AUGUSTA (AP) – All four of Maine’s voting members of the Democratic National Committee are supporting former presidential candidate Howard Dean in his candidacy for the party’s national chairmanship.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Patrick Colwell said he and Vice Chairwoman Marianne Stevens, along with DNC members Sam Spencer and Jennifer DeChant, are joining Gov. John Baldacci in supporting the former Vermont governor for the national party’s top post.

Dean is front-runner in a race that also includes Donnie Fowler, who headed political outreach for the high-tech lobby TechNet, New Democratic Network President Simon Rosenberg and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer. Colwell said Dean energized Maine Democrats during the 2004 presidential campaign “in ways we haven’t seen for years.” He said Dean carries promise to revitalize party organizations down to the municipal level.

Colwell said Dean is running for DNC Chairman to build on the work his political action committee, Democracy for America, has been doing to elect Democrats to local and national offices. The PAC directly donated more than $1 million for candidates across the country, he said.

About 430 voting members of the party’s national committee will choose a successor to outgoing DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe on the third day of its winter meeting Feb. 10-12.

Dean finished second to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in the February 2004 caucuses. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio finished third, followed by Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Wesley Clark.

Baldacci endorsed Kerry’s presidential candidacy shortly before Maine’s caucuses.

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On the Net:

Democratic National Committee: http://www.dnc.org

Maine Democratic Party: www.mainedems.org

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