PAGE 1                                                                                                                           Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003

	QUOTE "The last person who claimed he invented the Internet didn't do so well."  – Kerry, rebutting charges from Dean campaign that he lifted their Internet petition concept
	QUOTE: "I had a nonunion cab driver."  – Sharpton, explaining last night why he was a late arrival at the AFL-CIO cattle call in Chicago
	QUOTE "Well, I'm sure those guys wish it were a ticket to nowhere. But we're the only ones who can beat George Bush."  – Dean, responding to Lieberman comment that a Dean candidacy would be a “ticket to nowhere” yesterday on NBC’s “Today” show
	QUOTE "We're getting into the zone where hamburgers are like cigarettes. Every dessert on the menu will need a warning.”  – Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, commenting on his battle with PETA and other left-leaning activist groups
	QUOTE "Joe Lieberman is betting the Democratic Party is not as antiwar as some think and is confident that people can be won over to his positions. And he may be right. If people can just figure out what his positions are.”  – Columnist Roger Simon, from theunionleader.com.

GENERAL NEWS:  Among the offerings in today's update:

• From New Hampshire: The Union Leader takes on another wannabe – Moseley Braun. Editorial says “she isn’t serious,” but there is a qualified black woman who has “a legitimate shot” at someday being prez -- Condoleeza Rice

• In another Union Leader editorial, the writers side with Jeb Bush over George W. Bush in Cuban decision

• In Iowa, Kerry says opposition to gay marriages is example of GOP hypocrisy, engages Dean in battle of Internet petitions

• Don’t expect Lieberman to get union support after drawing “boos and cat calls” at AFL-CIO forum last night – but labor audience also ignores reality by applauding Gephardt. Maybe the next union benefit should be reading lessons so they understand it’s a Dean-Kerry race

• The other eight Dems might as well quit – Dean says he has the best chance to beat GWB, believes young voters and independents will propel him to the Oval Office

• Chicago Tribune: Organized labor promising largest voter turnout drive in its history, television ads scheduled to begin this week in Iowa and New Hampshire

• Kerry campaign manager Jordan described as “just ugly, mean spirited” for involvement in mid-90s South Dakota “gay smear” campaign episode

• Columnist Simon: Dean delivering clear message while Lieberman’s is as clear as mud – says Lieberman might be right, if anybody could figure out where he stands

• Despite Gephardt’s strong union showing, Chicago Teamsters – nation’s second largest local -- broke with national to endorse Kerry. The reason: “We think Kerry has the better chance to win”

• State – Four Quad-City area judges among 18 seeking judgeship on Iowa’s highest court

• Speaking of union ad campaigns, the Washington Post reports that nurses are everywhere – or at least in IA and NH. The TV spots begin tomorrow

• While father Ted supports Mass Sen colleague Kerry, son Patrick Kennedy will be campaigning for Gephardt this weekend in NH

• From yesterday, Des Moines Register editorial asks: “Who is this Howard Dean guy?”

• Chicago Tribune reports on a cultural warrior’s battle against “the nanny culture” – and fight against PETA and their allies

All these stories below and more.

 Morning Reports:

... State Fair fever hits Iowa. The story every media outlet has this morning – fair activities start tonight with Iowa’s largest parade down Grand Avenue in Des Moines from State Capitol through downtown district. Charlie Wittmack, the first Iowan to top Mount Everest, will be marshal

... Sioux City Journal reports that voters “resoundingly” rejected an attempt to change current form of city government from manager-council structure to commission system. The proposal to change was defeated by a 2-1 margin – 7,874 to 3,794…In western Iowa, Democrat Paul Shomshor was elected to the IA House to fill vacancy created when GOP Rep. Brad Hansen resigned to go to law school. 

CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES: 

… Possible wannabe outbreak in IA today. Various reports indicate as many as five wannabes could be in Iowa today – Dean, Graham, Kucinich, Lieberman and Sharpton:  Dean in western IA – Glenwood, Red Oak, Corning, Creston and Winterset – before attending “MeetUp.com” event tonight in Des Moines. Sharpton scheduled as the headliner tonight (7 p.m.) at a Harkin-sponsored forum in Sioux City. But a half-hour earlier (at 6:30 p.m.), Graham and Kucinich are scheduled to be in the Iowa State Fair parade …Lieberman expected at events in Indianola and Des Moines. Tomorrow’s lineup - Dean heads to northern and northwest Iowa. Graham at Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Lieberman hosting “Have a Cup of Joe with Joe” event.

