Howard Dean

excerpts from the Iowa Daily Report

December 1-15, 2003

Dean’s bombast

At a time when in party Democrats are uneasy about Howard Dean and his military credentials, Dean has decided to give President Bush a tutorial on defense, according to Howard Kurtz of the Time Mirror:

At another town hall meeting, in Manchester, Dean added: "Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense."

Dean provided the strongest denunciation of the President to date stating that Bush has "no understanding of defense," is conducting diplomacy by "petulance" and lacks "the backbone to stand up against the Saudis." Dean, the story relates, kept coming back in his appearances on Sunday to criticize Bush on defense and foreign policy:

Amid a crush of well-wishers seeking autographs at a high school here, Dean said of Bush: "I think he's made us weaker. He doesn't understand what it takes to defend this country, that you have to have high moral purpose. He doesn't understand that you better keep troop morale high rather than just flying over for Thanksgiving," as Bush did in visiting Baghdad.

Dean also criticized the administration concerning cutting combat pay and dropping veterans from health care coverage. A Pentagon spokeswoman noted, Bush signed a bill last week that boosts monthly combat pay from $150 to $225, along with family separation benefits. The Veterans Administration also countered Dean’s charges:

Veterans Affairs Department spokesman Phil Budahn said no one has been kicked off the health care rolls but that an estimated 164,000 higher-income veterans will be excluded in the future because their ailments are not service-related.

It seems that once Dean was into his bombastic attack he wasn’t able to curtail his assault to Bush alone. He accused all of his opponents of supporting the war. This discounting of lesser candidates and including Wesley Clark into war supporters has been a constant for Dean. Clark’s campaign disagreed with Dean’s characterization of their candidate.

As with 1988 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis -- riding into town in that tank --  2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean mimics that same New England style braggadocio. And we all know how well Dukakis faired with his theatrics, which brings things back to Dean. Perhaps Dean would be better off sticking with what he knows. For example -- if Dean had just said, "Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about skiing....." (12/1/2003)

Dean’s Education bash

Howard Dean told a crowd of teachers and supporters at Merrimack High School in New Hampshire that "Vermont would have been the first state to turn down that money" if he still was governor, according to an Associated Press story. Maybe the most pugilist statement, though, was that every school would fail:

Dean criticized President Bush, saying his administration will lower the standards for good schools in New Hampshire, making them more like poorly performing schools in Texas. The Bush administration believes "the way to help New Hampshire is to make it more like Texas," Dean told supporters in Manchester, adding that "every school in America by 2013 will be a failing school."

Dean’s recognized that Vermont would have to find $25 million in lost education funds if they rejected the No Child Left Behind funds. However, he countered that he believes that the terms of improving the schools in the act cost more than the money provided. Dean favors cutting unfunded mandates, testing and the "highly qualified" standard teachers must meet. He cited the fact of tenure as proof enough that a teacher is qualified:

"I just rode in a car with a woman who taught for twenty years and she's been told she's not a highly qualified professional," Dean said. (12/1/2003)

Dean fiscal conservative days

Howard Dean as governor was a fiscal conservative, the LA Times story documents. This is in contrast to using the Bush Tax Cut three or four times over to pay for his current proposals if he were President:

Unlike the ideological presidential candidate who first distinguished himself by condemning the war in Iraq, Dean as governor was a pragmatist who ran his state with the blunt efficiency of a CEO. As a pro-business centrist, he was so out of step with the liberal Democratic majority in the Statehouse that he had to recruit a team of other legislative allies to make sure his budgetary goals would pass. To the consternation of many, he all but ignored issues such as civil unions for gays and lesbians as he steadfastly based decisions on the bottom line.

Dean used his iron will to make it happen, according to the article:

"He told us that the No. 1 concern for Democrats was how we handled the public purse," said former state Rep. Dick McCormack. "In many ways, that defined his whole administration." (12/1/2003)

Dean on AIDS

Howard Dean outlines his response to AIDS:

This is a crisis of pandemic proportions and we must give it the attention it deserves. HIV and AIDS are both a public health and a national security issue. They have the potential to create vast economic and political destabilization in many parts of the developing world. It is time to move beyond the rhetoric offered by President Bush and to focus on real results both across the globe and here at home," Governor Dean said.

* Provide quality health care for every American. By covering those lacking health insurance we can prevent, and provide critical early treatment for, serious illnesses such as HIV and AIDS.

* Increase funding for care and treatment. A Dean Administration will promote prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of HIV. This is especially important for racial and ethnic minorities who are disproportionately affected by this pandemic and who often are diagnosed late or enter treatment later than recommended.

* Promote sensible and comprehensive prevention efforts. As a physician, Dean has seen the power of prevention in saving lives. There is strong, compelling evidence that HIV prevention initiatives, including condoms, needle exchange programs, accessible testing and progressive education on safe behaviors, can reduce the transmission of HIV. A strong emphasis must be placed on prevention approaches focused on women, communities of color, adolescents, and young gay men.

* Support research and development of treatment without political interference.

On the international front, Dean promised to:

* Restore our role as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS;

* Renew the fight against Global AIDS, by providing $30 billion in the fight against AIDS by 2008 to help the Global Fund meet its resource requirements and to fund US bilateral global HIV/AIDS programs, as well as offer debt relief to nations fighting the AIDS pandemic to allow for much needed health investments;

* Improving the vital healthcare infrastructure of the world's developing countries; and

* Assisting orphans and children cast adrift by the AIDS pandemic. (12/2/2003)

Where the fight is

A Washington Times story suggests that Howard Dean has his opponents concentrating on early states:

Antiwar candidate Howard Dean is lengthening his lead in Iowa and New Hampshire, forcing his closest Democratic presidential rivals to spend more time in those states as he campaigns across the country. (12/2/2003)

New York cash

NY Post covers Howard Dean’s upcoming fund-raiser in the Big Apple:

Democratic front-runner Howard Dean is planning monster cash bashes in New York next Monday starring his showbiz pals - like acid-tongued antiwar comic Janeane Garofalo, who claims President Bush is as much of a threat to the world as Saddam Hussein.

The money blitz - which could take in $1 million - comes as Dean builds up his war chest and hopes to take in a total of $15 million in the final three months of the year and try to steamroll the antiwar contender to the Democratic nomination.

Dean's cash bashes will feature a $1,000-a-head roast hosted by actor/director Rob Reiner at the Metropolitan Pavilion - a pretty pricey event for the former Vermont governor, who likes to stress how many small donors he has.

Comics Garofalo, Andrea Martin, David Cross and John Leguizamo will appear at events costing $100 and $500, there will be a $250-a-head lunch in Queens and a $125 breakfast the next day in Harlem. (12/2/2003)

Dean’s inner circle

A Washington Post story covers who’s who in the Dean campaign:

As inner circles go, Dean's is not only small, it is relatively new -- the principal figures behind his presidential bid have been working together for less than a year. What is remarkable is who is out as much as who is in: Absent are many seasoned Washington veterans, close friends or even his wife, Judith Steinberg Dean, who has played virtually no role in his campaign.

The principle member of the inner circle Joe Trippi is a new member who was retired from political campaigns and a member of the Alexandria consulting firm of Trippi, McMahon & Squier.

TMS counseled Dean early on to emphasize his opposition to the Iraq war -- a somewhat risky position given that most polls showed strong support for Bush. Instead, it helped Dean tap into growing antiwar sentiment, particularly on the left, a wave he is still riding.

"We told him he could run like Dick Gephardt or he could run like a maverick," McMahon said. "He could run like John Kerry, or he could run like someone different. But it couldn't be a mainstream campaign, because the mainstream space was already taken."

The dearth of staff can best be characterized by Trippi’s opinion of the other candidates’ staff:

Trippi characterizes the campaign's dearth of policy expertise as a "big advantage" over Dean's Democratic rivals. "We don't have a bunch of Senate policy staffers who've been on our payroll for 16 years following a specific set of issues for us," he said. "I think it's a big advantage. We're talking about a system that produced a lot of those guys coming out for the war. There's something closed and insular about that system. If the conventional wisdom is wrong, they're likely to wade right into it." (12/2/2003)

The meaning of Iowa

An Associated Press story by Mike Glover covers the meaning of Iowa and what might happen next:

Many strategists argue that at precisely the moment the campaign moves south and west, many moderate Democrats will begin worrying about nominating a former governor of a tiny state who they worry is too liberal.

This argument holds that moderate Democrats will then pressure to unite behind a single alternative to Dean. The campaigns of Kerry, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and retired Gen. Wesley Clark are all based on emerging as that alternative.

If that's the way things play out, that single alternative is likely to be the candidate who has bested expectations in some of the early tests. That means a lot of people will be looking to see not only who wins, but who performs better than expected.

The difference between third place and fourth place in Iowa has real meaning. Candidates who haven't been tested in earlier races likely don't appreciate the heat the race will get from a press corps in full roar after the first of the year. (12/2/2003)

Dean’s empire

Howard Dean has promised to use his Internet Empire to win Democrat control of Congress. His first test of whether his Internet army can be transferred to that cause is with Iowa Cong. Leonard Boswell. The reason for Boswell is only partially based on Iowa. The real reason is he voted against the $85 billion for our troops and rebuilding Iraq according to Dean’s architect of the program Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California. In fact, Boswell was the second choice the first Congressman she asked declined the offer. However, they are a targeted Congressman who voted against the $87 billion.

The Des Moines Register reports on Lofgren’s plan:

Lofgren said Tuesday that she was looking for a way to combine Dean's desire to help Democrats take control of the House with his campaign's use of the Internet.

She asked officials of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of House Democrats, for a list of targeted incumbent Democrats.

Lofgren said one of the criteria was whether the candidate voted against the $87 billion package to rebuild postwar Iraq.

"We wanted the first person, off the bat, to be in that position, although if this works, . . . we will expand it to the whole list," she said. (12/3/2003)

Dean reluctant on gay marriages

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Dean’s reluctance to support gay marriages -- even though as Governor of Vermont he signed a gay union bill that grants legal coverage to gays.

Yet Dean, who speaks emphatically on the right of same-sex couples to receive the same legal privileges as anyone else, is hesitant to extend his demand for equality to the institution of marriage.

“I think that’s up to the people of each state,” Dean said Monday in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. “We did not do gay marriage in Vermont. When I had the chance, we chose not to do it.”

Dean opposes a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He supports full equality on matters including filing joint tax returns, Social Security benefits, immigration and hospital visits. But he does not give a simple answer on whether he supports, or opposes, gay marriage. (12/3/2003)

Is Dean nuts?

A Washington Post’s Media Notes columnist questions Howard Dean’s judgment in his latest attacks on President Bush… headlined, "Is Howard Dean nuts?” Here are some excerpts:

"According to the Washington Post, here's what Dean said about President Bush in New Hampshire Sunday:

"1) Bush has 'no understanding of defense.' 'Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense.' "2) 'He's made us weaker. He doesn't understand what it takes to defend this country, that you have to have high moral purpose. He doesn't understand that you better keep troop morale high rather than just flying over for Thanksgiving.' "3) Bush lacks 'the backbone to stand up against the Saudis,' who are funding radical Muslim schools 'to train the next generation of suicide bombers.' "4) 'The president is about to let North Korea become a nuclear power.' "5) Bush 'cut 164,000 veterans off' from medical benefits and at one point said 'he was going to cut the combat pay' for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan . . . Let's recap. A guy who has no foreign policy experience, opposed the war in Iraq, and went skiing after he escaped the Vietnam draft because of a bad back is calling a wartime president soft on defense. And despite cries of outrage from Republican pundits, luminaries, and party organs, he isn't letting up." (12/3/2003)

Unsealing records

A New York Times story reveals that Howard Dean is thinking of reversing himself on the question of his sealed records as Governor of Vermont:

"We're talking about trying to be accommodating," Dr. Dean told reporters here before a town hall meeting. "We think that transparency is important. But executive privilege is a serious issue, and there are private things in there that can't be let out. We are kind of having that internal discussion."

