Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic Party, traveled to Seattle yesterday to promote plans to start organizing now for the 2008 election — and to continue his pointed criticism of Republican leaders.

In a talk to about 100 people at a fund-raiser organized by the party's Women's Leadership Forum, Dean didn't repeat biting remarks recently criticized by fellow Democrats John Edwards, the party's vice-presidential nominee last year, and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware.

Both have said they disagreed with his statement that a lot of Republicans "have never made an honest living in their lives."

"He doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric," Biden said on ABC-TV's "This Week." "And I don't think he speaks for the majority of Democrats. ... I wish that rhetoric would change."

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" that he wasn't sure that "the best way to win support in the red states is to insult the folks who live there."

Dean, a former Democratic presidential candidate, later said he was referring to the Republican leadership, not to ordinary Republicans.

Yesterday in Seattle, Dean's aides said he would not comment on the issue.

At the fund-raiser here, Dean did say voters "shouldn't trust Republicans with their money" and that Democrats are more fiscally responsible and hold the moral high ground over Republicans.

"They can't lecture us about moral values," he said. "This is the party that has the moral high ground, and we should say that every single day that we're out."

For example, he said Democrats have allowed the Republicans to paint them as pro-abortion when in fact they believe women should be able to make their own personal decisions.

Dean also took a shot at Spokane Mayor Jim West, saying he would like to find a woman — and a Democrat — to be the city's next mayor. West, a former GOP legislator, is facing allegations, which he denies, that he sexually molested two teenage boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s and more recently used the trappings of his office to entice young men on a gay Web site.

Dean has spent the past several days in Kansas, Montana and Washington. He talked about his plans to hire organizers in every state who will spend the next three years laying the ground work for the next election. He said the party would hire four full-time organizers in every state.

The goal, he said, is for Democrats to personally talk to every African American, Hispanic and woman voter in America before the next election.

This story contains information from The Associated Press. Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359