… Kerry engages usual targets – Dean and Bush -- during Iowa visit. Headline from yesterday’s Omaha World-Herald: “Kerry, visiting Bluffs, calls GOP hypocritical” Excerpt’s from report – datelined Council Bluffs – by the World-Herald’s Robynn Tysver: “A proposed national ban on gay marriages is an example of Republican hypocrisy in action, said U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a Democratic contender for president. Republicans espouse states rights except when they have a hot-button agenda that they want to thrust upon the states, said Kerry, who was in Council Bluffs for a political rally Monday. ‘Here all of a sudden they have one of their push-button issues . . . so we're going to tell the states what to do,’ Kerry said. ‘It's a very unfortunate driving of the wedge - that is the lowest common denominator of politics.’ The Massachusetts senator is considered one of the front-runners in a field of nine for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was in Council Bluffs to attend a get-out-the-vote rally for Paul Shomshor, a Democratic candidate for the Iowa House of Representatives …. Afterward, in an impromptu press conference, Kerry spoke about his opposition to a Republican proposal for a constitutional ban on gay marriages. He also talked about his opposition to President Bush's tax cuts, and he criticized the president for going to war without a plan for peace…Kerry can’t even launch an Internet petition without engaging Dean. Headline from yesterday’s Sioux City Journal: “Kerry launches petition to oppose labor rules changes” Excerpt from report – datelined Des Moines – by Kathie Obradovich: “U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Iowa to court union votes, launched a petition on his presidential campaign Web site Monday to oppose proposed changes in labor rules that he said would eliminate overtime pay for 8 million Americans. A rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, posted a similar petition on his Internet site Sunday, according to Dean's Iowa campaign. The Dean campaign says it has put up more than a dozen on-line petitions since April and suggests that Kerry's new feature is ‘very similar’ to theirs. ‘We welcome all candidates to launch their own on-line petition efforts,’ Sarah Leonard, spokeswoman for the Dean campaign in Iowa, said. Kerry, who signed his petition at an Iowa public employee union hall, cautioned against any claims of ownership over the petition idea: ‘The last person who claimed he invented the Internet didn't do so well,’ Kerry said. Former Vice President Al Gore was often accused of making that claim during the 2000 presidential campaign, in which he won the Democratic nomination and the popular vote in the general election. Both Kerry and Dean are petitioning against the Labor Department's proposal to change rules classifying workers eligible for time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. Employees classified as professional, administrative or executive who make more than $22,100 a year, including firefighters, police officers, nurses, emergency medical technicians and store supervisors, could be made exempt from overtime pay. The Bush administration has said the proposal is aimed at providing flexibility for workers, who could use compensatory time off instead of overtime pay. Kerry said Republican George W. Bush's administration has ‘the worst jobs record since the Great Depression.’…’It is extraordinary to me that while chief executives in this country are walking away with billions of dollars, the Bush administration is prepared to beat up on the average working person and now suggests that they should not get overtime pay,’ Kerry said.”

… Online voters: No go for Gore. Under the subhead “Gore-y details,” Jennifer Harper wrote in the “Inside Politics” column in yesterday’s Washington Times -- “There has been some hubbub afoot: Could Al Gore be mulling a run for president in 2004? Perhaps. But there are many who wish he would give it a rest. According to an online poll (www.vote.com) of some 6,000 respondents released yesterday, 80 percent said Mr. Gore should not attempt another try at the White House. ‘Al Gore had his shot and he lost. Don't beat a dead horse and stay out of the 2004 race,’ suggested the naysayers.”