The story also asked an expert how long other states seal their executives records:

A survey by Charles Schultz, a professor at Texas A&M, showed that 29 of 42 responding states require departing governors to place their records into archives and that many must make them publicly available immediately. Others keep records sealed for as little as five years or as much as 30. (12/3/2003)

Dean as Achilles

Walter Shapiro in USA Today writes an editorial that portrays Howard Dean to Achilles. He points out that despite Dean’s poor performances and untruths, his opponents can’t slow him down. Yet, they still look for the weakness to destroy him. Shapiro has some advice on why the Clark and Kerry campaigns may not be successful:

The medal-draped Vietnam War records of Clark and Kerry are integral parts of their campaign biographies. But after eight years of loyally supporting Clinton against Republican draft-dodger charges, are the Democrats going to retroactively change the rules and declare that only war heroes can run for president? There is no evidence that Dean did anything more than use the same loopholes that millions of other middle-class men employed to gain a medical deferment. At some point there should be a statute of limitations in politics against endlessly debating the personal decisions that anyone made during the wrenching Vietnam years. (12/3/2003)

Dean’s fairness

Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh takes Dean on for probably breaking the state caps against fellow Democrat opponents. He is not kind to Dean:

Thus what we have here is Dean using the reaction to his own decision to justify a possible further violation of the spirit of fair primary play. That's why it's important to keep your eye on what Dean does in Iowa.

If the Vermonter does spend more than the Iowa cap, as seems likely, we'll have learned something important about him. Namely, he's not really a no-nonsense country doctor. He just plays one on TV. (12/3/2003)

Political theater

A Boston Globe story covers the taping of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. The story covers Friday’s tapping at Harvard where Howard Dean said ‘yes’ to the question of whether he wanted a deferment from Vietnam. It shows the ins and outs of the show:

Dean comes by for an early walk-through and gets a word of advice -- "be natural, be yourself" -- from IOP [Harvard's Institute of Politics] director and former Clinton secretary of agriculture Dan Glickman. "That's what politics is all about -- political theater," Glickman says. (12/3/2003)

What the people think

Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu is a good read today from the viewpoint of understanding the Dean phenomenon, as she gives her thumbs up for Dean in her column:

Which brings us to Howard Dean. Whatever apologists for the war say about Dean being too angry or too liberal, early on he tapped into a deep-seated disenfranchisement over the unprecedented first strike along with the administration's pandering to special interests. Anyone who has trouble understanding Dean's front-runner status apparently doesn't appreciate how serious that sense of betrayal is.

True, Dean didn't have to vote on Iraq, and he waffled over paying the $87 billion tab for continued operations. As detractors like to point out about his track record as governor of Vermont, it's a small, irrelevant state. Then again, where have you heard that before?

And:

America is a polarized place with complicated problems. If the 1992 election was about what Clinton adviser James Carville dubbed "the economy, stupid," this one is about everything from dealing with terrorism to the globalization of jobs to the growing health-care crisis for the elderly. It's about ordinary people. And ordinary people get to kick it off here in Iowa, 48 days from now. (12/3/2003)

Dean is going to Washington

The essence of politics is power.

Howard Dean is making moves on those in power and those in power are interested in Dean, according to a Washington Post article. This is from the candidate who said that he would shine a light on Washing and send them scurrying like  "cockroaches." The reports states Dean is aggressively pursuing key House members -- black lawmakers in particular -- and promising to raise money for as many as 20 congressional candidates. The Post reports:

About 30 Washington insiders, many of them lobbyists, meet every other week in the downtown law offices of Hogan & Hartson to plot strategy with key Dean advisers. The group is getting bigger by the week. And although Dean touts small, grass-roots donors for funding his campaign, he is getting a lift from a growing list of inside-the-Beltway politicos and big-name Democrats who are collecting upwards of $100,000 or more for his campaign -- much as the Bush campaign is doing, but on a smaller scale.

Former Iowa congressional candidate and former DNC vice chair Lynn Cutler is a Dean supporter who attends the meetings with lobbyists. She stated, "There's a sea change going on." She reported she’s now being approached by many Democrat Washington establishment types about Dean. The big question, though, is whether Dean’s insurgent base will take this news well according to the story:

"There's a danger some will call it hypocritical … or some of his original Internet warriors won't understand he needs to consort with those they feel are the enemy," said Democratic strategist Jenny Backus.

Dean has been most aggressive in reaching out to black and Hispanic lawmakers, whom his advisers consider a key part of his "southern strategy" to broaden his appeal from Florida to Arizona. Dean’s announcement that he is appealing to his supporters to help Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (Iowa) as well as the other 19 targeted Democrats is catching the eye of Washington insiders. Dean will be the featured guest at a major DNC fund-raiser this month in Los Angeles, his first solo appearance at such an event. Dean is the only presidential candidate who signed a letter to supporters soliciting money for the national committee. (12/4/2003)

Is Dean talking straight?

The Associated Press is reporting that Howard Dean is the recipient of more pressure to open his records from when he was Governor of Vermont:

The Washington-based Judicial Watch said it would file suit in Washington County Superior Court in Montpelier, Vt., arguing that the sealed records should be opened to the public. The organization joined several of Dean's presidential campaign rivals and leading Republicans in calling on the former governor to live up to his straight-talk stance.

"Further political considerations are not a basis for withholding documents, government documents certainly," said Judicial Watch President Thomas Fitton. "It may be good politics, but it ain't good law."

At the heart of the controversy are 45 boxes of Dean’s personal correspondence as Governor of Vermont. The records are sealed for 10 years. This was done to cover the time of two terms of President if Dean would win according to Vermont officials. Even if the documents are unsealed certain records could be kept sealed due the nature of the material and its subject. For example, state law prevents personnel matters, child abuse cases and other material from being disclosed. (12/4/2003)

Republicans pressure Dean

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie spoke at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, answering questions from the floor regarding the state of the party and some of the key issues. Gillespie offered criticism of Howard Dean’s comments calling into question the veracity and context of his statements.

"This is the same critic who earlier in the year told Americans that we should prepare for the day when the United States 'won't always have the strongest military' -- former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean," Gillespie said.

"He is wrong about our military and his charge that the president was going to cut the combat pay for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is completely at odds with all facts," Gillespie said. (12/4/2003)

Dean wants new social contract

Howard Dean campaigning in union hall in Cedar Rapids, IA renewed the theme of a new age of social responsibility that he launched in Texas near Enron. According to the Waterloo Courier Dean blamed President Bush for America’s economic woes despite the recent good news:

Heavy industry influence in writing the energy and Medicare bills, massive corporate campaign donations to Bush and tax breaks to the wealthy are all evidence of government working for the wrong people, Dean said.

"The government today is no longer working for all the people," Dean said. "The government is working for the large, corporate special interests.

"Iowans have lost their trust in corporate CEOs and in their government. I have seen this all across America. People feel disconnected from their government and our business leaders," Dean said. (12/4/2003)

New Hampshire blow out

Zogby poll

Howard Dean is continuing to open his lead in New Hampshire to a 30 percent lead over his nearest rival Sen. John Kerry in the latest Zogby poll taken Dec. 1.  In October, Dean held a 20 percent lead. The poll found only 19 percent were undecided.

The poll results by percentages are: Dean – 42; Kerry – 12; Wesley Clark – 9; Joe Lieberman – 7; John Edwards – 4; Dick Gephardt – 3; Dennis Kucinich – 2; all others were less than 1. The margin of error was 4.5 percent.

American Research Group

The American Research Group poll confirms Zogby’s poll that Howard Dean has an incredible lead in New Hampshire. The poll results by percentages are: Howard Dean – 45; Kerry – 13; Wesley Clark – 11; Joe Lieberman – 5; John Edwards – 3; Dick Gephardt – 5; Dennis Kucinich – 2; all others were less than 1. The margin of error was 4 percent.

The Globe’s analysis of how the campaigns shape up is:

Clark, Lieberman, Gephardt, and Edwards are vying for the centrist vote; Gephardt and Dean are competing for union support; and Dean appears to have a lock on most Oklahoma liberals, Democratic analysts say. Those five candidates, along with Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, have campaign offices and paid staffs of one to four members in the state. Edwards is widely believed to have been to Oklahoma the most, about 10 times this year, focusing his campaign on rural areas in eastern Oklahoma. By contrast, Senator John F. Kerry, whose advisers say he plans to compete in the state, "shows little sign of having a strategy here," Parmley said. (12/4/2003)

Florida shakedown redux

The golden rule

Florida continues to play by the golden rule that the person with the gold rules -- and the person with the gold is Howard Dean. Dean contributed  $50,000 to the state party. For that contribution, Dean and his supporters will be allowed to blanket the Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World with receptions, rallies, information tables, even activist training seminars. The other campaigns are complaining and many don’t think they will pay the highwayman the toll. The Miami Herald reports that the Clark campaign has an alternative to paying thousands for a hospitality suite and will roll into town in an RV that will serve as the makeshift hospitality suite.

Florida’s holdup is not limited to out-of-towners. It also covers candidates running for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Bob Graham. The Herald reports that Aides to two of the party's three candidates to replace retiring Sen. Bob Graham also said Wednesday that they declined request for $25,000 contributions. (12/4/2003)

Meetup reaches 150,000

Just hours before the December 3rd Dean 2004 Meetup, the 150,000th American joined the Meetups. Dean supporters met at over 910 bowling alleys, restaurants and community centers to support the campaign and influence the future of the country.

"I'm so pleased that 150,000 individual Americans have made the decision to get involved in my campaign," Governor Dean said "These are all people who are re-engaging in American politics--and they’ll find out that they really can make a difference and take our country back."

"We started this campaign in January with just 432 Americans on Meetup—and [Wednesday] morning we watched that many new supporters join in just a couple of hours,” said Campaign Manager Joe Trippi. "It's these individuals across the country who are banding together through efforts like Meetup to support Governor Dean and help build the greatest grassroots campaign that presidential politics has ever seen." (12/4/2003)

Dean’s mutual fund plan

Howard Dean praised the vote by Securities and Exchange Commission to stop illegal mutual fund trading after the Market’s close and went on to offer more rules for the exchange.

"The mutual fund scandals are only the latest example of the betrayal of the public trust in our economic system. The thread of that betrayal begins with the deceptions of Ken Lay and Enron, extends through the abuses by some mutual fund executives, and runs right up to the very top, to a President who used budget gimmicks and fuzzy accounting to justify his reckless and irresponsible tax cuts," Governor Dean said.

"We need a return to ethical business practices," Dean said. Governor Dean called on Congress to adopt the following measures:

·        Require mutual fund boards to have a majority of independent directors, including the chairman.

·        Amend the Investment Company Act of 1940 to state that boards have a fiduciary duty to act in the interest of investors.

·        Require mutual funds to report all managerial compensation in a transparent way.

·        Mandate a simple, uniform system of reporting of all fees charged by mutual funds. (12/4/2003)

Dean books reviewed

Rich Barlow of the Boston Globe offers review of two recent Books on Dean. One is written by Dean titled, “Winning Back America,” Simon & Schuster, 179 pp., paperback, $11.95. The other is “Howard Dean: A Citizen's Guide to the Man Who Would Be President,” by a team of reporters for Vermont's Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times -Argus. Edited by Dirk Van Susteren, Steerforth, 245 pp., paperback, illustrated, $12.95. The review provides some unsettling previews of Dean’s inconsistencies:

Dean, of course, eclipsed his Democratic primary rivals on the strength of his opposition to the war against Saddam Hussein. There were reasonable arguments on both sides of that debate, but Dean's were worrisomely ill considered. "Iraq was not an imminent threat to the security of the United States," he writes in "Winning Back America." Indeed not -- which was the strongest argument for disarming Saddam now. Reading just the recent headlines about North Korea reveals that a president's military options contract, not expand, when the enemy is an imminent threat, i.e., has weapons of mass destruction. Candidate Dean was quoted once as saying that he would have unilaterally attacked Saddam if the dictator had possessed nuclear weapons. It's likely President Dean would do no such thing. (12/4/2003)

Dean’s response to attack

A conservative Republican group known as Club for Growth began airing ads in Iowa pointing out that Howard Dean’s numerous plans add up to dollar amounts far greater than all of President Bush’s tax cuts. The ad presents the following:

“For three decades, Democratic Presidential candidates have supported huge tax increases. This year, they’re back.”

The ad says that Dean has promised to “raise income taxes, marriage taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, even bring back the death tax.”

It says Dean “will raise taxes on the average family by more than $1,900 a year.”

With photos of Mondale, McGovern and Dukakis on the screen, the ad says, “These Democrats found out that Americans can’t afford higher taxes. Will Howard Dean ever learn?”

