|
 Howard
Dean
 excerpts
from
the Iowa Daily Report
September
16-23,
2003
Dean
strikes back at Gephardt, says that the early
Iowa favorite is “desperate.” Report by
AP’s Jennifer C. Kerr: “Howard Dean hit
back at Dick Gephardt Sunday for the Missouri
congressman's comments likening Dean to former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich. ‘I think he's
desperate,’ Dean said of Gephardt, during
an interview on ABC's ‘This Week’ program.
‘I worked for his campaign in '88. And this is
really the pathetic politics of the past.’
The trouble between the two Democratic
presidential hopefuls began last week, when
Gephardt launched the opening salvo by
telling a union audience that ‘Howard Dean
actually agreed with the Gingrich
Republicans.’ Gephardt said the former
Vermont governor sided with Republicans in the
90s who wanted to overhaul the Medicare
program and increase the Social Security
retirement age. Asked to respond on
Sunday, Dean said that he would
consider looking at the ‘rate of growth’ for
Medicare and Social Security. However, he
insisted that he would not cut Medicare
benefits. Dean also took issue with a
characterization by a TV interviewer that he
had been a ‘strong supporter’ of NAFTA, the
1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Dean
acknowledged that he had supported NAFTA, but
took exception to the ‘strong’ part. ‘I
never did anything about it,’ he said. ‘I
didn't vote on it. I didn't march down in the
street demanding NAFTA. I simply wrote a
letter (to President Clinton) supporting
NAFTA.’ The Gephardt campaign
subsequently called attention to a transcript of a Jan. 29,
1995 ‘This Week’ show in which Dean told a different
interviewer that ‘I was a very strong supporter of NAFTA.’”
(9/16/2003)
… For a guy who
has sprinted to the front of the Dem field,
Dean sure spends a lot of time back-pedaling
on the issues. Headline on Sunday New York
Post editorial: “Dean’s Duplicity”
Editorial excerpt: “Once again, Democratic
presidential frontrunner Howard Dean is
furiously back-tracking -- this time over his
call for a more ‘even-handed’ U.S. policy
toward Israel. In a campaign appearance
last week in Santa Fe, Dean departed
from his past pro-Israel line to insist that
America must not ‘take sides in the [Middle
East] conflict,’ adding that an ‘enormous
number’ of West Bank settlements must be
removed -- which certainly sounds like taking
sides to us. Not
surprisingly, Dean was called on the
carpet by two of his White House-wannabe
rivals, Sens. Joe Lieberman and John
Kerry, at Tuesday night's debate.
Though the former governor sputtered that his
stance is ‘not any different than Bill
Clinton's,’ his opponents were right in
suggesting that Dean's stance would mark a
radical departure from a half-century of U.S.
policy in the region. Almost since its
creation, Israel has enjoyed a special
relationship with the United States -- one
that has well-served America's strategic
interests in the Middle East. Though Dean
in the past has claimed -- before Jewish
audiences -- that his position is akin to that
of the pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC, his
latest pronouncements have an unsettling sense
of the discredited notion of moral equivalency
at a time when Israel faces an unremitting
wave of Palestinian terrorism. On Thursday,
by the way, AIPAC itself praised Dean's own
fellow Dems in the House for the letter they
sent him, schooling him on America's special
relationship with Israel. Nor did Dean
help himself by declaring that ‘I wish the
president had spent more time on the Middle
East and less time on Iraq.’ Uh, governor
-- exactly where do you think Iraq is located?
Since leaping to the front of the
Democratic field, Dean has been forced to
switch gears abruptly on a number of issues --
like raising the retirement age and lifting
the U.S. embargo of Cuba. When caught out, he
invariably denies having done a 180 - even
though his own words clearly betray him.
Now add U.S. support of Israel to the list.
Question is, once Howard Dean stops all
that shifting, where exactly will he land?”
(9/16/2003)
… In Sioux City,
it’s apparently OK for alleged frontrunner
Dean to be fashionably late as 300 wait and
then cheer his arrival. Headline from
yesterday’s Sioux City Journal: “Democratic
hopeful Dean rouses crowd at Sanford Center”
Coverage – an excerpt – from report by the
Journal’s Julie Weeder: “When the
lead contender for the Democratic nomination
for the presidential election is running late,
it's evidently OK -- the people will wait.
When Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean arrived 40 minutes late at a
town hall meeting Sunday night at the Sanford
Center in Sioux City, the crowd of close to
300 people greeted him with a standing ovation
and hoots and hollers normally reserved for a
high school football game.
It probably
helped that the opening act was the
ultra-popular former U.S. Rep. Berkley Bedell,
who also entered the cramped auditorium to a
standing ovation.
‘I think it's about time for our Democratic
Party to stand up for what we believe,’
said Bedell, who was recently named to
Dean's Iowa leadership team. ‘This is the
second time I've been traveling with him, and
let me tell you, you're going to love Gov.
Dean.’ And love him they did. Though
Dean spoke for a less amount of time than the
crowd waited for him, they peppered his speech
with frequent bursts of applause. The issue
that will put a Democrat back in the White
House, Dean said, is lost jobs. ‘This
president has lost 3 million jobs -- the
fastest loss of jobs ever,’ Dean said.
To get more jobs, shape up the economy, by
first balancing the federal budget, Dean
said. ‘This is a
borrow-and-spend-borrow-and-spend-credit-card
presidency. The Republicans cannot, do not and
will not handle money,’ he said. Dean was
governor of Vermont for so long, he served
through two Bush recessions, he said. ‘And
I still maintained a balanced budget in
Vermont,’ he said. ‘The reason we're going to
win is we are going to care about all
Americans and people and not just the ones who
are going to get us re-elected.’ Standing
in front of a handmade banner painted with the
words, ‘Restoring our Community,’ Dean
criticized President George W. Bush's ties to
campaign finance supporters from big
businesses, including Kenneth Lay, former
chairman of Enron. Dean charged
that it's those supporters who reaped the
benefits of Bush's $3 trillion he took out of
Social Security and put into tax cuts. Dean
also criticized the figure of $87 billion –
‘which is the same amount Bush asked for to
wage war in Iraq for another year.’ Dean
said he has a health insurance program that
could insure every American, at the cost of
$87 billion. Perhaps knowing his audience,
Dean also took time to criticize the federal
education legislation No Child Left Behind.”
(9/16/2003)
… Battle
with Vermont firefighters could douse Dean’s
bandwagon and douse endorsement possibility.
Headline from Sunday’s Washington Post: “Dean’s
Failure to Woo N.H. Firefighters May Cost Him
Endorsement” Coverage by the Post’s Dana
Milbank: “Red-hot Democratic presidential
aspirant Howard Dean is about to get some cold
water thrown on his candidacy. Sparks are
flying between the former Vermont governor and
a crucial group in the New Hampshire
primaries, the Professional Fire Fighters of
New Hampshire labor union. The group's
fiercely active 1,200 members and their highly
visible mode of transportation were
instrumental in Al Gore's defeat of
Bill Bradley in the New Hampshire primary in
2000. This time, Dean is in the hot seat.
It began when the Professional Fire
Fighters of Vermont sent a letter in June to
their brethren in New Hampshire warning that
Dean ‘failed to ever put the weight of the
governor's office behind any piece of
legislation firefighters introduced.’ The
Manchester Union Leader in New Hampshire got
hold of the letter and produced a statement
from Dean's campaign outlining his
strong stance against . . . sparklers. ‘It's
fair to call him a national advocate against
sparklers,’ the statement said. The
firefighters were not impressed by Dean's
opposition to party novelties. ‘We think
he should be focused on first responders, not
pyrotechnics,’ said New Hampshire union
President David Lang, noting that the group is
agnostic on sparklers. Dean has twice blown
off meetings proposed by the firefighters and
hasn't been in touch with them since the last
meeting was canceled on Aug. 22. The
firefighters are steamed. ‘I'm glad New
Hampshire's firefighters have a better
response time,’ Lang said. Dean's
state director, Karen Hicks, sought to douse
the conflagration on Friday. ‘We really look
forward to meeting with the professional
firefighters at a time when it works for Dr.
