"Dean to discuss role minorities could play in midterm elections"

Detroit Free Press:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says this weekend's African-American Leadership Summit is not just about mobilizing the black vote, but also about reshaping the Democratic Party agenda to get more minorities to run for state offices.

He said more than 600 people are expected to attend the program called "From the Table to the Ticket."

"It's not going to be about a place at the table anymore as it was in the civil rights movement," Dean told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday, a day before he was to give a speech at the conference. "I want it to be about a place on the statewide ticket."

Dean said Michigan has done well in getting minorities into statewide races. Convention delegates last month chose Detroit attorney Amos Williams, who is black, over former judge M. Scott Bowen, who is white, to take on Republican Attorney General Mike Cox in November.

"That's the kind of stuff I want to see a lot more of around the country," Dean said. "I think we need to have very diverse tickets because that's what the country looks like and that's what the Democratic Party needs to look like."