|
 Howard
Dean
 excerpts
from
the Iowa Daily Report
July
2003
… All
Politics Is Local: Dean ties property
tax deadline in New Hampshire to GWB criticism.
(Iowa Pres Watch Note: We’re not sure why this
report from Sunday didn’t appear on the Union
Leader website until yesterday, but maybe the
New Hampshire Pony Express was running late.)
Headline from yesterday’s Union Leader – “Dean:
Tax cuts will drive property taxes” Report
by UL correspondent Stephen Seitz from
Lebanon, NH: “Unfunded federal mandates and
President Bush’s tax cuts will increase New
Hampshire’s property taxes by more than $136
million this year, former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean said Sunday. ‘The President has been
telling us all how great his tax cuts are,’
said Dean, who is a contender for the
Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination. ‘With
the money in those tax cuts, he could have
fully funded special education and No Child
Left Behind.’ In New Hampshire, Dean
said, special education costs around $100
million, while the No Child Left Behind
education law costs $36.7 million. Because the
programs have to be paid for whether the
federal government funds them or not, Dean
said, the money has to come from somewhere
else — property taxes. ‘Tomorrow is property
tax day in Manchester,’ said Dean, ‘and
their property taxes are going up. The
President has chosen to cut income taxes for a
small number of the wealthiest Americans,
rather than fully fund education programs, as
I would have done.’ Dean also said that
the President’s tax cuts are an indirect
factor in New Hampshire’s current budget
crisis. ‘The budget problem wouldn’t be as
bad without them,’ he said. ‘The President
is a big promiser, but there’s no money to
the localities coming, and we’re not even
progressing on homeland security. But that’s
the President’s choice. He’s placed tax cuts
over homeland security. There isn’t even money
to defend the country because he’s given it
all away in tax cuts.’”(7/2/2003)
… Dean, in
eastern Iowa, urges GWB to send U. S. troops
to Liberia. The headline on this morning’s
Des Moines Register – “Dean fund raising
creates stir” – is already becoming worn
and stale. The last thing the world needs is
another story on Dean’s fundraising
excellence (or his campaign’s Internet
dominance). Therefore, the preferred – and
timely – coverage comes from Dean’s Iowa
City stop yesterday. AP’s Mike Glover
reported: “Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean,
a prominent opponent of the war in Iraq,
called Wednesday for dispatching U.S. troops
to Liberia to head off a human rights crisis.
‘I would urge the president to tie our
commitment to assist in this multilateral
effort to an appeal to the world to join us in
the work that remains to be done in Iraq,’
Dean said. Dean called for a
short-term deployment of roughly 2,000 U.S.
troops as part of an international effort to
stabilize the African nation. ‘We could
stabilize the situation and remain in Liberia
for no more than several months, at which time
a U.N. peacekeeping mission could be deployed
to oversee a period of transition,’ he
said. Dean argued his position on the
use of force is not out of line with his
opposition to the war in Iraq. ‘The
situation in Liberia is significantly
different from the situation in Iraq,’ he
said.”(7/3/2003)
… Somebody
had to do it and it appears that Greg Pierce –
in yesterday’s “Inside Politics” column in the
Washington Times – did. Under the subhead
“Last-minute appeals,” Pierce did a
postmortem on the frantic efforts by the
various wannabes to inspire contributors
during the final hours before Monday’s FEC
deadline. Pierce’s report: “Several
presidential hopefuls in the nine-member
Democratic field sent out urgent pleas for
last-minute cash as the second quarter's close
approached Monday. ‘Only a Few Hours
Left,’ said a campaign e-mail from Rep. Dick
Gephardt of Missouri. ‘The clock is
ticking,’ North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
told prospective donors in another online
pitch. ‘There are only 12 hours left before
the critical June 30 fund-raising deadline,’
Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut senator,
wrote in an e-mail message. ‘Before 12
midnight (Central Time), please visit my Web
site and make a contribution to my campaign.’
Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor,
posted real-time totals every half hour on the
Internet and urged donors to ‘hit a grand slam
for Dean.’ Mr. Dean's overall total
of about $7.1 million for the second quarter
topped early estimates from other Democratic
candidates. Officials with the campaigns of
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Mr.
Edwards said they expected
second-quarter totals of about $5 million.
Added to their first-quarter figures of more
than $7 million, they could still lead the
early Democratic money race overall. Mr.
Gephardt was aiming for $5 million in
the second quarter, Mr. Lieberman hoped
for $4 million and Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida expected to report $2 million to $3
million in contributions, officials with those
campaigns told AP. Former Illinois Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun said she raised about
$150,000 during the quarter. Al Sharpton and
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio did not provide
estimates.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note:
Other reports have indicated that Kucinich
expected to report “about $1 million” for the
second quarter while Sharpton
supporters said he would report receiving
about $100,000 in contributions.)
(7/3/2003)
…
In Washington, Rove rallies parade support
for Dean. Headline from this morning’s
Washington Post – “Rove Spends the Fourth
Rousing Support for Dean.” Post’s
Juliet Eilperin reported: “Talk
about lining up the competition. President
Bush's chief political adviser has seen the
possible presidential candidates among the
Democrats and has found one he apparently
thinks his man can beat: former Vermont
governor Howard Dean.
Karl Rove tried to stir up enthusiasm for
Dean marchers yesterday at the 37th annual
Palisades Citizens' Association Fourth of July
parade along the District's MacArthur
Boulevard, which always attracts plenty of
politicians. As a dozen people marched toward
Dana Place wearing Dean for President
T-shirts and carrying Dean for
America signs, Rove told a companion,
'Heh, heh, heh. Yeah, that's the one we
want,' according to Daniel J. Weiss, an
environmental consultant, who was standing
nearby. 'How come no one is cheering for
Dean?' Then, Weiss said, Rove exhorted the
marchers and the parade audience: 'Come on,
everybody! Go, Howard Dean!'”(7/5/2003)
… “High-flying
Dean rallies the troops” – Headline from
Thursday’s Daily Iowan (University of Iowa).
The DI’s Annie Shuppy reported: “Howard
Dean supporters numbering in the hundreds
fanned themselves with ‘Dean for America’
signs and listened to the Who's ‘We Won't Get
Fooled Again’ as they waited to hear the
former Vermont governor speak Wednesday night.
Dean, who led
the Democratic candidates in second-quarter
fund raising, walked through what seemed
reminiscent of victory tunnel for a
high-school championship football team on his
way up to the podium to speak…Dean
detailed his ideas on economic reform, foreign
policy, and a resurrected sense of community,
while blasting President Bush's tax-cut plan
and the war in Iraq.
