Howard Dean won't challenge in primary

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean has ruled out a run for president in 2012. Dean's name came up as a potential primary challenger following Tuesday night's disastrous results across the nation.

The former head of the Democratic National Committee is traveling on business in Canada, but his spokesperson, Karen Finney, was as clear as can be on this issue. Pushing back hard on the growing chatter that Dean is thinking about or would undertake a challenge to Obama, Finney said, "It's absolutely not true. He supports President Obama in 2012 and he has repeatedly said so publicly." In fact, Finney said, Dean said so several times on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Nov. 2.

Yes, I did ask the next question. Is the Dean denial categorical? "He is absolutely, categorically not running in 2012." Can't get anymore definitive than that?

Dean joins Senator Russ Feingold in ruling out a run in 2012.