Dean and Mr. Lang,’ she said. But it
may be too late. At the firefighters'
parent union, the International Association of
Fire Fighters in Washington, General President
Harold A. Schaitberger said the IAFF is
getting ready to endorse a presidential
candidate at an executive board meeting at the
end of the month. Schaitberger, who has
met with all the major candidates, won't say
who it will be, but people who have been
following the endorsement sweepstakes say
Dean will be hosed. Sen. John F. Kerry
(D-Mass.) is said to be the heavy favorite for
the endorsement, which would be his first from
an AFL-CIO union.” (9/16/2003)
… “Democrats
in Congress Ponder Dean” – headline from
yesterday’s New York Times. Excerpt from
report by the Times’ Robin Toner: “Congressional
Democrats are often blindsided by their
party's presidential nominating process; three
of the last five Democratic nominees were
governors who, at least initially, were
largely unknown on Capitol Hill. As
Representative John P. Murtha, the western
Pennsylvania Democrat now in his 29th year in
Congress, put it, ‘I've never been right in a
primary yet.’ In recent days lawmakers have
been buzzing as they try to figure out the
surge of another little-known governor, Howard
Dean of Vermont. Who is he? How does he get
those crowds? And, one of the crucial
questions for lawmakers who must run next
year, would Dr. Dean, who was governor for 12
years, help or hurt them at the top of the
ticket? Even some of the most senior
lawmakers say they do not know the man. A
colleague of Representative Jim McDermott, the
liberal Washington Democrat, summed up the
bewilderment among lawmakers recently when he
asked Mr. McDermott: ‘What do you think,
Jim? Is this guy McGovern or Carter?’ Mr.
McDermott, who said he was ‘definitely
attracted’ to Dr. Dean, said he thought
he was a Carter. Other lawmakers clearly
have worries about Dr. Dean's electability if
he wins the nomination. … ‘People are
looking for a winner,’ the Senate strategist
said, "and it's not clear whether Dean is a
Babbitt/McCain/Tsongas phenomenon or if he can
truly take hold all over the country."
Many Democratic lawmakers are only beginning
to focus on the race for the nomination and
say they plan to stay unaligned until it is
more fully developed. Of the nine
candidates, four are members of the Senate and
two are members of the House, and thus far
better known on Capitol Hill. The sheer number
of candidates from the Senate has frozen many
of their colleagues in place. Richard A.
Gephardt, the Missouri Democrat and
longtime minority leader in the House, is by
far the leader in Congressional endorsements,
with 31. But Mr. Gephardt has been
eclipsed by Dr. Dean in both
fund-raising and recent polls in important
states; his supporters recently sought to
reassure his base in the House with a memo
outlining ‘Why Dick Gephardt will be the
Democratic nominee.’ Mr. Gephardt
and his top strategists also met with many of
those Congressional supporters this week.
Senator John Kerry, Democrat of
Massachusetts, who has endorsements from 15
members of the House, held a similar meeting.
Dr. Dean has the backing of seven
members of the House, his campaign said…Many
Democratic lawmakers are clearly impressed by
Dr. Dean's surge in August — his fund-raising,
his use of the Internet, his crowds. Mr.
Murtha, who supports Mr. Gephardt,
said, ‘I'll tell you what: this guy's doing
something right to get those kinds of
crowds.’” (9/16/2003)
… Interesting
read: Campaign tests old alliance
between Dean – early ’88 Gephardt support –
and Gephardt. Headline from yesterday’s
Boston Globe: “Dean, Gephardt test buddy
system” Excerpt from report by the Globe’s
Brian C. Mooney: “Early this year, Howard
Dean's staff issued a press release strongly
criticizing the health care plan of
Representative Richard A. Gephardt, one of
Dean's rivals in the Democratic presidential
race. The former Vermont governor hadn't
approved it in advance, and thought the tone
was too harsh. ‘He came in and said: `Dick
Gephardt's a friend of mine. I don't think
his health plan can get passed, but make sure
that never happens again,' ‘ Dean
campaign manager Joe Trippi recalled. It
wasn't an isolated incident. Trippi
said Dean, who rarely criticizes staff, has
chewed out him and other aides ‘when he
thought someone was a little overexuberant in
saying something about Dick Gephardt.’
Gephardt had likewise been restrained in
his criticisms of Dean, and, on
occasion, praised him. The reason for the
cordial byplay? Dean and Gephardt have been
friends since 1988, when Dean campaigned in
New Hampshire and Iowa for Gephardt's
unsuccessful presidential campaign. Dean's
support was significant because the
then-lieutenant governor was the first major
Vermont Democrat to endorse a candidate other
than Michael S. Dukakis, governor of
neighboring Massachusetts. Trippi also
joined the Gephardt team that year, and
to this day he and Steve Murphy, Gephardt's
campaign manager this year and a veteran of
the '88 Gephardt race, remain close.
Bill Carrick, who managed Gephardt's
'88 campaign, recalled meeting Dean to
enlist his support. He quoted Dean as
saying: ‘Dick may be a little more liberal
than I am, but he's not as liberal as Dukakis,
so I'm more comfortable supporting him.’
In an interview last week, Carrick,
Gephardt's media consultant this time out,
was asked how long the cordial relationship
would last. ‘Not long,’ he chuckled. ‘But
hopefully until your deadline.’ It didn't.
Gephardt hammered Dean on Friday for comments
in 1995 endorsing Republican budget-cutting
initiatives that would have cut Medicare
benefits and raised the Social Security
retirement age to 70. The Missouri
congressman also exhumed Dean quotes
referring to Medicare as ‘one of the worst
federal programs ever.’ Still, Gephardt
bristled when a reporter described his
comments as an ‘attack’ on Dean. ‘This
is not an attack. This is a legitimate policy
difference,’ he said. ‘I like all of my
opponents. I respect them. I think they're
good candidates…But you have to have a debate.
That's what elections are all about.’
Trippi, however, wasn't having any of it.
‘This was just a political play and nothing
more that that,’ he said. ‘It has a lot more
to do with where we are in the polls today,
vis a vis Dick Gephardt, than it does with
anything that happened in 1995.’”
(9/16/2003)
… In Alabama, Dean says
South won’t be forgotten – and plays the race
card against Republicans. Headline from
this morning’s The Union Leader: “Dean:
South won’t be ignored this campaign”
From AP report – dateline: Huntsville,
Ala.: “Democratic presidential candidate
Howard Dean told an Alabama A&M University
audience Monday that he won't give up on
Southern votes, which have gone heavily
Republican in recent presidential elections.
