Howard Dean and Katrina vanden Heuvel Discuss "What’s Left for the Left" at Yale

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and past chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation magazine, will discuss the future of progressive politics in the United States on Wednesday, April 20 at Yale.

Titled “What’s Left for the Left: Rebuilding Progressive Politics,” the forum will be moderated by Yale Professor Jacob Hacker, co-author with Paul Pierson of “Winner-Take-All Politics” and widely credited as the “architect” of the public option of health care policy. Also participating in the conversation will be Yale College junior Daniel Hornung, president of the Yale chapter of the progressive undergraduate organization The Roosevelt Institute.

The free discussion will take place in the Levinson Auditorium of Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street, at 4 p.m. Seating is first-come, first-served. A question-and-answer period will follow the discussion. The event is sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship program at Yale.

Dean is former chair of the Democratic National Committee, presidential candidate, six- term governor of Vermont and physician. He currently works as an independent consultant focusing on health care, early childhood development, alternative energy and the expansion of grassroots politics around the world. Dean serves as a CNBC contributor and is the founder of Democracy for America. Dean left his full-time medical practice in 1982 when he was elected state representative in Vermont. He served for 12 years as governor and left in 2003 to run for president. His campaign notably pioneered innovative fundraising strategies using the Internet. As DNC chair, Dean created and implemented the “50 State Strategy,” for which he is credited with helping Democrats make historic gains in 2006 and 2008.

Vanden Heuvel is a frequent commentator on American and international politics on ABC, MSNBC, CNN and PBS. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Foreign Policy magazine and The Boston Globe. She is the editor of “Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover” (2009); and co-editor of “Taking Back America - And Taking Down The Radical Right” (2004). She writes a weekly web column for The Washington Post. Her blog “Editor’s Cut” appears at thenation.com. Among the many organizations that have recognized her for public service are The Association for American-Russian Women, The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and The New York Civil Liberties Union. She received the 2010 Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award.

The Poynter Fellowship plays a unique role in the educational life of Yale University. Nelson Poynter (Yale, M.A. 1927) established the program to enable Yale to bring to its campus distinguished reporters, editors and others who have made important contributions to the media. By sponsoring symposia and conferences on issues of broad public concern and by bringing to the university some of the most outstanding journalists from the United States and abroad, the Poynter Fellowship has helped Yale students and faculty gain special insight into the media and its role in contemporary culture. Among the distinguished Poynter Fellows who have visited the Yale campus in recent years are Tom Brokaw, Ira Glass, Soledad O’Brien, and Brent Staples.