Published by

Howard Dean's Scream, Revisited

A "Dean Scream" is shorthand for a campaign disaster. But did Howard Dean's 2004 shriek even happen the way it's remembered? And did the moment really doom his campaign? In this excerpt of a documentary from FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films, producer Galen Druke investigates the post-Iowa call to action through interviews with Howard Dean, his former campaign staffers, and OTM's own Jennifer Munson -- who uses her technical expertise to analyze why the Dean Scream sounded so strange on the airwaves.

You can hear the entire documentary and see a short accompanying film here. The Howard Dean Scream documentary was edited by Jody Avirgan, Chloe Prasinos, and Steven Jackson.

Song:

"Roary's Waltz" by John Zorn

BOB: This is On the Media, I’m Bob Garfield. This week, in addition to claiming that Ted Cruz stole his Iowa victory, Donald Trump also accused the Texas Senator of delivering a speech so long and rambling that it would be his (quote) “Howard Dean moment!”

Nope. But Dean’s infamous shriek in Iowa twelve years ago has persisted as shorthand for a complete campaign disaster.

Data news site FiveThirtyEight, our collaborators in this election season, are producing a series of documentaries revisiting historic moments from past campaigns. In this excerpt from the first episode, producer Galen Druke explains why the real story of the Dean Scream is not how we remember it:

DRUKE: In the weeks leading up to the 2004 Iowa caucuses, polls were predicting that Howard Dean would come in first. After coming in third, this happened:

The Howard Dean scream documentary was edited by Jody Avirgan, Chloe Prasinos, and Steven Jackson. You can hear the entire piece, and watch a companion short film at FiveThirtyEight dot com slash deanscream.