Dean, speaking to about 300 students
and faculty at the historically black school,
said it was time the South had an election
that wasn't about race. ‘Every election in
the South seems to be about race, because the
Republicans always make it about race,’ said
Dean, whose ability to connect with minorities
has been questioned. ‘Since 1968, the
white South has voted Republican. But when
white people and black people vote together,
that's when we make social progress.’ The
former Vermont governor said Karl Rove, the
political strategist for President Bush, may
laugh at a liberal New England governor making
a campaign stop in the Deep South. ‘If it
takes a liberal to balance the budget, mercy
help us, we desperately need one,’ he said to
cheers. ‘The truth is most people in America
would gladly pay the same taxes as when Bill
Clinton was president if only they could have
the same economy.’…’Let's not talk about
guns and race and abortion and the Confederate
flag,’ Dean said. ‘Let's talk about jobs and
education and health care and a strong
defense.’ Dean said he supported the first
Gulf war and the invasion of Afghanistan after
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But he said
Bush deceived the public on the reasons for
the invasion of Iraq. ‘I will never send our
children and grandchildren to fight without
telling the truth to the American people about
why they're going,’ he said. Dean, who spoke
prior to a downtown fund-raising event, told
the audience he would not promise that he
could solve all their problems. ‘The truth
is you have the power to take back the
Democratic party and make it stand for
something,’ Dean said. ‘You have the power to
take back the White House in 2004.’”
(9/16/2003) … In Atlanta, Dean opens another new
campaign endeavor – national “Generation Dean” youth outreach
effort. Coverage – excerpted – from report by the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution’s Tom Baxter: “Jerald Thomas is just the
type of voter former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's campaign is trying
to attract with ‘Generation Dean,’ the nationwide youth outreach
program it launched Monday with a town hall meeting and rally in
downtown Atlanta. As the Georgia State University law student
watched the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination
from the back of the crowd, he liked what he saw. But he said he
wasn't as moved as many of the committed Dean supporters
whooping it up before him. ‘I'm not unconvinced; I just want Bush
out of there. I just want to know he [Dean] can win,’ Thomas
said. The audience of about 600 at the town hall meeting at Georgia
State, and another gathering of several hundred more for a rally in
nearby Hurt Park, came mostly on the strength of word of mouth,
Internet alerts and campus circulars. MTV taped the events for its
‘Rock the Vote’ program. ‘The way we're going to beat George Bush
is to bring people like you out to vote,’ Dean said. Clever use
of the Internet to organize volunteers and an early and consistent
anti-war stand have helped Dean surge to the lead of the
nine-candidate Democratic pack.” (9/17/2003) … “Liberal Democrats give Dean lead in
Field Poll…Vermont’s former governor has surged since spring” –
San Francisco Chronicle headline this morning. Excerpt from report
by the Chronicle’s John Wildermuth: “Former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean, buoyed by liberal, white and college-educated voters, has
surged to the head of the pack in California's crowded Democratic
presidential primary, according to a Field Poll released today.
‘The wind is at (Dean's) back across the country and
especially here in California,’ said Mark DiCamillo, director of the
Field Poll. ‘Every time we've done a poll, his numbers have been up
by a substantial margin.’ A poll last April had Dean with only 7
percent support among California Democrats, compared with 22
percent for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and 16 percent for
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. By July, the three
candidates were in a virtual dead heat with about 15 percent each.
The new survey puts Dean on top in the March 2004 primary at 23
percent, with Lieberman at 15 percent, Kerry at 11 percent, Missouri
Rep. Dick Gephardt at 8 percent and the rest of the Democratic field
at 4 percent or less. Showing up in the polling for the first
time, at 4 percent, is former Gen. Wesley Clark, who is
expected to formally announce his candidacy today. Given the
margin of error, the poll also showed the top four Democratic
candidates all fare similarly in head-to-head matchups with
President Bush. The survey showed Lieberman as the choice
of the more moderate wing of California Democrats, with backing from
20 percent of those who describe themselves as moderate or
conservative. ‘Lieberman is holding his ground as the
center-right candidate, which can allow him to hold himself up as a
more electable alternative to a more liberal candidate,’ DiCamillo
said. The poll was especially bad news for Kerry, who has spent
an enormous amount of time in California, working to raise money and
to cultivate high- tech industry sources and state Democratic
leaders. But his appeal to liberal voters has been swamped by
Dean's growing popularity. Liberal voters ‘have migrated from
Kerry and are going right into the back pocket of Dean,"
DiCamillo said. Kerry's campaign in the state got a boost
Tuesday when California Sen. Dianne Feinstein endorsed him. Kerry
has the ‘strength, experience, leadership and judgment to be an
excellent president,’ the former San Francisco mayor said in a
prepared statement. Dean's increasing strength has been fueled by
a narrow mix of supporters. He is backed by 36 percent of Democratic
liberals, 37 percent of college graduates, 35 percent of white
voters and 34 percent of males. Only 6 percent of California's
minority Democrats backed Dean in the survey, compared with 16
percent who supported Lieberman. ‘It's a very unusual pattern
for a Democratic candidate, one that's very targeted,’ DiCamillo
said. ‘There are certain subgroups he's appealing to.’ There's
still plenty of room for change in the California primary race, with
almost 3 in 10 enrolled Democratic voters remaining undecided.
That number climbs to 36 percent among women, 35 percent among
voters 18 to 49, 40 percent among minority voters and 42 percent
among voters who didn't graduate from college. ‘There is no heir
apparent, no incumbent and no vice president looking to move up,’
DiCamillo said. ‘It's a wide-open year.’ Dean's narrow appeal
shows up in the head-to-head match-up with Bush, where he appears
weaker than the other leading Democrats, losing to Bush by 45
percent to 40 percent. Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt are locked in
statistical dead heats with Bush.”
(9/17/2003) … Kerry commentary in New Hampshire today
takes on Gephardt and Dean. Headline from today’s The Union
Leader: “Dean, Gephardt abandoning Bill Clinton’s economic legacy”
Excerpt: “Twelve years ago, Gov. Bill Clinton announced his
candidacy for President with a pledge to ‘fight for the forgotten
middle class.’ He called for a tax cut for middle class families,
cutting the deficit in half in four years, and restoring investment
in jobs, the skills of our workers, and economic growth. Clinton
economics worked -- nearly 40 million hard-working families got a
tax cut, we created 23 million new jobs and witnessed record high
family incomes and the fastest real wage growth in more than 30
years. With George W. Bush in the White House, the middle class
has been forgotten all over again. More than three million jobs
lost, retirement and college savings gone in a flash, investment in
skills and training plummeting. In the last years the cost of the
average home for families with children has grown 70 times faster
than average incomes. In November of 2004, Democrats need to
offer America’s middle class a clear choice: jobs or no jobs, making
health care more affordable or continuing skyrocketing costs, a
return to fiscal discipline or more fiscal insanity, tax relief for
middle class families or tax loopholes for corporate special
interests. George W. Bush stands in the way — but so does a
debate within our party. Before all of America votes, we Democrats
are going to have to make our own choice: are we going to imitate
George W. Bush in forgetting the middle class or are we going to be
the party that fights for the middle class? Will we turn our back on
the progress of the Clinton years or will we follow his lead in
assuring middle class voters that Democrats will defend their
interests and honor their values? That’s why I am so
concerned that some of my fellow Democratic candidates for
President, most prominently former Gov. Howard Dean and U.S. Rep.
Dick Gephardt, have adopted policies in the course of this campaign
that — in effect — turn their back on both the Clinton economic
legacy and the very middle class families the Democratic Party has
historically defended. I believe we should repeal President
Bush’s special tax breaks that go to the wealthy. I believe we
should end corporate welfare as we know it and tax giveaways to
special interests. But I do not believe we should abolish tax cuts
for middle class families — whether it’s the child tax credit or the
elimination of the marriage penalty. In fact, I believe we should
give middle class families a tax cut, not a tax increase…Gov.
