Photos by nmfbihop

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean will vacate his seat when his term expires in January, following a tumultuous campaign for the party’s ticket and then the White House.

You may remember Dean as an early front-runner in the 2004 presidential race. After that unfortunate* “Dean Scream” and a 3rd place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Dean dropped out, but became useful as the DNC Chairman in 2005. And if you’re a real news nerd (or a New Englander who was paying some attention a few years ago), you may remember Dean as the governor of Vermont from 1991-2003.

Starting in 2006 for midterm elections, he orchestrated the 50 State Strategy by investing in each state to garner Congressional seats and lay groundwork for President-Elect Barack Obama’s campaign. States like North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana, which had not elected a Democrat for president in decades, went blue on Election Day. Obama will select a successor for Dean. An aide told the Post that Obama may choose Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill:

My sense is that the Obama folks are pretty insular and don’t want somebody else building the party and haven’t even decided what building the party means for them. I bet they go with a split chair again …McCaskill at Chair, and somebody like Steve Hildebrand [Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager] at Operational Chair.”

*Ed Note: I really didn’t find anything wrong with the Dean Scream. He was just really excited. Leave the guy alone!