No Republican
president has balanced a budget in 30 years,
Dean said, adding that Bush's tax cut is
actually a way for him to give back money to
‘his friends like Kenneth Lay at Enron’ and
major campaign supporters.
He also said he is tired of seeing communities
have to cut back on fire departments and
libraries because of a lack of government
funding.
‘Would you
like a president who wants to give a tax cut,
or would you like a president who wants to
provide health care for every single person?’
Dean said, to which the audience responded to
with a burst of applause…He
also said he is not deterred by the large
amount of money Bush has raised for his
election campaign in a short period of time.
‘The $112 I
got from each of you is more important than
the $200,000 Bush got from his supporters
because there are a lot more of you than there
are of them,’ Dean said.”
(7/5/2003)
former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean, said the
numbers show ‘America’s working families are
under siege — by the Bush administration
and by the worsening economy.’(7/6/2003)
‘I don't
believe, in this particular election, that we
can beat George Bush by trying to be like
him,’ said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean,
who opposed the war and has earned early
support from liberal Democrats. ‘Democrats
have to stop apologizing for being Democrats
and stand up for what they believe in again.’
(7/6/2003)
… Best
headline of the week & weekend – given Dean’s
anti-war, anti-Iraq posturing: “Dean
Beats the War Drums” -- subhead from James
Taranto’s “Best of the Web” column Thursday on
OpinionJournal.com. Tartanto wrote -- “The
Associated Press reports that Howard Dean,
who emerged as the Democratic presidential
front-runner with his uncompromising antiwar
stand, now favors military intervention—in
Liberia, where he'd like to send 2,000 U.S.
troops: Dean argued there's no
inconsistency in opposing the war in Iraq
while backing intervention in Africa. He said
Bush never made the case that Iraq posed a
threat to the world. ‘The situation in Liberia
is exactly the opposite,’ Dean said. ‘There
is an imminent threat of serious human
catastrophe and the world community is asking
the United States to exercise its leadership.’
Does Dean really think there wasn't a
’serious human catastrophe’ in Baathist
Iraq? (7/6/2003)
…
Oil and
water don’t mix: Dean wants to oust McAuliffe.
DRUDGE REPORT headline: “Dean
to Clean: Wants McAuliffe out at DNC, say
sources”
Excerpt from the report: “Presidential
contender Howard Dean has confided to
associates how he desires a fresh course for
the Democratic National Committee, including a
dramatic change in its leadership,
specifically chairman Terry McAuliffe,
the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Sources close
to the early-Democratic frontrunner reveal how
Dean
has bitterly complained about McAuliffe and
the lackluster job he has done as chairman and
architect of the disastrous off-year
elections. The candidate has told senior
staffers how people are coming back to the
party energized, only now, thanks to his
campaign. ‘We'll
make a change there immediately [after the New
Hampshire primary],’
a top
Dean
source said of the DNC leadership. ‘I think it
is important, as does Howard, to mark a new
beginning, cut ties from the past.’…’Oil and
water, those two,’ said one Washington
observer of outsider
Dean
and insider McAuliffe.” (7/7/2003)
Under the subhead
“Banging the War Drums,” GOP political
activist/consultant Chuck Muth wrote in his
daily “News & Views” online column: “Anti-war
Democrat presidential candidate and
McGovernite wannabe Howard Dean has done a
triple-back-flip-with-a-two-and-a-half-twist.
The man who got his traction as a candidate by
rabidly opposing U.S. military action in Iraq
is now calling for...get this...military
action in Liberia. Unbelievably, Dean
contends that there's no inconsistency in his
new-found hawkish position because the two
situations are completely different. We
should send the troops to Liberia because,
‘There is an imminent threat of serious human
catastrophe’ there. As opposed, we assume,
to the picnics they were having in Iraq under
Saddam Hussein. I tell ya, these
Democrats do say the stupidest things. I
wonder if Mike Dukakis is finished with that
army helmet?” (7/7/2003)
… The
central question: Could Dean really beat Bush?
Holiday weekend headline from the Boston
Globe – “Dean’s new challenge: proving
wider appeal” Globe’s Anne E. Kornblut
follows up on Dean’s visit to Iowa City
last week: “After rocketing into the top
tier of Democratic candidates with his recent
fund-raising triumph, Howard Dean is now
shifting his rhetoric to address a critical
question in primary voters' minds: Could he
really beat George W. Bush in a general
election fight? Dean, a former
governor of Vermont, has often been portrayed
as a long shot who attracts liberal voters,
but would not appeal to the broader national
electorate. His rivals, surprised by his
sudden surge, are warning that Dean is
‘unelectable’ and that if he wins the
nomination he will be another George McGovern,
the antiwar Democrat who lost nearly every
state in 1972. Dean is beginning to
respond to such charges more directly, now
that he finds himself among the Democratic
frontrunners. At a meeting with staunch
supporters here [Iowa City] on
Wednesday night, Dean assured them he
is a viable nominee and made fun of the
accusations that he is too far left to mount a
serious national campaign. ‘Oh, that Dean,
he's so liberal, how can he possibly win?’
Dean said mockingly. Later, he said he
is determined to stay in the race to the end
and that ‘we're going to win.’…’The other
thing is, we're not only going to win the
nomination. We're going to beat George Bush,’
he said, to rousing applause. Every
Democratic presidential candidate promises
victory to rally support. But for Dean,
the question of whether he is electable has
taken on new importance and is one of the
central issues he is working to address as he
seeks to maintain momentum generated by his
$7.5 million fund-raising push in the last
three months. In particular, Dean and his
advisers must make the case that his massive
Internet support is not some quirky
grass-roots movement that will ultimately be
overshadowed by television ads and campaigns
with more extensive organization. He must
also demonstrate that he will not turn into a
merely early-primary phenomenon, as Republican
Senator John McCain of Arizona did in 2000 and
as former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas
did in 1992. Dean's advisers insist
they are prepared to compete in every primary
state and to rebut charges that Dean is a
liberal with no prospect of winning the
presidency. ‘As we've gotten stronger, the
rallying cry, the echo chamber in Washington
about why we're unelectable has gotten louder,’
Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi said.
‘And while that's always been the
under-the-table talk the campaigns put out
from the beginning, ... it's turned into a
chorus, and we're not going to let it stand.’