Dean and others have vowed to repeal these middle class tax cuts
Democrats fought to pass, because of a commitment to balance the
budget in four years. However, as Bill Clinton pointed out in
1992 under similar circumstances, the budget deficit is not the only
deficit we face. America has been suffering under an investment
deficit, a jobs deficit, a fairness deficit; and all of these
deficits would be made worse by a breakneck rush to raise the tax
burden on struggling middle class families. Our party should put
substance ahead of sound bites. We should cut the budget deficit
in half in four years while keeping tax cuts for middle class
families and eliminating them for the very wealthy and special
interests. We do not need to offer Americans a false choice between
health care for all and middle class tax cuts — a responsible health
care plan can bring down health care costs for all Americans, cover
the uninsured, and still protect middle class tax fairness. In
1992, Democrats had the strength and courage to stand up to the
pressure to turn their backs on the middle class, to trade middle
class fairness for quick and easy sound bites. Now our party is
being tested again. It is time again to honor the middle class
families our party at its best has championed and defended.”
(9/17/2003)
… Dean vs. Kerry moves
closer to Kerry’s doorstep – Dean to hold fundraiser tomorrow
in Kerry’s neighborhood and return for a Boston rally next
week. Headline from bostonherald.com this morning: “Dean
plans to storm Kerry turf” Coverage by the Herald’s Ellen
J. Silberman: “Howard Dean is taking his surging
presidential campaign to rival John F. Kerry's doorstep,
planning to rally backers and raise cash just two miles from
the Bay State senator's Beacon Hill home. Dean, leading Kerry
in polls in both New Hampshire and Iowa, is scheduled to come
to the Hub tomorrow for three major fund-raisers expected to
add $250,000 to his bulging campaign coffers. Posing an
even greater threat of embarrassing Kerry is a Dean rally
planned for Boston's Copley Square Tuesday as the former
Vermont governor pushes to add 50,000 new names to his roster
of backers by the end of the month. The Dean
campaign hopes to draw 3,000 supporters to the lunchtime
rally, featuring a speech by Dean and -- if city
officials approve -- live music at a site less than two miles
from Kerry's Louisburg Square townhouse. ‘He's
really sticking it to Kerry,’ Boston College political
science professor Marc Landy said of the rally, Dean's
first major Massachusetts event. ‘He's got Kerry reeling. Why
not come here?’ Dean supporters claim the
presidential front-runner is drawn to Boston's symbolism as
the birthplace of democracy and the site of next year's
Democratic National Convention -- not a chance to tweak Kerry.
‘It seems like the proper place to recapture and reignite
democracy, freedom and action,’ said Steve Grossman, former
chairman of the state and national Democratic parties and
Dean's most prominent local supporter. Kerry campaign
officials reacted to news Dean's rally with a slap.
‘Boston is a diverse and inclusive city, occasionally even
welcoming Yankee fans like Howard Dean,’ Kerry
spokeswoman Kelley Benander said.” (9/17/2003)
… Yesterday, Dean unloaded on Kerry during
New Hampshire appearance (Iowa Pres Watch Note:
See this morning’s update for report) – and now
Kerry (via website posting on
www.johnkerry.com ) has responded. Headline:
“Statement from John Kerry on Howard Dean’s
speech at St. Anselm’s” Kerry’s statement: “Unfortunately,
Howard Dean once again stated he wants to repeal the
tax cuts Democrats gave middle class families at a
time when middle class families are taking too many
hits already. Their health care costs are
rising, their housing payments are higher, their
jobs less secure, and college is costing more.
This would hurt those who most deserve our help --
the hard-working, middle class Americans who have
borne the brunt of the Bush bust. For example,
Ted Walsh and Maya Glos, a middle class family from
Barrington, would pay nearly $3,000 more in taxes
even as they try to get ahead and raise a family if
Howard Dean has his way. I believe we should
give Ted and Maya a tax cut not a tax increase.
We can cut the deficit in half in four years, give
Americans access to the health care coverage they
need, invests in education and homeland security
without putting a penalty on married people and
without taking the child tax cuts the middle class
needs. Howard Dean wants to correct
George Bush’s economic mistake by penalizing the
middle class and that’s wrong. The problem with this
economy is not that the middle class is making out
like bandits. What George Bush has done to the
middle class is wrong. And, unfortunately, what
Howard Dean wants to do is wrong for our middle
class families as well. Putting real money into
the pockets of the hard working middle class is true
to our principles as Democrats – and right for the
American economy.” (9/18/2003)
… “Dean rips Kerry as Bush Lite” – headline
from this morning’s Boston Herald. Coverage –
dateline: Manchester, NH – by David R. Guarino: “Front-running
Democrat Howard Dean, letting loose after weeks of
sniping by rival John F. Kerry, yesterday branded
Kerry a budget-fudging Bush defender who epitomizes
Beltway politics as usual. In a bare-knuckled rebuke
here and on Kerry's Bay State turf, Dean alluded to
Kerry as ‘Bush Lite’ and lambasted the senator for
defending some Bush tax cuts. ‘I get criticized
for saying we should repeal all the Bush tax cuts,
we need to repeal all those tax cuts,’ Dean
told an audience at St. Anselm's College. ‘We cannot
approach this campaign being the usual folks,
politicians in Washington who promised everybody
everything.’ Later, at a union gathering in North
Andover, Dean lambasted Kerry for using fuzzy
math to say the middle class is being helped by some
cuts. ‘Sen. Kerry unfortunately is using
the Bush figures to defend the Bush tax plan, I
think that's a mistake on Sen. Kerry's part,’
Dean told reporters, saying most middle
income earners got hundreds -- not thousands -- from
the cuts. ‘We can't have politicians promising
health care, special education and a tax cut too --
that's not going to happen. I think some truth in
budgeting is necessary.’ Kerry spokeswoman
Kelley Benander said Kerry is using
non-partisan figures from the Brookings Institute
and the Joint Committee on Taxes for his estimates
-- not the White House. Kerry showed no signs of
wanting the inter-party tax battle to wane, penning
a column in Manchester's largest newspaper -- and
later issuing a similar statement -- accusing Dean
of abandoning the middle class. ‘Howard Dean
wants to correct George Bush's economic mistake by
penalizing the middle class and that's wrong,’
Kerry said. ‘What George Bush has done to the
middle class is wrong. And, unfortunately, what
Howard Dean wants to do is wrong for our
middle class families as well.’…Dean and U.S.
Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) have said the
tax cuts must be repealed in order to give Americans
better health care and other social programs.
Dean has also said he wants to use the savings
from the cuts to eliminate the gaping budget
deficit. Trying to upstage Dean's plan for a
major tax address planned for today at St. Anselm's,
Kerry took Dean and Gephardt to task in The
Union-Leader. ‘America has been suffering under
an investment deficit, a jobs deficit, a fairness
deficit; and all those deficits would be made worse
by a breakneck rush to raise the tax burden on
struggling middle class families,’ Kerry
wrote. ‘Our party should put substance ahead of
sound bites.’ But Dean said, ‘I know that
you can't repeal just the wealthy portions of the
tax cut and do all the things that Sen. Kerry
and I would like to do for the country because we
looked at that and we couldn't do it. So I would say
Sen. Kerry and I have a disagreement here and
I do not think it's worth defending the Bush tax
cut.’” (9/18/2003)
… Dean and Kerry continue to attract NH voters
while others fade – The two account for more that
50% of the vote while others all now in single
figures. Undecided 27%. Excerpt from AP report:
“Howard Dean holds a 10-point lead over John
Kerry among likely voters in the New Hampshire
primary, according to a poll that suggests the race
is tightening between the two New Englanders. Dean,
the former Vermont governor, had 31 percent in the
poll by the American Research Group of Manchester,
N.H., while Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, had 21
percent. The remaining candidates were in single
digits; 27 percent were undecided. Dean's
lead over Kerry is about half what it was in
a different New Hampshire poll late last month but
close to the 12-point difference in another poll a
week and a half ago. In the last ARG poll, in
mid-August, Dean was 7 points ahead of
Kerry, 28 percent to 21 percent. Rep. Dick
Gephardt of Missouri was at 8 percent, and Sen. Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut had 5 percent. Florida Sen.
