be at risk of losing their jobs. Alan Chernoff explains where the economy could be headed next.

Finally, the debate over whether to seat Michigan and Florida’s delegates continues. Today, after meeting with a group of Florida’s Democratic leaders, national party Chairman Howard Dean said he’s committed to seating Florida’s delegation at the August convention. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider has the latest details.

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–CNN’s Emily Sherman

DNC Chairman Howard Dean said Democrats will support the party's nominee.

(CNN)—Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Tuesday a razor-thin margin of victory will not hurt the party’s unity so long as the elections are fair.

“One candidate is going to win with 50.2 percent of the votes and another candidate is going to lose by 49.8 percent of the votes,” Dean said. “I want to make sure that the candidate who doesn’t win this nomination feels they’ve been treated fairly according to the rules.”

Dean stressed again that he would like to see the race resolved by July 1—weeks before the party’s August convention.

Watch the entire interview today during the 4 p.m. hour of The Situation Room.

–CNN’s Emily Sherman

DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

(CNN) – The Republican National Committee called on both Democratic presidential candidates Friday to denounce recent comments from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean who called John McCain a 'blatant opportunist.'

Dean made the comment earlier in the day in a statement issued by the DNC on McCain's new television ad that features footage of the Arizona Republican as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn’t understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years," Dean said.

RNC Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli called the comment a "character smear," and said they are the "latest in what has become a troubling pattern where the chairman of the national party has questioned Senator McCain’s character and integrity."

"Howard Dean owes John McCain an immediate apology and both Senators Clinton and Obama should unequivocally denounce this disgraceful attack," Donatelli added.

Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are battling for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Responding to Donatelli's comments, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said the RNC is "cherry picking the facts."

"Clearly the RNC recognizes that the biggest threat to John McCain, as we heard loud and clear from voters in our recent focus groups, is the damage he inflicted on his 'independent' image and reputation for 'straight talk' by shifting his positions to make them more acceptable to the right wing of the Republican Party," she said.

"The truth is that most Americans would likely agree that while we honor Senator McCain's service, America cannot afford another Bush Republican who doesn't understand the economy and who wants to keep our troops in Iraq for up to 100 years," she added.

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Watch Howard Dean on CNN's American Morning.

(CNN) – Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told CNN Friday his party's system for choosing presidential candidates is "not a mess," despite the maze of complexities exposed by the close, bitter battle between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

He also gave his clearest indication to date that he would like the fight wrapped up before the official nominating convention in August - as well as a guide on how to end it.

He said the undecided superdelegates - party officials who can choose whom to back - should weigh in once the voters have had their say.

"I'd like the other 350 (superdelegates) to say who they're for at some point between now and the first of July so we don't have to take this into the convention," he said on "The Early Show" on CBS. He made similar remarks on ABC.

Dean told CNN he's convinced the delegates from Florida and Michigan, who are currently not being counted, will ultimately be seated at the convention.

And he told CNN that party leadership has had "extensive discussions" with the Clinton and Obama campaigns to cool down their rhetoric.

"I don't think the party is going to implode," he said when asked about that possibility.

Full story 

(Udpates with Dean's comments on Superdelegates)

– CNN's Josh Levs

Watch DNC Chairman Howard Dean discuss his party's nomination race.

(CNN)— Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean characterized the presidential primary season as a “pleasant walk in the park” Tuesday, saying the real battle for the presidency will happen when the nominees are chosen.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Dean also expressed fear of a divided party if a Democratic nominee is not chosen by the August convention, saying both candidates are well qualified to be the next president, making a tougher decision for voters. However, Dean said, “There’s no reason not to have a clear nominee before the convention starts,” because the convention is scheduled later this presidential cycle to adhere to public finance rules.

The Democratic convention is schedule to begin August 25 in Denver, Colorado. Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary is one of the last critical primaries for the Democratic candidates before the convention.

–CNN's Emily Sherman