… Who’s going to look dumbest when the Dem nominating process is over – the AFL-CIO delegates who applauded Gephardt, the ones who booed Lieberman or the delegates who won’t accept the obvious (and polls) indicating Dean and Kerry are the big-time Dem hitters? Headline from this morning’s Washington Times: “Democrats chase AFL-CIO vote” Excerpts from AP coverage by Leigh Strobe: “Clear divisions among the nine Democratic presidential candidates were evident Tuesday at an AFL-CIO forum in which Dick Gephardt drew applause for his long-standing opposition to trade agreements and Joe Lieberman received boos and catcalls for endorsing school vouchers. All nine courted the powerful federation whose endorsement is critical for any Democrat, offering personal stories and union workers' accounts in their appeals. Each used questions about trade, health care, labor rights and education to launch a broader critique of President Bush's record. Lieberman, whose pitch focuses on moderate Democrats, took some unpopular stands on trade and vouchers with the 2,000 rank-and-file who filled the auditorium at the Navy Pier. The boo’s did not deter the Connecticut senator. ‘I'm going to speak the truth. I'm going to say what I think about what's best for America,’ said Lieberman, who earlier in the forum had argued, ‘With all respect, ... support of free trade and fair trade was a basic part of the Clinton-Gore economic record.’ Several of the Democrats railed against any expansion of the North American Free Trade agreement. Two indicated they would support it. Gephardt, whose introduction garnered the loudest applause, reminded the audience that he led the congressional fight against trade agreements. ‘I appreciate the position that some take here, and I appreciate what they're saying, but I'd just say one thing to you: Check our record, check who was there when the fat was in the fire,’ the Missouri congressman said. Gephardt has gambled his fight for the nomination on the support of organized labor and had the most at stake in the forum. He must overcome the doubts that some labor leaders - specifically large service and public sector unions - have about the viability of a candidate who ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in 1988. But the former House Minority leader made clear that this was his crowd, noting the purple and green T-shirts in the audience and mentioning the two unions - Service Employees International Union and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - who now stand in his way of a labor-wide endorsement with their concerns about his candidacy. The federation has endorsed only twice before in primaries - Al Gore in the last election and Walter Mondale in 1984 - and the threshold is support from two-thirds of the AFL-CIO's 13 million rank-and-file members. Labor leaders say Gephardt is the only current candidate with a chance to join that list, even as they caution that there is a real possibility the labor group will make no endorsement. The AFL-CIO may call for another meeting later this fall, giving them more time to gauge support. But other candidates want to deny Gephardt that endorsement, and they used the forum to show that they too were friends of labor. Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, cited the case of Larry Allen, a Wal-Mart worker in the audience who was fired after he returned from a United Food and Commercial Workers union convention. ‘If you want to protect pensions, the way to do that is to organize,’ Dean said. Other candidates weren't so blatant in their effort to court the politically powerful AFL-CIO. Besides Lieberman, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida also indicated his support for NAFTA. ‘The United States does not have the choice to become a protectionist nation,’ Graham said. ‘We are the leader of the world economy. Leading that economy carries with it certain responsibilities.’ Others hedged on the touchy subject that has decimated organized labor. ‘I want a fairness back in our economy, and I want a trade relationship that makes sense. Under Bill Clinton, we created 23 million new jobs,’ said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a subtle reminder that the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented under Clinton. Said North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: ‘We can have free trade, but we need fair trade also.’ Kerry, the most likely candidate to deny Gephardt an AFL-CIO endorsement, reminded union officials and other Democrats why he stood the best chance to beat Bush. ‘I cannot wait to stand up and remind him that having a skilled Navy pilot land you on an aircraft carrier in a borrowed suit does not make up for losing 3 million jobs,’ said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran. Al Sharpton arrived late and joined his eight rivals on stage with the forum already under way. ‘I had a nonunion cab driver,’ he quipped.”

… The Kennedy Split – RI Congressman Patrick to campaign for Gephardt in New Hampshire this weekend, although father Ted is backing Kerry. Excerpt from report in the Boston Herald: “Rep. Patrick Kennedy will be knocking on doors this weekend seeking support for Rep. Dick Gephardt's presidential campaign. Kennedy's father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, is backing fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. But the Rhode Island congressman said Gephardt has the best profile and constituency to beat President Bush, particularly in the Midwest. ‘That will be the difference in whether we take back the White House,’ Kennedy said Tuesday. ‘The real challenge is picking up those midwestern states that often slip back and forth in presidential elections.’ Kennedy will be part of a busload Rhode Island activists canvassing for Gephardt on Saturday. That evening, Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa will join Gephardt at a Manchester rally to formally announce the union's endorsement. That endorsement will help Gephardt distinguish himself from the other eight Democrats seeking the nomination, Kennedy said. Recent polls have Gephardt in single digits in New Hampshire, far behind Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. ‘That he's won so many endorsements from trade unions says a lot of about Dick's electability in primaries,’ Kennedy said. ‘Organized labor is just that: organized. In a crowded field, that can make a huge difference.’”