Countered Jim Jordan, campaign manager for
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts:
‘That's exactly what Jerry Brown and Ralph
Nader said.’”(7/8/2003)
… “Digging
for dirt? Kerry camp denies scrounging for
skeletons in Dean’s Vt. closet” – Headline
from yesterday’s Boston Herald. Excerpt from
report by Herald’s Andrew Miga: “In the
latest twist to their political feud, Sen.
John F. Kerry's presidential campaign
yesterday flatly denied a published report it
sent staffers to Vermont to dig up dirt on
rival Howard Dean and his wife. ‘The American
Spectator story is a complete fabrication and
we have asked for a retraction,’ said Kerry
spokeswoman Kelley Benander. The
conservative political magazine, quoting an
anonymous Kerry aide, reported last
week that the Bay State Democrat, rattled by
Dean's insurgency, was ‘sending staff
to Vermont to pull together whatever dirt they
can find out about not only Dean but
also his wife, who continues to work as a
physician in the state.’ The article,
noting Dean has refused to say if he performed
abortions on young women he counseled,
asserted that Kerry's research ‘appears to be
focusing on Dean's career as a practicing
physician.’ Staffers from the Spectator
could not be reached for immediate comment.
Dean spokeswoman Dorie Clark said the
former Vermont governor was not aware of any
such effort by the Kerry camp. Benander
confirmed that aides to Kerry, who
hired Clinton White House opposition
researcher Mike Gehrke last spring, have begun
scouring the public backgrounds of Democrats
on the White House campaign trail as well as
President Bush. ‘We are certainly getting up
to speed on the public records of all the
candidates in the race, including our own,’
she said. ‘We also thoroughly scrub John
Kerry's background to prepare him from attacks
from George W. Bush and his right-wing allies.’
Tensions between the Kerry and Dean
campaigns have run high in recent weeks as
Dean has risen among the ranks,
threatening Kerry in New Hampshire and
topping the rest of the Democratic pack in
fund raising for the past quarter.”
(7/11/2003)
… For an
apparent change of pace, Dean working the
establishment in Illinois. Excerpt from
Lynn Sweet’s column in yesterday’s Chicago
Sun-Times: “The major Democratic presidential
candidates have been routinely stopping in the
Chicago area to cultivate donors and woo
political power brokers. Former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean, with a big boost from the
Internet, is the only one building a real
Illinois operation. Dean has a
reputation as an anti-establishment insurgent
who just broke into the top tier because of
his successful second quarter fund-raising.
But when it comes to Illinois, the rebel label
is not quite right. Dean is skillfully working
the establishment. At the same time, he is
whipping up grass-roots support from people
who usually don't get involved in politics. ‘It's
true I have sort of an outsider-insider
campaign,’ Dean told me Wednesday.”(7/11/2003)
… Dean
makes New Hampshire house call. Excerpt by
report on Dean’s campaign stop in Deery
by the Union Leader senior political reporter
John DiStaso: “Although he is a physician,
Dean opposed capping medical malpractice
verdicts, as called for in a Bush
administration bill killed in the Senate
earlier this week. The bill was
‘essentially fraudulent and political,’ he
said. ‘I can’t imagine how the federal
government thinks they can dictate to the
state courts and state legislatures’ on the
issue. ‘It’s not constitutional.’ He
advocated an arbitration system modeled after
Maine, in which a board weeds out frivolous
claims and decides ‘what should advance’ to
the courts. ‘I don’t want to deprive
people who have really been injured of the
settlements they need,’ Dean said. ‘On the
other hand, we can’t continue as it is with
some of these nuisance suits.’ On gun control,
meanwhile, Dean said he supported a ban on
assault weapons, instant background checks and
then, ‘we should enforce the law we have.’…‘If
any state wants more gun control it can have
it,’ Dean said. ‘But don’t pass a national,
one-size-fits-all law that says to Vermont and
Wyoming and West Virginia that the laws of New
York fit them just fine, because it doesn’t.’(7/12/2003)
‘It would
appear to me and, I think, to many Americans
that the President of the United States was
misled by senior officials in the Department
of State, the CIA and the vice president’s
office. The only other possibility, which is
unthinkable, is that the President of the
United States knew himself that this was a
false fact and he put it in the State of the
Union anyway.’ (7/15/2003)
… Dean vs.
Kerry -- Again: Headline from the Boston
Globe – “Dean, Kerry showdown looms…Leading
Democrats vie for Granite State” Excerpt by
the Globe’s Glen Johnson reported from Concord
about the continuing New Hampshire battle
between the New England neighbors: “Kerry
has led by as many as 12 percentage points,
but Dean's recent success in outraising the
field, with $7.5 million in the quarter that
ended June 30, the Internet and grass-roots
effort that propelled it, and the media
attention it has attracted, have raised the
stakes for Kerry. A near-favorite son
candidate in New Hampshire, Kerry could
be severely wounded by a loss -- or merely a
close victory -- in the Jan. 27 primary,
especially if Dean surpasses him eight
days earlier in the kickoff Iowa caucuses.
Such a one-two punch is at the heart of Dean's
campaign strategy. This has put a target on
his back for all the candidates, especially
Kerry, whose campaign team leaders say they
are confident they can blunt Dean's surge…
Amid that instability, candidates such as
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of
Connecticut, Representative Richard A.
Gephardt of Missouri, and Senator John
Edwards of North Carolina are increasing
their local campaign appearances, opening
regional offices around the state, and working
phone banks to broaden their ranks of
supporters. ‘Obviously, there's an advantage’
for Kerry and Dean ‘being from
next door, and it may be a challenge, but I
think Joe Lieberman is up to the challenge,’
said a Lieberman spokeswoman, Kristin
Carvell. Peter Greenberger, Lieberman's
New Hampshire state director, added: ‘And it
creates an opportunity for us because it
greatly raises expectations for them.’ In an
interview, Dean also dismissed talk of a
contest confined to him and Kerry. ‘I know
the press wants to do that; I think that's a
mistake,’ the former governor said after a
two-day campaign strategy session in
Burlington, Vt. ‘There are other candidates
who are working very hard, and I know that
hard work matters. I think it's a little too
early to distill it down that far. In the
end, I think it will be more than just me
versus John. I think there will be other
candidates assessed.’ Kerry said
his focus was not on Dean or the other
candidates, but on his own campaign. ‘I'm
going to work very hard at it,’ Kerry
said in an interview on Nantucket, after his
own two-day campaign planning session.
