"Not so fast, John Kerry," said Sen. John Edwards. “We're going to have an election here in Wisconsin this Tuesday and we've got a whole group of primaries coming up, and I for one intend to fight with everything I've got for every one of those votes.”

While Kerry is the front runner, none of the candidates sought to knock him out of his position. Instead, they focused on Bush bashing. They especially tried to open up a credibility gap for President Bush.

"Certainly the integrity and character of the president of the United States is at issue -- no question," Edwards said.

"I do not think we were told the truth about why we went to war in Iraq and I think that's a huge problem," Howard Dean bashed

"The president lied to the American people," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

The only real hit came from Edwards against his two strongest rivals Dean and Kerry on free trade. Edwards has spent nearly a week in Wisconsin pushing the issue of manufacturing layoffs in the state.

"Senator Kerry is entitled, as is Governor Dean, to support free trade, as they always have," Edwards said. "The voters of Wisconsin deserve to know this is something I will take very personally. I will stand up and fight every way I know how to protect these jobs."

The ‘not so fast’ as to why both Edwards and Dean are still in the race is the looming question… Kerry The Gold Digger’s affair that is yet to break. The question is whether it will break in time for the Primary season. Will it have an affect on Democrats, who clearly don’t mind sexual misconduct in the White House Oval Office? Was there a cigar involved? What is next?

This despite the fact that Kerry is at 47 percent, Dean is at 23 percent and Edwards is third with 20 percent in the latest Wisconsin polls. However, sentiment could still change with the breaking of the affair story.

Of course these numbers may change, because Dean has the problem of the Al Gore aide who just mutinied (his national chairman Steve Grossman). He had previously stated that he would wait until after the Wisconsin election on Tuesday:

"If Howard Dean does not win the Wisconsin primary, I will reach out to John Kerry unless he reaches out to me first," The Dean Campaign chairman Steve Grossman is reported to have said.

However, he abandoned ship for Kerry’s money and paycheck today.

I guess it is still worth the other two hanging around to see what happens.

Maybe Kerry should ask his friend Ted Kennedy what to do.

Terry McAuliff may want to start calling Hillary or be stuck with a charismatic Sen. John Edwards, whom his own party says is not ready. Or McAuliff may want to re-read the Des Moines Register’s article about Edwards that says, “He’s ready.”   (2/16/2004)

• "The latest trend in medicine is for doctors to try to save time by seeing patients in small groups. You know what you call a doctor talking to three people at once? A Howard Dean rally," panned Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. (2/17/2004)

 Kerry barely wins Wisconsin
Edwards hot, Dean not

It was another win for John Kerry in the Wisconsin Primary… but just barely. Rival John Edwards was hot on Kerry’s heels throughout and momentum was in Edward’s corner. Howard Dean, coming in third place, did not secure enough Wisconsin votes to remain in the race according to those who would comment. Returning to Vermont, the former governor has said he is going to think things over. Dean also called both Edwards and Kerry to discuss his next move. If Dean endorses Edwards it could mean trouble ahead for Kerry… if Dean endorses Kerry, it could mean the end of the Edwards surge and hopes of unseating the leader.  (2/17/2004)

Dean’s hopes dashed in Wisconsin
Edwards crowding Kerry

According to DRUDGE, the late afternoon exit polls in Wisconsin show that even voters in that highly liberal, independent-minded state just do not support Howard Dean as their party’s presidential candidate… at a disappointing 15 percent of the vote thus far, Howard Dean is not their candidate of choice. Big question, of course, is: will Dean stay in the race after today?

But the other developing story, according to DRUDGE, is that of John Edwards’ surprising strength and crowding of leader John Kerry -- exit polling shows Edwards at 31 percent to Kerry’s 42 percent. (2/17/2004)

Where is Dean’s campaign?

Howard Dean’s campaign has not issued a release on its website since Feb. 10. It is indicative of the disintegrating nature of his campaign. However, Dean stated on national television he is not ending his presidential quest.

"We're moving forward and we're gonna go to Super Tuesday and on beyond that. We have very strong field organizations," Dean told "Today" on NBC. "I think there needs to be a continued debate in the party about what we're doing."

"We have an enormous base of grass-roots support who wants to fundamentally change America," Dean said. "We've struggled with fundamentally changing the Democratic Party. Many of the folks now running, including Senator Kerry, have adopted our positions on many issues, and I think that's terrific. We intend to have real change in Washington, and that's what this campaign's about. And we can't get there by quitting."

Though Dean’s chances of winning the nomination are dim at best, his remaining in the race could continue to hurt Sen. John Edwards’ chances of having a head to head showdown with Sen. John Kerry. (2/17/2004)

• “A year ago, the Democrats were falling all over themselves to vote for the war in Iraq. They sure don't talk about that now," Howard Dean said.   (2/18/2004)

Dean done & Edwards a contender

The truth of Howard Dean’s campaign death became apparent in Wisconsin’s election with an 18 percent finish and 13 delegates to Sen. John Edwards' 34 percent and 24 delegates and Sen. John Kerry’s 40 percent and 30 delegates. The Doctor hopefully is going back to Vermont where he will make the call to cease life support efforts and pull the plug on a campaign that will be studied and written about for years to come.

However, Dean’s first inclination seems to be to scale back his campaign, and not formally withdraw. It was reported that he was looking for a way to still affect the outcome of the race.

Edwards has become a contender for the nomination in a two-way race at this point. Whether he has the money or enough media attention to play in all the big states that make up the 10 states on Super Tuesday, March 2 is another question. Edwards should get a huge boost in cash, but it will be difficult to spend the money in a timely and effective way that will have an impact. There is also the problem of if Dean endorses Kerry.