In response to these ads Dean for America announced that it was launching an ad campaign in response to renewed attacks by Republicans. Today, the Republican-backed group "Club for Growth" announced that it would begin airing ads attacking Governor Dean’s record on taxes. This is the first known ad by a Republican group attacking a Democratic candidate by name.

"It's obvious that the general election is already underway, and that the Republicans are beginning to understand that the greatest grassroots campaign in modern politics poses a serious threat to their special interest friends. This is the third time that Republicans have launched attacks on Governor Dean in the last ten days--first the RNC put up an attack ad, then Ed Gillespie came to Vermont to attack Dean, and now they’re having third parties launch negative ads too," Campaign Manager Joe Trippi said.

"We will not let such false attacks like today's by the Republican 'Club for Growth' go unanswered. The American people are tired of these politics as usual--they want and deserve the truth," Trippi said. "Governor Dean's strong record of fiscal conservatism left Vermont with a legacy of balanced budgets and reducing taxes through his 11 years as governor."

Here is Howard Dean’s TV spot:

Image of George Bush over a closed factory. / "George Bush. His economic policies created the largest deficit in our county's history."

Footage from Club for Growth ad. / "Now he's hiding behind negative ads that falsely attack Howard Dean."

Text appears: The Truth: / "The Truth?"

Footage of HD on the campaign trail. / "Howard Dean balanced budgets 11 years in a row. He's a fiscal conservative who cut state income taxes--twice. Raised the minimum wage. And provided health care coverage for nearly every child in his state."

HD voice over under footage. / "I'm Howard Dean. I approved this message because they’re not trying to stop me, they’re trying to stop you." (12/5/2003)

Speaking of attacks

Dean is diagnosed by the political commentator Charles Krauthammer for having Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.

Krauthammer makes the diagnosis because of Dean’s indicating on NPR that the reason President Bush is not releasing the 9-11 report is because the Saudis told him not to. (12/5/2003)

Dean as Thomas Pain

Howard Dean has cast himself as the modern day Thomas Pain and written a pamphlet titled Common Sense for a New Century. The campaign has begun distributing 500,000 of the pamphlets and is available to read online.

Dean quotes everyone from Pain - “We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” to Barbra Jordan - “Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.”

The manifesto covers the key points of Dean’s insurrection campaign of the peoples’ need to fight corporate America and bring about justice in the world:

As America developed its industrial potential, the work of many began to yield vast riches for the few. Industrial barons began to dominate the economic and political systems, subjugating the interests of the people to their own narrow benefit….

…And now we enter a new era. After a few decades of relative peace and prosperity, we are beginning to see that our system is once again out of balance, and the interests of the people are not being served. It should not be this way; as Thomas Jefferson said, “Public offices were [not] made for private convenience.” (12/5/2003)

Dean’s experiment

Howard Dean’s experiment to utilize his Internet contacts to elect a Democrat congressman seems to be working. The Des Moines Register reports that Dean’s efforts have resulted in pledges of $51,557 for Leonard Boswell.  It has also been learned that the congressman who first turned down the offer of being the first test case of Deans’ money machine was New York Congressman Tim Bishop. Bishop did not want to participate because he thought it would look like a tacit endorsement. Bishop has since endorsed John Kerry. Boswell has no such concerns according to his aide as reported by the Register:

Boswell aide Eric Witte said Thursday that Boswell did not view accepting the money as a tacit Dean endorsement.

"The congressman has always and will continue to view his role as trying to make sure that Iowans have a chance to express their views to the candidates and make sure the candidates have a chance to meet Iowans," Witte said.

"He thinks the actions with Dean are not related to that role as facilitator." (12/5/2003)

Simon for Dean

Former Illinois Sen. Paul Simon on Thursday announced his endorsement of Howard Dean’s bid for the Democratic nomination, and Dean aides said Simon experienced attacks similar to their campaign. In 1988, Gephardt narrowly defeated Simon in the Iowa caucuses. Both campaigns lost to Michael Dukakis. In a twist of fate, Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager, was working for Dick Gephardt and was the author of most of the attacks on Simon. (12/5/2003)

How to organize

Marshall Ganz, a Harvard University sociologist -- who helped pioneer these methods during 16 years with the United Farm Workers -- is one of the keys as to why Howard Dean is so far ahead. Dean’s campaign is set to surpass its 1,000th house or community party. These parties are run by an out of town staff person who is trained in the method Ganz learned. NY Times story on the subject details the benefits of this style of organizing:

Dr. Dean's campaign has used information collected from these house meetings to create a database of voters that ranks their views of Dr. Dean, on a scale of 1 to 6, and that includes detailed notations about their the voters' opinions and personal lives that organizers can turn to help nail down supporters.

 The group meets and hears the story by the staff person as to why they are involved in electing Howard Dean. The key is to make the story relate to the people in the meeting and their circumstances. Then others are asked to tell their stories of why they are interested in Howard Dean.

It is all about gaining supporters, finding out what interest those who are leaning toward Dean and then using the information to persuade them to support Dean. After compiling the list of supporters, it is then the organizations goal to turn them out on election day. (12/5/2003)

How not to organize

On Wednesday night, nearly 1,500 Iowans were to gather across the state, from P.H.A.T. Daddy's in Marengo to the Farmer's Kitchen in Atlantic, to demonstrate the organizational muscle of their favorite presidential candidate. However, no one showed up at the Farmers Kitchen in Atlantic, there was a hitch: Despite the Dean campaign's bold promise, no one in Atlantic knew to meet up. The Chicago Tribune relates the mess up in detail as an attendee calls the owner of the Kitchen, Forrest Teig, to find out why there isn’t a meeting:

"No. There's no meeting planned," said Teig, reached at home on the telephone by a visitor who showed up at Farmer's Kitchen at the appointed hour of 7 p.m., only to find Johnson serving his final two customers and hoisting black vinyl-covered chairs onto the tables for closing time.

When told the Dean campaign had promised a Cass County Meetup and he was to be its host, Teig was surprised but understanding, explaining the foul-up by saying: "It's a group of amateur people working on the campaign." (12/5/2003)

Darling of NY

The New York Daily News reports that Howard Dean is the darling of the Democrats in NY. The backing of the hospital workers union and the Queens Democratic organization have placed him out front in the Big Apple. The big question for Dean is where Hillary Clinton will end up on his candidacy. There is the perception that she finds him too weak on the war to beat Bush. While a lot of other candidates have campaigned in the state, the story indicates that NY could come down to Dean and Dick Gephardt:

"A lot of insiders believe it will boil down to Dean and [Dick] Gephardt in New York. They are people who have good-sized audiences in the state," said consultant Norman Adler.

This weekend Dean will see if he can keep his climb in Florida going (see poll below) as he attends the Florida Democrat convention. He is expected to put on the biggest show at the convention. Next weekend Dean will be back campaign in South Florida, raising money in Miami and at the Palm Beach home of Netscape Communications co-founder Jim Clark (12/5/2003)

Former Arizona Governor to endorse Dean

When Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona, endorses Howard Dean it will be further evidence that the front-running Dean is steadily gaining support from Democratic Party leaders despite a campaign that has been fueled by his anti-establishment, anti-Washington rhetoric. Babbit was formerly Interior Secretary under President Carter (12/5/2003)

New Hampshire lead not too big

One of those conducting the poll that showed Dean with a 30 percent lead in New Hampshire said that the lead was not too big for someone to upset Dean’s race to the White House, according to the Manchester Union Leader:

Dean’s lead has become so large that it raises the question of whether he can meet such high expectations on primary election day. Most elections tighten up as the voting draws closer, but, according to ARG pollster Dick Bennett, Dean may hold his lead in this race.

“Because of the nature of this race, I don’t think his lead is becoming too large,” said Bennett. “Part of his strength is the collective weakness of the other candidates.” (12/5/2003)

Lifting steel tariffs

Howard Dean

"Despite what President Bush may claim, the steel industry needs additional breathing room to get back on its feet. But the tariffs are a short-term solution to a larger problem - this Administration's broken trade policy. Our trade agreements need to benefit workers, not just big multinational corporations.

"The President's decision to lift the steel tariffs early is just another example of this Administration playing politics with peoples' lives. When he imposed the tariffs, the President's rhetoric suggested that he actually cared about American steelworkers, their families, and the communities in which they live. If that were the case, he would not be lifting them today," said Governor Dean.

Governor Dean believes that we should be protecting American jobs by making trade fair; that we need tougher labor and environmental rights in our trade agreements; that we need to enforce vigorously the terms of existing trade agreements so that American workers, farmers, and businesses get the benefits that we bargained for; and that we must promote laws that encourage companies to create jobs in the US, not laws that encourage companies to move jobs overseas.  (12/5/2003)

Poll watching

Miami Herald reports that six months ago Dean was at 1 percent among Florida Democrats. Now he leads -- with 16 percent -- compared to 15 for Clark and Lieberman, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. Of the nine Democratic hopefuls, Dean and Clark come closest to President Bush in a general election matchup in Florida, each coming within 8 points, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points. Lieberman would lose by 11.

To say this is a huge blow to Sen. Joe Lieberman is an understatement. Florida newspapers called their state Lieberman’s second home because of all the campaigning he did in the state in 2000. (12/5/2003)

Upping the ante

Groups and opponents are trying to dent Howard Dean’s steamroller but his supporters just provide more money to flatten his detractors. They still have not found the issue or the candidate to slow him down.

Sen. Joe Lieberman is one of the latest to try with the unsealing of the records issue. Lieberman chastises Dean for sealing some of his correspondence and other records as Governor. He states, "We, Democrats are better than that."

Another group -- looking like the beginnings of a “Democrat Stop Dean Movement” -- is buying $230,000 worth of ads in Iowa. The group is called Americans for Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values. The head of the group is Tim Raftis who is the former campaign manager for Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's unsuccessful presidential bid in 1992. Sen. Harkin (from Iowa) has not endorsed anyone and is not affiliated with the effort. The organization states that it is an unaffiliated independent organization.

The ad hits Dean by stating he and President Bush received the National Rifle Association's highest marks for their stances on gun ownership. It also calls into question Dean’s liberal credentials by asking, ‘If you thought Howard Dean had a progressive record, check the facts and, please, think again.’

All of this just brings the Dean supporters rallying round their candidate. The Associated Press offers these insights in their story:

Dean's campaign said Friday it raised nearly $200,000 to run a response ad less than 24 hours after Club for Growth, a group that works to elect fiscal conservatives, began running a commercial in Iowa and New Hampshire faulting Dean for seeking a repeal of President Bush's tax cuts. Upping the ante, campaign manager Joe Trippi said it's up to Dean's supporters whether the campaign would air counter ads to the other critical spots.

The campaign plans to spend "several million dollars" to return to the TV and radio airwaves beginning Monday in South Carolina and New Mexico, where voters can start requesting ballots Dec. 15. Within the next two weeks the campaign will do the same in Oklahoma and Arizona — four states among the seven holding contests Feb. 3. The former Vermont governor hasn't been on the air in any of the four states since September.

Dean also will boost paid staff members starting Monday in the four states and run commercials soon in the other three states — Missouri, North Dakota and Delaware — as he continues heavy ad buys in Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold their contests in January. (12/6/2003)

Success is failure

Howard Dean calls the record revised growth in the economy, dropping unemployment, and record rise in productivity a failure and says it is all Bush’s fault. Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean commented on the November unemployment figures released this morning, and how, despite the growth, this administration has compiled the worst economic record since the Great Depression:

"Today's job announcement is another link in the chain of President Bush's broken promises. When he proposed his program of tax cuts for the rich, he said they would create 306,000 jobs a month. November's 57,000 job record puts the administration even further behind its promise -- and puts the American worker further behind the eight-ball.

"Worse yet, manufacturing -- the heart of American prosperity -- continued to lose jobs for the 39th consecutive month. In November, another 17,000 American factory workers got the unwelcome news that they lost their jobs -- just in time for Christmas.

"Meanwhile, the Administration and the Republican Congress refuse to take up the extension of unemployment benefits that would help millions of jobless workers in the new year. It's time to take back America and put America back to work." (12/6/2003)

Dean to meet up with S. Carolina

Howard Dean will be in South Carolina on Sunday, December 7, to officially open his state campaign headquarters and to deliver what is being called a major address on the American community. Dean will be accompanied by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. for the address.