‘There's an ebb and flow to these things, and
you have to be steady. That's what this
process does, part of the test it poses, and
you've just got to go through it.’ In a
monthly opinion survey conducted by the
American Research Group Inc. of Manchester
that asked likely Democratic primary voters
whom they would choose, Kerry and Dean have
split an average of 43 percent of the vote
over the first half of the year. In June,
Kerry led with 28 percent and Dean was second
with 18 percent.”(7/15/2003)
“‘It's
beginning to sound a little like Watergate,’
Howard Dean said over the weekend, referring
to last week's hubbub over a 16-word sentence
in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union
Address. (7/16/2003)
Neither
Dean nor Kerry likes to admit
how much each stands in the other's path to
the nomination, although the regular potshots
between their staffs prove that reality.
Dean said there are no hard feelings
between the men, although their earlier
engagement suggested there is hostility
coupled with annoyance. ‘There's certainly
no animosity -- certainly on my side,’
Dean said last week between fundraising
calls at his Burlington, Vt., office. Kerry,
asked about Dean during an interview at
The Washington Post on Thursday, refused to be
drawn into a discussion about how the Dean
insurgency has affected his own
candidacy.(7/16/2003)
…Former Vermont Governor, Howard
Dean, who many experts say is the
current Democratic front-runner, told the
NAACP delegates white candidates like himself
should do more than just court the black vote.
He says they should also explain to the
majority white population the importance of
fighting racism. ‘It is up to people like me
not just to come before the NAACP and talk
about racism. It is up to people like me to
talk to white people all around America about
racism, because that is the way it has to
happen. We cannot just do this when we come
and talk to African American audiences,’ said
Mr. Dean. ‘We have to come and talk to
everybody about it. Because it is going to
take a white leader to stand up and explain to
my people why racism is wrong and why it
happens in this society and we can do better
than what we are doing.’”(7/16/2003)
… A few
media outlets fell for the latest
Lieberman-Dean headline-grabbing political
ploy – calling for George Tenet’s resignation.
Apparently the Old Top-Tier Guy (Lieberman)
and the New Top-Tier Guy (Dean) come up with
the same crazy idea at the same time.
Excerpts from coverage by AP political ace Ron
Fournier: “Two of the Democratic
presidential candidates called for the
resignation of embattled CIA director George
Tenet on Wednesday as the rest of the field
faulted President Bush for misleading the
public about Iraq. ‘The president has to
accept some responsibility,’ Joe Lieberman
told supporters during a campaign
appearance…Tenet accepted responsibility for
allowing the reference to get in the speech,
though officials with the National Security
Council, the State Department and the White
House staff were also involved in drafting the
address. Lieberman's rival, Howard Dean,
said he has maintained for several days that
Tenet should leave. ‘The reason the
director should step aside is that he is now
part of the shifting of the blame,’ the former
Vermont governor said in an interview with The
Associated Press. Dean, an outspoken
opponent of the U.S.-led war against Iraq,
argued that Tenet shouldn't receive all the
blame, and faulted the National Security
Agency, State Department and the vice
president's office. Lieberman, one of
the most forceful supporters of the war among
the nine Democratic candidates, said Bush must
be held accountable for misleading the public
about his justification for military action.
Democrats have suggested that Tenet has
become the administration's fall guy, taking
the blame to shield Bush from political
fallout. ‘If, in fact, it was his fault,
then George Tenet has to be held responsible,’
Lieberman said during a campaign
appearance at Hyman's Seafood restaurant [in
Charlotte, SC}. In an interview afterward,
Lieberman said he would seek Tenet's
resignation. ‘The White House doesn't
accept responsibility. Tenet steps forward and
accepts responsibility. And then the president
says he hasn't lost confidence in the CIA.
Something's wrong here,’ Lieberman
said. ‘I guess I'd say under these
circumstances, if I was president and I was
put in a position to make a statement in a
State of the Union to the American people that
was not truthful and the CIA director came
forward and accepted responsibility, I'd ask
him to leave,’ the senator said.”(7/18/2003)
… Dean
gets nod over Dennis from ex-Sen Metzenbaum in
Ohio. Excerpt of an AP dispatch from
Cincinnati: “Former Democratic Sen. Howard
Metzenbaum endorsed presidential candidate
Howard Dean on Thursday despite the candidacy
of fellow Ohioan Dennis Kucinich. ‘I like
Dennis Kucinich. I find no fault with
him," Metzenbaum said during a joint
appearance with Dean. ‘But Howard
Dean provides all the qualifications ... we
need in a president, and that's not to
denigrate Dennis Kucinich. In any horse race,
you have to pick one horse, and I picked
Howard Dean.’ Metzenbaum represented Ohio
in the U.S. Senate for three terms before
retiring in 1995. Asked if he thinks Dean,
the former Vermont governor, can beat
President Bush, Metzenbaum replied: ‘I
don't think I'd be here if he was a loser.’”(7/18/2003)
… “Dean
says Bush owes Iraq explanation” –
Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader.
Excerpt from report on Dean’s news
conference in Johnston by AP’s Glover:
“Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean
said Friday that President Bush owes the
American people an explanation about the
accuracy of the evidence used to justify war
against Iraq. ‘If we went there under
false pretenses, then American soldiers died
because we weren't given the right
information,’ Dean, a staunch opponent
of the U.S.-led conflict, told reporters at a
news conference. Dean and his
Democratic rivals have questioned whether Bush
misled the public about the Iraqi weapons
program. They stepped up their criticism after
the White House's admission that a sentence in
the State of the Union address about Iraq
seeking to purchase uranium from Africa was
suspect. Seeking to bolster its case for war,
the White House on Friday released an
intelligence assessment from last October
citing compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein
was attempting to reconstitute a
nuclear-weapons program. Bush and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair also argued Thursday
that the critical issue was the removal of
Saddam from power and the elimination of the
threat he posed. That did not mollify Dean,
who issued a list of 16 questions for Bush -
one for each word in the State of the Union
statement on Iraq and uranium. The
questions focused on statements made by Bush
administration officials, including Vice
President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, on Iraq's weapons, the war
and its costs. The list included the
pointed query of why Bush said on May 1 ‘that
the war was over, when US troops have fought
and one or two have died nearly every day
since then and your generals have admitted
that we are fighting a guerrilla war in
Iraq.’…Calling for an investigation, Dean
said, ‘I don't think it's OK to mislead
people, whether it's deliberate or
inadvertent. I thought it was fundamentally
wrong for the president to mislead the
American people on this uranium business.’”(7/20/2003)
… Dean,
trying to blunt Gephardt hit on NAFTA, says he
knows they differ on one issue: the war – “he
voted for it, and I didn’t.” Excerpt from
report on Dean’s Cedar Rapids
visit in Friday’s Daily Iowan (University of
Iowa) by Annie Shuppy: “Howard Dean has a
knack for creating clamor with just a few
words.
Employing his
oft-repeated mantra, ‘We can do better than
that,’ while addressing the economy, foreign
policy, and the concept of a more-unified
America, the former Vermont governor garnered
cheers and applause for what seemed to be
every other sentence he spoke from a crowd of
more than 350.
‘Because I
didn't support the war, some of my opponents
say I'm unelectable,’ Dean said. ‘As another
day goes by, I may be the only one who is.’…
The 54-year-old attempted to deflect remarks
made by Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., on
July 12 that Dean supported the North
American Free Trade Agreement. Gephardt
said NAFTA has done little to improve the
quality of life for workers and has sent
American jobs to Mexico.
‘My position
on NAFTA is that we need labor standards, and
we need environmental standards; I think
that's his stance, too, but I'm not sure,’
said Dean, who was never in Congress to
vote on the issue. ‘The issue we do
disagree on is the war; he voted for it, and I
didn't.’”(7/20/2003)
… Dean
keeps pressure on other wannabes by renewing
attack on those who voted for Iraq resolution
– singles out Kerry for inadequate, inept
leadership. Headline on yesterday’s The
Union Leader: “Dean scolds rivals about
belated criticism of war” Excerpts from
coverage from Manchester by Associated Press;
Holly Ramer: “The deaths of Saddam
Hussein’s two sons shouldn’t cloud questions
about whether the war with Iraq was justified,
Democratic Presidential hopeful Howard Dean
said yesterday…Asked whether the latest
developments were a victory for the Bush
administration, Dean, a vocal opponent
of the war, said no. ‘It’s a victory for
the Iraqi people . . . but it doesn’t have any
effect on whether we should or shouldn’t have
had a war,’ Dean said after a
health-care forum at Elliot Hospital. ‘I think
in general the ends do not justify the means.’
Dean also scolded his Democratic rivals for
raising what he called belated questions about
the lead-up to the war and efforts afterward
to rebuild Iraq. ‘Why is it that those in
Congress have waited until now to question the
intelligence, to question the lack of postwar
planning, to question the skyrocketing costs
of this war?’ Dean said. ‘Why were they
not asking these questions and seeking the
truth nine months ago, before they voted to
give the President blank-check authority to go
to war?’ [Four major Democratic Presidential
hopefuls backed last fall’s congressional war
resolution: Gephardt, Kerry, Lieberman,
and Edwards. Graham opposed it.]
Dean did not mention any of his rivals by
name yesterday. But he displayed an
enlarged copy of the resolution and noted that
it did not require the President to exhaust
all diplomatic means before going to war — a
slap at Kerry’s assertion Monday that Bush
circumvented portions of the resolution by not
exhausting all diplomatic options or building
an international coalition before attacking
Saddam’s forces. New claims by members of
Congress that they were misled by Bush amount
to a lack of leadership, Dean said. ‘That
is not leadership. Leadership is standing
up to an administration despite the polls.
Leadership is asking the right questions at
the right time,’ he said. ‘Leadership is
sticking to your guns and standing on
principle.’ Robert Gibbs, press secretary for
Kerry’s campaign, said Kerry ‘has
long believed that Saddam was an evil dictator
who needed to be held accountable. We’re
confident that the voters will be able to
discern between strength and weakness, between
experience and inexperience, between actual
leadership and political posturing.’ Colin
Van Ostern of Edwards’ campaign said
Edwards stands by his vote to use force in
Iraq. Edwards, he said, ‘believed
in October and believes today that Saddam
Hussein was a threat to his neighbors and to
the United States…The American people are
safer and the world is a better place without
him in power.” Lieberman said he stands by
his support for the war and his conclusion
that ‘America, the world and the Iraqi people
would be better off with Saddam. It was the
right thing to do.’ As for Saddam’s
sons, Lieberman said they ‘deserved to die.
They had a lot of blood on their hands.’”(7/24/2003)
…
In New
Hampshire, The Union Leader continues
editorials reacting to wannabe craziness,
questions whether their latest target – Dean –
is “a bit confused.”
Headline from
yesterday’s editorial: “Dean’s
confusion: Does he believe everything he says?”
An editorial excerpt: “Howard Dean is, well,
how should we put this? He is a bit confused.
During his stop at Elliot Hospital in
Manchester yesterday, Dean contradicted
himself so many times we lost count.
‘People don’t have to pay for other people’s
insurance,’ Dean said of his health
insurance plan, which would provide coverage
for everyone under age 25. Moments later he
added, ‘Everybody pays the same, nobody gets
turned down.’ Because no two people have
the same health care costs, it would be
impossible to ensure that ‘everybody pays the
same’ without making some people ‘pay for
other people’s insurance.’ Bragging about
his fiscal management when he was governor of
Vermont, he said, ‘We actually had to cut
taxes in Vermont.’ He proudly explained
how cutting taxes helped the Vermont economy
and helped balance the state budget. A few
breaths later he said of America, ‘We’ve
had so many tax cuts, that’s what’s hurting
the economy.’ Dean is no John Kerry,
who tries to claim both sides of every issue
because he’s afraid of taking a strong stance.
With Dean, it is possible that his
contradictions are the result of an effort to
please everyone in the audience. But they
seem more like the fruit of an unresolved
cognitive dissonance within Dean’s own
brain — as if he really believes everything
he says and hasn’t worked out for himself that
he is being inconsistent. One would think
that a politician seeking the highest office
in the land would have already settled those
issues in his own mind before embarking on
that quest.” (7/24/2003)
… “Dean
raises bar for Iowa backers” – Headline
from this morning’s Des Moines Register.
Thomas Beaumont reports that Dean,
scheduled back in Iowa today, believes he can
win the Iowa caucuses. An excerpt: “Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean said
Wednesday he can win the Iowa Democratic
precinct caucuses next year, raising the
former Vermont governor's expectations for the
first nominating contest of 2004. ‘I think
it's possible if we work hard enough,’ Dean
told Iowa reporters during a conference call.
‘Dick Gephardt's got a significant lead,
but we're not going to concede anything.’