Bob Graham, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and
retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who entered the race
Wednesday, had 2 percent, while Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun had 1 percent. Al
Sharpton had 0 percent. While two-thirds of
those surveyed had a positive view of Dean
and Kerry, only a third of the primary voters
had a similar opinion of Lieberman. Seven
in 10 voters are familiar with Clark, but only 22
percent had a favorable view of him, while 5 percent
were unfavorable. Forty-three percent said they
don't know enough about the retired general yet to
form an opinion. The poll of 600 likely primary
voters was taken Sept. 14-17 and had a margin of
error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.”
(9/18/2003)
… Edwards and Dean gang up on Bush yesterday in
New Hampshire. Coverage – an excerpt – from this
morning’s Union Leader by Michael Cousineau: “U.S.
Sen. John Edwards yesterday called the latest
entrant into the Democratic Presidential field, Gen.
Wesley Clark, ‘a nice man’ and that he was focusing
on his own White House effort. Another contender,
former Gov. Howard Dean, went out of his way
yesterday not to criticize his Democratic rivals who
voted for the USA Patriot Act that the Bush
administration is using to fight terrorism and Dean
considers partially unconstitutional. In
campaign stops 30 miles and two hours apart, the two
Presidential hopefuls focused their aim at the
current White House occupant, George W. Bush — and
even the Republican President before him, George H.W.
Bush. Dean pointed out he was ‘governor through
both Bush recessions.’ And Edwards said ‘this
President is making his father look pretty good.’
Edwards said he would climb out of the single
digits in the New Hampshire polls by meeting voters
at his town hall-style meetings. Yesterday’s was
approximately his 30th out of 100 he pledged to
host. ‘I’m going to keep being here in front of the
voters, letting them ask their questions,’
Edwards told reporters afterward. ‘They know
sincere and real, and they can spot it a mile away.’
Edwards got traditional questions about the
economy and some off the beaten path, regarding hog
farms or whether he supports industrial hemp being
used for fuel…Dean said the economy has lost
manufacturing jobs, and federal tax cuts have meant
increases in property taxes and tuition bills
because more federal responsibilities have been
pushed to states, local communities and colleges.
‘Middle-class families didn’t get anything out of
the Bush tax cut,’ he told about 200 people at the
school’s institute of politics. ‘They lost money.’
He also talked about his process for selecting
judges, a duty he may be called on to do for the
U.S. Supreme Court if elected President. ‘I’m
not looking for a clone of Howard Dean on the
bench,’ Dean said. ‘(Former New Hampshire
justice) David Souter has done a terrific job and we
need more people like that” on the Supreme Court.”
(9/18/2003)
… Cyberspace warriors Dean and Clark expected to
try to battle it out over Internet. Under the
subhead “Click Clark” in the “Inside
Politics” column in this morning’s Washington Times,
Jennifer Harper reported: “The race between
Howard Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark for the
Democratic nomination for president may play out
heavily in cyberspace, Wired magazine reported
yesterday. Mr. Dean is ‘staging an insurgent
campaign on the Internet.’ Though he was practically
drafted by an Internet-based campaign, Mr. Clark
‘faces a huge number of obstacles in making use of
it,’ Wired observed. ‘First, he needs to figure
out how to co-opt the leadership of the draft-Clark
movement, which has been divided by infighting.
Beyond that, Clark will have to figure out his
relationship to the larger online community that has
backed him. While he summoned leaders of the
draft movement to Little Rock, Arkansas, in advance
of [his campaign] announcement, Clark has
otherwise been surrounding himself with Clinton
campaign veterans who have little online
experience…’Some Dean supporters are upset
that Clark is running, and some Clark
supporters realize that he could bring Dean
down,’ a Dean supporter told Wired. ‘There's going
to be a lot of bad blood, but ... what we dish out
to each other will be nothing compared to what we'll
get from the Republicans and their allies.’”
(9/18/2003)
… Poor People Powered Howard. He’s already
under attack from Kerry and other top-tier wannabes
– but experts say he ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Harder
hits against Dean in the political forecast.
Headline from FOXNews.com: “Dems Could Ramp Up
Attacks on Dean” Excerpt from report by Kelley
Beaucar Vlahos: “Howard Dean has up until now
avoided serious attacks from his Democratic
presidential primary opponents, but some campaign
experts suggest the former Vermont governor may soon
be in store for a political pounding. If not,
experts warn, the other nine Democratic presidential
candidates will miss an opportunity to define
themselves -- especially now that newcomer Gen.
Wesley Clark has entered the race -- and to keep
Dean from racing even farther ahead from the pack.
‘The Democrats are going to have to train their guns
on him,’ said Rich Galen, a Republican
campaign strategist. ‘There’s an old saying I’m not
sure they even use anymore: It’s time to turn
mother’s picture to the wall.’ But other election
experts say the time may have already passed for the
candidates to take their best shots. ‘In
retrospect, they probably should have done this
months ago,’ said Larry Sabato, director of
the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
‘Now they’ve missed their chance. He’s already
climbed the mountain, he’s already the front-runner.
Negative information today will have no impact.’
In the latest polls, Dean is leading almost
everywhere. In Iowa, he has topped Missouri
Rep. Dick Gephardt, who needs the state to
stay competitive. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry trails
Dean by seven points in New Hampshire, which
Kerry will need to win to have a shot at the
nomination. Some of Dean’s opponents have already
cast the first stones. Since the
first Democratic debate in New Mexico earlier this
month, Dean has been forced to explain off-the-cuff
remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
what have been described as ‘flip-flops’ on issues
like Medicare, Iraq, world trade, the death penalty
and Social Security -- all hot-button issues for the
Democratic base that the primary candidates covet.
‘I think all of the candidates are pointing out his
misstatements, and his record,’ said Dag Vega, a
spokesman for Kerry’s campaign.” (9/19/2003)
… New topic emerges in Dean-Kerry
conflict: Baseball. Headline on today’s report
by David R. Guarino in today’s Boston Herald: “Dean
cries foul” The report datelined from
Londonderry, NH: “It's apparently not enough that
John F. Kerry and Howard Dean are going at it like
the Yankees and the Red Sox. Now they're at each
other's throats over the famed Bronx-Beantown
rivals. Dean, a New Yorker by birth,
told the Herald yesterday he's steaming mad that a
Kerry aide labeled him a Yankee-lover.
‘The biggest insult…hurled at me in the campaign is
to call me a Yankee fan,’ Dean said. But the
former Vermont governor insists he bleeds Yawkey red
-- though, when pressed, he admitted he executed the
ultimate baseball flip-flop only of late. ‘I was a
Yankee fan when I was growing up -- in New York, you
had to,’ said Dean, who moved to Vermont in
1978. But he said he switched sides after being
‘mad’ at Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and said
‘when (Roger) Clemens beaned (New York Met) Mike
Piazza, that was it.’ But that just happened in
2000, prompting howls from Kerry's camp. ‘Of
all of Howard Dean's waffling and flip-flops, this
is the most indefensible,’ said Kerry
spokeswoman Kelley Benander. ‘Obviously, being a
Yankees fan was great until he thought about running
in the New Hampshire primary.’” (9/19/2003)
…Dean effort firing on all fronts during
the “September to Remember.” Headline from
today’s Union Leader: “Dean campaign outlines
fund-raising strategies” Excerpt from report by
AP’s Ross Sneyd in Montpelier: “Gimmicks,
stunts and old-fashioned retail politicking are
among the ways that Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean's campaign plans to raise
money in the next two weeks. The campaign plans to
post its familiar baseball bat on its Web site
exhorting contributors to give more; it's aiming to
land in the Guinness Book of World Records with the
biggest telephone conference call of all time; and
it's going to be conducting old-fashioned
fund-raisers, rallies and door-to-door campaigning.
A lot of the events are being organized by
supporters in communities around the country, with
guidance from campaign headquarters in Vermont, as
part of what the campaign has dubbed a ‘September to
Remember.’ Campaign manager Joe Trippi said
Thursday that many rival campaigns and pundits still
have not figured out that the campaign truly has
tapped a vein of discontent with the way politics is
conducted. He argues voters are interested in
becoming part of a movement to change politics,
which they sense in the Dean campaign. ‘We
believe the reason that's the case is our campaign
is happening over the kitchen table, over the
neighbor's fence, over the water cooler at work,’
Trippi said in a conference call with reporters
Thursday. ‘It's possible for (other) candidates
to continue to grow out there and not have an effect
on our growth,’ he said. What remains vitally
important to all the 10 Democrats' campaigns is
raising money before the Sept. 30 quarterly
deadline. Dean's campaign has been staging a
series of events this month leading up to the last
day of the quarter.” (9/19/2003)
… Another day, another Dean verbal slip…and
another episode in the Dean vs. Kerry saga.
Excerpt from Associated Press political roundup
report: “Democratic presidential hopeful Howard
Dean, on the defensive over verbal slips,
acknowledged making another one Thursday. At a
Manchester, N.H., campaign stop, Dean made his now
familiar call for repealing President Bush's tax
cuts -- with the unfamiliar qualifier ‘some.’
Answering a question about foreign aid, the former
Vermont governor said he would continue it, ‘but I
do plan to get rid of some of the tax cuts to
(former Enron Corp. chief) Ken Lay and the boys.’
When a reporter asked whether Dean was softening his
oft-repeated pledge to repeal all of the Bush tax
cuts, Dean said he wasn't. ‘That was a slip of
the tongue; it's going to happen unless you read
from a script,’ he said. ‘I have consistently said
we are going to take away all of the Bush tax cuts
because the middle class never did get any serious
benefit.’ The former Vermont governor has spent a
week defending his statements on the Middle East,
trade, race and Medicare. His surge in polls and
fund raising have made him a target for other
Democrats, who also have clashed over whether to
repeal all or some of Bush's tax cuts. Rival John
Kerry said Dean committed an ‘extraordinary gaffe’
when he told a college student, ‘There were no
middle-class tax cuts.’ In a written response,
Dean's campaign accused the Massachusetts senator of
using ‘GOP propaganda’ to distort Dean's positions.
Dean stuck with the theme Thursday. ‘Kerry's
using Bush numbers to justify his support for some
of the Bush tax cuts. And his numbers are wrong,’ he
said.” (9/19/2003)
… Will Clark challenge Dean in crowd appeal?
During first day on the trail, hundreds show for The
General’s Florida visit. Headline from
washingtonpost.com: “Supporters Mob Gen. Clark on
First Campaign Stop” Excerpt from Reuters report
datelined Hollywood, FL: “Hundreds of Florida
well-wishers mobbed Gen. Wesley Clark on Thursday
when he made his first campaign stop since declaring
that he was joining nine other Democrats in the 2004
race for the White House. Clark, standing
on a chair in the middle of an overflowing
restaurant in this city north of Miami, criticized
President Bush on the economy and Iraq and told
supporters he needed money. ‘We're the envy of
the whole world but we are trapped in a jobless
economy and an endless occupation and that is the
problem we have to address,’ Clark said. ‘I'm
running for president because this country needs
leadership. It needs honest leadership, it needs
visionary leadership, it needs leadership with
experience,’ he said to cheers from the crowd.
Clark, a former NATO commander, announced his
candidacy on Wednesday. Late to the race, the
political novice was candid about his need for
financial support. ‘This is America. We operate on
the greenback. I need your support,’ he said.
Clark has a grass-roots support network built
on the Internet and a ‘Draft Clark’ Web site
launched months ago has laid the groundwork for
volunteer groups in many states, including Florida.
The retired general has yet to lay out an economic
or domestic agenda and declined to do so on
Thursday. But supporters said his military
background was what made him an attractive
alternative to other Democrats in the field, and to
Bush. ‘Bush has the whole national security aura,
but he does not have that over Gen. Clark,’ said
Aaron Dickerson, 26, who drove 500 miles from his
Tallahassee home to meet Clark. One of many
World War II veterans in uniform told Clark
that his candidacy was his ‘greatest public
service.’ Clark did not discuss what pushed him
to make Florida his first campaign stop, other than
to say he thought it was a beautiful state and that
there was ‘no better place to start.’ Bush won
the presidency in 2000 after a bitter recount fight
in Florida. The state, whose Republican governor Jeb
Bush is the president's brother, is seen as a key
battleground for 2004 as Democrats say they are
determined to avenge the loss.”
(9/19/2003)
… Dean keeps up attacks on Bush during NH visit.
Headline from this morning’s The Union Leader: “Dean
rips Bush on foreign policy, tax cuts” Excerpt
from report by UL senior political reporter John
DiStaso: “A Bush administration foreign policy
based on ‘petulance’ and confrontation has cost
America and its citizens respect around the world,
Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean
charged yesterday. Dean, the former
Vermont governor and front-runner in the New
Hampshire Democratic Presidential primary campaign,
told a midday gathering in Londonderry the Berlin
wall fell without a shot being fired because ‘most
people behind the iron curtain wanted to be like
America and they wanted to be like Americans…’You’d
be hard-pressed to find too many countries in the
world today where the majority of the people want to
be like America and want to be like Americans,’
Dean charged. Dean said Bush ‘won’t do
anything about’ the nuclear threat from North Korea
‘because he doesn’t believe in bilateral
negotiations with a person he — quote, unquote —
loathes. I don’t like (North Korean leader) Kim Jong,
either. But I think we should probably sculpt our
foreign policy on some other set of issues than the
petulance of the chief executive of the United
States of America.’ He said Bush does not
realize that ‘defense is more than just a strong
military. It’s also having high ideals and high
moral purpose to which the rest of the world
aspires.’…Some reports have contended Dean has
recently toned down his fiery rhetoric. That was not
the case at midday stops at Harvey Industries in
Manchester and in the picturesque back yard of Pat
Webb’s condominium in Londonderry. He ripped
Bush on foreign and domestic policy, repeatedly
saying the President, with his tax cut plan, had
given $3 trillion to ‘Ken Lay and the boys at Enron’
while shortchanging special education, roads and
bridges, and even domestic anti-terrorism programs,
including cargo inspections. Dean has long
called for the repeal of all of Bush’s tax cuts, a
stance that has put him in the cross hairs of rival
John Kerry, who wants to retain the
middle-class cuts.” (9/19/2003)
…IOWA PRES WATCH SIDEBAR: Howard Dean’s
speechwriters? Under the subhead “Monkey
Antibusiness,” James Taranto – in his “Best of the
Web Today” column on OpinionJournal.com – wrote:
“New research suggests that monkeys are Democrats,
the Associated Press reports: ‘In a recent study,
brown capuchin monkeys trained to exchange a granite
token for a cucumber treat often refused the swap if
they saw another monkey get a better payoff -- a
grape. Instead, they often threw the token, refused
to eat the piece of cucumber, or even gave it to the
other capuchin after viewing the lopsided deal, said
Emory University researcher Sarah Brosnan. She said
the results indicate man and monkey may have
inherited a sense of fairness from an evolutionary
ancestor.’ Next question: If you gave an infinite
number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters,
would they eventually write a speech for Howard
Dean?” (9/19/2003)
… Kerry says Dean’s campaign bubble is
bursting. Headline from this morning’s New York
Times: “Kerry Says Dean Is ‘Imploding’” From
report by the Times’ Michael Janofsky: “Senator
John Kerry of Massachusetts (Friday) sharply
criticized one of the other leading Democrats
running for president, Howard Dean, asserting that
some of his recent pronouncements show that his
‘bubble's bursting a bit.’ Referring to
statements by Dr. Dean, the former governor
of Vermont, on the Middle East, the Hamas guerrillas
and other issues, Mr. Kerry said, ‘You
can't make 15 gaffes a week and be president.’
Mr. Kerry's remarks came near the end of an
interview on WCBS-TV in New York when the camera had
turned away from Mr. Kerry, who was still
wearing a microphone. Mr. Dean's campaign
manager, Joe Trippi, seemed mildly amused by the
interview. ‘I guess we're just on his mind a lot,’
Mr. Trippi said, pointing to another episode,
the recent debate in Baltimore, when a microphone
picked up Mr. Kerry muttering, ‘Dean.
Dean. Dean. Dean. Dean.’ In the WCBS interview,
Mr. Kerry implied that many of Dr. Dean's
views would cost him his standing in the polls.
‘Dean's been imploding,’ he said. Asked what he
meant, Mr. Kerry said Dr. Dean had asserted that
the United States should not take sides in the
Middle East conflict and that suicide bombers from
Hamas were ‘soldiers.’ Mr. Kerry called
those positions ‘dead wrong.’…’It just catches up,’
Mr. Kerry said. ‘Someone's going to write it.
People will see it. And you know, the poll numbers
are going to show it.’” (9/20/2003)
… Carter sees a “little of himself” in
wannabe Dean, but it may be just as interesting to
note that only DC outsiders – Dean and Clark – have
sought his opinion on their candidacies.
Headline from this morning’s The Union Leader: “Carter
says he sees himself in Howard Dean” Excerpt
from AP report on Carter’s interview with Larry
King: “Jimmy Carter says he sees a little of
himself in insurgent Democratic White House
candidate Howard Dean. In an appearance taped to
air Friday night on CNN's Larry King Live, Carter
says former Vermont Gov. Dean visited his
home in Georgia last year to ask the former
president about his campaign 28 years ago. Like
Dean, Carter entered the presidential race as an
ex-governor considered a long shot for the
nomination. Carter said Dean asked him
and his wife what they did to get a victory in New
Hampshire, among other things. ‘He claims, at
least to me, to have had in part of his campaign
technique about what worked for me in those ancient
days in 1976,’ Carter said. ‘The only difference
is that I didn't have any money and he's today used
the Internet in a wonderful fashion.’ Carter said
Dean has been an exciting candidate, but he
declined to say who he would like to win the
nomination. Carter said Dean is one of just two
of the 10 Democratic presidential candidates who has
sought his opinion about whether they should run.
The other was the most recent entry in the field --
retired Gen. Wesley Clark.” (Iowa Pres Watch
Note: Actually, the original copy said reported “Clark”
– not Carter – “said Dean has been an
exciting candidate…” As a public service, Iowa Pres
Watch corrected it.) (9/20/2003)
…Dean on rural rampage in New Hampshire –
charges that Bush policies have resulted in job
losses that threaten rural values. Headline from
this morning’s The Union Leader: “Dean blames
Bush for loss of jobs” Excerpt from report –
dateline: Berlin – by AP’s David Tirrell-Wysocki: “Democrat
Howard Dean headed into rural, economically
struggling Berlin yesterday to say he would work to
undo Bush administration policies he says cost jobs
and threaten to undermine the rural values that
shape the nation. Speaking to an enthusiastic
lunchtime crowd at City Hall, Dean said
people are leaving rural America and places like
Berlin, because they can’t find jobs. He said it’s
important to the entire country to support rural
businesses. ‘Rural America would be stronger and
so would the country be stronger because the values
of places like this are the values that are good for
the rest of the country,’ he said. ‘Rural
people work hard. They have a strong sense of
community and a strong sense of family.’ The
former Vermont governor said one important way to
get jobs back is to repeal the Bush administration
tax cuts. He said the tax cuts gave breaks to
the rich with money that could be lent to small
businesses; to reinvest in roads, mass transit and
schools and to develop renewable energy. He
specifically mentioned projects such as improving
the country’s electricity grid that would create
union jobs, a detail that would not be lost in
Berlin, where many residents are union members who
work at the region’s paper mills. Dean
repeated his argument that any Bush cuts aimed to
benefit the middle class were wiped out because of
increases in local and school spending. He said the
tax cuts diverted federal money from programs that
could have helped communities. He said another
way to restore good-paying jobs is to make sure
small businesses get help, in part through loans.
‘If you want to do something for businesses that
are going to stay in America and stay in rural
America and help the rural economy, you ought to
help small businesses, not large businesses, and we
do almost nothing for small businesses,’ he said.
He also would support union organizing. ‘When you
pay your workers enough so they can spend a little
money at the local store and keep the money in the
economy and circulating, guess what? The economy
gets better,’ he said.” (9/20/2003)
… Washington Post headline on South Carolina
Report: “Dean Faces Uphill Battle in Courting S. C.
Blacks…Democratic Presidential Contender’s Claim
About Race Meets Some Skepticism in Key Primary
State” In yesterday’s Post, Darryl Fears reported –
an excerpt -- from Columbia, SC: “When a waitress at
Bert's Bar and Grill slipped a plate of spareribs
between Thomas Dameron's thick forearms, he barely
seemed to notice. He was already trying to digest
something Howard Dean had said. It was the former
Vermont governor's claim that he is ‘the only white
politician that ever talks about race in front of
white audiences,’ made at the Sept. 9 debate among
the Democratic presidential candidates. The
debate was sponsored by the Congressional Black
Caucus Institute and Fox News. ‘Did he really say
that?’ Dameron asked. Then his face went blank.
‘If he has to ring his own bell, then his bell must
not be very loud,’ the 44-year-old technical
engineer said. In the campaign for the Democratic
nomination, the reactions of Dameron and other black
South Carolinians will become increasingly important
through the fall: The state's Feb. 3 presidential
primary will be the first in which African Americans
vote in significant numbers. Dean's Internet-fed
campaign has led the pack in fundraising and had
buoyant poll numbers. But his support has come
overwhelmingly from white voters in a race in which
African American votes are essential for victory.