Exit polls showed 75 percent of Edwards' supporters made their decision in the last three days, after he had a strong performance in a Sunday debate and picked up major newspaper endorsements in the two biggest cities, Milwaukee and Madison.

Exit polls also showed two-thirds of Edwards' supporters said issues mattered more than electability in the race against Bush. Electability has been a key factor in the rise of Kerry. Edwards has been pushing jobs and economy and highlighting Kerry’s support of NAFTA.

Kerry won 2-to-1 among Democrats, and Edwards easily won among independents and especially among the one in 10 voters who were Republicans in the Wisconsin voting. (2/18/2004)

Dean’s records to be opened

A judge ruled yesterday that neither former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean nor the secretary of state had authority to agree to a blanket seal covering 145 boxes of records from his 11 years as governor.

Superior Court Judge Alan W. Cook said Dean and the state must identify the roughly 600,000 sealed documents and describe why each is protected by executive privilege. An appeal of the ruling to the state Supreme Court is likely, the Associated Press reports. (2/18/2004)

Joe Trippi… He’s back

ABC News is reporting that key members of the Dean campaign are going to be meeting with Joe Trippi at his Maryland farm where they will plot to turn the campaign into a movement.

"The single thing you can count on going forward is that this thing that Gov. Dean has created is going to go on in some form," campaign manager Roy Neel said yesterday.

"You can't wrap a nice little bow around it … .If he [Dean] does drop out then he can't just send out an email and expect his supporters to switch," said the traitor and last campaign manager for the Dean Campaign.(2/18/2004)

Delegate count

Here is ABC’s delegate count:

Kerry—590

Dean—200

Edwards—186

Sharpton—15

Kucinich—2     (2/18/2004)

The Dean Movement
by Roger Wm. Hughes
Chairman, www.IowaPresidentialWatch.com

Howard Dean may be the most significant footnote in American Politics since Pat Robertson and the Christian Right movement. One political commentator dubbed Dean’s movement the Secular Left.

It was said of Martin Luther and his Reformation that never before had a movement been spread so wide and so fast. The key to the movement’s meteoric rise was the invention of the printing press and the reprinting of Luther’s 95 Thesis.

So, it can be said of Dean’s movement that its meteoric rise was due to the Internet blogs, meetups and online contributions. It was not possible except for the creation and maintenance of unique software that made it all possible. Like all enduring political movements, this movement enfranchised the un-enfranchised and gave them a voice and power.

It has also been said of the Dean campaign that it has given the Democrat Party its soul back. Dean’s campaign raised $41 million -- mostly online in small contributions by loyal supporters responding to swinging the bat at reforming not only the Democrat Party but America in general.

It is proposed that this will once again enable the Democrat Party to forego the selling of the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House by President Clinton and thus enable the Democrat Party to cut their tie to special interest -- a tie that is in strong evidence with the current Democratic front-runner, John Kerry.

It is unlikely that the Dean movement will have that effect. The reason being that the Secular Left movement of Dean, like most political movements, is one part of the whole of the American political demographics. What Dean’s campaign has proven is that this slice of the whole can be coalesced into a political force.

However, the campaign also proved that even the Democrat Party is afraid of letting this new coalition have sway over their party. The Dean campaign’s fervor and high-pitched attack was more than Dean’s Iowa concession speech. Its high-pitched attack was present on their blogs and in their meetups. The campaign became intoxicated on the creation of their own power, and its candidate’s mantra was that they had the power to take back their country.

They did not. Our founding fathers created the genius of the Electoral College. This great institution helps to buffer the nation from radical movements. The balance of power in the U.S. Constitution makes political parties necessary as the founders of America’s first two political parties Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson discovered. It is in the Constitutions’ Bill of Rights that the minority is protected from the democratic majority. The Dean movement had the power to affect the process, but no movement has the power to destroy the rights of either the majority or the minority.

The genius of the American system is in the forced compromise of various interests and demographics. The question is whether this movement will be sustained and coalesced into a force at the table that governs our nation.

Dean has suggested in his swan song that they will.

"I will support the nominee of our party," Dean said. "I will do everything I can to beat George W. Bush. I urge you to do the same. But we will not be above in this organization of letting our nominee know that we expect them to adhere to the standards that this organization has set for decency, honest, integrity and standing up for ordinary American working people."

Only time and events will tell.   (2/19/2004)

• "I have to vent. I think he's nuts," said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee about Howard Dean.  (2/20/2004)

AFSCME prez: “Dean’s nuts”

"I have to vent. I think he's nuts," said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee.

McEntee, president of the American Federation of County & Municipal Employees revealed in an interview with Adam Nigourney of the NY Times that he was not pleased with his choosing to have his union endorse Howard Dean’s candidacy:

I go to Burlington, and I meet with him," Mr. McEntee said. "I'm telling you, I threw more ice water on his head in about 25 minutes than probably he has ever had. And I said: `Don't do Wisconsin, O.K.? Don't go in.' I told him to get out. I said, `You can't win.' "

"He said he's still going into Wisconsin," Mr. McEntee continued. "I said: `We're not. We're off the train. If you think I'm going to spend $1 million to get you another point after this election is over, you're crazy.' "

As for AFSCME’s next move it seems that we might need to check with his Doctor, and that would not be Dr. Dean:

Mr. McEntee, who flirted with endorsing John Kerry and Gen. Wesley K. Clark before settling on Dr. Dean, said his union was probably going to sit it out for a while. "At this point, there's no way we're going to endorse anybody," he said. "I think we need a rest. Maybe in an asylum."  (2/20/2004)

Delegate count

The Greenpapers.com has the vote count for the Democrats as follows.

Wesley Clark – 44

Howard Dean – 112

John Edwards – 171

John Kerry – 494

Al Sharpton – 12

This site is excellent in explaining the delegate selection allocation for both the Republicans and Democrats.  (2/20/2004)