Gephardt, a U.S. representative from
Missouri, won the caucuses in 1988, but lost
the nomination to Michael Dukakis. The
caucuses are seen as critical to Gephardt's
second run for president. Dean, who has
campaigned in Iowa more than any of his
rivals, is scheduled to return today for a
two-day swing. Dean's comments raise the
bar for his campaign in Iowa, where beating
expectations often is seen as more important
than winning. They also stand in sharp
contrast to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut, who said in February he does not
expect to win the caucuses. Dean
trailed Gephardt and U.S. Sen. John
Kerry of Massachusetts in polling last
spring. But there has been some shifting since
then, suggesting the race is tightening among
the three top candidates.”(7/24/2003)
…
Dean opposes Head Start program changes,
charges Bush with “attacking ordinary
Americans.” Headline from yesterday’s The
Union Leader: “Dean pans more state control
of Head Start” Coverage from Dean’s
Concord visit by AP’s Holly Ramer: “Democratic
presidential hopeful Howard Dean accused
President Bush of ‘attacking ordinary
Americans’ by supporting efforts to give
states more control over Head Start preschool
programs. Bush and House Republicans are
pushing a plan to give a handful of states
more control over Head Start management,
provided they don't cut services or reduce
quality. They say sending money to states
instead of directly to the providers would let
states blend Head Start with other early
childhood efforts. But critics, including
Dean and other Democratic presidential
hopefuls, say the White House is trying to
shift responsibilities to states that may not
keep their end of the deal. Dean on
Wednesday called the Republican plan ‘an
enormous mistake’ that could lead to
dismantling of a program that has helped more
than 21 million children. ‘This president
seems just to want to privatize everything,’
he said, listing Social Security and Medicare
as examples. ‘We need a president who will
stop attacking ordinary Americans.’ Head
Start was created during President Johnson's
War on Poverty to give needy children
comprehensive early education. It mainly
serves children ages 3 and 4, but Dean
said he supports creating a companion program
to target even younger children. Vermont,
where Dean served as governor, offers a
‘Success by Six’ program that includes home
visits to newborns and their families and
social services such as day care and parenting
classes. Since the early 1990s, child abuse
cases in Vermont have dropped more than 40
percent, and child sexual abuse cases are down
about 70 percent, Dean said. ‘We can
have those results nationwide,’ he said.”(7/25/2003)
… “For Dean
and Dean Corps, it’s in the bag” –
Headline from this morning’s Daily Iowan
(University of Iowa). DI’s Annie Shuppy
reports on Dean’s stop in Iowa City
yesterday. Excerpts: “The Democratic
presidential hopeful spent part of the
afternoon at the Crisis Center bagging more
than 320 pounds of food that Dean Corps
- his volunteer initiative - gathered for
local needy families. A frenzied crush of
reporters followed Dean through the
aisles of tulip-adorned Hy-Vee bags. Dean
Corps, which kicked off its first event in
Iowa City, was created this summer to get the
former Vermont governor's supporters involved
in politics by contributing to their
communities. Dean said the program
will make a statement about bringing young
people into politics through activism. ‘We've
headed this to show that we're interested in
doing something other than getting votes,’ he
told reporters. ‘We're emphasizing this is not
just politics but also community service.’…Dean
pointed to the increasing number of Americans
who must rely on community programs such as
the Crisis Center, noting the economic
hardships that, he contended, are a result of
President Bush's fiscal policy. ‘Places
like this shouldn't have to exist in America,
he said. ‘The president in the White House
doesn't come up with a solution by again and
again accepting $2,000 checks.’ Americans
would gladly pay the taxes they paid when Bill
Clinton was president, Dean argued, if
America had the same economy it had when
Clinton was president. Dean added that, if
elected, he would work to do away with Bush's
tax cuts, balance the budget, create jobs
through small businesses, and begin investing
in infrastructure and renewable energy.
‘The Republicans may tee-hee about renewable
energy,’ he said, ‘but the Danes get 20
percent of their energy from wind.’”(7/25/2003)
… Under the subhead “McCain raps Dean,”
Greg Pierce reported in his “Inside Politics”
column in today’s Washington Times: “Sen.
John McCain expressed indignation that
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean
would dismiss the deaths of Saddam Hussein's
sons with the words ‘The ends do not justify
the means.’…’I am astonished. A lot of
people have compared me with Governor Dean.
I could not disagree with him more — to
say that the end doesn't justify the means,’
Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican and former
presidential candidate, said Wednesday on
MSNBC's ‘Hardball’ with Chris Matthews.
‘The
ends were the eradication of two psychotic,
murdering rapists, and the means were through
legitimate use of the American military helped
out by some excellent information that they
gained,’ Mr. McCain said. ‘How in the
world someone could in any way think this end
was not justified by anything, which was the
removal of two odious characters, frankly, is
beyond me. And I think, frankly, Mr. Dean
does the nation a great disservice when he
doesn't recognize how wonderful an event this
is and how important it is to the morale
of the troops that these guys are gone. I
mean, our troops serving in Iraq.’”(7/25/2003)
… The New York
numbers are in – Bush $3.1 million,
Kerry $1.7 million, Lieberman $1.4 million,
Edwards $1.2 million, Sharpton $14,010.
From DC, AP’s Devlin Barrett writes about NY
and related fundraising numbers: “New
Yorkers have given more than $6 million to
Democratic presidential contenders in the
first half of 2003, but home state candidate
Al Sharpton has received just $14,010.
Nationally, Sharpton lags far behind
the big-name candidates in fund-raising, but
the disparity only grows within New York,
according to figures from the Center for
Responsive Politics (CRP). In the first half
of 2003, according to the CRP, Sen. John
Kerry led among New York Democratic donors
with $1.7 million, followed by Connecticut's
Sen. Joe Lieberman with $1.4 million,
and John Edwards of North Carolina with
$1.2 million. Coming in fourth was former
Vermont governor Howard Dean, with
$844,749 followed by Rep. Dick Gephardt
of Missouri with $804,501. Sen. Bob Graham
of Florida collected just under $100,000. New
York is a key fund-raising state for both
parties. President Bush has taken in nearly
$3.1 million, figures show. Sharpton's
relatively tiny $14,010 beats out only Carol
Moseley Braun, a former U.S. Senator from
Illinois who took in $5,750 from New Yorkers,
according to the CRP. The largest share of
Sharpton's money comes from Michigan,
specifically the Detroit area, which
contributed $36,000, followed by Pennsylvania
with $17,000. New York state is third on the
list, counting for just 11 percent of his
campaign money. He has raised a little more
than $184,000 nationwide. The activist's
campaign manager, Frank Watkins, said the
numbers show Sharpton ‘made the most
mileage with the least amount of fuel.’”(7/25/2003)
…
Dean-Kerry War Report: In efforts to
promote his ideas, Kerry faces “one formidable
obstacle” – Dean. Headline from Friday’s
Boston Globe: “Dean won’t let Kerry off the
hook” Excerpts from commentary by the
Globe’s Scot Lehigh: “It’s time to focus on
how best to build a democracy in Iraq, Bill
Clinton said on CNN this week. And as he runs
for president, John Kerry would clearly
love to do just that. In a conference call
with reporters on Monday, the Massachusetts
senator tried. Citing his Vietnam War
experience, he called upon the Bush
administration to put aside ‘false pride’ and
seek help from both NATO and the UN in Iraq.