… “A woman President? Yes, but not that woman” – Headline from editorial in yesterday’s The Union Leader. Editorial ranks Rice as qualified, but says Moseley Braun “isn’t taken seriously because she isn’t serious.” Excerpt: “Carol Moseley Braun has as good a chance of becoming President of the United States as The Union Leader has of being named the official newspaper of the Democratic Party. But it’s not because she is black or because she is a woman. It is because of statements like those she made on Sunday. ‘Women tend to be oriented to practical solutions and problem-solving,’ she said. ‘If you want practical solutions that solve multiple problems, turn the job over to a woman. Women deserve a chance to lead.’ As that quote nicely illustrates, Moseley Braun isn’t taken seriously because she isn’t serious. It would not take a change in her skin color or sex for her to have a shot at the nation’s top job. All it would take is for her name to be, say, Condoleezza Rice. Now there’s a woman — a black woman at that — who has a legitimate shot at being elected President one day. And as far as we can tell, she’s a woman who, unlike Moseley Braun, would stand on her merits and not argue that her sex alone is a reason to elect her to anything.”

… If only People-Powered Howard had a little more confidence – says “we’re the only ones who can beat George Bush.” Excerpt from Associated Press report: “Howard Dean said Tuesday he has the best chance of beating President Bush because he appeals to supporters of former independent candidates John McCain, Ross Perot and Ralph Nader as well as to Democratic Party faithful. Dean said he believes his candidacy will energize millions of young people and independents who have been turned off by standard electoral politics. ‘We've got to bring new people into the electoral process,’ Dean said on NBC's ‘Today’ show. ‘We're going to say that to the people of Ralph Nader... people who voted for John McCain and Ross Perot… and that's the beginning of the coalition that I think can change the occupancy of the White House.’ Dean was asked about his current high ride in the polls and his high-profile standing in the Democratic contest, evidenced by cover stories in major news magazines. ‘All you can do is be who you are and say what you think,’ Dean replied when asked if he was vulnerable to the plight of the short-term political phenomenon who fails when the party caucuses and primaries arrive. ‘We have an enormous number of supporters,’ he said. Asked about assertions by some of his opponents that his candidacy is doomed to failure, Dean said, ‘Well, I'm sure those guys wish it were a ticket to nowhere. But we're the only ones who can beat George Bush.’ Dean repeated his oft-stated assertion that he, in contrast to such rivals as Dick Gephardt, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and Bob Graham, offers a clear alternative to Bush. ‘We opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning,’ he said, ‘so it turns out that the four Washington candidates all supported a war which turns out to be based on things that weren't so.’ President Bush's misstatement about Iraq seeking uranium from Africa, made in last January's State of the Union address, hurt the administration's credibility, he said. Dean also took issue with contentions that he represents too liberal a point of view to attract mainstream voters. ‘If balancing the budget means I'm too liberal, then call me liberal,’ he said. He also said he thinks Bush has squandered much of the United States' goodwill around the world and said that needs to be changed. ‘I supported the invasion of Afghanistan but I think the president's job of trying to keep peace in both places is pretty dismal,’ he said. ‘... We're not going to be able to leave Iraq for many, many years, contrary to what the president has told us.’”

… “Claim: Kerry Aide Used Gay Smear to Help Defeat Incumbent Senator” – Headline topping Talon News item on GOPUSA. Excerpt from coverage by Jeff Gannon: “In 1996, Jim Jordan, campaign manager for Democrat presidential contender Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), was press secretary for Tim Johnson during his challenge to then-incumbent Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). The long, negative campaign resulted in the end of the South Dakota Republican's 22 years in Congress. During the campaign, Pressler was dogged by questions about his health, since his father suffered with Alzheimer's disease. But the most damaging attack was delivered by James Abourezk, the man Pressler replaced in the Senate in 1978. Abourezk brought Alexander Cockburn, author of ‘Washington Babylon’ to speak to a Sioux Falls group. In his book, Cockburn alleged that Pressler was a homosexual. Abourezk admitted repeating the story saying, ‘I told everybody who would listen to me.’ Jordan allegedly sought to take advantage of the accusations, according to a Lisa Lutterman, a Pressler worker. Lutterman told The Mitchell Daily Republic that Jim Jordan was ‘just ugly, mean spirited and boasting that he would help destroy Larry Pressler.’ She said Jordan declared that he was ‘going to take Larry Pressler's liver and rip it out.’ Although Jordan said that no such conversation ‘ever took place,’ South Dakota newspapers followed the story as charges and countercharges kept the scandal alive…  Pressler has always denied that he was gay and in 1998, Cockburn retracted the allegation and withdrew his book from publication in a settlement with the former senator. At the time, the ‘gay smear’ generated little attention outside South Dakota. But in 2003, gay issues are hotly debated. Earlier this year, Jordan's wife, Associated Press journalist Lara Jakes Jordan conducted an interview with Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) that touched off a firestorm. Santorum maintained that his comments about the Texas sodomy case were taken out of context by Jordan.”