Explaining the speech's theme of talking about the importance of the American community, Dean said: "Today, Americans are working harder, for less money, with more debt, and less time to spend with our families and communities. In the year 2003, in the United States, over 12 million children live in poverty. And yesterday, there were 3,000 more children without health care-children of all races. By the end of today, there will 3,000 more. And by the end of tomorrow, there will be 3,000 more on top of that."

"It's time we had a new politics in America -- a politics that refuses to pander to our lowest prejudices," he added.
Dean and Jackson will also attend the campaign's office grand opening in Columbia Sunday with State Director Don Jones and Deputy State Director Kelley Adams.

"Governor Dean's offers a compelling message of hope and an inspiring vision for America," Jones said. "I look forward to spreading his message throughout South Carolina and building upon our successful Meetups in eight cities." (12/6/2003)

Dean to meet up with Nation

The Boston Globe reports Howard Dean’s campaign is going ahead with a national campaign focus with the heavy buys in the super seven states of the Feb 3rd primary date. The Dean campaign is also making substantive changes in the handling of the candidate, according to the Globe:

Late this week, Dean started traveling on a separate plane from the press corps, which his staff had assiduously courted earlier in the race. Interaction with the governor was restricted to four or five questions following events yesterday in Iowa and Thursday in Texas. Dean's schedule has also filled with closed-door events as the campaign has sought money and courted support from members of the party establishment. One such meeting occurred in Dallas between Dean and Ron Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas and US Senate candidate in 2002.

The Rutland Herald also reported Thursday that Dean was planning to make only one visit to New Hampshire in the first half of this month, and instead concentrating his campaigning elsewhere in the country as he has opened up, according to two polls released this week, a 30-point lead in the Granite State. In Iowa, meanwhile, the campaign that once operated on a shoestring budget now travels with a satellite phone so Dean can be in constant contact across a state with spotty cellphone service.

Dean assured the press while campaigning in Iowa that he had made plenty of time for New Hampshire because he knows what happens if he wouldn’t. The state is famous for dumping on those who dump them. He also acknowledged that his campaign was aiming at a different target according to the Globe:

"If you can't focus on what's beyond, we're not going to beat George Bush," Dean said "In the end, we're really not running against each other, we're running against George Bush." (12/6/2003)

Money, organization & candidate

Three things you need to win a campaign are money, organization and a candidate. However, it also helps to have good ideas. An Internet supporter of Howard Dean is responsible for the campaign spending $2,100 for a 30 minute commercial at 4:30 p.m. in Madison, Wisconsin. The ad is the first of its kind by the Dean campaign. (H. Ross Perot did the same in the 1992 presidential election.) The spot is being used as a test to see how the medium would play in gaining supporters. The campaign is test marketing the idea in the cheaper Wisconsin media market and if it works they will air it in other states. The ad asks for support and financial contributions. (12/6/2003)

Meetup

The NY Times has an in-depth story (six pages on the Internet) on the Dean youth phenomenon and the Internet model that propels the campaign. One of the great phenomena of the Dean campaign are Meetups. The campaign in part is tapping into the aspect of chat rooms and other means of the new social character. The Times article recognizes this fact when it references Robert Putnam’s work:

Meetup.com takes its inspiration from books like ''Bowling Alone,'' by Robert D. Putnam, about the decline of American public life; its founders claim that the regular monthly meetings arranged through its site (gathering any group from Wiccans to dachshund lovers to, more recently, supporters of political candidates) can help heal the disintegration of the American community.

Responsiveness is the watchword of the Dean campaign if not the appearance of it, according to the article:

Part of Dean's appeal is that he behaves in recognizably human ways. He talks with real emotion and seems to respond to events (if sometimes poorly) as they come. In this election season, Dean's responsive, even angry, voice has had political resonance. Many Dean supporters objected not just to the war in Iraq itself, but also to the Bush administration's failure to even maintain the appearance of listening to the massive protests and U.N. resolutions. By contrast, responsiveness is the essential sound of the Dean campaign. It is embodied not only in Dean himself, but also in the blog, which creates the impression of a constant dialogue between supporters and campaign staff, and in the organizing on the ground.

The campaign sees political involvement in the way ''Bowling Alone'' does, as related to participation in civic organizations -- to people getting together socially. People at all levels of the Dean campaign will tell you that its purpose is not just to elect Howard Dean president. Just as significant, they say, the point is to give people something to believe in, and to connect those people to one another. The point is to get them out of their houses and bring them together at barbecues, rallies and voting booths.

People have sold their houses and traveled across country to work for free for the Dean campaign. Supporters call up the campaign to see if they can do something for Dean in Timbuktu and the staff tells them yes and ads that they don’t need permission to do anything they want. Many believe as Lauren Popper, a 24-year-old actress -- who temporarily left her boyfriend and career in New York City to work as an organizer for the Dean campaign in Manchester, N.H, -- that they are creating a new community and world:

''The thought that he'll be president is a side effect,'' she said. ''This campaign is about allowing people to come together and tell their life stories.''

The campaign, like the Internet, is a grid pattern. The key power points are the intersecting points or junctions where people (or ‘traffic’) congregate. The Drudge report is one such junction. You can go to the Drudge report and click on one of the nearly 100 links and get to somewhere else. Dean has a group of techies who maintain and write code for his central hub and the Times covers them in the article:

The software that is supposed to bridge the gaps in the contemporary landscape is maintained here by three often-barefoot boys. They frequently work through the night, as piped-in soft rock fills the empty lobby. When you ask them how long they've been working, they respond in increments like ''40 hours'' or ''three days, with naps.'' During these spans of time spent in front of the computer, they may at any given point be coding software, corresponding with Internet theorists and venture capitalists or just firing off instant messages to one another that say, ''Shut up.''

Zephyr Teachout, 32, is the campaign's director of Internet organizing. She is responsible for overseeing the three barefoot boys -- Clay Johnson, Zack Rosen and Gray Brooks -- who keep the system running. Teachout is a lawyer and runs Dean’s web effort:

Teachout, sitting at the very edge of her seat, tells me that ''the revolution,'' as she calls it, has three phases; the first is Howard Dean himself, the second is Meetup.com and the third is the software that Rosen, Johnson and Brooks work with: Get Local, DeanLink, DeanSpace. ''DeanSpace,'' Teachout says, ''is the revolution.''

DeanLink is a version of Friendster that Johnson wrote the code for the Dean campaign. On Friendster, users are able to see friends of friends in up to four degrees of separation and read the comments their friends have written about them.

Rosen is responsible for creating Dean Web. It allows any site to reprint another sites’ stories, images and campaign feed automatically… as if they have a collective consciousness. This cuts out the copy-cut-and-paste function that is normally required to communicate between sites. It also provides a ''dashboard'' where the people at the campaign can track patterns on its unofficial sites and observe which content is most popular.

When Teachout says that Dean Space is the revolution she means that the space on the planet know being populated with Dean supporters who create the movement are the revolution. In late October, Teachout went on a tour of the country to meet the people running the campaign. (12/6/2003)

It’s the budget stupid

Analysis by Roger Hughes

The latest and maybe the most important battle issue for Iowa between Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt is emerging as the Balancing of the Budget. The Des Moines Register covers the issue in one of its best pieces on the race to date. The coverage has several former Clinton administration officials commenting on the Dean and Gephardt proposals. Both candidates are claiming to be able to balance the budget.

The fight between the two candidates is over a comment Howard Dean made on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press.  On the show Dean said, "We're going to have to limit the growth of entitlement programs." He also said, "The way that you balance budgets and keep them balanced is to restrict spending."

Gephardt has hit hard at Dean for cutting social services while Governor of Vermont and for Dean’s statement on Iowa Press of his intentions to do so again if elected President. Gephardt claims that he can balance the budget through stimulus of jobs through the creation of a new energy and expansion of healthcare. Gephardt would raise taxes by removing all of Bush’s tax cuts and his proposed health care would cost $214 billion in the first year and increase annually.

The Register quotes Dean as using a variation of the line that Gephardt has had his chance and is part of the problem:

"I just don't think he understands balancing the budget. Most legislators don't," Dean said in an interview while campaigning in Iowa last week… They never really have to make the decisions that a governor or a president has to make when they are building those budgets, because when you do that, you make choices and you make people mad, and legislators don't like to do that."

Dean would also repeal all of Bush’s tax cuts and put it between health care, education and deficit reduction -- despite the fact he has spent the President’s tax cuts already many times over in new proposals.

Gephardt record is not pure in standing up for entitlement increases. Gephardt voted for cuts in Medicare increases in both 1990 and 1993 as part of Clinton’s deficit reduction measures while the Democrats controlled Congress. Gephardt has attacked Dean for later supporting larger Newt Gingrich Republican backed Medicare cuts His defense of his 1990 and 1993 votes is because the cuts went for doctor and hospital reimbursement, not benefits. Gephardt argues in the Register for the dynamic nature of his program:

"It will cause deficit reduction in and of itself. It's a much more dynamic - it's a much more synergistic - way to deal with the budget problems and the growth problems," he said. "If your goal is getting rid of deficits, you're never going to succeed if that's your single goal. If your goal is getting job creation and growth in the economy, then you're able to really get deficit reduction."

Gephardt friends from the Clinton administration do not agree with him, according to the Register:

Gephardt's plan could achieve a balanced budget, in theory, but the chances of it passing in a closely divided Congress are slim, said Robert Reischauer, director of the Congressional Budget Office early in the Clinton administration.

Reischauer also said the health-care and energy investments Gephardt proposes are unlikely to spark immediate wholesale economic growth.

Former director of the Office of Management and Budget for Clinton, Leon Panetta, is also quoted as being skeptical of Gephardt’s plan. However, Gephardt received support from an unlikely source on Meet the Press when Newt Gingrich proffered the advice that the new boogie man is not inflation but rather deflation.

The other factor between Gephardt and Dean is the difference between generations. Gephardt is more likely to be supported by older Iowans and Dean by younger. Gephardt knows his strength lies in those older Iowans, who are more likely to sit through 3 or 4 hours of a caucus than their younger counterparts. If Gephardt convinces older Iowans that Dean is likely to cut entitlements (better known as Social Security and Medicare), he can win. (12/7/2003)

Yepsen: Dean looks best

Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen’s column suggests that Howard Dean is in the best position to win Iowa. Yepsen’s argument is that Howard Dean is the candidate who is on the move and his favorable ratings are the highest. He also has the lowest unfavorable ratings. Yepsen writes:

A four-point lead isn't much, especially in a poll with that sort of margin of error. But other things in the survey indicate Dean has the best crowbar for breaking this thing open 43 days from now. Obviously, with such a large percentage of undecideds, the magic could happen for someone else but Dean seems better positioned right now than anyone else.

Part of the problem is that John Kerry has not gained and John Edwards has gone backwards in Iowa from the latest Zogby poll and there are only 43 days left. Therefore, at the over 900 Iowa caucuses many Edwards and Kerry supporters will not make a viable 15 percent group that is necessary to be counted. They will be looking for a home. At that point, whether they go for Dean or Dick Gephardt is going to be the big question.

Yepsen’s column suggests Dean. This presupposes that there will not be a Stop Dean effort in Iowa. My bet and Dean’s is there will be. And that is why Dean is dispatching two of his top generals to Iowa for the next 43 days. (12/7/2003)

Send in the big guns

Howard Dean’s campaign, signifying Iowa’s importance, announced they are sending in two top aides to Iowa for the duration. Tricia Enright, the campaign's communication director, and Mike Ford, right-hand man to campaign manager Joe Trippi, plan to work in Iowa through the Jan. 19th caucuses. The Dean campaign previously announced heavy staffing and media buys for the Feb 3rd Super 7 primary round. Now, they are signaling that they will not let up on Iowa with the addition of a top mouthpiece and strategist being dispatched to the state. Dean is clearly stretching out the field to the point it will be difficult for others to keep up. The only way that it will be possible for others to compete is if they divide up the targets the way the Austrians, Russians and English did against Napoleon. The other scenario that would be devastating for Dean is if Gephardt wins Iowa. The Associated Press reports:

"We're not going to let up in Iowa. It's going to be tough," Trippi said Saturday after Dean addressed Florida Democrats. "We're getting hammered." (12/7/2003)

Judge should decide

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Dean said he has decided to use a lawsuit by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, suing to open the records, as a mechanism to determine which records should be released and which should be kept sealed.