But in attempting to shift campaign
attention from the decision to wage the war to
his ideas for winning the peace, Kerry faces
one formidable obstacle: former Vermont
governor Howard Dean. Dean insists
that his campaign isn't based on contrasting
his antiwar stance with the prowar positions
of his leading Democratic rivals but rather on
balancing the budget and jump-starting the
economy. Still, Tuesday found him holding a
New Hampshire event to criticize the
Democratic candidates who voted for the
October congressional resolution authorizing
force in Iraq. ‘There are four candidates
who voted for this,’ Dean said in an
interview. ‘What I am not going to do is allow
those four candidates to try to pretend they
did something different in October from what
they did.’…Although Dean doesn't single
Kerry out, there's no mistaking his principal
target; the example the Vermonter offers
is a close approximation of the senator's
rhetoric. Meanwhile, Dean is using his
own antiwar stand to lay claim to the very
leadership quality Kerry's campaign
boasts of in their man: a tough-minded,
probing independence that prompts him to ask
the right questions and arrive at difficult
but correct decisions…For their part,
Kerry aides point to a number of Dean's prewar
statements that sound like the senator's own,
comments in which Dean said he thought
Saddam might well have biochemical weapons and
that he needed to be disarmed. (It's important
to note, however, that Dean also said
that absent clear evidence of a threat to the
United States, he did not see the case for
''unilateral'' action in Iraq.) Convinced that
their own candidate has locked up a spot in
the campaign's first tier, Kerry's
strategists are content to see Dean claim a
place there as well, believing that his
candidacy stunts those that might otherwise
develop into more-formidable contenders.
Certainly Dean owns the current non-Kerry
campaign energy. But it may be a mistake to
underestimate his staying power. Whatever
the initial implausibility of a tiny-state
candidate, Dean daily proves himself smart
and nimble - and determined to exploit an
issue that has been his own ticket to the top
tier. The Vermonter should forgo attacks on
his fellow Democrats, follow Kerry's
lead, and focus on winning the peace, objects
Jim Jordan, Kerry's campaign manager.
Yet he seems resigned that the summer
skirmishes prefigure an eventual clash between
the two New Englanders. ‘We are happy in
... the coming months to have an ongoing
debate with Dr. Dean about which candidate is
most knowledgeable about foreign and military
affairs, about which candidate will keep this
country strong and safe, and about which
candidate is most fit to serve as commander in
chief,’ said Jordan. Look for that debate
to be intense, energetic, and well argued - on
both sides.”(7/27/2003)
… Dean,
nipping at Gephardt’s heels in IA, smells
political blood, goes for direct hit on Head
Start absenteeism. Headline from
yesterday’s Quad-City Times online: “Gephardt
misses key vote” Excerpt from report from
the Times’ Ed Tibbetts: “Republicans in the
U.S. House approved a controversial overhaul
of a Head Start bill by a single vote early
Friday. And presidential candidate U.S. Rep.
Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., was one of two
Democrats who missed the voting. That prompted
a clash between him and rival Howard Dean, who
lamented the narrow loss while campaigning in
Iowa. Gephardt’s campaign said he
had not been told the vote would be close and
they do not believe his presence would have
made a difference. Gephardt was campaigning
for his party’s presidential nomination in
South Carolina. Dean, the former governor of
Vermont, said the House action is a step
toward dismantling the program that provides
early childhood education to poor and disabled
children. About 2,700 children from a
seven-county region in and around the
Quad-Cities attend Head Start classes…The
House vote, 217-216, is a key victory for
Republicans who had to revise a
committee-approved bill for it to pass. And it
came about 1 a.m. Friday after hours of
wrangling. The voting was so close that U.S.
Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., who had been in a
traffic accident Wednesday, appeared in a
wheelchair to cast his vote. A congressman
from Arizona was the only Democrat other than
Gephardt to miss the voting. ‘I
think it’s incredibly disappointing to lose by
one vote,” Dean said in a telephone interview
Friday. As governor, Dean added, he
concentrated on early childhood issues,
including the extension of health insurance to
children in his state. ‘It’s hard to talk
about early childhood when you’ve missed the
most important vote about early childhood in a
long, long time,’ he said, calling it a
‘matter of priorities.’ Bill Burton,
Gephardt’s Iowa spokesman, said the vote
was not scheduled until after 8 p.m. Thursday.
And he said there were Republicans who
would have switched their votes had Gephardt
been there to deadlock the issue. ‘There’s no
way one or two votes would have changed the
outcome,’ he added. Burton also accused
Dean of hypocrisy, saying that while he
was governor of Vermont, Dean spoke
approvingly about the idea of block grants for
the Medicaid program when Republicans won
control of Congress in 1995. Democrats have
likened the Republican Head Start proposal to
a block grant. ‘If Howard Dean is living in
his glass house with Newt Gingrich, I don’t
think he should be throwing stones,’
Burton added. Tricia Enright, a spokeswoman
for the Dean campaign, said Gephardt’s
campaign was dredging up the block grant issue
to try to divert attention for missing the
Head Start vote. She said Dean was
hardly in league with Gingrich and that he
ripped Republicans at the time for their plan
to change welfare.”(7/27/2003)
… Dean’s
Internet commandos – call them the Dean
Irregulars -- fight back against media
slights. Weekend headline from the
Washington Post: “Dean Defense Forces:
Lobbing E-mail at the enemy” Excerpts from
a report by Post media guru Howard Kurtz:
‘When Dotty Lynch, CBS's senior political
editor, wrote a column criticizing Howard
Dean on foreign policy, she was deluged
with e-mails defending the Democratic
presidential candidate, often in similar
language. ‘They were all rather insulting: Why
don't you do your research?’ Lynch says. ‘When
anything's orchestrated, you sort of smell a
rat.’ The letters were indeed generated by
Dean Defense Forces, a volunteer outfit
affiliated with the doctor's campaign. Day
after day, the DDF Web log, which is linked to
Dean's official site, hammers reporters deemed
critical of Dean and urges its followers to
flood the in-boxes of offending journalists.