… The confusing world of Lieberman’s messages. Headline on Roger Simon’s column on theunionleader.com: “Lieberman sends mixed, and confusing, message” Excerpt:  “In a crowded field, a candidate has to leave voters with a clear impression. Otherwise, voters simply won’t remember which one he is. Howard Dean, a former governor, is a good example. If you have to sum him up in just a couple of words (which is the way most voters end up thinking about candidates), he is the ‘antiwar guy.’ Sure, he is about other things and sure other Democrats in the race oppose the war, but Dean, by speaking out clearly and simply, has staked out his territory. He can expand from there — he must expand from there — but at least people know where he stands on an important issue. Joe Lieberman is having a tougher time. He is probably the most hawkish candidate in the Democratic race, and you’d think he’d want to stake out that territory. But Lieberman, a longtime legislator, lives in a world of nuance, which makes him want to qualify the things he says. And so it is a lot tougher for him to make a clear impression. Take Lieberman’s position on George Bush: Sometimes he likes George Bush. He likes the George Bush who launched the Iraq war, and he even likes some of the things Bush has been doing during the occupation of Iraq. ‘The end was just, and the means were fitting to the test,’ Lieberman said of the Iraq war in a speech last week, ‘as was the killing of Saddam Hussein’s two sons and the encouraging search going on now in Iraq for Saddam Hussein himself.’ On the other hand, there are things Lieberman doesn’t like about Bush and the occupation. He thinks by including those 16 words in his State of the Union speech about Saddam Hussein seeking uranium, Bush exaggerated the justification for the war.  On the third hand, however, Bush was still justified in pursuing that war. On the fourth hand, though, Bush should have been much more prepared to find the weapons of mass destruction, and he should have built more international support, according to Lieberman. ‘By its actions, the Bush administration threatens to give a bad name to a just war,’ Lieberman said. If you want to put some of these hands together in one sentence, there is this statement, which exemplifies the difficulty Lieberman has in putting things in clear, unqualified terms: ‘There’s a danger that in expressing the justified questions about the 16 words in the State of the Union, and the stunning lack of preparedness of the Bush administration for post-Saddam Iraq, that we obscure the fact that this was a just war.’ Got that? Or do you have to go over it two or three times to find out just which hand Lieberman is using at the moment?… Lieberman and Dean do disagree on whether the Iraq war was a just war. ‘Every day,’ Dean said in response to Lieberman’s speech, ‘it becomes clearer this was the wrong war at the wrong time.’ (A clear, stark statement. You can accept it or reject it. But at least you can understand it.)  Joe Lieberman is betting the Democratic Party is not as antiwar as some think and is confident that people can be won over to his positions. And he may be right. If people can just figure out what his positions are.”

 … Massage Therapists for Dean? Under the subhead “There's the rub,” the Washington Times’ Jennifer Harper reported in yesterday’s “Inside Politics” column -- “Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean may be garnering the support of massage therapists in his bid for the White House. ‘Do we have any Dean fans here who are massage therapists? I would love to see a 'Massage Therapists for Dean' group who would be willing to volunteer their services to HQ. Sounds like Kate could use one right about now,’ wrote one visitor to Mr. Dean's Web site (www.deanforamerica.com) yesterday. Aforementioned Dean campaign manager Kate O'Connor was, perhaps, excited. ‘We're back in Vermont for the day,’ she had messaged supporters. ‘We're in the office reintroducing ourselves to the people we work with!! And it sure is exciting here in the HQ!! Someone put a Coke can in the trash — and boy, was that a mistake! The Gov. noticed and reminded us that everything must be recycled!’”

