Howard Brush Dean III is an American former politician who served as the 79th Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Dean was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Presidential Election, 2004. His implementation of the fifty-state strategy as head of the DNC, as well as his campaigning methods during the 2004 presidential campaign, are considered significant factors behind Democratic victories in the 2006 congressional elections and the 2008 presidential election.