Former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) is supporting Hillary Clinton for president rather than gearing up for his own 2016 presidential run —for now.
“At this point, I’m supporting Hillary Clinton,” Dean told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday in Iowa. Dean was the keynote speaker at the 57th annual Iowa Federation of Labor Convention.
Clinton, like Dean, has not said whether she plans to run for president in 2016 but many consider her a strong potential candidate. Dean previously ran for president in 2004 and recently has joined a number of potential 2016 presidential hopefuls in touring early primary states. In addition to Iowa, he’s also traveled to the early primary state of New Hampshire.
Dean refused to answer a followup question by the Register on another presidential run.
“Ahhgh, we’re done here,” Dean said when asked if he was ruling out running in 2016. “Thank you.”
In June Dean indicated an interest in running for president again. He said he had “mixed feelings” about running but would consider it depending on the other 2012 presidential candidates.
“I am not driven by my own ambition,” Dean said at the Netroots Nation conference according to CNN. “What I am driven by is pushing the country in a direction that it desperately needs to be pushed; pushing other politicians who aren’t quite as frank as I am who need to be more candidate with the American people about what needs to happen. I am not trying to hedge, it’s a hard job running. It’s really tough. I am doing a lot of things I really enjoy. But you should never say never in this business.”