… “Chicago Teamsters break for Kerry” – Headline from yesterday’s Boston Herald. Excerpt: “Less than a week after the powerful Teamsters union endorsed Dick Gephardt for president, the union's second-largest local affiliate is bucking the party line and backing Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. The 21,000-member Chicago Teamsters Local 705 made its announcement yesterday, the eve of an AFL-CIO meeting in Chicago at which the Democratic candidates will gather for a presidential forum. Gerald Zero, the local's secretary-treasurer, said the choice was not part of any political dispute with the union's leadership and said his local sometimes disagrees with headquarters over political endorsements. ‘We really didn't know they were going to endorse Gephardt or do it this fast either,’ Zero said of the union's decision last week to back the Missouri congressman. ‘We had planned on endorsing Kerry a week earlier. We think Kerry has the better chance to win.’”

… Here come the nurses – to Iowa and New Hampshire – through your TV screens. SEIU already has airport billboard – and starts broadcast commercials tomorrow. Headline from yesterday’s Washington Post: “In Nurses’ Ads, a Matter of Critical Care” Excerpt from Post report by Ceci Connolly: “Everywhere they turn, presidential candidates traipsing across New Hampshire and Iowa are seeing nurses -- on airport billboards, at town hall meetings and later this week on the airwaves. The nurses are at the center of a major push by the Service Employees International Union to put health care high on the 2004 campaign agenda. Beginning Thursday, the union will buy $245,000 in television time to run advertisements in the two states. The commercials will run for 11 days. In the 30-second ad, local nurses describe the dual problem of soaring costs and rising numbers of uninsured Americans. ‘We've got to ask every candidate running for president what they're going to do about health care -- and how they're going to pay for it,’ one nurse declares. ‘And we can't quit till we get some real answers.’ SEIU, the nation's largest health care union, is running the ads as part of its ‘Americans for Health Care’ project. Over the past year, health insurance rates in New Hampshire have risen from the 12th-most expensive to the second-most expensive in the nation. Health costs in Iowa have increased an average of 36 percent over the last three years, according to SEIU. The union has not endorsed any specific health care proposals, but is instead keeping the pressure on politicians to devise solutions. ‘Health care better be your top priority,’ warn the larger-than-life nurses appearing on billboards at airports in Manchester, N.H.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Des Moines.”

… “Dean under the microscope…The former Vermont governor will face tougher scrutiny now that he’s the front-runner.” – Headline on editorial in yesterday’s Des Moines Register. Excerpt: “Who is this Howard Dean guy? It's a safe bet that a year ago hardly anyone in Iowa could have correctly identified him. Now he is the leading contender in next January's Iowa Democratic caucuses. That suddenly makes the caucus campaign a lot more interesting. The obscure former governor of a small state...well, that's a familiar script for the caucuses. Dean is a former governor of Vermont who has been campaigning full time with the face-to-face politics that can pay off in the caucuses. He added a new wrinkle by using the Internet to draw amazing support and donations. In the latest Iowa Poll, Dean was the first choice of 23 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers, 2 percentage points ahead of early favorite Congressman Dick Gephardt. It's much too early to predict a Dean win in the caucuses, but it's interesting to speculate why he has come to lead a field of better-known contenders, including four sitting U.S. senators and two members of the U.S. House. Perhaps that in itself is a big part of the reason - that Dean isn't a sitting senator or representative. He's a Washington outsider, a fresh face, at a time many Democrats may be looking for someone who hasn't been part of the Washington establishment. The opposition rap against Dean is that he is too far left, that nominating him would be like the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. But that doesn't wash. Dean's record as governor seems to have been as a moderate with emphasis on fiscal restraint. On issues such as health care, he is for incremental improvements, not sweeping change. The ‘too liberal’ charge stems from Dean's opposition to the war in Iraq, which several of his Democratic rivals supported. But that hardly makes him a radical. A large percentage of Americans opposed the war, and in its aftermath growing numbers question its justification. As time wears on, his position may look less like radicalism and more like common sense. Dean is a physician who shared a medical practice with his wife, Judy. Now that he's the surprise front-runner, Iowans will be examining his biography and record more closely. The next few months will tell how well he holds up under scrutiny.”

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