"We are simply outraged over recent racially insensitive remarks made by Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean. In his comments to the Democratic Black Caucus, Dean equates African-Americans who support Republicans to hired help.

"This kind of backward thinking reminds us of a horrible time in history when blacks were only seen as servants," Watts and Steele noted.

The focus of the growing outrage was an awkward joke Dean told to the CBC: "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."

On Monday, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman told ABC Radio Network host Sean Hannity that Dean's remark was "pretty offensive. It's pretty racist, if you ask me."

In an interview Tuesday with Baltimore's WBAL-TV, Steele called Dean's remarks "racially insensitive and intolerable."

An online poll taken by the TV station showed that 72 percent of those responding thought Gov. Dean needed to apologize.

Editor's note: