Howard Dean

excerpts from the Iowa Daily Report

August 17-31, 2003

… Angry federal agency – FEMA – counters comments by the Dems’ angriest wannabe. Headline from Friday’s Union Leader: “FEMA disputes Dean’s comments” Excerpts from coverage from the UL’s Stephen Seitz: “Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are taking issue with recent comments by Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean questioning the agency’s effectiveness in light of its incorporation into the Department of Homeland Security. In a telephone conference call Wednesday, the former Vermont governor said that bureaucratic in-fighting with the new department might slow down FEMA’s effectiveness in dealing with recent flooding in New Hampshire. “Our procedures, our programs, none of that has changed,’ said FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde. ‘We’re handling disasters today the same way we were handling them six months ago.’…’This is hardly our first disaster,’ said Lea Anne McBride, speaking for the Department of Homeland Security. ‘Governor Dean hasn’t done his homework.’ McBride said FEMA has responded to 32 major disaster declarations since March 1, the day FEMA joined the new department. FEMA, she said, has also handled 12 emergency declarations and 24 fire management assistance declarations. Specifically for New Hampshire, McBride noted that in April, President Bush signed an emergency declaration for the March snowstorms. About $1.6 million went to New England to help clean up.” (8/17/2003)

… Dean has the blues in Des Moines. Headline from Friday’s Washington Post – “Candidate With the Blues …In Iowa, Howard Dean Sets His Campaign to Music” Excerpts from report – datelined Des Moines – by the Post’s Mark Leibovich: “Howard Dean, the man suspected of being too liberal, too untested, too dovish or too cranky to be elected president, quoted another obstacle to his campaign tonight: the specter of public humiliation. The former Vermont governor is approaching a musty blues club, where he has threatened to play a set of blues tunes on guitar and harmonica. And about 150 people are waiting inside, threatening to watch him. Dean has taken lessons in neither harmonica nor guitar. He taught himself to play both instruments years ago, and has played in public only once before (at a folly put on by Vermont legislators). He has had no time to practice for this gig. He just met the man he'll be playing with, blues musician and Iowa native Mike ‘Hawkeye’ Herman, about an hour before. They jammed for a few minutes back at campaign headquarters (Bob Dylan's ‘Don't Think Twice, It's All Right’ and the Animals' ‘House of the Rising Sun’). Now Dean is shaking his head as he walks into Blues on Grand, a low-ceilinged and dark room just west of downtown. ‘This is a very frightening thing,’ Dean says. ‘This could be worse than that debate in South Carolina.’ Successful candidates have played music on the stump (sax-playing Bill Clinton) as have unsuccessful candidates (trumpet-playing Michael Dukakis). Precedent is there, if not any decisive omen, and either way, Dean's performance has been heavily billed and anticipated by the political and media throngs who are in town for the Iowa State Fair. It is the night's hottest political spectacle, surpassing even vegan candidate Dennis Kucinich's meeting with the vegetarian community of Iowa at a vegetarian restaurant down the street. ‘We loved President Clinton and he wasn't the best saxophone player, you know,’ says Susan Rye, an undecided voter who is sitting near the stage. Such consolation seems lost on Dean as he slings a steel-string acoustic guitar over his right shoulder. He waves down applause, grabs his mike and promptly fires the staffer who arranged this. Hawkeye Herman breaks into a traditional blues song, ‘Come Back, Baby.’ Dean joins after a few seconds and is not bad, not bad at all. He does a 30-second solo, bobs his head, closes his eyes and purses his lips and quivers his face back and forth during a tasty crescendo. ‘He's got the blues, right?’ Hawkeye asks the crowd. ’YES!’”(8/17/2003)

… Reinforcing the media drumbeat, the Register’s Thomas Beaumont joins the media parade of writers and columnists who have reduced the Dem contest to a three-way tussle. Headline from Saturday’s Register: “Candidates try to widen base…The top Democratic candidates look to broaden their appeal.” Excerpt: “The three top candidates in the race for the 2004 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses showed this week they know their rivals' strengths - or at least tried to de-emphasize their own weaknesses. During a series of multiple-candidate events with health care and labor groups in Waterloo, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has earned support from social liberals, stressed practical achievement over ideology. Likewise, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, whose 19-year Senate career has more foreign policy highlights than domestic, went out of his way to stress fiscal responsibility, a signature Dean theme. And U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, described by even his own supporters as bland, showed Iowa Democrats his passionate side. ‘I've never heard him so vehement,’ Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said after hearing Gephardt Thursday at a health care forum on the Des Moines college campus. ‘He has sounded wooden and mechanical before. He's clearly trying to show us Dick Gephardt, the man.’ The campaigns say their messages did not change. However, as the campaign approaches the Labor Day checkpoint, candidates are tweaking their delivery in preparation for the stretch run to Jan. 19, when the Iowa caucuses launch the 2004 nominating season. Gephardt punctuated a familiar line from his stock speech at a Cedar Rapids labor forum Friday by shouting and pounding the podium with his fist…On Friday, Gephardt's voice broke and a tear welled in his eye as he elaborated on the story of his son Matt's battle with childhood cancer. Gephardt has told the story hundreds of times publicly, but Friday, with more than 1,000 Iowa union activists and their families listening, he seemed to go further to support his call for universal health care…Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith said his candidate has shown passion in this, his second bid for the Democratic nomination. Gephardt ran in 1988, but exited the race early after winning in Iowa. Gephardt and Dean have emerged as the top two in Iowa, according to recent polls, with Kerry within striking distance. Kerry and Dean are locked in a tight race for the New Hampshire primary, which follows the caucuses by eight days. The two tangled over war and tax policy early in the race and have become the most heated rivals in the field of nine candidates so far…Dean, whose opposition to the war in Iraq earned him early support from social liberals, accused his rivals who support universal, government-paid health care of ‘tilting at windmills’ and vowed to avoid ‘an ideological crusade’ during the health care forum at Drake on Thursday. "I supported the first Gulf War," Dean said. ‘I supported the invasion of Afghanistan because they killed 3,000 of our people and I thought that was a matter of national defense.’ Likewise, Kerry, who stresses his record during the Vietnam War and 19 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed balancing the budget and reducing the federal debt during his remarks in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Friday he added a line crediting the Clinton administration's economic record similar to one Dean frequently uses. ‘If you liked Bill Clinton's eight years, you're going to love John Kerry's first term,’ Kerry said. Dean routinely tells audiences: ‘People would gladly pay the taxes they paid under Bill Clinton, if only they could have the same economy as they did under Bill Clinton.’”(8/17/2003)

… A pledge is not always a pledge, especially when you’ve got bucks in the bank and access to the Internet. Dean says he is keeping his options open and may ignore commitment to accept campaign spending limits. Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “With cash pouring in, Dean backs away from spending limits pledge” Excerpts from report – with another Iowa dateline, Nevada – by AP political ace Ron Fournier: “Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean backed away from his pledge to adhere to spending limits, saying some advisers want to explore opting out of the Watergate-era public financing system because of his sudden fund-raising success. Dean said he still intends to accept some taxpayer money and spending restraints and suggested he has discouraged his staff from considering alternatives right now. But he left open the possibility of following President Bush's lead in rejecting public financing. ‘Could we change our mind? Sure,’ he said. ‘But I really don't want to do that.’ Just five months ago, Dean committed to accepting taxpayer money and vowed to attack any Democrat who didn't. The about-face follows his emergence as the Democratic Party's biggest fund-raising threat. Dean collected $7.6 million in the fund-raising quarter that ended June 30, more than his eight rivals, and aides said Friday that he is on pace to far exceed that total in the next quarter. In an interview Thursday, the former Vermont governor said he did not recall promising to accept public financing and the limits that go with it. Under a program designed to curb special interest influence, candidates who agree to state-by-state and overall spending limits get federal matching dollars for the first $250 of each donation they receive. ‘I was asked very early on and I said I intend to take the match,’ Dean said. ‘I think what I said is that we weren't looking into that as an option.’ However, in a March 7 interview with The Associated Press, Dean committed to accept the taxpayer money. The promise was echoed by a campaign spokesperson. ‘We've always been committed to this. Campaign finance reform is just something I believe in,’ he said in March. Dean also said his position was not based on any political considerations, such as the size of the field or how much money he can raise. On Friday, however, Dean cited Bush's plans to raise $200 million - five times the spending limit - as a reason for keeping his options open. ‘I think public financing is a good thing. The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you from March to December?’ Dean said. Democrats worry that their nominee will emerge from the primaries broke, restricted by public financing caps, while Bush holds a huge financial advantage until he accepts public financing after the GOP convention in September 2004. Dean said it's too early to determine whether he will reject public financing in the primaries. For one thing, he said it is ‘a little optimistic’ to assume he could raise more money than is available under the federal system. Candidates who take the matching funds can get up to $18.7 million - money Dean would be turning away if he rejects the system - and are limited to about $45 million in spending through the primary season.”(8/17/2003)

… In his irregular Internet “Caucus Notebook” column, the Des Moines Register’s Thomas Beaumont – under the subhead “Kerry ‘Gores’ Dean” – wrote: “Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts took another swing at Howard Dean last week, a week after accusing the former Vermont governor of supporting policy unbecoming of ‘real Democrats.’ The comedic timing was admirable, but the jab left a reporter's question unanswered. During a campaign stop in Des Moines Monday, Kerry was asked whether the Internet petition drive he was announcing in protest of President Bush's proposed overtime pay standards was in response to a similar effort Dean had launched a week earlier. Dean staffers had stirred up the questions in advance of Kerry's event with union members at a Des Moines AFSCME office. ‘The Dean campaign is saying you're kind of stealing their thunder on this on-line petition,’ Dave Price, a reporter for Des Moines-based WHO-TV 13, to which Kerry responded with a smirk: ‘Well, the last person I heard who claimed he had invented the Internet didn't do so well.’ The response earned restrained yucks from the gaggle of reporters. But Dean's staff hadn't said they invented on-line petition drives, and Kerry didn't refute that Dean's drive started first.”(8/17/2003)

… “Free trade: Running from reality won’t help” – headline on editorial in Friday’s The Union Leader. Editorial excerpt: “Free trade is one of the reasons the American economy experienced such notable growth during the 1990s. The down side is that it has cost some American jobs, and Democrats running for President are exploiting that to win votes, even though NAFTA was President Clinton’s baby. At a candidate’s forum in Iowa on Wednesday, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Bob Graham and Dennis Kucinich all bashed NAFTA to some extent. Gephardt and Kucinich oppose free trade. Dean said he would support changes to NAFTA to make foreign workers abide by the same rules as American workers. Edwards said he would have voted against the trade pact had he been in office. Kerry and Graham, who voted for NAFTA, said they now think it needs to provide more job protections. Adam Smith disagrees with all of them. He wrote of trade, ‘It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy…What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage.’ That is no less true today than it was in 1776, when The Wealth of Nations was published. Protectionism may temporarily save some jobs in some industries, but in the long run it is costlier than the alternative. Is Clinton the only Democrat who still grasps this?” (8/17/2003)

… Dean takes first hit of the week from The Union Leader editorialists. Headline from yesterday’s editorial in The Union Leader: “Dean’s pipe dream: Redistributing America’s wealth” Editorial excerpt: “Howard Dean doesn’t have an economic plan so much as he has a short list of notions that vaguely relate to money. It’s as if he were getting his economic counseling from a college freshman who hasn’t decided on a major yet but is strongly leaning toward social work. Here is the meat, if one can call it that, of Dean’s ‘plan’: Raise the minimum wage…Expand unemployment insurance…Give more federal money to the states…Give more federal money to schools…Have the federal government bring broadband Internet access to rural areas…Have the federal government subsidize health insurance for young people…Make it impossible for developing countries to develop by making them meet the highest Western labor standards…Take money from agricultural businesses and give it to farmers. Of those bullet points, seven consist of taking money from one group of Americans and giving it to another. The eighth involves taking money from non-Americans, specifically the world’s poorest and neediest. This isn’t an economic plan. It’s a redistributionist pipe dream. Where will all the money come from? How will having the federal government shift money from more productive areas of the economy to less productive ones improve the economy? Nothing in this proposal will stimulate business investment, productivity or job growth. The entire plan is designed to make some people’s slices of the economic pie smaller while making other people’s slices bigger. It does nothing, in fact it doesn’t even attempt, to enlarge the size of the pie so that more people can partake of it.  We didn’t expect much from a man who has repeatedly said that tax cuts do not create jobs. But this plan doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense. It never even addresses the issue of economic growth. It simply throws money, which is supposed to magically appear from somewhere, at various special interest groups. The implementation of Dean’s plan would be the realization of French economist Frederic Bastiat’s quip that ‘the state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.’” (8/19/2003)

… Black churches become popular destinations for the Dem wannabes in South Carolina with as many as 1.2 million votes at stake in the first-in-the-South primary.   Headline from the New Hampshire Sunday News: “Democrats court south’s critical black voters” Excerpt – datelined Denmark, SC – by AP’s Amy Geier Edgar: “U.S. Sen. John Edwards visited the site of the nation's first school for freed slaves on St. Helena Island. U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt has campaigned at the predominantly black Longshoreman's union near the Charleston docks. And almost all nine of the Democrats looking to win their party's nomination for president have visited a black church in South Carolina. South Carolina's 1.2 million blacks are an irresistible Democratic block that could make up half the voters in the state's first-in-the-South presidential primary Feb. 3…For now, the Democratic candidates are taking the tried-and-true path to black voters - the church. The Rev. Joe Darby, pastor of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, said he's had contact with all the candidates. ‘We've got candidates coming out our ears,’ he said. U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida all have spoken to congregations at predominantly black churches. Gephardt has spoken with health workers at a predominantly black church. The Rev. Al Sharpton has been a regular visitor to black churches, most recently at the Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Santee… Other candidates have taken different tacks to reach black voters. Edwards went to the Penn Center, which runs a number of community outreach programs for island residents and began in 1862 as a school for freed slaves after Union forces captured the area early in the Civil War. Graham and Lieberman both have visited Allen University, South Carolina's oldest historically black college. Former ambassador and Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the other black candidate, has met with the state branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other black community leaders. Most of the campaigns have hired black staffers. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has the backing of black New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, who visited supporters throughout South Carolina on Kerry's behalf. He plans to begin a grass-roots campaign in South Carolina next month, Meeks said. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich is one of the few candidates who has not had a real presence in South Carolina. The Ohio Democrat has been focusing more of his efforts in Iowa, said campaign spokesman Jeff Cohen.”(8/19/2003)

… Dean – the only wannabe to show up at Young Dems convention in person (besides Hillary) – says he’s not just different from GWB, but from other wannabes. He plays the anti-Iraq card to enthusiastic applause. Headline from Sunday’s Buffalo (N. Y.) News: “Dean, in Buffalo, courts Young Democrats” Coverage – an excerpt – by News political reporter Robert J. McCarthy: “If Howard Dean really is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, he showed the Young Democrats of America national convention, held in Buffalo on Saturday, what all the fuss is about.  The former Vermont governor, whom Time magazine last week called the ‘most watched and feared candidate of the moment,’ told more than 800 delegates meeting in the Buffalo Convention Center that he is different not only from President Bush but from the eight other Democratic contenders as well. And he was not shy about emphasizing the biggest difference of all. ‘Most of you know that among the leading Democratic candidates, I am the only one who did not support the Iraq war,’ he said to wildly enthusiastic applause. Dean, who has by far raised more money ($7.6 million) than any other Democratic contender at this early stage, worked hard Saturday to convey his message to Democrats younger than 36, who are expected to form the backbone of the 2004 presidential campaign. Although Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, as well as Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, aired videotaped messages at various times during the three-day convention, Dean boasted to even more applause that he was the only one to attend personally - and that he had attended two others. But Dean appears to be shouldering the anti-war mantel most successfully, expanding that theme into a message advocating wiser use of American military power and working to rejuvenate a tarnished reputation around the globe. He was careful to note that he supported the first Persian Gulf War as well as the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden.” (Note: In keeping with policy, Iowa Pres Watch does not correct reports, but will call attention to errors. In the above article, it is incorrect that Dean has raised more money than some of his Dem rivals.)  (8/19/2003)

… The Kings of Political Plagiarism: Dean, Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman, etc., etc. Headline from Sunday’s Boston Globe: “Democrats recognize a good line…Candidates recycle campaign material” Excerpt – datelined Mason City – from report by the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “Senator Joseph I. Lieberman was so angry that the White House had blocked union protection for members of the new Homeland Security Department that he let President Bush have it last week as he sat beside his rivals for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. ‘Did anybody ask the firefighters and the police officers, all of whom were union members, whether they thought once about that before they went into those burning buildings on Sept. 11 and risked their lives, whether they were going to choose between the unions and security? No way!’ the Connecticut senator said in Philadelphia, during a candidate forum arranged by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. A few minutes later, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts expressed similar outrage. ‘This president is so quick to give speeches about the heroes of New York City,’ Kerry said. ‘Well, I look forward to reminding him that every single one of those heroes that went up those stairs and gave their lives so that someone else might live was a member of organized labor.’ To the audience, it may have sounded like Kerry was lifting from Lieberman, but in reality, it was Lieberman who was clipping from Kerry. In a comical game of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination are stealing one another's best lines. Most often, the crime takes place with little notice, as the candidates stump separately around the country. At other times, as in Philadelphia, it occurs in full view of the victim. No one's hands are completely clean. Lieberman is not the only offender, and Kerry is not the only victim. So far, everyone is laughing about it, for the most part, with no candidate suffering serious repercussions. On Tuesday in Mason City, Kerry ripped off Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as he blasted Bush for not supporting family farmers. Kerry accused the president of being an urban cowboy out of touch with average Americans. ‘We need a president who understands that connection to the land, for whom it's not just a question of sashaying around a ranch, recently bought, with a big belt buckle,’ Kerry said. Edwards lifted an eyebrow when told of the comment, recalling what he said June 22 as he and Kerry attended a candidate forum in Newton. ‘This president is a complete, unadulterated phony,’ Edwards said at the time. ‘He believes that because he walks around on that ranch down in Crawford with that big belt buckle that he's standing for working people.’ In an interview, Edwards chuckled and said: ‘It's politics. Those kinds of things happen.’ Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri deadpanned, ‘We have filed copyright on 10 phrases.’ He protested that the administration seems to have claimed ownership of the phrase ‘shock and awe’ after the bombing of Iraq, so ‘I'm trying to come up with phrases I can copyright.’ The candidates say the byplay is the product of their frequent joint appearances, already nearing a dozen for the year, with five debates still on the way. They also say it is natural to gravitate toward similar types of criticism, given their philosophical differences with Bush and the Republican Party. In addition, many of the candidates are seeking advice from the same people, including former president Bill Clinton. But the candidates also plead guilty to a bit of political plagiarism. Sometimes the loot is an effective turn of phrase. Other times, it is political policy, triggering protests from the candidates' advisers and e-mail exchanges with charges and countercharges of thievery. Both the Kerry and Gephardt teams, for example, have sniped as the candidates have talked about achieving energy independence by ‘going to the moon here on Earth,’ in Kerry's words, or through an ‘Apollo Project’ in the United States, in Gephardt's phrasing.”(8/19/2003)

… “Claims that recall madness in California has sucked all the oxygen out of national politics are hooey. Thankfully, folks in Iowa are more high-minded.” – Sentence from the following account indicating that Wannabe Madness continues in IA despite distractions. Headline from Houston Chronicle: “It’s Iowa, it’s almost time, get over it” Excerpt from Sunday commentary by the Chronicle’s Cragg Hines: “While you've been fixating on the redistricting mess and checking out those naked pictures of ‘Governor’ Schwarzenegger on the Internet, I've been tramping through the tall corn in Iowa to bring you the latest on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Claims that recall madness in California has sucked all the oxygen out of national politics are hooey. Thankfully, folks in Iowa are more high-minded. The Democratic race is for real, and no matter if you insist on finishing a few more trashy novels before Labor Day, conscientious fellow-Americans in Iowa are hard at work sorting out the candidates. Just five months from Monday night, Iowa Democrats will shiver and/or slog their way to caucuses all over the state and start the nominating process. Don't blink or you'll miss the rest of it. Within six or seven weeks (probably by the time that Texas as well as California, New York and a bunch of other states hold primaries on March 2) it is likely to be all over. You have been warned. Already six of the nine Democratic candidates seem headed for no-hope-ville. Iowa appears to be doing its traditional job of winnowing the field -- perhaps with a vengeance this time around. Judging by a sampling of candidate outings last week, only former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts have a real shot. This is not wild speculation. It's what Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and other Democrats are saying, much to the chagrin of the remainder of the field, especially Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and John Edwards of North Carolina, whose aides have complained to Vilsack's office. On a too infrequent trip to Iowa, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, only the party's 2000 vice presidential candidate, greeted Vilsack with: ‘Hi. I'm a second-tier candidate.’ The protests availeth not. ‘It's three. The perception is correct,’ said David Nagle, former state Democratic chairman. ‘The one thing that separates the three is that Dean has passion.’ Nagle recalled that Theodore White said he knew John F. Kennedy was going to win in 1960 when he saw girls along JFK's motorcades jumping. ‘Dean's the only one with girls jumping,’ Nagle said (speaking in metaphor, you understand). The question is, can Dean keep the girls (and boys), many of whom are new to politics, jumping for five months? The test is most critical for Gephardt, who won the Iowa caucuses in 1988 (only to crater when contributions ran out not far down the campaign trail). He cannot survive a defeat in Iowa in January. Gephardt basically acknowledges the daunting scenario. ‘I'm going to win in Iowa,’ he said shortly after loading about 100 inch-thick locally bred pork chops on a medieval-looking grill at the State Fair in Des Moines last week. Iowa Democrats, even some who wish Gephardt all the best, wonder, however, about his dedication to what could be a political swan song.”(8/19/2003)

… Some people – and governors – never learn: Despite criticism of his tendency to handicap the Iowa wannabe campaign, Guv Vilsack does it again – but now he thinks Edwards might catch on with Dems over the next couple months. He calls it a Kerry-Gephardt-Dean race with Edwards as the horse coming up on the outside over coming weeks. Headline from today’s Boston Globe: “Iowa governor sees 4-way race” Excerpt of report from Indianapolis – where the nation’s governors are meeting – by AP’s Nedra Pickler: “Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said his state's Democratic presidential caucus is a three-way race between John Kerry, Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean. But he hasn't completely counted out John Edwards yet. Vilsack said Edwards could catch on in coming weeks with new commercials airing in the state and a unique message that could appeal to Iowa voters. The North Carolina senator is the only candidate with a comprehensive plan to help parents pay for college, Vilsack said. And while the other three talk about overhauling the nation's health care system, Edwards talks about smaller steps like addressing the nursing shortage. ‘Edwards is going to get a second look by Iowans here,’ Vilsack said during an interview at the National Governors Association summer meeting. ‘We'll know more in the next 30 to 45 days.’ Vilsack said no candidate has taken first place in Iowa yet, and the three leading candidates all have challenges to overcome…Gephardt, a congressman from neighboring Missouri, was hurt by a disappointing fifth-place fund-raising result in the last quarter. His top priority must be to convince labor leaders that he worked so hard for them in Congress that he is a viable candidate, Vilsack said. Right now, the union leaders ‘are watching and waiting, which must be frustrating to him,’ Vilsack said…Kerry's campaign got off track because of his surgery to remove a cancerous prostate earlier this year. But Vilsack said he thinks Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, is getting back into the rhythm of the campaign. He said Kerry can improve his standing if he spends more time in Iowa and tells voters about his experience as a decorated war veteran and how that could make him an effective world leader…Dean, the former governor of Vermont, built loyalty in Iowa because he spent so much time there early in the race. But he must prove that he can broaden his appeal beyond anti-war activists and Internet users to win over moderates and independents, Vilsack said. ‘I think the threshold question for him nationally is, can he be competitive against Bush?’ Vilsack said. ‘I'm not sure that all the powers that be believe that.’…Vilsack said he may make an endorsement before Iowa's Jan. 19 caucus. He said he'll be looking for someone who has a good chance to beat Bush, shows ‘passion and fire,’ and has a strong staff.” (8/20/2003)

…  Who would have guessed it? Arnold and Howard may have something in common – peaking too soon. On townhall.com, Matt Towery – under the headline, “Inside the numbers: Arnold and Howard” – wrote about the wannabes. An excerpt:   “Some campaigns peak too soon. We'll soon know if the two hottest names in politics this summer, Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, are bright new stars or just streaking meteors about to fizzle out. First, Dean. The latest Insider Advantage Presidential 2004 tracking poll shows the once-obscure Dean is now leading nationwide among the Democrats vying for the 2004 Democratic nomination. His early stand against the war in Iraq has become more fashionable among other Democrats, and his combined use of populist rhetoric and of the Internet has made him the ‘electro-pop’ candidate of the presidential sweepstakes. And then there's Arnold. The Terminator is basking in the theatre lights of the California governor's recall race, but the latest Field Poll of California voters shows him trailing Democrat Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante among potential replacements for Gov. Gray Davis. (Just about every other survey taken shows Schwarzenegger with a substantial lead over the field of hundreds of candidates.) So what does the Democratic presidential candidate Dean have in common with the Republican movie-star-turned-gubernatorial-candidate out West? Maybe that both are suffering from an old electioneering disease -- peaking too soon. It can be argued that such a phenomenon isn't possible with Schwarzenegger, given that he only recently announced his candidacy and the election is set for early to late fall…In Dean's case, there are no media superstars or corporate giants to muddy the waters. But it seems odd that the man who just a few months ago was considered a bit of a flake by his fellow Democrats has now soared beyond them to lead our poll, plus another survey of Iowa voters by The Des Moines Register. Dean's quick ascent can be attributed to his embracing of the working power of computer technology, coupled with a campaign message designed to appeal to rural Americans, and to any and all others who feel left out of today's political goings-on. So far, the strategy has paid off. Dean has out-raised his higher-profile foes through Web-begging appeals for money. He has also reportedly captured growing crowds on the campaign trail with his appeal to young people and his shoot-from-the-hip approach to the issues. But will Howard Dean's ‘outsider’ campaign still be standing when the traditional Democratic kingmakers, such as unions, start playing hardball? Can he and his fresh-faced legions of supporters survive months of running to stay ahead of the Teamsters, the lawyers, the attack ads, and all the other games and players that come with bare-knuckle politics? It might be refreshing to see him survive that kind of rough-and-tumble-politics, but if he does, the Democrats might have to face President Bush with a nominee too far to the left for the average American voter. As for Schwarzenegger, his do-or-die question is whether his fledgling candidacy will come crashing down from the weight of too many self-declared political experts, whose collective political sense serves only to confuse both the candidate and the public.”(8/20/2003)

… Dean – one of two ex-govs in wannabe field – finds support from past colleagues lacking. On prospect of Dem govs rallying around Dean, Vilsack says: “It’s not going to happen.” Headline from Wednesday’s Washington Post: “Governors Delay on Dean…Democrats Hold Off on Endorsing Former Peer for President” Excerpt of report by the Post’s political A-team – Dan Balz and David S. Broder -- from Guvs meeting in Indy:  “Former Vermont governor Howard Dean has powered his way to the top tier of the Democratic presidential race by energizing the party's rank and file, but he has had much tougher luck wooing one of his natural consistencies: his fellow governors. Dean's lack of success in attracting endorsements from Democratic chief executives stands in sharp contrast President Bush's success four years ago among Republican governors. The GOP governors coalesced early around the candidacy of the then-governor of Texas, and their financial and political support helped push him to the nomination and eventually the White House. In contrast to the Republicans in 2000, Democratic governors this year have remained on the sidelines as Dean's candidacy has gained strength and support. On the basis of interviews with many of the Democrats who are attending the National Governors Association (NGA) meeting here this week, it appears unlikely that Dean can expect to see significant gubernatorial support anytime soon. ‘It's not going to happen,’ said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who holds open the possibility of eventually endorsing one of the nine Democratic presidential candidates but who remains neutral for now. Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said, ‘I don't see any move at this point for governors to move as a bloc.’ None of Dean's rivals has had any better luck, and the Democratic governors here said that circumstances are far different than they were for Bush four years ago or for Bill Clinton, who ran in 1992 with more significant support among his fellow governors than Dean enjoys. Half of the 24 Democratic governors are new to their offices and are more concerned about the economic difficulties in their states than playing a role in presidential politics. Nearly all face serious fiscal problems and need to put together coalitions to pass spending cuts to balance their budgets -- coalitions that might be jeopardized by siding with one presidential candidate over another. ‘I don't think it's a comment about Howard Dean or a criticism of Howard Dean,’ Vilsack said. ‘It's a comment about the whole situation.’ Still, Dean's lack of gubernatorial support is notable, if only because he is one of two candidates who brings a state perspective to the issues and because of his involvement in the governors' organizations. Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) is the only other Democratic candidate with experience running a state, but because his gubernatorial service came during the 1980s, he has few ties to the current generation of Democratic governors. Dean, on the other hand, served as Vermont's chief executive throughout the 1990s, was chairman of the NGA from 1994 to 1995 and later served as chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA) and as the DGA's chief of candidate recruitment. Despite those connections, not one incumbent governor has announced his support for Dean. The only ones who have backed a candidate have endorsed home-state candidates. Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) has the support of North Carolina's Mike Easley and former governor Jim Hunt, while Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) has been endorsed by Missouri Gov. Bob Holden.” (8/22/2003)

… Best overview/summary of the week: NY Post’s Orin says Baghdad blast boosts Dean, forces rivals – especially Kerry – to try to sound more anti-war while “Arnie mania” sucks up political coverage and airtime. Headline on yesterday’s Deborah Orin column: “Another Boost for Dem Dean” An excerpt: “A kind of perfect storm is now pushing Howard Dean up toward the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination - with a new storm surge added by the tragic terror bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. That attack inspired rival Democratic wannabes - especially floundering Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry - to try even harder to sound like the anti-war-from-the-start Dean in attacking President Bush's Iraq policy. Sure, Dean's rivals can try to sound anti-war, but Kerry and the other main ones all voted for it. The activists who'll pick the Democratic nominee are passionately anti-war, so any bad news from Iraq revs up emotions on the issue where Dean is strongest. Iraq could be a prime reason the latest poll in the key state of New Hampshire shows Dean clearly leading Kerry, 28 to 21 percent - a big switch from last month, when Kerry led by 6 points. There's more to the perfect storm. Arnie mania is sucking up all the TV space for politics, thus freezing the Dem 2004 race in place with Dean as front-runner. That could be most troublesome for Kerry, who hoped to revitalize his campaign with an ‘official’ kickoff on Sept. 2. Will the TV networks care? Third, Arnie mania makes it hard for most Dems to raise money, especially in California - Dean's mastery of Internet fund-raising means it's no big problem for him. All of which makes it harder and harder to see how Dem rivals can stop Dean unless he blows it himself, perhaps with a show of his famous temper. Republicans love this perfect storm - they think it will sink the Democratic party like the Titanic (or 49-state loser George McGovern) because most Americans will never trust Dean as commander-in-chief in an era of terror.”(8/22/2003)

… Former Iowa “Governor” Fulton supports Edwards while Dean gets backing of former Marines Corps commandant. From Associated Press roundup report: “Trying to shore up his lack of military expertise, presidential candidate Howard Dean announced Thursday that he has been endorsed by former Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, former commandant of the Marine Corps and the successor to Norman Schwartzkopf as head of U.S. Central Command. The former Vermont governor has been a vehement critic of the war in Iraq but that position, and his lack of foreign policy experience, have raised questions about his ability to convince voters that he could lead the U.S. military. Meanwhile, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said his campaign for president has been endorsed by 210 Democratic activists in Iowa, including former Iowa Gov. Robert Fulton.” (8/22/2003)

… Despite new “people powered” image, Dean may still be the same old Howard when it comes to his public financing claims and games. Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Dean’s flirtation with foregoing public funding isn’t first time” Excerpt from AP report – dateline Montpelier, VT – by Ross Sneyd: “Howard Dean's flirtation with foregoing spending limits for the Democratic presidential primaries is no surprise to the woman he beat in his last race for governor of Vermont. In 2000, he not only flirted, he ended up rejecting the limits altogether and helped set what up to then was an all-time record level of spending on a governor's race. ‘It's extremely reminiscent of 2000,’ said Ruth Dwyer, the Republican who lost to Dean that year. 2000 was the first year that candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in Vermont could take advantage of publicly financed campaigns. The tradeoff was that they would not be able to spend more than $300,000. In Dean's case, because he was the incumbent, the limit would have been $255,000. Dean signed up to participate in public financing and began raising the small contributions necessary to qualify. In the meantime, the law was being challenged by a number of groups and in August of 2000, a U.S. District Court judge declared it unconstitutional to impose spending limits on a candidate like Dwyer who was not seeking public financing. That threw campaign financing into turmoil and drew the national parties into a race in which Dean was considered to be vulnerable because he had signed a few months earlier the civil unions law granting marriage benefits to gay and lesbian couples. So Dean - who had signed the campaign finance law a few years earlier and expressed support for the concept of campaign limits as well as public funding - backed out of spending limits and public financing. ‘I am not going to fight this campaign with one hand tied behind my back,’ Dean said at the time. By the time the campaign had ended and Dean hung on to his job with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote, new spending records had been spent. He and Dwyer both spent a little more than $1 million apiece and a third party candidate who did accept public financing spent another $300,000. Now, Democratic presidential candidate Dean - who said as recently as March that he was dedicated to the spending limits built into federal law - is considering reprising his role of 2000 on the national stage. He said last week that some on his campaign staff were urging him to consider backing out of his commitment to accept federal matching funds for his primary campaign, which also would free him up from limiting how much he can spend before the general election. Some of his former Vermont colleagues question Dean's commitment to the campaign spending regulations that he championed while governor. ‘I guess I wouldn't say it's an excessive dedication,’ said state Sen. William Doyle, a Republican who is chairman of the committee responsible for campaign finance.”(8/22/2003)

… FOX NEWS: Dean continues to take New Hampshire by storm. Headline: “Dean Makes Tracks in New Hampshire” Excerpt: “Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is the undisputed phenomenon of the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign. At diners, even on the street, he's setting the pace, agenda and routinely drawing enthusiastic crowds to campaign events. ‘I'm going to do everything I can to get you elected,’ a ready-made volunteer told him on Thursday as he crossed New Hampshire whipping up the troops. Campaigning at one watering hole in this first-in-the-nation primary, Dean cast himself to Fox News as the anti-establishment insurgent. ‘I'm definitely an outsider,’ he told Fox News…After months on the trail, Dean, rather than being the come-from-behind insurgent, is leading polls in key early states and has a huge war chest. The self-proclaimed outsider is the closest thing to a front-runner, normally reserved for an establishment candidate, in this type of race. In short, Democrats seem to find him the most interesting pick of the nine hopefuls vying to take on President Bush next year. ‘The one thing we are doing that nobody else can do is bring a lot of new people into this race. The way we are going to beat George Bush is to give the 50 percent of Americans who don't vote a reason to vote again, try to bring 3 to 4 million new voters in and they will be voting for Democrats,’ he said. Dean's success has forced all of his rivals to adjust strategy. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, in particular, appears driven to distraction. Kerry has taken a weeklong break from campaigning to rest up and retool for a post-Labor Day rally formally kicking off his campaign. Kerry aides are divided about going negative. Dean is bracing for it. ‘I think they will all pound me. These guys want to be president, so do I. I'm now ahead of them, they're going to come after me with everything they've got. I understand that,’ Dean said. The other candidates may have trouble finding something to pound. Dean said he can't be labeled, making it much harder to figure out what he stands for. ‘I'm liberal on some things, conservative on others and in the middle on some things,’ he said.”(8/24/2003)

… Just as Kerry and other wannabes gear up for Labor Day events, Dean counters again with another headline-grabbing, money-raising gimmick. Who wants to bet Dean won’t raise $1M during his five-day “Sleepless Summer Tour” – or miss his other goals? Excerpt from AP report from Montpelier, VT: “Howard Dean’s Democratic Presidential campaign kicks off a high-profile national tour this weekend that aims to raise $1 million in five days. Up to now the campaign has described its ‘Sleepless Summer Tour’ as an opportunity to take Dean’s message to large crowds in states that are important early in the nominating season. But there’s always been a fund-raising component to the event, too, with at least three formal fund-raisers planned at stops along the way. The campaign announced yesterday that it is going to make the tour a multi-media event supported by fund-raising over the Internet. ‘We can’t let George W. Bush continue to rack up millions while the American people are left out in the street,’ campaign manager Joe Trippi said in an e-mail message to supporters. The Dean campaign has become adept at attracting supporters from among the technology-savvy Web users. They have contributed by the thousands through his campaign Web site and a graphic image of a baseball bat has become their rallying cry. Dean said during a campaign stop Thursday in Derry, N.H., that raising money in small increments from a lot of people via the Internet was particularly important to his campaign. ‘Something like 93,000 people gave us money,’ he said. ‘The way you beat the President... is you bring in 3(million) to 4 million people who give you $80.’ As they have done twice before this summer, Trippi and his staff have posted the bat on their Web site to serve as a yard stick measuring how close they are to their fund-raising goal. ‘The only way to compete with Bush’s ability to raise so much money from so few is if millions of Americans come together and contribute what they can to Howard Dean,’ Trippi said. Trippi already has said the campaign expects to match its second-quarter success, when it raised $7.6 million. Although the campaign hasn’t said it, several staff members have suggested that the goal is much higher than that. The current fund-raising quarter ends on Sept. 30 and ability to raise money has become a key measure in a campaign’s viability. The Sleepless Summer Tour is one of the ways that the Dean campaign intends to build excitement about the campaign again and reinforce its message. ‘While he’s down in Crawford on vacation we’re going to be talking to a lot of people in America who are having a sleepless summer because they lost jobs, they’re worried about the economy,’ Trippi said in a recent conference call. A couple of the stops on Dean’s tour will follow closely visits by the President, such as the Northwest.”(8/24/2003)

… Poor People Powered Howard: After planning to run campaign on a shoestring budget, he now has to adjust to having a real campaign with real money in the bank. Headline from weekend report by Jim VandeHei in the Washington Post: “Momentum Forces Dean to Shift to Higher Gear” An excerpt: “Howard Dean, who had planned to run as an insurgent on a shoestring, is adjusting his campaign to befit his new lot in life: the well-funded, emerging front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Recent polls show the former Vermont governor leading here and in Iowa, the first two stops on the road to the 2004 nomination, running strong in vote-rich California and surging nationally. To build on the momentum, Dean is expanding operations in key states such as Washington and Michigan, and increasingly reaching out to centrists by talking up balanced budgets and gun rights, an issue with broad appeal in key southern states…The race remains far too close and volatile to consider any of the nine candidates a true front-runner in a contest much of the public is ignoring, but several rival campaigns now privately talk of the Vermont Democrat as the man to beat. Several challengers are adjusting their campaigns to prepare for a one-on-one showdown with Dean. ‘I see ourselves as someone with a big surge, but I don't think we have cemented our position as the front-runner at this point,’ Dean said in an interview. Still, ‘we're prepared for all of the attacks we're going to get. Clearly, now, that shoe is on the other foot, and they are going to come after me.’ Growing popularity is forcing Dean to shift gears. He's expanding his fundraising and political operations to profit from the surge. Campaign manager Joe Trippi said Dean will raise at least $7.6 million this quarter and perhaps much more as he expands his donor base beyond the mostly Internet-generated liberals who fueled early fundraising. At the same time, Dean is trying to expand the appeal of his message. His stump speech to party activists contains some of the most poignant, partisan and crowd-pleasing attacks on President Bush, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). Indeed, most of Dean's ideas are clearly to the left of the other Democratic contenders. He's the most outspoken defender of gay rights, a popular position with some activists but one that could hurt him in the South. He's a strong critic of Bush's tax cuts, has offered a costly health care plan and would increase education spending. The challenge for Dean now is to transition from champion of the antiwar, anti-Bush left to electable Democrat without losing his steam and solid liberal base, according to Democratic strategists. After Iowa and New Hampshire, the race moves south and out West, where centrist Democrats tend to do better and where many think Dean could stumble. This transition is no easy task for the most outspoken critic of the Iraqi war and one of only two major candidates to call for the complete repeal of Bush's tax cuts, the strategists said. Many think Dean will crumble under the intense scrutiny that comes from being perceived as the front-runner.” (8/25/2003)

… “Dean’s success shows how unnecessary taxpayer financing is to campaigns” headline on column by Bernadette Malone in yesterday’s New Hampshire Sunday News. Excerpt from column by Malone, the UL’s former editorial page editor: “Blame Bush. That’s the ticket. If former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean becomes the Democratic Presidential nominee and doesn’t adhere to the federal limits on campaign spending as he said he would, he and all of his admirers in Hollywood and the liberal media are going to shrug and sigh, ‘It’s Bush’s fault; he had such a big war chest, Dean had to do it.’ And that will be a lie. Of course, President Bush is a fundraising master. In 2000 he declined the opportunity to take public funds because he was able to raise so much money on his own. The Left skewered him for it: That rich Texas oilman born with a silver spoon in his pie-hole! Boy, they were angry that Bush was so popular with Republicans that he could raise a lot of money. (Considering how odious half the country found Bush, they should have been happy he wasn’t taking the money withheld from their paychecks to fuel his campaign.) Partly because of his post-September 11 popularity, Bush will be able to forgo public funds again in 2004, it appears. Now Dean is having a parallel experience: Because he is so popular with the left, he is attracting plenty of campaign dollars — especially through his Internet site. Sure, he said he’s for public financing of campaigns so no one candidate has an innate advantage over another. But he said that five months ago, when he was a minor candidate in need of a handout. At that time, the spending caps benefited Dean. Adhering to them ironically would have led him to the biggest possible pile of cash: U.S. taxpayer dollars. Now Dean is the frontrunner, rolling in dough. Last week he floated a ‘trial balloon’ when he casually mentioned that some on his staff would like to see him do without public funding so he won’t be constrained by spending limits in the general election. Dean would like voters to believe that if he abandons the federal spending caps, it’s because he can’t do the people’s work and fight the all-powerful incumbent President with one hand tied behind his back. That excuse would be a lie…In the first paragraph of Tuesday’s lead editorial, the liberal Washington Post sympathetically quoted Dean as asking, ‘The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you from March to December?’ Other candidates will whack Dean for his change of heart, the Post noted, and ‘deservedly so.’ But instead of concluding that Dean ought to keep his word and abide by spending limits, or that candidates should be allowed to spend whatever they can raise from donors, the Post concluded that Congress should change the campaign finance laws again. There are two lessons Howard Dean ought to learn here. The first is that he’s going to lose credibility with voters if he opts out of spending limits two elections in a row. The second is that maybe candidates don’t need to have their views subsidized by American taxpayers. Dean is doing a commendable job of raising money by using the Internet creatively and by distinguishing himself from the Democratic field by exciting the hardcore Left. Americans vote with their dollars, and Dean is winning among Democrats. Why, then, does Dean pretend to champion a candidate welfare system he clearly doesn’t need or heed?” (8/25/2003)

… Dean Blows Kerry – and others – away in latest New Hampshire poll. Dean 38%, Kerry 17%, Gephardt 6%. Excerpt from report posted late this morning by the AP’s Will Lester: “Democrat Howard Dean has jumped out to a commanding 21-point lead over rival John Kerry in the latest New Hampshire poll. Dean, who held a single-digit advantage in a recent survey, led Kerry 38 percent to 17 percent in the Zogby International poll of likely primary voters conducted Aug. 23-26 and released Wednesday.  Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, led in New Hampshire polls earlier this year, including a 26 percent to 13 percent advantage in February. The two candidates were essentially tied in a poll by Zogby in June. The August survey comes as Dean has shown political strength in his fund raising, drawn large crowds for his ‘Sleepless Summer’ tour and appeared in television ads in New Hampshire, which is slated to hold its primary Jan. 27. Pollster John Zogby said Dean's support was in all regions of the state, among men and women, Democrats and independents, liberals and moderates. Dean took support from Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and from undecided voters. Gephardt, who was at 11 percent in February, dropped to 6 percent. Undecided voters fell from 29 percent to 23 percent. ‘His support is really across the board,’ Zogby said of the former Vermont governor. The rest of the Democratic field was in single digits. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was at 6 percent, and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was at 4 percent. Edwards also is airing ads in New Hampshire. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who is considering a presidential bid, was at 2 percent, while Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio were at 1 percent. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton were at 0 percent. Almost two-thirds of those in the poll, 64 percent, said they think it is likely that President Bush will be re-elected in 2004. The poll of 501 likely primary voters has an error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.(8/27/2003)

… Dean’s Sleepless Tour I -- Dean starts acting like a Dem frontrunner: In Portland, he fabricates facts about impact of Bush education policy and goes with usual old-growth forest rhetoric. There’s no denying, however, that he can attract a crowd.  Headline from Monday’s Portland Oregonian: “Dean draws 3,000 to PSU” Excerpt from coverage by Oregonian’s Jeff Mapes: “Five months before the first votes will be cast in the 2004 presidential race, Howard Dean demonstrated his rising appeal among Democrats Sunday when he attracted as many as 3,000 people to a high-energy Portland rally. In a period when most candidates are concentrating on raising money and speaking to small groups in early primary states, Dean drew the kind of crowd that impressed local political leaders from both parties as he continued on a rock-concert style, four-day tour of 10 cities. As supporters crowded into a Portland State University plaza under a hot midday sun, Dean charged that Oregon schools have been forced to close early because of President Bush's economic and budget policies. The former Vermont governor, following on the heels of Bush's visit last week to Oregon and Seattle, also maintained that the president's proposals to reduce the danger of forest fires are a cover for massive clear-cutting in the national forests. ‘We have a president who thinks healthy forests means it's okay to cut down old-growth forests,’ Dean said…Oregon Democratic Chairman Jim Edmunson, who is neutral in the race, attended the rally and said it was ‘hard to imagine’ any of the other Democratic candidates having the star power to attract so many people here. Kevin Mannix, chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, said he was impressed by the size of the crowd so long before the first primaries, and called it a testament to the organizational abilities of the Dean campaign. Dean repeatedly hammered the president for approving huge tax cuts that he said were weighted toward the wealthy and were making it difficult for the government to afford needed services. ‘Here we are in a state where you had to close the schools five weeks early because the president of the United States gave $3 trillion of our money away’ to big contributors such as former Enron Chairman Ken Lay, Dean said. Although Portland at one point considered cuts of that length, no school district in Oregon closed that early. Nearly half of districts cut days, with the most being 17 days in Hillsboro. Dean said later in an interview that schools in Oregon and other states would have more money if President Bush would fully pay for special education at the federal level instead of cutting taxes. In addition, he argued that the president's education-reform plan -- which requires districts to meet several achievement benchmarks to continue getting federal money -- often costs school districts more money than they get.”(8/27/2003)

Dean’s Sleepless Tour II – Only about a dozen blacks in crowd of 800 in Milwaukee, raising questions about Dean’s appeal once he gets beyond Iowa and New Hampshire. Headline from Monday’s Chicago Tribune: “Rallies for Dean short on diversity…Aide: Candidate wants to “energize” black community” Excerpt of report from Milwaukee by the Tribune’s John McCormick: “The faces of those listening were almost exclusively white as Howard Dean explained to hundreds of boisterous fans gathered in an airport hangar for a late-night rally why he wants to be president. There were 20-somethings who had driven six hours from Minneapolis to see the Democratic candidate, senior citizens wearing his buttons and middle-class Milwaukee residents chanting his name and waving his trademark blue signs. But in a heavily Democratic city where blacks make up more than a third of the population, only about a dozen African-Americans stood in a crowd that Dean estimated at 800. A similar ratio appeared earlier Saturday at a rally in Falls Church, Va., where Dean kicked off a four-day, 10-city tour designed to boost his name recognition beyond the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where he is among the top tier of candidates in opinion polls. In addition to the traditional barnstorming, Dean's campaign set a goal of raising $1 million over the Internet during the tour…While Dean has proved himself successful in generating political buzz and raising money, the lack of diversity in his crowds underscores a challenge the former Vermont governor faces as he prepares to compete in primaries after those in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that like his home are among the least diverse in the nation. African-Americans are among the most reliable Democratic Party constituencies and are a major part of the electorate in South Carolina, which will hold its primary Feb. 3, one week after New Hampshire's. Dean, who attracted some Republicans and independents to his weekend rallies, is showing signs that he wants to devote more attention to that important Democratic base. ‘No one is really energizing the African-American community right now, but he wants to and he's really working hard at it,’ said Andi Pringle, an African-American who joined Team Dean as a deputy campaign manager this month after leaving the struggling campaign of former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois. Democratic leaders worried about civil rights activist Al Sharpton's entry into the race, fearing his fiery style could put other candidates trying to court black voters off stride. But neither Sharpton nor Braun, the other African-American hopeful in the race, has managed to break from the bottom tier of candidates. Martha Love, the Milwaukee County Democratic Party chairwoman, was one of the few blacks at Dean's rally. She was asked to attend by the campaign. ‘Dean has always been a respectful person of diversity, but why there aren't more people here I can't tell you,’ she said. ‘I'm not certain the African-American community is tuned in right now.’”(8/27/2003)

… Relentless Team Dean raises the stakes on other wannabes again. After sticking the knife with multi-state “Sleepless” tour, they will now twist it with $1M media buy in six states. Excerpt from report by AP political ace Ron Fournier: “In a show of political strength, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean plans to spend $1 million airing television ads in six early primary states. The former Vermont governor, who is the first candidate to advertise in Iowa, New Hampshire and Texas, will begin airing ads Friday in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington state and Wisconsin. All six hold elections following the first caucuses in Iowa Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary tentatively scheduled for Jan. 27. ‘This shows we're a national campaign,’ said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. ‘We started out in January saying we're going to run a marathon, but we would run the first four miles at a 100-yard dash pace. Yesterday, we decided to run the next stretch in a 100-yard dash pace - keep taking it to Bush and being aggressive.’ Dean has shaken up the Democratic primary race, threatening to become its front-runner after raising $7.6 million in the second quarter, more than any other Democratic candidate. Trippi said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he expects Dean to raise $10.3 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30 - more than any other Democratic candidate is expected to raise. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is the only other candidate airing ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. Several others, including Dean's chief rival in New Hampshire, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, expect to begin airing ads after Labor Day. But Dean's aggressive move this week will force the rest of the nine-candidate field to reconsider their strategy as they try to determine how to keep pace with Dean's fund-raising and organizational strengths. Trippi made the announcement at the end of Dean's four-day ‘Sleepless Summer’ tour that drew thousands of supporters, a measure of the candidate's grass-roots support. The ads will be similar to the ones airing in Austin, Texas, in which Dean promises to ‘take the country back’ and urges voters to log onto his Web site. Dean has been leaps and bounds ahead of his rivals in using the Internet to boost his candidacy. The announcement comes one week after Dean backpedaled from his promise to accept taxpayer money and adhere to spending limits for his presidential campaign. Despite his surge in fund raising, a campaign adviser said the campaign has not decided whether to abandon public financing. Dean's campaign was hastily buying ad time on Tuesday, but campaign sources said they expected the buy to be about $1 million. The figure could change later today.” (8/27/2003)

… Dean’s Sleepless Tour III – He says key to Dem victory in ’04 is to be “in the president’s face.” Under the subhead “In your face,” Greg Pierce reported in his “Inside Politics” column in Monday’s Washington Times: “Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said yesterday the only way his party could beat President Bush next year was ‘to be in the president's face.’ The former Vermont governor, who appears to have captured hearts on the left wing of his party, saw no need to moderate his tone or his message despite warnings that he would lead the party back into the ‘political wilderness,’ Reuters reports. ‘I think my message is a centrist message and is where most Americans are,’ he told reporters aboard his aircraft on a profile-raising coast-to-coast political swing. ‘I don't expect Democrats or Republicans to accept that yet.’ On his first foray into presidential-style travel, Mr. Dean ventured close to the press section of his aircraft — a '60s-era Boeing 737 chartered from Casino Express Airlines based in Elko, Nev. — before going in to face reporters. Mr. Dean expressed surprise at his surge in popularity and his success at fund raising…’I thought I'd be struggling at 5 percent, hoping to light a fire in Iowa and New Hampshire. I started out as a classic insurgent,’ the candidate said. ‘We have to be in the president's face to win,’ Mr. Dean explained as he held court in the narrow aisle of the ancient aircraft dubbed the ‘Grassroots Express’ and decorated with sprigs of plastic greenery.”(8/27/2003)

… Dean’s non-stop assault on rivals – and Dem voters – just keeps going on and on and on. For Team Dean, it’s either a “Sleepless” tour getting big crowds or fundraising dominance or another round of TV spots or – the latest gimmick – sending more than 1,000 door-to-door across IA. Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Dean to step up campaign in Iowa” AP’s resident caucus-watcher, Mike Glover, warns of latest Iowa political threat – a Deanie at the door. Excerpt: “Democrat Howard Dean is stepping up his campaign in Iowa, with plans for more than 1,000 supporters to push his presidential candidacy door-to-door next month.  As part of his effort to capture Iowa's precinct caucuses, Dean also is enlisting the help of labor in a direct challenge to rival Dick Gephardt, who won Iowa in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1988 and has captured several union endorsements this year. Recent polls show Dean closely bunched with Gephardt at the top of the field.  More than 1,000 Dean backers will spend weekends campaigning for the former Vermont governor, with 500 supporters flying in from Texas during the weekend of Sept. 27 to canvass for Dean.  ‘We plan to triple the number of supporters we have in Iowa by Sept. 30,’ said Dean Iowa campaign manager Jeani Murray in a memo outlining the strategy. ‘Our field and political organization will be aggressively bringing new supporters into our campaign which will be announced with a series of events over the next four weeks.’  Labor activists will announce on Thursday the creation of a ‘Labor for Dean’ organization that could aid the candidate with paid advertising and the type of campaigning by union rank-and-file that has boosted Democrats. Dean was the first in the nine-person Democratic field to run ads in Iowa, and he is trying to match that with an aggressive organizational effort.  Dean's campaign has scheduled a news conference Thursday with Sandy Upstreet, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers state conference, and Tom Gillesppie, president of the Building Trades Council, to announce the union effort. In addition, Murray said the campaign planned ‘Dean Corps’ events throughout September in Iowa, in which Dean backers participate in community projects. ‘September will hold plenty of surprises,’ Murray said. ‘We wouldn't be the Dean campaign if we didn't turn a few heads.’ Dean has run one of the most intensive campaigns in Iowa, with campaign appearances in 75 of the state's 99 counties. His field organization has held meetings in all 99 counties.” (8/29/2003)

… Dean to get boost from ex-Congressman Bedell. The Sioux City Journal reported yesterday that former 6th District Congressman Berkley Bedell will formally announce his endorsement for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean during Labor Day weekend events. Dean is among the upper tier of Democratic Party presidential candidates and Bedell's endorsement will be Dean's most prominent to date from a national legislator. Bedell will be campaigning in support of Dean on Monday, Sept.1, first meeting with Woodbury County Democrats at a brunch and then at noon at Riverside Park for the Northwest Iowa Labor Council's Labor Day picnic.
’I believe that Gov. Howard Dean understands the issues and values we face here in Iowa,’ said Bedell. ‘He comes from a state where he balanced the budget, protected the environment and created jobs.’ A Spirit Lake native, Bedell represented the 6th District from 1974 to 1986.”(8/29/2003)

… Dean makes points with critical Cuban American voters – especially after activists express concern about Bush policy. The VT wannabe says he’s like to have “instructive engagement” on Cuba, but not while crackdown on dissidents continues. Under the subhead “Dean’s Cuba policy,” Greg Pierce reported Wednesday in his “Inside Politics” column in the Washington Times: “As he surges to the top of the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination and begins to think about a potential contest against President Bush, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says he is shifting his views on the trade embargo with Cuba, the Miami Herald reports. Speaking to reporters during a four-day national campaign swing, Mr. Dean said he supports rolling back the embargo in order to encourage human rights advancements — but citing Fidel Castro's recent crackdowns on dissidents, said that in recent months he has become convinced that ‘we can't do it right now.’ Mr. Dean called Cuba a ‘political question,’ and said recent developments on the island would prevent his goal of ‘constructive engagement of Cuba.’…’If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have said we should begin to ease the embargo in return for human rights concessions,’ he said, responding to a question from a Herald reporter at a dinner Sunday night in Seattle. ‘But you can't do it now because Castro has just locked up a huge number of human rights activists and put them in prison and [held] show trials. You can't reward that kind of behavior if what you want to do is link human rights behavior with foreign trade.’”(8/29/2003)

… “Hot and hip” – subhead on item in yesterday’s “Inside Politics” column in the Washington Times. Greg Pierce wrote: “Democrat Howard Dean is the hot and hip presidential candidate of the summer, Reuters reports. From Rolling Stone to Modern Physician magazine, everybody wants a piece of the doctor running for his party's nomination, reporter Patricia Wilson writes. Aboard the ‘Grass Roots Express,’ the chartered jet that ferried him coast to coast on a late summer political swing, the former governor of Vermont found himself squeezed in a center seat discussing Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with a reporter on his left and medical-malpractice caps with a correspondent on his right. German television, the New Yorker magazine and CBS' ‘60 Minutes II’ vied for face time with the one Democratic contender to create early buzz with a sense of momentum almost five months before the first contests on the road to the White House. Mr. Dean was the flavor of the week as his ‘Sleepless Summer’ tour across eight states in four days wound up with a boisterous late-night rally Tuesday in New York City's Bryant Park.”(8/29/2003)

… Dean, apparently responding to Kerry and Lieberman attacks, says he can win the White House despite antiwar, liberal rhetoric. Excerpt from report by Curtis Lawrence in Wednesday’s Chicago Sun-Times: “Presidential hopeful Howard Dean brought his ‘Sleepless Summer Tour’ to town Tuesday, taking control of a labor convention for most of the morning and telling supporters how he can take the White House despite his anti-war rhetoric and other left-leaning policies. Dean is one of five Democratic candidates who stopped by the Communications Workers of America's convention at Navy Pier during the last two days courting the labor vote. While he didn't mention them by name, many of Dean's remarks seemed directed at two of his rivals: U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn). Kerry was here Monday wooing labor activists and chatting with Vietnam War veterans, two who served with him in the Mekong Delta. Lieberman, who has criticized Dean for taking the party too far left, followed Dean at the Communications Workers convention on Tuesday. Dean reminded the crowd that while he was opposed to the war in Iraq, he was not soft on defense. ‘I will never hesitate to send our troops anywhere in the world to defend the United States of America,’ Dean said. But taking a jab at President Bush and those who supported the war, he added, ‘I will never send our sons and daughters and our brothers and sisters to die in a foreign country without telling them the truth about why they're going.’ And in an apparent dig at the more conservative Lieberman, Dean said, ‘You cannot beat George Bush by trying to be Bush Light.’ After addressing the labor activists, Dean took to a Navy Pier rooftop, where hundreds cheered as he promised, if elected, to send the president back to Crawford, Texas, and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to ‘an undisclosed location.’ Later Tuesday, Lieberman bristled at the ‘Bush Light’ reference and described himself as an ‘independent-minded Democrat’ who wasn't afraid to stand up to George Bush. His campaign released a letter he penned with Sen. Hillary Clinton, criticizing the Bush administration for allegedly suppressing information about potential air-quality problems at Ground Zero, site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. ‘It means that when people were deciding whether to move back into their residences around Ground Zero . . . the White House concealed the full truth,’ Lieberman said. ‘In my opinion that is scandalous behavior by the George W. Bush administration.’ Lieberman also came down hard on the Bush's economic policies.”(8/29/2003)

… “Dean returns to largest crowds yet in NH” – headline from today’s New Hampshire Sunday News. Excerpt from coverage of Walpole (NH) Dean event by AP’s Stephen Frothingham: “The largest New Hampshire crowd of Howard Dean's campaign greeted the Presidential hopeful Saturday at an event billed as a house party, but which more resembled a bucolic outdoor festival. More than a 1,000 supporters, including many from Vermont, Massachusetts and farther afield, drove up narrow twisty roads to a private home offering broad views of the Connecticut River valley and the hills of Dean's home state of Vermont. Campaign officials said they signed up 1,200 people and then ran out of sign-up sheets. Bill Tyler, a 70-year-old retiree, rode a bicycle 20 miles to see Dean, who is enjoying a 21-point lead over Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry among likely New Hampshire primary voters, according to a recent poll.  ‘My biggest fear is of the Republican right wing,’ said Tyler, who lived in Vermont while Dean was governor there. Tyler now lives in Spofford. Tyler, an independent who said he tends to vote for Democrats for state and federal offices, said he thought Dean was a good governor who appears to be a sincere person. A later event in Chichester attracted 200-300 people. At both events, Dean continued his attack on President Bush's economic and foreign policies. At the Walpole event, he received the loudest applause when he reminded supporters he opposed the Iraq war. In Chichester, where the crowd was more local, his remarks about Bush's handling of the economy seemed to get a louder response. He said no President since Herbert Hoover has lost as many jobs as Bush. ‘And if he gets re-elected and continues at this rate, we will indeed have a depression,’ Dean said again. In Chichester, a supporter asked how Dean will respond to Republican attacks now that he is a front runner. ‘It's going to come at you when you win the nomination, or even before,’ predicted Lance Klass of Concord, who said he voted for Republican John McCain in the 2000 primary and was disappointed in McCain's response to attacks by Bush in subsequent primary states. ‘They are going to come at you with a lot of stuff. Are you going to be able to stay the course against that Bush stuff machine?’ Klass asked. Dean said his ability to raise money from small donors would give him the funds and the broad support to weather attacks. And Dean, who said most Democrats are embarrassed to talk about race, responded to Klass' question with remarks almost identical to those he used in the speech he gave in Walpole. ‘Here's what we're going to say in the South: You've been voting for Republicans here for 30 years, if you are white voter. Why? Tell me what you have to show for it? There are 103,000 kids in South Carolina without health insurance. Most of those kids are white,’ Dean said. Dean said he would appeal to white Republicans in the South to try to take away some of the Republicans' core support.” (8/31/2003)

… Dean attracts headline for “paint brawl” incident, but he probably doesn’t care as long as they spell his name right. Headline from Friday’s Newsday: “Graffiti Lands Dean in Hot Seat…Critics: Wrong message” Report by Newsday’s Glenn Thrush:       “Howard Dean has gotten himself into a paint brawl. The Democratic presidential hopeful is drawing heat from City Hall after appearing in front of a graffiti-covered backdrop during a rally at Bryant Park on Tuesday. ‘It's unfortunate that Mr. Dean would promote and romanticize a form of vandalism, especially considering this city's success in eliminating this urban blight,’ said Bloomberg's press secretary Ed Skyler. The backdrop, spray-painted by Brooklyn ‘aerosol artist’ KEO, was commissioned by Dean's campaign. Dean's staff said they placed no restrictions when commissioning the piece. Councilman James Oddo, a Staten Island Republican, says the backdrop is an insulting token of bygone 1970s New York. ‘We have a pandering politician come in here and basically say to the country that what best symbolizes New York is graffiti and urban decay,’ Oddo said. Dean, the former Vermont governor and a native New Yorker who left the city in 1978, was simply making the point that he's in touch with inner-city youth, according to his people. ‘Urban American youth are among those who have the most to lose from another four years of George W. Bush,’ said Dean's New York spokesman, Eric Schmeltzer, reading from a written statement. ‘Howard Dean ... afforded the opportunity to an artist loved and respected by many of them to express himself in a creative and constructive way.’”(8/31/2003)

… Des Moines Register political ace David Yepsen warns Kerry might not withstand a Dean win in Iowa, says it may be time for Edwards and Graham to get “gut checks” and notes that it’s “getting pretty late” for Clark to join the fun. Excerpt from column on CNN.com by “Inside Politics” anchor Judy Woodruff: “David Yepsen, veteran Des Moines Register reporter and political watcher, appearing on Friday's CNN's ‘Inside Politics,’ told me that he sees Dean building a slight lead over Gephardt.  Yepsen believes a Dean win in Iowa could prove costly to another rival, Kerry, down the road. ‘The candidate who wins Iowa automatically gets a 8- to 10-point bump in the state of New Hampshire, where Dean is already leading Kerry by, in some polls, double-digit margins,’ he said. ‘So I don't know that Kerry could withstand Dean winning here because it would just have a real multiplier effect in New Hampshire.’  Yepsen also said that Sens. Bob Graham, D-Florida, and John Edwards, D-North Carolina, might be due for a ‘gut check’ after spending considerable time and resources in the state, but failing to register any movement the polls…And what about a possible tenth member for the '04 Democratic field? Yepsen says it's still possible for former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, who is weighing a run, to throw his hat in the ring. ‘Fifteen percent say they're undecided, so there's room for General Clark to get an audience, but it's getting pretty late.’ In a sign that some Democrats can't let go of the regular fall campaign marker, Kerry and Edwards scheduled official campaign ‘announcements’ for September 2 and September 16 respectively. Some political traditions never die.” (8/31/2003)

… “Dean Invites More Scrutiny By Switching Key Stances” – headline from yesterday’s Washington Post. Excerpt from coverage by the Post’s Jim VandeHei:  “Howard Dean, who sells himself as the presidential campaign's straightest shooter, is starting to throw voters some curves. As he transitions from insurgent to the man to beat in the Democratic primary, Dean is modifying or switching his positions on several political issues. In recent weeks, Dean, the former Vermont governor, has softened his support for lifting the trade embargo on Cuba -- an important issue in voter-rich Florida -- and suggested he might opt out of the public campaign finance system he endorsed weeks earlier. Dean also has backed off his support for raising the age at which senior citizens can collect their full Social Security benefits, a change that would save the government money by trimming monthly payments to thousands of older Americans. Dean initially denied he ever supported raising the retirement age, but later admitted he did. While it's not unusual for politicians to flip-flop, massage or tailor their positions to placate politically important audiences, Dean is inviting greater scrutiny and criticism by running as a truth-teller who doesn't bend to prevailing political winds, campaign strategists said. With Dean pulling ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, and surging nationally, several rival campaigns are gearing up to hammer him for switching positions over the years for what they consider purely political reasons. They hope to dilute Dean's appeal as the anti-politician in the crowd. ‘He has sold himself as the straight-shooting candidate, the truth-teller, the one who will say what's hard and unpopular,’ said Jim Jordan, campaign manager for presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). ‘In truth, he's a very crafty politician, very calculating.’ Dean said what differentiates him is his willingness to speak his mind, change his positions and admit when he's wrong. ‘They won't beat me by claiming I switched positions,’ Dean said in an interview Wednesday. ‘They better come out with better ideas.’ Dean said he has no qualms about ‘changing his mind’ when facts warrant it. Others disagree. Dean is ‘raising the bar’ for consistency and truthfulness by campaigning as a straight-talker, said Rick Davis, who managed the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2000. McCain campaigned aboard the original ‘Straight Talk Express.’…’The danger is you …trade political reality for straight-talking, and it comes back and bites you,’ Davis said. He should know: McCain, he said, took a hit when he chose politics over principle and refused before South Carolina's primary to speak his mind in firm opposition to the flying of the Confederate battle flag in that state. Davis said it was the ‘biggest mistake’ of the campaign because it made McCain look a typical politician.” (8/31/2003)

… Orlando columnist says GWB is “the big overall winner” in the CA recall while it’s also a “boon for Dean.” With media attention focused on West Coast, GWB and Dean are only ones getting coverage as fall campaign picks up. Excerpt from commentary by Orlando Sentinel columnist Peter A. Brown: “Although neither George W. Bush nor Howard Dean is on the California recall ballot, they are likely to be its big winners on the national stage. Non-Californians may see the recall election as an amusing spectacle with little effect on their own lives. They are half right. In addition to being a hoot, the recall is relevant to all Americans. California's decision about whether to fire Gov. Gray Davis, and, if so, who will replace him, is already shaping the 2004 race for the White House. The recall is freezing in place the presidential campaign, monopolizing news-media attention and political money nationally. That's a boon for Dean and, therefore, Bush, who would love to run against the former Democratic governor of Vermont. Perhaps because only a screenwriter could have penned a more entertaining drama, the recall has become a story that sucks all the energy out of the media beast. Normally at this time of the presidential-election cycle, virtually all political coverage would be focused on the White House wannabes. But the attention paid to California is obscuring the Democratic presidential race. News coverage of non-California politics is limited, and Dean dominates what exists. Here's an example: The other day, The Hotline, the Internet political tip sheet that is the bible for political journalists and insiders, devoted its first nine items to the California recall. Typically, no matter what is going on, the White House gets top billing. Both Bush and Dean, who has zoomed to the head of the Democratic pack in the early-voting states, would be thrilled if the Democratic primary-election season began today…Of course, the retail campaigning continues in Iowa and New Hampshire, but the presidential race is not grabbing the attention of most Americans. That is only likely to continue in the remaining weeks before the Oct. 7 California vote. Iowa begins the presidential-delegate selection only three months after that, in January. And December is mostly useless to candidates because the holidays divert voters' attention. Remember, the eventual Democratic nominee is almost certain to emerge by March. All this helps Dean, who became the political flavor of the month as the summer began because of his growing support in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he now leads in the polls, and impressive fund raising, largely driven by a highly sophisticated Internet appeal. The focus on California allows him to remain in that limelight as his national poll numbers rise, preventing other Democrats from gaining traction…However, Bush is the big overall winner for two reasons. The attention paid to California lessens media coverage of national problems -- be they the economy or the postwar turmoil in Iraq -- that would reflect badly on the president. More important, the California recall benefits Bush because anything that helps Dean to gain the Democratic presidential nomination is a godsend to the president's re-election chances. You have to wonder if Bush's political honcho, Karl Rove, says a prayer for Dean every night at bedtime. If not, he should. It would be hard to find a candidate the Republicans want to run against more than a socially liberal, former governor of a small, atypical state who has no foreign-policy experience and whose overriding image is that of opposing the Iraq war. The GOP gets even giddier because Dean has no experience exciting the Democrats' minority base, comes from a background of wealth similar to Bush, and wants to raise taxes to enlarge the role of government. That is a profile that is likely to appeal to much of the Democrats' base, yet unless Joe and Jill Sixpack suddenly change their views and values, Dean will be much less attractive to most voters in the November general election. Of course, Americans' political tastes might change. Maybe they now favor higher taxes and having the United Nations manipulate U.S. foreign policy. But otherwise, no matter whom Californians make governor, the president should be a very happy fellow these days.”(8/31/2003)

… “Launch the Dean counterattack” – headline from townhall.com. Excerpt from commentary by columnist Larry Kudlow: “A shocking Zogby Poll this week had former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean at a giant 21-point lead over former New Hampshire primary front-runner Sen. John Kerry. That's more than two-to-one with a 38 percent to 17 percent margin. Dean is the clear front-runner and may well lead the Democrats next year. So, this is a wake-up call for the Bushies. It’s time for all the president’s men to aggressively defend Bush’s policies and attack Dean’s extreme left-liberal positions. So far, Dean has been relying on a relatively narrow base of voter support -- largely Bush-hating, anti-war liberals who make up about half of the Democratic Party and a third of the electorate. But Dean is well-funded, and he has quickly become the darling of the liberal media. Following his successful rally in New York's Bryant Park this week, The New York Times saw fit to run a huge front-page story with a color picture of the candidate. Meanwhile, a story on Bush's excellent speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention -- where he emphasized a stay-the-course commitment in Iraq -- was placed below the Dean story with a much smaller headline. In the long Times piece on Dean, you had to go 23 paragraphs deep to find a statement on the candidate's basic policy positions: universal health insurance, opposition to the Iraq war, balanced budgets, tax-cut repeal, affirmative action and gay rights. This is not a winning combination, as numerous moderate Democrats point out. Still, if Dean's the one, administration spokespeople should start underscoring the extremism that defines his campaign. For example, Dean's universal health care is Hillarycare. It's the same government-paid health insurance that's been a disaster in Western Europe and Canada. And it's the same socialist proposal that was defeated handily in a Democratic Congress 10 years ago. True patient power requires health-insurance choice and market competition along with tax reform. It will be incumbent on the administration to state this clearly. That means coming out in favor of the House bill on Medicare and prescription drugs and strongly opposing the all-government-all-the-time Ted Kennedy version in the Senate. Linking Dean to Sen. Kennedy makes sense -- not only on health care but also on taxes and the war. The Vermont liberal is very much in Kennedy's far-out orbit.”(8/31/2003)

… Political ace Fournier: Fall campaign will be critical for both Bush and Dean.  Headline from today’s New Hampshire Sunday News: “As fall politics loom, Dean leads Democratic pack” Excerpt from report by AP’s Ron Fournier: “In a summer of political surprises, Howard Dean catapulted to the head of the Democratic presidential field while President Bush lost his aura of invincibility in Iraq. The fall campaign presents critical tests for both men. An ailing economy and unrest in the Middle East threaten the president's re-election prospects although he remains a relatively popular leader, according to officeholders and activists in both parties who took stock of the 2004 race at the traditional Labor Day break. In more than two dozen interviews, experts said they expect the Democratic primary fight to turn nasty as eight rivals try to halt Dean's rise. Some Democrats worry that none of the current contenders can stop Dean's anti-establishment candidacy, prompting speculation that high-profile alternatives may join the race. ‘He appeals to your heart and the part of you that is angry with the Bush administration, but the ultimate issue is his ability to win the general election,’ said Waring Howe Jr., a prominent South Carolina Democrat. He likes Dean, but is wary… ‘Don't give us another Michael Dukakis.’ Bush's father soundly defeated Dukakis after a campaign that emphasized the Massachusetts governor's liberal credentials. At Bush re-election headquarters, where Dean once was dismissed as a perfect foil, the former Vermont governor is getting a closer look. He still can be cast as a tax-raising, ill-tempered, undisciplined candidate, Republicans argue, but what if he should win the nomination while swelling the Democratic base? ‘They better be worried,’ said Donna Brazile, manager of Al Gore's 2000 campaign. ‘Dean's cooking with grease.’…Both parties are targeting 16 states that were decided by 5 or fewer percentage points in 2000. Bush is constantly on the prowl for votes in those battlegrounds - from Washington state, east to Arkansas, north to Maine and to more than half a dozen Midwestern states… Leslie Gromis, a GOP strategist in Pennsylvania, said Bush will ease those doubts once a Democratic nominee emerges. ‘Right now, you have five serious Democrats trying to point out what his vulnerabilities are,’ she said. ‘It's five against one. Let's see what happens when it's one-on-one.’” (8/31/2003)

… Developing question: Can Dean really win the Iowa caucuses – or will he just drive the other wannabes crazy before January? The latest target: Gephardt – with an ad in tomorrow’s Register listing names of “labor activists” backing Dean. Headline from Friday’s Union Leader: “Iowa union activists tout Dean in new ad” Excerpt from report – datelined Des Moines – by AP’s Mike Glover: “Democrat Howard Dean picked up support from Iowa union activists who plan to run ads touting his Presidential candidacy to coincide with the Labor Day holiday. The advertisement, set to appear in Monday’s editions of The Des Moines Register, says Dean is ‘the only candidate who will stand up for what we believe and isn’t afraid of what Washington thinks.’ At a news conference yesterday, 136 labor activists unveiled the ad and announced their support for Dean in the nine-way Democratic primary. Tom Gillespie, president of the Iowa State Building and Trades Council, said he was committed to Dean because the former Vermont governor has argued for increased domestic spending.  ‘If we can afford to rebuild Iraq, then we can afford to rebuild our country,’ Gillespie said…Polls have shown Dean bunched with Dick Gephardt atop the field of contenders for the Jan. 19 caucuses in Iowa. Gephardt, who won Iowa in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 1988, has had the closest ties of any of the candidates to organized labor. Dean is trying make inroads with Gephardt’s base. The Missouri lawmaker countered that effort by pointing out that Dean has been a strong backer of trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.  ‘Howard Dean was one of the leading governors to support NAFTA and even attended the initial White House ceremony with Canadian and Mexican leaders in 1993,’ Gephardt’s campaign said in a statement…Gephardt aides also pointed out that 12 international unions have endorsed their candidate, and they dismissed Dean’s announcement, noting that 30,000 Iowans belong to unions that have endorsed the former House Minority leader.” (8/31/2003)

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