"What we think the best thing to do is to let the judge go through every single document and decide for himself what ought to be revealed and what not to be revealed," Dean said.  (12/7/2003)

Dean’s community strategy

Howard Dean opened his campaign headquarters in South Carolina with the following speech:

In 1968, Richard Nixon won the White House. He did it in a shameful way -- by dividing Americans against one another, stirring up racial prejudices and bringing out the worst in people. They called it the "Southern Strategy," and the Republicans have been using it ever since. Nixon pioneered it, and Ronald Reagan perfected it, using phrases like "racial quotas" and "welfare queens" to convince white Americans that minorities were to blame for all of America's problems. The Republican Party would never win elections if they came out and said their core agenda was about selling America piece by piece to their campaign contributors and making sure that wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a few. To distract people from their real agenda, they run elections based on race, dividing us, instead of uniting us. But these politics do worse than that -- they fracture the very soul of who we are as a country. It was a different Republican president, who 150 years ago warned, "A house divided cannot stand," and it is now a different Republican party that has won elections for the past 30 years by turning us into a divided nation.

In America, there is nothing black or white about having to live from one paycheck to the next. Hunger does not care what color we are. In America, a conversation between parents about taking on more debt might be in English or it might be in Spanish, worrying about making ends meet knows no racial identity. Black children and white children all get the flu and need the doctor. In both the inner city and in small rural towns, our schools need good teachers. When I was in medical school in the Bronx, one of my first ER patients was a 13-year-old African American girl who had an unwanted pregnancy. When I moved to Vermont to practice medicine, one of my first ER patients was a 13-year-old white girl who had an unwanted pregnancy. They were bound by their common human experience. There are no black concerns or white concerns or Hispanic concerns in America. There are only human concerns. Every time a politician uses the word "quota," it's because he'd rather not talk about the real reasons that we've lost almost 3 million jobs. Every time a politician complains about affirmative action in our universities, it's because he'd rather not talk about the real problems with education in America - like the fact that here in South Carolina, only 15% of African Americans have a post-high school degree.

When education is suffering in lower-income areas, it means that we will all pay for more prisons and face more crime in the future. When families lack health insurance and are forced to go to the emergency room when they need a doctor, medical care becomes more expensive for each of us. When wealth is concentrated at the very top, when the middle class is shrinking and the gap between rich and poor grows as wide as it has been since the Gilded Age of the 19^th Century, our economy cannot sustain itself. When wages become stagnant for the majority of Americans, as they have been for the past two decades, we will never feel as though we are getting ahead. When we have the highest level of personal debt in American history, we are selling off our future, in order to barely keep our heads above water today.

Today, Americans are working harder, for less money, with more debt, and less time to spend with our families and communities. In the year 2003, in the United States, over 12 million children live in poverty. Nearly 8 million of them are white. And no matter what race they are, too many of them will live in poverty all their lives. And yesterday, there were 3,000 more children without health care - children of all races. By the end of today, there will 3,000 more. And by the end of tomorrow, there will be 3,000 more on top of that. America can do better than this. It's time we had a new politics in America -- a politics that refuses to pander to our lowest prejudices. Because when white people and black people and brown people vote together, that's when we make true progress in this country. Jobs, health care, education, democracy, and opportunity. These are the issues that can unite America. The politics of the 21^st century is going to begin with our common interests.

If the President tries to divide us by race, we're going to talk about health care for every American. If Karl Rove tries to divide us by gender, we're going to talk about better schools for all of our children. If large corporate interests try to divide us by income, we're going to talk about better jobs and higher wages for every American. If any politician tries to win an election by turning America into a battle of us versus them, we're going to respond with a politics that says that we're all in this together - that we want to raise our children in a world in which they are not taught to hate one another, because our children are not born to hate one another.

We're going to talk about justice again in this country, and what an America based on justice should look like -- an America with justice in our tax code, justice in our health care system, and justice in our hearts as well as our laws. We're going to talk about making higher education available to every young person in every neighborhood and community in America, because over 95% of people with a 4-year degree in this country escape poverty. We're going to talk about rebuilding rural communities and making sure that rural America can share in the promise and prosperity of the rest of America. We're going to talk about investing in more small businesses instead of subsidizing huge corporations, because small businesses create 7 out of every 10 jobs in this country and they don't move their jobs overseas -- and they can help revitalize troubled communities. We're going to make it easier for everyone to get a small business loan wherever they live and whatever the color of their skin. We're going to talk about rebuilding our schools and our roads and our public spaces, empowering people to take pride in their neighborhood and their community again. We're going to talk about building prosperity that's based on more than spending beyond our means, a prosperity that doesn't force us to choose between working long hours and raising our children, a prosperity that doesn't require a mountain of debt to sustain it, a prosperity that lifts up every one of us and not just those at the very top. The politics of race and the politics of fear will be answered with the promise of community and a message of hope. And that's how we're going to win in 2004.

At the Democratic National Convention in 1976, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan asked, "Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit sharing in a common endeavor or will we become a divided nation?" We are determined to find a way to reach out to Americans of every background, every race, every gender and sexual orientation, and bring them -- as Dr. King said -- to the same table of brotherhood. We have great work to do in America. It will take years. But it will last for generations. And it begins today, with every one of us here. Abraham Lincoln said that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth. But this President has forgotten ordinary people. That is why it is time for us to join together. Because it is only a movement of citizens of every color, every income level, and every background that can change this country and once again make it live up to the promise of America. So, today I ask you to not just join this campaign but make it your own. This new era of the United States begins not with me but with you. United together, you can take back your country.

Dean lacks party support

The Washington Times covers the establishment endorsement numbers count game. Dean is in bad shape, considering his front-runner status, according to the Times:

Despite five terms as governor, his chairmanship of the Democratic Governors' Association and a 30-point lead in New Hampshire polls, not a single governor and relatively few members of Congress are backing the physician turned politician in his bid to challenge President Bush in 2004.

Mr. Dean has been endorsed by 15 House Democrats and only one Senate Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy, who represents his home state of Vermont. This compares with 33 House members who have endorsed Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and 20 lawmakers who are backing Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Wesley Clark, a retired general, has the support of the two senators from Arkansas and Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York. None of the nation's Democratic governors has endorsed anyone.

The story goes on to point out that there are probably two reasons for this: one being the philosophical differences in the party; and the second being his anti-establishment campaign. Gephardt has been receiving state legislative endorsements and has received the two largest service unions’ endorsements. (12/7/2003)

Florida Dem Convention:

I’d rather be in Iowa or New Hampshire

Democrat candidates for President gathered in Buena Vista, Florida for their party’s state convention and preached to over 4,000 of the faithful. The state’s Democrats are still bruised from the recount and subsequent loss to George Bush. They are also upset over the loss of the straw poll and the $100,000 per candidate they were going to collect for allowing the candidates on the straw poll ballot. In addition, the state’s influence in choosing a candidate is nearly zip -- the state’s March 9th primary date is so late that a one of the candidates will already have the delegate-count needed to secure the nomination.

Howard Dean once again showed that he is the candidate with money and organization. Dean’s union friends helped him pack the convention hall. Dean shelled out $50,000 to the Florida Democrat Party so he could receive special treatment. The real cost for Dean in Florida is probably more in the $100,000 range. For the $50,000 price tag, Dean's staff were able to hold campaign-training seminars for their supporters. None of the other candidates made as much effort. Dean’s campaign was also able to practice their National Democrat Convention technique by staging a made-for-television arrival on the convention stage. Hundreds of supporters screamed his name, waved signs, blew whistles, carried banners and delayed the start of his speech with a 10-minute demonstration.

Away from the stage-managed events, Clark and Dean both struggled a bit during their news conferences. Clark, who has praised President Bush and attended a GOP fund-raiser, was repeatedly asked why he did not complain about the 2000 election before he became a Democratic candidate for president.

Florida recount – sound bytes from the candidates:

"We had more votes. We won," North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said.

"I never thought the frontline for democracy would be the United States in the beautiful state of Florida," former Gen. Wesley Clark said.

"Florida is the place where America's democracy was wounded," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said. (12/7/2003)

Joe Trippi

The Internet has been a fixture of sorts in two previous presidential campaigns. But admirers say it took Trippi to capitalize on its explosive potential to spread word of mouth at the speed of bytes, writes Mike Glover of the Iowa Associated Press who travels with candidates.

With Howard Dean’s success there comes an interest in why he is so successful and that leads to Joe Trippi, and his unusual path into his current position. Trippi first came into politics with Edward Kennedy’s challenge of incumbent President Jimmy Carter. Trippi left San Jose University, where he was 14 hours short of an aerospace engineering degree.

He is known for his intensity. He is also known for being involved in a number of losing campaigns -- Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart and Dick Gephardt. These failures led to his burnout and an involvement in the silicon industry as a consultant. There he was noted for creating online communities. However, according to the AP story it was first in politics that he began to understand the Internet’s capacity for self-generation:

"It dawned on me, being on the other side of Hart with Mondale, that if you drop a pebble in the water, these concentric circles will move on their own," Trippi said. The Internet "was Gary Hart's concentric circles on steroids." (12/8/2003)

$200 million

A NY Daily News article reports on Howard Dean’s goal to get two million people to give him a $100 each to match Bush:

Dean's "$100 dollar revolution" has built him a $25 million war chest and propelled him from long shot to the front of the Democratic pack. Campaign manager Joe Trippi is confident the $200 million goal will be met next summer.

"There are millions of people that are for us right now," he said. "We're positive we get to 2 million as people become convinced it's us versus Bush."

Today, Howard Dean has a high dollar fund-raiser in NY that is expected to go beyond the previous single day record, $2 million, for a Democrat. It is also reported that the New Hampshire NEA, a major force in Granite State Democratic politics, will give their nod to Dean. (12/8/2003)

Death Penalty

The Boston Globe has an article on how Democrats are changing their stripes on the death penalty:

All six upper-tier candidates are on record as supporting at least some application of the death penalty. Moreover, four were opponents who have modified their views -- Howard Dean, John F. Kerry, Joseph I. Lieberman, and John Edwards. Richard A. Gephardt has been a consistent death penalty supporter, and Wesley K. Clark initially said after joining the race in September that he backed a moratorium on executions, but has voiced support of capital punishment as a punishment option for "the most heinous crimes."

The three Democrats who steadfastly oppose the death penalty are all lower-tier candidates in the polls -- Dennis J. Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. All three have said they would seek to abolish capital punishment. (12/8/2003)

Gore endorses Dean

"Ultimately, the voters will make the determination and I will continue to make my case about taking our party and nation forward," said Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman who was Al Gore’s VP candidate didn’t receive a phone call to let him know that his old friend Al Gore was going to endorse his opponent Howard Dean. Even so, Lieberman offered the following initial statement, "I have a lot of respect for Al Gore -- that is why I kept my promise not to run if he did," Lieberman said, adding that he was "proud" to have been Gore's running mate.

Lieberman interviewed on NBC's "Today " program Tuesday morning was asked about whether he felt betrayed by Gore, Lieberman said, "I'm not going to talk about Al Gore's sense of loyalty this morning.” Lieberman was reminded that last week he suggested giving Gore a top-ranking position in his administration, Lieberman said, "I'd say that's less likely this morning."

One of the hints that Gore would endorse Dean was his being a featured speaker at MoveOn.org events. MoveOn.org is a liberal online political group in the same vein as the Dean campaign’s insurgency.

The other campaigns were taken by surprise and offered statements that sent confusing messages of it won’t matter and that they had connections to Gore. "This election is about the future, not about the past," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said in a statement. "This election will be decided by voters, across the country, beginning with voters in Iowa."

"Dick Gephardt fought side-by-side with Al Gore to pass the Clinton economic plan, pass the assault weapons ban and defend against Republican attacks on Medicare and affirmative action," Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith said. "On each of these issues, Howard Dean was on the wrong side."

