ALFRED, N.Y. (AP) _ Howard Dean is bringing his message of grassroots organizing to two upstate campuses this week. The former Vermont governor and new chairman of the Democratic National Committee will speak at Alfred University tonight and Cornell University tomorrow. In a telephone interview with The Buffalo News yesterday, Dean said traditionally Republican upstate New York is the kind of turf that’s receptive to the Democratic message. Dean said Republicans in New York state don’t balance budgets, cut back on school funding, and load local governments with unfunded mandates. Dean has come under verbal attack from New York’s new Republican state chairman, Stephen Minarik, who calls Dean an extreme liberal far from America’s mainstream. But Dean says he’s spreading the message that Democrats better represent mainstream America than Republicans do.
