Republicans regard Dean as one of their best secret weapons, I have yet to find a Democrat who, in private chatter, doesn't think he's a problem for them.

He and his wife Susan have one son named Reed. He served in both the New Jersey National Guard and the Ohio National Guard. His son Reed director of scheduling for the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign also signed the brief.

In 2013 Galen was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case. He and his wife Susan have one son named Reed.