The Other Dr. Dean

I didn’t mention Monday’s NYT story on Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean, Dr. Governor Howard Dean’s wife, because I respected the hell out of her insistence to remain out of politics and the spotlight.

Now, she’s decided to open up and do a real magazine piece, complete with glossy pictures of her and her doctor husband, Dr. Howard Dean, Doctor of Medicine.

No big surprise there — every candidate’s wife, no matter how apolitical, eventually has to go through the spanking line. But did she have to take her knocks from People magazine?

Here’s the intro to the interview:

The following is a transcript of PEOPLE’s Jan. 8, 2004, exclusive interview by JD Heyman with Howard Dean and his wife, Judith Steinberg Dean, at their home in Burlington, Vt.

What follows is exactly what you’d expect from any fawning, demure, First Lady wanna-be. A few choice lines to help you lose your breakfast:

I thought, well, [Dr. Howard] has potential. He seemed by the way he dressed that he was a little different.

I think he’s romantic. He’s sentimental.

Well, I haven’t really thought about [hostessing state dinners]. I think I could probably do it