WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Association of State Democratic Chairs' executive board has recommended the endorsement of Donnie Fowler for U.S. Democratic chairman.
The recommendation is interpreted as a sign of growing resistance to the candidacy of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the New York Times said Monday.
Surveys of Democratic National Committee members have shown Dean, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2004, to be the choice of a plurality of committee members. His opponents for the post have tried -- thus far unsuccessfully -- to create an anti-Dean consensus bloc, either behind Fowler or ex-U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who lost his bid for re-election to the House last November.
Dean's allies played down the significance of the ASDC recommendation, suggesting Dean would rather face Fowler than Frost.
The formal election is in two weeks. The committee will keep voting until one candidate gets more than 50 percent, with the candidate who gets the fewest votes dropped after each round of balloting.
