Dean wants Dem nominee by end of June

WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday he'd like his party's U.S. presidential nomination race to be settled by late June.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Dean said that while it would be "a lot of fun" to hash out the nomination at the national convention, "the truth is we need to figure this out before the convention." However, with either Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois unable to grab a commanding lead in the delegate count, that has been a political conundrum for the party.

"Somebody is going to lose this with 49 percent of the delegates in Denver, and that person has to believe that they were treated fairly, otherwise, we can't win," Dean said.

From Dean's point of view, the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is wrong on the key issues and "the only thing that's going to beat us is if we're not unified."

Dean said he supports the party rules -- which call for the candidate with the most delegates, not the one with the most popular votes -- to win the nomination. He also says he thinks it's OK if the superdelegates decide the nomination because most of them are elected officials.