On Sunday, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean was the only candidate to mention Native Americans at a debate meant to highlight issues of race.

Much of the talk at the "Black and Brown Forum" was was about African-Americans and Hispanics. Dean brought up Native Americans when asked, by rival Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), about preventing minorities from abusive and predatory lending practices.

"And what you get is respectable banks owning finance companies of subsidiaries that go into African-American and Latino neighborhoods -- and they also do this, I might add, with Native Americans, who we haven't talked about at all tonight," Dean responded. "It's a minority group that's in serious trouble in this country, because of the way our structure is."

Get the Story:
In Iowa, Dean Is Again Target (The Washington Post 1/12)
In Final Debate Before Caucuses, Democrats Tangle on Race Issues (The New York Times 1/12)
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Relevant Documents:
Complete Transcript: Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum (FDCH e-Media January 11, 2004)

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