"We don't think the Gore endorsement will carry much weight," said Jamal Simmons, spokesman for Wesley Clark. Clark's campaign issued a statement noting that more than 20 former Gore staffers worked for Clark.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich sees Gore’s endorsement as legitimizing his campaign and is upset with Dean for continuing to claim that he is the only candidate who opposed the war. Kucinich continues to claim Dean is misleading the public with a recent mailer that he sent that said, 'Only Dean Opposed the War from the Start.'  (12/9/2003)

Gore’s endorsement

The Associated Press reports that Dean hopes the coveted endorsement also eases concerns among party leaders about his lack of foreign policy experience, testy temperament, policy flip-flops, campaign miscues and edgy anti-war, anti-establishment message. Gore stated that Dean “…is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grass-roots level all over the country." He also said in the AP story:

"We don't have the luxury of fighting among ourselves to the point where we seriously damage our ability to win on behalf of the American people," Gore said just hours before the candidates debated in New Hampshire. (12/9/2003)

Big boost for Dean’s Mo

Howard Dean should benefit greatly from the endorsement. This endorsement will go a long way towards putting aside Dean’s lack of insider endorsements by ranking elected officials. This coupled with the two service unions and his wide lead in New Hampshire make him very difficult to stop. The endorsement is likely to have a big effect in Iowa where Al Gore still has strength among party rank and file. Dean holds a small lead over Gephardt in Iowa. Some Democrat strategist argue that it is over and it is all Dean from now on. Others suggest it is not over but it has gotten a lot harder to win and there will be a “Stop Dean” movement yet.

The endorsement comes on the heels of Dean’s NY fund-raiser that was to raise $2 million and the endorsement of 23 of the 47 Democrat NY City Council members -- including Speaker Gifford Miller. Dean also received the official endorsement of the New Hampshire teachers union.

Look for Gephardt to put up an ad in Iowa that exploits the issues he used in the release about how Dean was on the wrong side of Gephardt and Gore. Ironically, In 1998, Dean considered challenging Gore for the Democratic nomination in 2000 but backed away amid pressure from the vice president's office, and opposition in Vermont. He quietly lobbied to be mentioned as a vice presidential candidate, but did not make Gore's short list.

After the two appear at a morning event in Harlem in New York City, they are scheduled to travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a joint appearance. Dean then travels to New Hampshire for the Democratic debate. (12/9/2003)

Dean & abortion

The Washington Times’ Inside Politics reports on the fact that Howard Dean was a contract employee for Planned Parenthood and how this could hurt him in culturally conservative regions:

While Mr. Dean may not find his Planned Parenthood connections too politically damaging in Iowa and New Hampshire, site of the nation's first two major political contests, there could be some fallout in the crucial Feb. 3 Democratic primary in South Carolina, where voters are more culturally conservative.

Mr. Dean has been one of the Democratic field's most vocal supporters of legalized abortion, including partial-birth abortion, which Congress and President Bush moved to ban this year.(12/9/2003)

The people thing

The Washington Post tries to tell the story about how people are powering the Howard Dean campaign, but it pales in comparison to the NY Times story on the same subject covered by IPW earlier:

Drop by Dean's New Hampshire headquarters and you're liable to hear the staff erupt into a particular clap. It's not a normal chaotic slapping of hands but a steady disciplined applause that starts slowly and builds in perfect unison until it releases into a hooting cheer. Any old leftist organizer would recognize this as the clap used by the United Farmworkers Union's movement in the '60s to signal its presence at an occasion -- part celebration, part threat. (12/9/2003)

Dean apologizes

Howard Dean, when he took the stage at the $250 reception in his honor, apologized for the ethnic jokes that preceded his entrance, according to the NY Times:

But as the warm-up acts told bawdy jokes and used epithets referring to African-Americans and homosexuals, the guest of honor was in a room next door wondering whether he should appear onstage

When the M.C., Kate Clinton, introduced Dr. Dean, she had to stall for a few minutes, because he was still fuming in the other room. A few minutes later, he took the stage and apologized for what he called offensive language. "I just don't have much tolerance for ethnic humor," he said. "We are all one community."(12/9/2003)

Poll watching

An Associated Press story covers the Pew Research Center’s polls of Iowa, New Hampshire, S. Carolina and the nation. The polls show that the heart of Dean’s support is in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. It is the same base of voters that John Kerry shares, only Kerry is losing out to Dean. The Iowa and New Hampshire voters who support Dean see Dean’s ability to beat President Bush as his strongest point. This is in contrast to the many high ranking political strategist who have expressed reservations about Dean’s ability to win nationally. The poll backs this up in S. Carolina. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is quoted in an Associated Press story about S. Carolina:

"South Carolina is a conservative place," said Kohut, adding that it was far from clear whether Dean's advantage in New Hampshire would boost him in South Carolina, which holds its presidential contest on Feb. 3 with six other states.

"It certainly didn't help John McCain," Kohut said, referring to the Republican Arizona senator who beat George W. Bush in New Hampshire but lost South Carolina in the next contest.

One of the advantages that Al Gore could bring to Dean’s campaign is help with Black voters in the South. This could change the dynamics of the race.

New Hampshire

A Franklin Pierce College poll of 600 likely New Hampshire primary voters released yesterday has Dean leading Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry 39 to 14 percent, with no other candidate receiving more than 5 percent, and with 27 percent still undecided. The Pierce poll shows retired Gen. Wesley Clark and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with 5 percent each, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman at 4 percent, Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, 3 percent, with Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun and civil rights activist Al Sharpton at 1 percent each.  (12/9/2003)

Gore – Dean coverage

Iowa coverage

Iowa’s most important newspaper, The Des Moines Register, gave extensive coverage to Al Gore’s visit and endorsement. In one of the stories covering the event, “Gore: It all about the war,” covers the fact that Gore made his decision to endorse Dean because of his lone voice against the war -- although, Rep. Dennis Kucinich probably did more earlier than even Dean. The story’s top point quotes Gore:

"This nation has never in our two centuries and more made a worse foreign policy mistake," Gore said about the war during an afternoon rally with Dean at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cedar Rapids.

"Therefore, it is not a minor matter to me that the only major candidate for the nomination of my party who had the good judgment, experience and good sense to feel and see and articulate the right choice was Howard Dean," he said to the crowd of roughly 1,000.

The story also reveals that Dean was called by Gore last Friday and the fact that he was going to endorse Dean was kept quiet until Monday. No small feat in politics. The story also covers with individual accounts what effect the endorsement is going to have on Iowa Democrats. By an large not much unless Gore comes to Iowa and campaigns opines (Dem.) Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Some said they would take it into considerations and others discounted it altogether:

Dave Neil, political director of the Iowa United Auto Workers, supported Gore in 2000 but is committed to Gephardt in 2004. "I think our people are going to stay with Dick Gephardt," Neil said. "I supported Al Gore in 2000, but that race is over. He was better than the Republican alternative, but Dick Gephardt is better than the both of them."

A second story covers the frequent visits to Iowa. The third story, “Backing helps us enormously,” covers the fact that Dean did not ask for Gore’s endorsement. Dean had been consulting with Gore on issues and had recently asked advise on a defense speech he was making. Gore said the points in the speech made him decide to endorse. Dean also expressed what the endorsement means to his campaign:

"I think it's a wonderful match. It helps us enormously," Dean said. "We have been seen as the insurgent campaign and we are the insurgent campaign, but the truth is we're not going to win this campaign against George Bush unless we unite the entire Democratic Party. This is a big step in doing that today."

Nearly all papers carried the story of Gore’s visit to Cedar Rapids most used the Associated Press story. It was the most coverage any single candidate has received in the state so far in the campaign. The AP story stated that some of Gore’s family might be campaigning for Dean:

Campaign manager Joe Trippi says he was approached by Gore’s daughter earlier in the day, who volunteered to campaign for Dean. In addition, Gore’s wife Tipper, could be an asset, Trippi said.

New Hampshire shaken-up

The Manchester Union Leader runs several stories on the debate and Al Gore’s endorsement. In one story the headline is “Gore's Dean backing sends NH shock waves.” Nothing expressed shock waves more than the expressions by former Al Gore New Hampshire chairman Bill Shaheen, the husband of former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who is now John Kerry’s state chairman:

“The most disappointing part,” Shaheen said, “is that he should have at least had the courage to call Joe Lieberman. I didn’t need a call. I didn’t do what I did for him, I did it for America… “Jeannie didn’t need a call, but Joe Lieberman deserved a call,” Shaheen said. “If Al Gore wants to run again, I will not support him.”

When Shaheen was asked if he would talk to Gore if he came to the debate last night, he replied:

“Sure, I’ll talk to him,” Shaheen said. “I’ll tell him I’m disappointed in him. I think he’s made a mistake here. I’m disappointed because I don’t think Howard Dean is Al Gore’s kind of man… “I don’t see anything Howard Dean has done in the last three years that would warrant this. There’s no logic to it because Howard Dean is not prepared and equipped to be President,” Shaheen said.

Nation

The Washington Post really punctures Al Gore for his lack of courage for not giving Joe Lieberman a heads up. The title of their article is “No Warning You’re About to be Gored.” They also sink in the knife with the line, Et tu, Brute! The two sides offered by the post are:

But in most cases, failing to give a heads-up is a passive-aggressive power play, a slight of omission. It is as much clumsy or rude as it is hostile. "The essence of the heads-up in politics is respect," said William Mayer, a professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston. As an example, Mayer cited Michael Dukakis's failure to give Jesse Jackson -- the runner-up for the 1988 Democratic nomination -- a heads-up that he was picking Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. "The heads-up is the political equivalent of giving props," said Mayer.

Or, in an opposing view, the lack of a heads-up is much ado about nothing. "This is big league politics, it isn't a game," said former congressman Tony Coelho, the general chair of the Gore 2000 campaign. Coelho said that if Gore had given Lieberman or any of the other candidates a heads-up about his endorsement of Dean, the news would have leaked instantly to the media. "I find it fascinating that people in this town feel sorry for Joe Lieberman," Coelho said. "I say, 'Grow up.' If Gore didn't pick Lieberman to be his running mate, Lieberman wouldn't be running for president now to begin with." (12/10/2003)

Dean kept staff in dark

LA Times covers the fact that Dean’s staff was kept in the dark. It reveals that the first clue came to Trippi on Sunday:

Dean said he managed to keep the news quiet for the next few days, only telling his wife "at the last minute." Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi didn't even know until Sunday, when the candidate asked his scheduler to charter a large flight to Iowa.

When Trippi asked the candidate why, Dean said he couldn't say. But the veteran campaign manager, who knew Dean and Gore had spoken Friday, soon figured it out.

"I'm not dumb," Trippi said. "We knew something significant was happening."

A New York Post article covers Rep. Charlie Rangel’s harsh comments for Al Gore. Rangel is supporting Wesley Clark:

Rep. Charles Rangel said yesterday Howard Dean has weak support in the black community and charged that former Vice President Al Gore "polarized" the campaign by dropping into an event in Harlem to endorse the presidential candidate.(12/10/2003)

Dean’s $5,000 grab

The Washington Times covers the U.S. News and World Report story on Howard Dean’s search for $5,000 contributions:

"Presidential hopeful Howard Dean's new strategy to take advantage of his front-runner status and help raise cash for fellow Democrats is giving Republicans an unexpected chance to dub him 'Howard the Hypocrite,' " Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News & World Report.

"That's because Dean, who has slammed President Bush for raking in $2,000 checks from big shots, signed a letter for his political action committee begging his presidential campaign donors for $5,000. 'Please send as much as you can afford,' pleads 'Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.' (12/10/2003)

Dean’s congressional endorsement

Following Al Gore’s endorsement Howard Dean is already being more accepted with the establishment. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez today endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean citing his vision for America and his ability to return excitement to the political process for Americans of all races and backgrounds.

Sanchez is the ranking woman on the House Armed Services Committee, represents the California's 47th Congressional District, which encompasses the Southern California cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Fullerton in Orange County.(12/10/2003)

Stop Dean

Fears about Howard Dean’s electability and temperament are fueling an active, though disorganized, movement to stop him. Prominent Democrats, including former high-level Clinton advisers and top state officials especially in the South, fear Dean's antiwar, anti-tax-cuts presidential campaign could prevent the party from winning the White House and Congress in 2004. With Al Gore’s endorsement, many of Dean’s former governor friends are expected to endorse Dean this week. A Washington Post story covers the concerns:

Bruce Reed, another former top Clinton official, was more blunt. "Governor Dean is winning the anti-Bush derby, but his positive agenda is at the back of the pack," he said.

