Dean Urges Dems to Stick to Convictions [View All]

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Howard Dean (news - web sites), with an eye on leading the Democratic Party in the wake of widespread election losses, said Wednesday that Democrats must campaign on their convictions and not give into the temptation to behave like Republicans.

"We cannot win by being Republican light," Dean said, repeating a line that helped make him a darling of the left in the early presidential race. "We've tried it, and it does not work."

Speaking to still-enthusiastic supporters at a George Washington University auditorium, the defeated presidential candidate ticked off a list of issues that he said Democrats should tout as moral values — health care, education, election reforms.
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But Dean said he rejects the philosophy that "if you don't beat them, then join them."

"When some people say that we should change direction, in essence they are arguing that our basic or guiding principles can be altered or modified," Dean said. "They cannot. On issue after issue, we are where majority of the American people are."

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