‘When negative press gets written, we'll
ensure that letters to the editor get printed
in response…The last couple of months have
proven the effectiveness of our efforts at
media response,’ the DDF says. Sometimes this
is rough stuff. When New York Daily News
columnist Zev Chafets slammed Dean's
appearance on Tim Russert's ‘Meet the Press,’
the DDF denounced the piece as ‘crap,’
declaring: ‘So here's what we're gonna do.
First, we're gonna write Zev ()
and let him know what we think of his
vitriol.’ Suggested themes: ‘Russert used
Republican lies for his policy research…
Anyone who saw Dean's performance knows it
wasn't his best, but it was a hell of a lot
better than Chafets's columns.’…Campaigns
have always tried to gin up letters to news
outlets, but the Internet's hyperspeed, which
has helped Dean raise truckloads of
money, has also made it easier to organize
such campaigns. And in an age when online
commentators blast their critics around the
clock, the Dean Defense Forces site
uses comparable artillery, unloading on
selected targets with a clever, cynical,
sometimes sneering tone. ‘The NY Post
Proves Its Worthlessness Again,’ says a
typical headline. ‘Associated Press Spinning
for Kerry,’ says another. ‘Perhaps we
should write Slate.com and tell them we want
political coverage, not psychobabble musings
from their writers?’ Dean spokeswoman
Kate O'Connor referred questions to DDF chief
Matthew Gross, who works out of the campaign's
Vermont headquarters. Gross did not respond
to three requests for comment. He appears
to run a shoestring operation, with a dozen or
so volunteers posting items and six donors,
who have contributed a grand total of $585.
DDF has achieved some success with its
letter-writing appeals, such as getting
supporters' words read on CNN's ‘Crossfire.’
This followed an ‘action alert’ that said:
‘Tucker Carlson called Howard Dean a far left
and fringe candidate on Crossfire the other
day. Please send short snappy comments into
the show in hopes that they'll be read in
response. One or two sentences max.’”
(7/28/2003)
… Under the subhead “Dean’s fund-raising,”
Greg Pierce wrote about Dean’s challenge to
top Cheney’s financial goal in his “Inside
Politics” column in the Washington Times. An
excerpt from yesterday’s column: Democratic
presidential hopeful Howard Dean asked his
supporters to match the fund-raising prowess
of Vice President Dick Cheney, and they came
through with more than $400,000 over the
Internet in a single weekend, the
Associated Press reports. The effort began
Friday, when the former Vermont governor's
campaign Web site challenged donors to match
the $250,000 that Mr. Cheney was slated to
raise at a single luncheon in South Carolina.
Mr. Dean's campaign set a deadline of
midnight yesterday to reach the goal. More
than 7,700 donors helped Mr. Dean surpass his
goal by Sunday, and contributions
continued to come in throughout the day
yesterday. ‘Let's show Dick Cheney that the
grassroots have the power to take on the
special interests that have bought the Bush
administration,’ the campaign urged in an
e-mail. ‘Let's show George W. Bush and Dick
Cheney that we will not let our government be
sold to the highest bidder.’ Mr. Dean's
Web site used a baseball-bat icon to track the
amount of money donated online, showing
updated totals every half hour.”(7/30/2003)
… The Real
Deal – or the Real Dean? Unlike the other
wandering wannabes – whether it works or not –
Dean is different and has a formula for
winning the Dem nomination. He’s a nut, but
he’s their nut. Headline from yesterday’s
Boston Globe: “The Dean of surprises.”
Excerpt from columnist Brian McGrory,
reporting from Manchester, NH, in yesterday’s
Globe: “He is sitting in his shirtsleeves at a
particleboard table in a corner of a barely
converted warehouse that is teeming with
campaign workers half his age. And Howard
Dean, the irascible Howard Dean, the impatient
Howard Dean, always stern, suffering no fools,
the guy who tosses insults like a B-52 drops
bombs, is smiling. He is smiling when he
is asked if he's surprised by his
extraordinarily good fortune -- the early
surge, the sustained success, the gush of
Internet donations -- in this, his first
presidential campaign. He pauses for a long
moment, perhaps recalling his vow of honesty a
few minutes before, and replies, ‘Yes, I
am.’ And seriously, how could he not be?
Polls show the Vermont governor emerging in
Iowa and in a pull-and-tug with John Kerry
in New Hampshire. Disaffected voters and
liberal students are swarming around him.
He is the red-hot candidate in a field of
somber gray. But questions nag, some of
them whispered by the operatives of his
closest rivals: Does Howard Dean have the
demeanor to be president? Has he peaked too
early? Does his candidacy go deeper than his
opposition to war? The early line isn't
good. Word from the field is that the
impetuous Dean makes Bob Dole look soft and
cuddly, that he's little more than a fad, and,
worst of all, that he's a one-trick pony who
doesn't have the legs for a long presidential
run …To be sure, there's little of the
backslapping and two-fisted handshaking that
send the message that he deeply cares.
Nobody's ever going to mistake him for Jerry
Seinfeld or, for that matter, Bill Clinton,
especially when an elderly man called out,
‘Can I ask one more question?’ Dean
said, ‘No, I want to give others some time.’
Then he turned away. Later, sitting back at
his state campaign headquarters, Dean
seemed more relaxed. There was no blood on his
lips. When asked whether he worried that his
candidacy might be relegated to that of a
flaming meteor, much like Gary Hart's or John
McCain's in elections past, rather than choke
me, he merely shrugged. ‘Everyone else is
so afraid to lose that they tailor their
message so tightly and don't say anything,’
he says. ‘If we turn into a fad, it's the
American people that will decide.’ Asked how
he'll avoid that, he makes the point that has
other candidates worried most. ‘This is the
first time I remember the national press
identifying the insurgent before picking the
front-runner,’ he says. ‘This is uncharted
territory. Normally, the insurgent peaks right
before Iowa and New Hampshire, then runs out
of gas because of the money that the
front-runner has.’ Indeed, his opponents
are hoping that his early surge will attract
greater scrutiny and that the scrutiny will
diminish him. Dean, on the other hand, is
looking at an autumn where his insurgent
campaign is better funded than any nonexistent
front-runner. At that point, momentum is
the rule of the day. In the meantime, he says
he'll talk about the war, health care, and the
economy with a combination of New York
brusqueness and Vermont common sense. He
pegs the 2004 election this way: 25 to 50
percent about national security; 50 to 75
percent about economic security. It's the
middle of summer, too early for any sane
person to pay a dime's worth of attention to
the campaign. And yet there's one candidate
in a boring group providing a reason to care.”
(7/30/2003)
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