The article explores the split in the Democrat Party:

Gore's endorsement reinforces the split within the Democratic Party. On one side are Clinton's closest advisers and adherents, who believe the key to winning national elections lies in mixing centrist policies (such as tax relief for the middle class to appeal to swing voters) with traditional party values (such as abortion rights and environmental protection to satisfy liberals).

On the other are Dean, Gore and a large number of activists who want to return to the party's roots and expand its base by fighting Bush with clear-cut alternatives. "We lost a lot of races in 2002 because we decided to go to swing voters and [thought] the base would come along later," Dean said. Democrats must stand for "those people who are with us all the time." (12/10/2003)

Gore’s $6.6 million

The Hill reports on how Howard Dean received Al Gore’s endorsement but can’t receive his $6.6 million campaign funds:

While Howard Dean gained Al Gore’s coveted endorsement yesterday, the former Vermont governor won’t be able to directly tap Gore’s $6-million-plus campaign kitty left over from the 2000 election.

Legal and Accounting Compliance (GELAC) fund and, as of Sept. 30, had a balance of $6.6 million. It cannot be transferred directly to another candidate. But federal campaign law permits Gore to make transfers, without limit, to a national, state or local committee of a political party.  (12/10/2003)

Dust up in New Hampshire

Al Gore, in endorsing Howard Dean, called on Democrats to remember (the often quoted Reagan line) the 11^th commandment of not speaking ill of a fellow party member. However, just the opposite occurred in the New Hampshire debate. In fact, Al Gore came in for some hits to take the shine off of his endorsement of Dean. The Associated Press reports on Dean’s defense of Gore:

Dean fired back: "If you guys are upset that Al Gore is endorsing me, attack me, don't attack Al Gore. ... I don't think he deserves to be attacked by anybody up here. He doesn't; he's not a boss. He's a fundamentally decent human being. We share a lot of values."

Joe Lieberman, who was Al Gores running mate, reported that he was receiving sympathy because of Al Gore’s endorsement of Dean. He stated, "my chances have actually increased today." The Connecticut senator said people had stopped him in the airport to express outrage over Gore's backing of Dean. Gore did not even inform Lieberman in advance that he was endorsing Dean. Lieberman also defended his vote as to why he thought Dean was not electable by saying that this election is about a battle for the Democrat Party and whether it was going to represent the principles of fiscal responsibility, military strength and family values. (ABC's Ted Koppel asked the candidates in the beginning of the debate to raise their hands if they thought Dean could win. Only Dean raised his hand.)

Wesley Clark, who probably has the most former Gore employees working in his campaign, used Gore’s own words against him. "To quote another former Democratic leader, I think elections are about people not about the powerful. I think it was Al Gore who said that," Clark said.

Dean diverted the issue of his bringing forward the idea that Saudis tipped off President Bush in advance about the 9/11 attacks. He stated that he was just repeating "the most interesting theory that I heard, which I did not believe, was that the Saudis had tipped him off."

Dennis Kucinich countered the line of questioning that was exploring the candidate’s viability, according to the AP:

"I want the American people to see where media takes politics in this country," Kucinich said to cheers from the crowd. "We start talking about endorsements, now we're talking about polls and then talking about money. When you do that you don't have to talk about what's important to the American people." (12/10/2003)

Dean’s perfect storm

Howard Dean is trying to engineer  "The Perfect Storm: Powered by People." Dean’s campaign is planning to flood Iowa with volunteers to knock on more than 200,000 doors and call more than 50,000 people to rally support for Dean in Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses on Jan. 19. The campaign expects more than 3,500 people from 47 states have already signed up — and they hope to have 5,000 — for the four weekend sweeps leading up to the caucuses. Most will stay at winterized camps, including Girl Scout camps, while other volunteers in Iowa will be asked to host the out-of-towners.

"People on this campaign ... understand that if they send the governor out of here with a bang he'll go far," Jeanie Murray, Dean's Iowa campaign director, said during a conference call with reporters. (12/11/2003)

Dean’s Enron TV ad

Dean is airing an ad in South Carolina and New Mexico this week. Dean stresses that, "George Bush is doing to our economy what Enron's executives did to their company. The president's friends get all the benefits, and we pay all the bills." (12/11/2003)

Dean is a hawk

The LA Times reports that Dean’s dove image doesn’t correspond to his answers on defense reported in the Times:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, known to many voters as a staunch opponent of the Iraq war, enthusiastically supports missile defense development and declines to back a proposal to ban weapons in space.

Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, a Dean rival for the nomination who voted last year to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, flatly opposes the Bush administration's controversial plans to begin deployment of a missile defense system in Alaska and supports a multilateral ban on space weaponry. (12/11/2003)

Flying a different sky

Newsweek this week reports that Dean stopped using a corporate jet loaned by Leucadia National Corp. when his campaign was told (by Newsweek) the diverse holding company was based in Bermuda and taking advantage of that nasty tax loophole Dean so often rails about. (12/11/2003)

Dean’s fiscal conservativism

There is some doubt about Howard Dean’s fiscal conservatism. Dean likes to portray his time as Governor of Vermont as a 'fiscal conservative who cut state income taxes — twice.'  However, it seems that at least one of those Vermont state tax cuts — the largest of the two — was signed into law by his Republican predecessor. Then, too, while the Dean folks like to talk about how they got rid of the sales tax on clothing, the Boston Globe notes that under Dean’s administration the overall sales tax actually went up." (12/11/2003)

Jackson’s endorsement?

Jessie Jackson, Sr. provided praise for Howard Dean in a speech about what Blacks need in their next President. At an Urban Issues Breakfast Forum in California but did not endorse Dean. Jackson’s son has already endorsed Dean. (12/11/2003)

Poll watching

National

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted a few days before Gore's announcement showed Dean the choice of 22 percent of registered Democrats, up from 9 percent in an October survey. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s support held steady at 13 percent. Wesley Clark went from 17 percent to 12 percent. Sen. John Kerry went from 10 percent to 8 percent and Rep. Dick Gephardt went from 12 percent to 9 percent. Al Sharpton's support went from 5 percent to 8 percent. (12/11/2003)

No two for the price of one

The Des Moines Register has a rare interview with Howard Dean’s wife, Judy Steinberg Dean, M.D. The story shares that while no candidate is offering the famous "two for the price of one" partnership like Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992, it is definitely true about the Deans. The story is actually inaccurate because early on Sen. John Kerry issued that statement. However, we have not heard it of late.

The Register covers Judy’s immersion in her practice and family. She is in practice with two other physicians. She sees many elderly patients and works 40 to 50 hours a week, including house calls and paperwork. At home, she likes to read, bike, swim for exercise and attend her son's school events. The story portrays Judy’s disinterest in politics in the interview -- even the account of  Dean’s decision to run projects that image:

"He didn't ask me whether he should run or not, because that's not something I really think about, whether it's a good idea for him to run," she said. "We did discuss how it would affect the family and whether we could handle it or not." (12/11/2003)

Candidates respond to Halliburton

Candidates responded to the fact that Halliburton is reported to have overcharged the government on its Iraq contract:

"We've recently learned what many Americans have suspected for a long time -- special interest contributor Halliburton is overcharging the American taxpayers. Now this President is preventing entire nations from bidding on contracts in Iraq so that his campaign contributors can continue to overcharge the American taxpayers. For the safety of our troops, we need to make sure every penny in Iraq is spent wisely and efficiently," said Howard Dean.

"The Bush administration's policy in Iraq of putting the corporate special interests first is unacceptable. Vice President Cheney's former employer won a contract without a competitive bid and proceeded to bilk the American taxpayer for tens of millions of dollars.”

“It is time for a change. As president, I will put the American soldiers and taxpayers first and the corporate special interests last," said Dick Gephardt. (12/12/2003)

Poll watching

A new poll shows President Bush would clobber Democratic front-runner Howard Dean by nearly 2-1 in politically potent New Hampshire - even though Dean has a giant lead over Democratic rivals in the state. (12/12/2003)

Nicholas Johnson’s editorial

The once head of the Federal Communications Commission has written an editorial for fellow Iowans that is carried in the Des Moines Register. It admonishes Iowans to stand for something and if they are liberal to vote for Dennis Kucinich. He also makes a veiled slam at Howard Dean:

The Register's Iowa Poll indicates 32 percent of Iowa's Democrats say they're "conservative." They have a full choice of presidential candidates who support pro-corporate, conservative positions. A leading one supported the war in Iraq after a 60-day delay, wants increased defense spending, has an A rating from the NRA, favors the death penalty, and supports a profit-driven system for delivery of health care - among other things. Conservative Democrats should be true to their beliefs and support him. (12/12/2003)

Dean’s sealed documents

“Well, there are future political considerations…" The Washington Post reports on the fact that Howard Dean is now calling that reply as to why he sealed so many documents for so long as not a statement in jest. Dean has said that it was made in jest. The problem is that the sealed documents are contrary to his image of openness. The Post reports:

Dean now says his response was meant in jest -- when a follow-up question suggested he must be hoping to serve two terms as president, the room erupted in laughter, according to an audiotape of the meeting. But, as his front-running presidential campaign comes under increasing scrutiny, Dean's words, and his decision to keep some official records sealed longer than any recent Vermont governor, are coming back to haunt him.

"He wasn't giving the punch line of a joke; he was answering a question," said John Dillon of Vermont Public Radio, the only journalist at the Jan. 7, 2003, meeting to report Dean's remarks about his records. "He can sometimes be extremely candid." (12/12/2003)

Dean’s traditional campaign

USA Today covers the traditional aspects of the Dean campaign. It seems Dean is getting the basics right as well as breaking new ground:

Political analysts say Dean's attention to basics also includes:

* Running a frugal campaign with a clear message.

* Courting the powerful Service Employees International Union (SEIU) more intensively than anyone else.

* Talking to Gore frequently while other candidates largely ignored him. (12/12/2003)

Dean’s Enron

The Des Moines Register covers Democrat opponents criticizing Howard Dean over the Boston Globe revelation that he supported tax breaks to corporations while he was raising Vermont’s sales tax. The Register covers Gephardt’s comments:

"Governor Dean has been engaging in gross hypocrisy," the Missouri congressman said in a conference call with reporters. "While he was attacking President Bush's special treatment of Enron, he's been hiding the fact that he turned Vermont into a tax shelter for that very same corporate criminal."

A Friday article by the Boston Globe said Enron was attracted to Vermont because of benefits offered under Dean's administration. The article said that in 1993 Dean cut taxes by up to 60 percent on premiums paid by a segment of the insurance industry, at the same time he was raising the state sales tax and cutting spending.

"It's an argument that I think is not in touch with true Democratic values - this idea that we've got to give big tax breaks to get corporations to come to our state," Gephardt said.

Kerry is also quoted:

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts also criticized Dean. "Howard Dean tried to slash seniors" drug benefits while creating Cayman-island style tax havens for corporations already in Vermont," he said.

Howard Dean’s response was that his predecessor had pursued the captive insurance industry and that he followed the same practice. He stated that it was a good revenue source for Vermont. He called the accusation that he gave Enron tax breaks ridiculous. (12/13/2003)

Three dimensional chess

The Feb. 3 Super Seven Primary War has already begun. But unlike the Iowa/New Hampshire races, they will be fought in the media and with organizations. Candidates will have to figure out where they can win and where they can’t. The outcome of it all will decide whether they are still around on Feb. 4. The Washington Post has a good inside look at what is happening:

Now they're all playing three-dimensional chess, studying one another's moves in market after market. "You can find out within minutes of someone going up what their competitive buy is," Trippi said.

The Feb. 3 states’ media buys continue to be shaped by the big two, Iowa and New Hampshire. This is because candidates need to come out of those two races well enough to not be pulled down too far in their targeting of the Feb 3^rd round. This means that future resources are being burned in those two states. This may be Wesley Clark’s only saving grace of being left out of the early media attention that comes from the Iowa-New Hampshire connection.

