Local Dean backers welcome his scream on campaign trail.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

The screaming doesn't bother Deborah Chapman. She understands.

Even if she didn't see it.

"I can't believe I missed it," Chapman said of Monday's impassioned, fist-pumping speech by Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean that ended with a shrieking yowl after the Iowa caucuses and is now being referred to as the "I Have a Scream" speech on the Internet.

"I think it's great," said Chapman, a Eugene business owner who spent Sunday and Monday going door-to-door in Des Moines campaigning for Dean, her new hero. "I didn't know you could be too passionate in this country. How can you not be? This is a big thing. People said he looked angry. We need some anger."

Chapman had left Dean's campaign headquarters after having her picture snapped with him and seeing Dean supporter Joan Jett, clad in her trademark black leather, belt out "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." She was on a plane back to Eugene by the time Dean gave his controversial speech.

But it just makes Chapman like Dean all that much more, she said, even if some political pundits are saying it severely hurts his chances to win his party's nomination. That it was "unpresidential." And maybe even a little nuts.

None of it will deter Chapman, however.

"He's about taking the country back," she said.

Chapman, who runs a pewter-making company in west Eugene with her husband, Jim, wasn't the only Lane County resident who made the trip to Iowa to campaign for Dean, said Munir Katul, chairman of the communications committee for Lane County for Dean. He knows of at least four others who went.

Katul believes the media have blown Dean's speech - which came after the former front-runner had finished a disappointing third in the Iowa caucuses - out of proportion. "If you just take that one sound clip, you think, 'Gee, this guy is wild.' But it was a rally-type speech."

Chapman, 45, has been a Democrat her entire life and remembers when her parents "wanted to leave the country" when Richard Nixon was elected in 1968. She also remembers helping campaign for George McGovern in 1972 in her hometown of Canton, N.Y., when she was just 13.

She's never been this passionate about a candidate, though. She's even changed her e-mail address to [e-mail].

"His message is just the one I like," she said of Dean. "What you see is what you get with him. He's just a small town doctor."

Chapman appeared Monday on CNN as a camera crew put a microphone on her and followed her through the bitter cold while she knocked on doors in Des Moines.

"I love the guy, what can I say?" Chapman can be heard telling a reporter on a tape of the broadcast as she pounded the pavement while wearing her orange "The Iowa Perfect Storm" stocking cap that Dean volunteers donned in the sub-freezing temperatures.

She hosted about 30 people for a Dean party at her Fairmount Boulevard-area home in Eugene on Dec. 30, part of nine similar parties in Lane County and about 1,400 in the country on the same evening.

It was then that Chapman decided to make the trip to Iowa. She tried to encourage friends and other supporters to go, but ended up going alone. Swaying folks on their doorsteps wasn't easy, she said. In fact, she doubts she changed anyone's mind, or got them to vote for Dean, except the guy in Starbucks who wondered why everyone was wearing orange hats. Turns out he wanted to vote for Dean but wasn't sure how the caucuses worked. Chapman made sure he was registered and got him to the right polling place.

Dan Mayhew, a Dean supporter and friend of Chapman's, said he's not surprised she went to Iowa. "No, not with Deb," Mayhew said. "I think it's fantastic that she did it. It's just a great example."

Chapman plans to continue writing letters to voters in states where upcoming primaries will be held and is planning a presentation at the Feb. 4 Lane County for Dean meeting at Monroe Middle School.

LANE COUNTY

FOR DEAN

For more information on the local Howard Dean campaign, go to www.lanecountyfordean.com. Monthly meetings are held at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month at Monroe Middle School, 2800 Bailey Lane in Eugene.

CAPTION(S):

Deborah Chapman campaigned for Howard Dean in Iowa.