Howard Dean: We're ruined in November if the bill doesn't go into effect this year

“The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who’s running for office to dry — including the president, in 2012, because it makes him defend a plan that isn’t in effect essentially yet,” Dean said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press Radio Show.

Dean, who has clashed publicly with the White House over the healthcare proposals favored by the administration, said that by passing the bills under consideration, Democrats would essentially be conceding defeat to Republicans.

“It’s easy to campaign on repealing something if no one knows what the something is,” Dean said. “And fundamentally people don’t understand what the president’s healthcare plan is.”