That night, the presidential candidate had just lost the Iowa caucus to John Kerry and wanted to reassure his supporters.

Vermont governor Howard Dean's 2003–04 presidential campaign began as a huge success in its first several months, garnering popularity from the press and American citizens for his left-leaning populism and anti-Iraq War beliefs; as of fall 2003, he was number one in almost every poll throughout the United States, including those in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[4] Dean's rankings in the polls started to decline in the three weeks before the Iowa caucus due to the poor operation of his campaign team.

[1] Explained Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, "In Iowa, it was pretty clear we were unraveling, so I was praying that it would somehow hold together before caucus night, that the floor would not collapse on us until the day after.

[1] Tricia Enright, Dean's communications director, summarized the campaign staff's reaction to the results: "You're disappointed we've let down all of these people who worked their hearts out.

"[6] Organizer Teri Mills recalled the room being "jam-packed" with 3,000 attendees, and "people were so excited and looking forward to boarding planes to go to New Hampshire.

"[1] A drunk Mordecai was on stage exciting the audience with Dean and his organizers backstage discussing how to present; as Trippi summarized his thinking process at that moment, "You have millions of Americans watching who have no idea who you are.

"[1] Trippi advised Dean, "They're down, go out there and give 'em hell," and Iowa senator Tom Harkin suggested, "Why don't you just throw your jacket off and let her rip.

"[8] He then motivated his supporters to keep fighting, and state what would later be repeated on news stations: Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York.

[12] Fan remixes of songs such as Lil Jon's "Throw It Up" and Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" that used it were published online, and it was referenced in the JibJab skit "This Land!".

[10] Season 1, episode 6 of the 2008 show Breaking Bad, titled "Crazy Handful of Nothin'", features the scream subtly dubbed into a scene of an explosion blowing out a building's windows.

It's always a bad sign when at the end of your speech, your aide is shooting you with a tranquilizer gun;" and David Letterman joked, "Here's what happened: The people of Iowa realized they didn't want a president with the personality of a hockey dad.

"[1] Graff also suggested the scream "sucked up all the oxygen" out of John Edwards' polling numbers in the Iowa caucus, causing him to lose.

[22] Although Dean supporters argued he was not aware of how the microphone's sensitivity gave a false impression of his tone,[23] Salzman and political scientist Samuel L. Popkin held Dean accountable for not understanding the system of presidential races; Popkin states he only spoke to those in the room and not to a nationwide television audience that was previously unaware of him,[23] and Salzman reasoned any bad moment of a candidate's speech would have been significantly covered regardless of "how good 99 percent of your speech was.

"[1] On July 27, 2005, New York governor George Pataki imitated the Dean scream at The Water Club when listing states he would campaign in if he ran for president.

[16] NBC News, in 2019, reported that "even years later, people turned the 'scream' into dance remixes, YouTube performances and famous comedy skits.