Currently, the top four big spenders in Iowa and New Hampshire are: Dean (spending $440,000 on Iowa ads -- including 2,000-point levels in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities… this means the typical viewer would see the ad 20 times during that period), Gephardt (spending $100,000 in the must-win state of Iowa from Dec. 9 through Dec. 15, with a maximum 500-point level in Des Moines), Kerry (spending $185,000 in  Iowa and $74,000 in New Hampshire during the Dec. 9-15 period) and Edwards (spending heavily in Iowa, New Hampshire and S. Carolina).  (12/13/2003)

Dean’s moderate Palestine

Dean rankled some Jewish Democrats in Florida Saturday, when he told about 1,000 state party activists at a dinner in Orlando that Palestinians were the most prepared people in the Arab world for democracy because women play a prominent role in their government, and that the United States should try to strengthen ''moderates'' in the Islamic world, according to the Miami Herald.

One reason why Howard Dean was able to get out of the room alive may be because the room was so stunned by Dean’s statement. The Herald reports:

'I heard what he said, and a few people at my table turned to me and said, `Did he say what I thought he said?' '' said former U.S. Rep. Larry Smith, who headed Al Gore's presidential campaign efforts in Broward County in 2000. ``Somebody's got to tell me who the moderate Arab states are. Is that our friend Saudi Arabia? Or Iran or Syria?''

Dean continues to not receive the same level of support from the traditional Jewish voters as his Democrat opponents. The Jewish vote is historically Democrat by a significant percentage. Dean previously called Palestinian terrorists soldiers, and it caused a significant amount of attack on his candidacy from opponents. This past faux pas resulted in a barrage of attacks on Dean previously. (12/13/2003)

Dirty tricks

The Miami Herald reports that Dean has been the subject of dirty tricks on the Palestinian  issue:

Also this week, there were signs that critics of Dean, the former governor of Vermont, are trying to use the Middle East issue against him.

Households in at least one heavily Jewish region of New Jersey have been receiving faxes claiming to be from Dean's campaign promising to ''end support for Israel in favor of even-handedness'' and to ``promote greater understanding and tolerance of Islamic teachings.'' (12/13/2003)

Risk taker Trippi

The NY Times takes a look at Dean’s campaign manager Joe Trippi:

After a lifetime of long shots, including five failed presidential campaigns, Mr. Trippi is the political consultant of the season, having helped transform Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, from an asterisk in the polls to the man to beat for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Trippi has revolutionized use of the Internet for political organizing and fund-raising, while becoming a cult hero to some members of the C-Span set.

Trippi, 47, has been compared to an unmade bed. Others think that is a compliment. He is constantly wrinkled. To satisfy his addiction, he carries a Diet Pepsis in his coat pocket. He is constantly putting cherry Skoal tobacco in his cheek.

The Times reports that he has the confidence of Dean:

"He kind of sees ahead in politics," Dr. Dean said. "He knew what we had before we knew what we had."

Trippi is off the chart as a risk taker. He left San Jose State University where he ran track and study aerospace engineering to campaign for Robert Kennedy in Iowa. He has been doing it ever since. His risk taking frequently has him coming up with strange ideas. The Times article has a rival commenting on it:

"The basic rule of thumb for Trippi is if you talk to him for five minutes, you're convinced he's an absolute genius," one rival said. "He's the guy who everybody will one day say, " `He came out with 9 bad ideas out of 10 but that one idea was worth the bad ideas.' "

Trippi says this is his last time, according to the article:

Mr. Trippi insists this is his finale, offering as a metaphor the Kevin Costner film "For Love of the Game," in which a battered old pitcher's last game becomes his best. He keeps a copy of the video in his messy Burlington office, near a framed boxing glove from the Mondale campaign in 1984.

It is the story of the boxing glove — which Mr. Mondale used to show he was a fighter — that makes Mr. Trippi cry. He had told Mr. Mondale that his father, an Italian immigrant, thought him a bum for pursuing politics instead of taking over the family flower shop. After his Pennsylvania primary victory, Mr. Mondale autographed the gloves for the elder Mr. Trippi; one was buried with him when he died in 1998.

Now it is Mr. Trippi's autograph that is in demand as he works the rope line after a Detroit rally. He bearhugs people whose names he recognizes from the blogs. They pose for pictures. They bring him Diet Pepsi. (12/13/2003)

• "The fact is that if Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison," said Joe Lieberman.
• "You know, some people have said, `Oh, Saddam Hussein is captured, this campaign is going away.' I don't think so," said Howard Dean.
• It's now almost impossible for Dean to argue, as he did in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, that "although we have won the war, we are failing to win the peace." And the scenes of Iraqis rejoicing make it a lot harder for Dean to explain his gaffe from last spring that "I suppose [Saddam's fall] is a good thing." -- Writes the NY Post.

• As for the capture's affect on Dean's candidacy, the anonymous Dean official said: "We've seen this before, `Mission Accomplished,' etc., etc., but I think this campaign has gone way beyond the war, and why we're here also has to do with changing the party and changing the political system in the country."

• "The risk to the Democratic Party of Dean as their presidential nominee has gone up dramatically," said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University.

• "This is a president who cares more about Halliburton than about bringing our soldiers home!" Howard Dean said.

  "This is a great day for the Iraqi people, the US, and the international community.

  "Our troops are to be congratulated on carrying out this mission with the skill and dedication we have come to know of them.

  "This development provides an enormous opportunity to set a new course and take the American label off the war. We must do everything possible to bring the UN, NATO, and other members of the international community back into this effort.

  "Now that the dictator is captured, we must also accelerate the transition from occupation to full Iraqi sovereignty." -- Howard Dean

  (12/15/2003)

Dean piles on Bush

The Associated Press story previews Howard Dean’s speech on foreign policy:

Dean's speech Monday at the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles will outline how he hopes to strengthen domestic security and step up the U.S. military's fight against terror. He also will criticize the Bush administration sharply for a "go-it-alone" approach to international conflicts that he says is "leading America in a radical and dangerous direction."

The Boston Globe reports that after the capture of Hussein Dean is rewriting his opening to the speech. In the speech Dean is expected to announce his support for the formation of a global Alliance against terrorism:

“Just as important as finding (Osama) bin Laden is finding and eliminating sleeper cells of nuclear, chemical and biological terror," the former Vermont governor says in a memo to reporters previewing a speech on foreign relations. Bin Laden is kingpin behind the al-Qaida terror network.

"Our global alliance will place its strongest emphasis on this most lethal form of terror."

"Sleeper cells" are small groups of operatives assigned to live nondescript lives, sometimes for years, in a targeted location until being ordered into action under preplanned instructions.

Dean will also be making another major policy speech on Thursday, in New Hampshire, he will describe a "new social contract" between the public, the government and major corporations.

Dean was asked about a 1998 statement he made about the French in a Washington Post  story:

During another 1998 appearance on the show, "The Editors," Dean said it was not worth trying to woo French support on foreign policy initiatives. "The French will always do exactly the opposite on what the United States wants regardless of what happens, so we're never going to have a consistent policy," he said.

Asked about the comment, Dean said he now thinks that because the French "have seen how bad things can get with the United States, they might respond to a new president who's willing to offer them respect again."

Dean has also said buy off the North Korea with a package deal to give up its nuclear weapons programs. He has also offered support for an unofficial peace plan that establishes the borders of a Palestinian state in opposition to the Bush administration’s approach. (12/15/2003)

Dean’s foreign policy speech:

In the past year, our campaign has gathered strength by offering leadership and ideas and also by listening to the American people. The American people have the power to make their voices heard and to change America's course for the better. ... --click here to read entire speech --   (12/15/2003)

Clinton vs. Gore

Ronald Brownstein in his LA Times column Washington Outlooks covers the growing rift between Al Gore and his former boss Bill Clinton. The divergence is over Clinton's assumption that Democrats could not win solely by mobilizing their hard-core partisans. Clinton’s strategy was to craft policies that attracted swing voters while maintaining the allegiance of traditional Democrats.

In contrast, Howard Dean and now Al Gore target their messages at mobilizing their base. The goal is to inspire non-voters with an agenda that energizes traditional party constituencies such as labor, feminists and gay civil rights activists. (12/15/2003)

Poll watching

The Associated Press reports that Howard Dean is expanding his lead in New Hampshire:

The poll found that 42 percent of likely voters in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary would vote for Dean if the election were held now, compared to 19 percent for Kerry and 13 percent for Wesley Clark, with 8 percent undecided. An even wider margin, 47 percent, said that Dean is the strongest candidate against Bush, compared to 15 percent for Kerry and 10 percent for Clark, according to the poll conducted by KRC Communications Research for the Boston Globe and WBZ-TV. Dean’s recent endorsement from former Vice President Al Gore apparently has helped. About 20 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to vote for Dean because of the endorsement. (12/15/2003)

Democrat National Committee

The LA Times canvassed the members of the Democrat National Committee and Howard Dean was favored by 32 percent of the members of the Democratic National Committee surveyed, followed by Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri at 15 percent and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, at 14 percent. Other results showed retired Gen. Wesley Clark with 7 percent, Sen. John Edwards with 5 percent, Sen. Joe Lieberman with 3 percent and Carol Moseley Braun with 1 percent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton had less than one percent. Twenty-two percent were unsure whom they would choose. (12/15/2003)

Dean’s the cure

A Washington Post story covers how Howard Dean’s campaign is still propelled by Democrat’s anger:

WINTERSET, Iowa -- There was a doctor in the room, so Nancy Hull naturally grabbed the opportunity to get advice for her aching back. "Dr. Dean," she asked, "whenever I hear George W. Bush speak, I get a searing pain in my spine. Can you suggest a remedy?"

Dean’s reply:

"My prescription is for you to go to the caucuses on January 19 and vote for Howard Dean," the candidate said, drawing even louder whoops and cheers. "That's the best cure for what ails America."

Dean reports that he is leading in the polls now because he is talking to the whole nation. However, when campaigning he runs into a lot more of the angry Democrats. These are the true believers that are required to win elections:

But with a month to go before the first votes of the Democratic primary season, Dean is focusing on his core group, the kind of people who flock to his rallies wearing T-shirts that read "Dump Dumb Dubya" or "He Lied -- People Died" or "Save the Environment -- Plant a Bush Back in Texas." As the candidate is fully aware, that is the constituency that could sew up the Democratic nomination for him in the first month of the primaries. (12/15/2003)

Dean’s hiccup

Howard Dean still seems to need a prescription for his own weapon of self-destruction. The Post reports on some Dean hiccups:

When Dean spoke to the senior class Friday at Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa -- 400 people, all eligible to vote in next month's caucuses -- he offended the young audience by bringing in a student from arch-rival Thomas Jefferson High School to introduce him. Here in Winterset, he failed even to mention the local claims to fame, John Wayne's birthplace and Madison County's famous bridges.

Talking about Latin American relations in Miami on Saturday night, Dean mysteriously launched into a discussion of Bush's dealings with Mexico -- with nothing said about Cuba, the Latin American state that matters most to Miami.

"Doesn't the man know we care more about Cuba than Mexico?" growled Enrique Ibarra.

[Answer: no.]     (12/15/2003)

Dean’s high dollar rollers

The LA Times covers Howard Dean’s high dollar fundraisers. He has been doing a lot of these events and is in California today with more such events. One of Dean’s tricks to not alienate his base is to include different levels of giving for the events:

Ticket prices to some Dean fundraisers vary to attract a mix of donors. At today's San Francisco event, where singers Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby and others will perform, the cost of admission ranges from $100 to $2,000.

Tickets are priced the same for the House of Blues event Monday, where bands The Folksmen, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Bangles will perform. (12/15/2003)

Piling on Dean

Ed Tibbets of the Quad City Times has a story on how both Joe Lieberman and John Kerry sought to score points on Howard Dean and his anti war stance:

... Both said Hussein’s capture highlights their differences over the war with Dean, who vaulted to prominence on the strength of his anti-war rhetoric, particularly in places like Iowa, where liberal caucus-goers have tended to oppose the war in large numbers.

Lieberman offered his harsh comments several times on Meet the Press during the coverage of the capture of Sadam Hussein. Kerry was in Davenport taping a show to be shown statewide in Iowa where Tibbets interviewed Kerry.

Kerry reminded reporters when Baghdad fell this spring Dean reacted coolly to Hussein’s overthrow. “Gov. Dean said very clearly, he wasn’t sure, I guess he said he supposes it’s a good think to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Well, I knew it was a good thing, on that day. Day one.” The Massachusetts senator also said that had more countries been involved in the war effort, Hussein might have been captured sooner and fewer troops might have lost their lives. (12/15/2003)

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