In a recent nationwide poll taken by Zogby
International, only 10 percent of likely black
voters favored Dean. If Dean's insurgent
candidacy for the nomination is to succeed,
Democratic strategists say, he will have to make
inroads among black voters, who have been one of the
party's most reliable constituencies. That will mean
winning over skeptics such as Dameron and others who
voiced similar feelings in interviews this week at
Bert's. ‘I'm sure he's trying to get ahead of the
other candidates in the South,’ said Jim Felder, the
African American president of the South Carolina
Voter Education Project. ‘He knows he has to do well
in South Carolina. He's trying to get our
attention.’ John Kenneth White, a professor of
politics at Catholic University in Washington and a
consultant to Zogby, agreed. Dean's advisers, he
said, are ‘looking around and not seeing too many
black faces. If Dean can make inroads in South
Carolina, it seems to me that will broaden his
coalition.’ But Dean's deputy campaign
manager, Andi Pringle, said the candidate was only
speaking from the heart. ‘He was only making a
point,’ Pringle said. ‘He doesn't talk about race
only among African Americans, as white candidates
tend to do,’ she said. ‘White people tend to be a
little nervous when talking about race and the
history of race in this country. It happens to be a
very passionate point for Howard Dean.’ It
proved to be a point with which his opponents took
issue, too. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.)
fired off a statement on his chats with audiences
about marching with Martin Luther King Jr. Sen. John
Edwards (N.C.) released a statement about growing up
in the segregated South, watching black people get
shoved aside for jobs, education and health care.
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) appeared to be more
upset than the rest. ‘We hit the roof when we
heard that,’ said Jeff Cohen, Kucinich's campaign
spokesman. ‘I think Dean's deluded.
Representative Kucinich brings up racial
issues that Dean hasn't even touched. He
talks about the racially biased death penalty at
campaign stop after campaign stop. He talks about
the drug war and the racially unjust 'three strikes
you're out' law. I don't think Dean goes near
those issues.” (9/21/2003)
… When he’s not battling Kerry (and the other
wannabes), Dean’s fighting city hall back home over
a $76.01 tax late fee. The Boston Herald’s Sarah
Schweitzer reported yesterday: “Democratic
presidential contender Howard Dean is battling the
city of Burlington, Vt., over a $76.01 fee for late
payment of his property taxes, a fee that he says
was unfairly assessed. Burlington city officials
are expected to take up the matter Monday night at a
hearing. A campaign spokeswoman for Dean said
he does not plan to attend. Earlier this month, a
subcommittee ruled against the former Vermont
governor, ordering him to pay the penalty. Dean
says he paid his quarterly tax assessment on time,
and at the same time, prepaid three other quarterly
assessments in a lump sum because, he wrote in a
letter, ‘my campaign keeps me so busy.’ The
payment was due Aug. 12, but the city says it
received Dean's check for $6,080.20 on Aug. 21.
Dean's Burlington home is assessed at
$221,300, according to city officials. Dean's
campaign released a statement yesterday saying: ‘The
Governor is exercising his right, as a citizen of
Burlington, to appeal the $76.01 in interest and
penalties and will abide by the decision of the
Board. This will come as no surprise to
Vermonters, who are well aware that Howard Dean is a
tightwad.’ Other Democratic presidential
contenders have also made been late paying their
taxes. North Carolina Senator John Edwards
said he was delinquent on more than $11,000 in
property taxes due on a house in Washington's
Georgetown section. A lapse by a Pittsburgh bank
caused a late payment of more than $10,000 in
property taxes owed on a vacation home overlooking
Nantucket Sound shared by Massachusetts Senator John
F. Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.”
(9/21/2003)
… “Newt Gingrich Pops Up Again” –
headline on Michael Janofsky political column in
yesterday’s New York Times. The report: “He may be
out of office but he is hardly out of sight. Newt
Gingrich, the conservative agitator and former
speaker of the House, has come to the aid of — get
this — Howard Dean in his catfight with
Representative Richard A. Gephardt over Medicare
spending. In the great Medicare wars of 1995-96,
Mr. Gephardt and other Congressional
Democrats hammered Mr. Gingrich for proposing to
extract $270 billion from Medicare. Mr. Gingrich
insisted it was simply a reduction in the rate of
growth, not a cut, as the Democrats charged. Now
Mr. Gephardt is attacking Dr. Dean for statements he
made in the 1990's that he, too, supported major
reductions in Medicare spending. Dr. Dean
has since asserted he was talking about slowing the
growth rate, not cuts, a distinction Mr. Gingrich
pounced on immediately, leaping to Dr. Dean's
defense. ‘I'm disappointed that Gephardt has
resorted to the politics of distortion and
dishonesty,’ Mr. Gingrich said. ‘He knows that the
sum of his attack is untrue.’ Or does he? Cuts or
slower growth, it's still less money, right? Back to
you, Mr. Gephardt.” (9/22/2003)
… South Carolina envisions major role –
and possible Dean meltdown – in first-in-the South
primary. Political handicapper Larry Sabato says
Gephardt or Kerry could slow Dean’s charge by early
February primary. Excerpt from column yesterday
by veteran political reporter Lee Bandy in The State
of Columbia: “Joe Lieberman of Connecticut has
called South Carolina his ‘turnaround state.’ John
Edwards of North Carolina has made it a ‘must-win’
state for him. And John Kerry of Massachusetts, for
insurance purposes, has started building a
‘firewall’ here. The other seven aren't saying
much. But it matters not. South Carolina is going to
be a make-or-break state for whoever is left in the
Democratic presidential race following the Jan. 27
New Hampshire primary. That could be as many as
five -- or as few as three. ‘It's going to be a
death struggle in South Carolina,’ says Rice
University political scientist Earl Black. No matter
how one slices it, the Palmetto State will have a
major say in the selection of the Democrat to oppose
President Bush in 2004. Some go so far as to
suggest that S.C. voters will pick the nominee. They
just might. ‘South Carolina will be the defining
moment of the primary season,’ says former state
Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian. South
Carolina's Feb. 3 primary is an important early test
because it's the first in the South, the first with
a significant black population, and it comes just
four days before the Michigan caucuses, the first
major industrial state test of the primary season.
It also could be the first stumbling block for
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has been
leading the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, but is
back with the pack in South Carolina. After
South Carolina's Feb. 3 primary, Harpootlian expects
the field to be narrowed to two candidates. ‘We'll
pick the next president of the United States,’
Harpootlian says. Right now, the contest is wide
open. Recent polls show Edwards leading
in the Carolinas, but it's not anything to write
home about. A Sept. 2-3 survey taken by Zogby
International had him out front with 10 percent of
the vote. But the most telling statistic from that
poll -- and many like it -- is this: 46 percent
undecided. ‘This campaign is not even on the radar
screen in South Carolina,’ Zogby notes. ‘Nobody
has the edge, and it looks like South Carolina will
be shaped by Iowa and New Hampshire.’ In this
kind of vacuum, he says, retired Army Gen. Wesley
Clark could seize the moderate mantle…Black
says whoever wins New Hampshire will have a huge
head of steam coming into South Carolina. ‘Right
now, that looks like Dean,’ he says.
University of Virginia analyst Larry Sabato says the
electricity surrounding Dean is so intense it
will take a major break for another candidate to
snatch the prize from him. Who can stop him? Most
likely, Sabato suggests, it will be the
‘steady-if-boring’ Dick Gephardt or the
‘heroic-if-aloof’ Kerry. Lieberman is too
conservative to get the nomination, he says.
Edwards' challenge ‘is to convince Democrats
that he has got the experience and wherewithal to be
president,’ says Winthrop University professor Scott
Huffmon. Right now, there is no consensus
candidate.” (9/22/2003)
… “Dean touts spending on U. S.
infrastructure” – headline in this morning’s The
Union Leader. Excerpt from AP report from Princeton,
NJ, by David Porter: “Federal aid for
infrastructure spending was a central topic Sunday
during a meeting between Gov. James E. McGreevey and
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.
Dean and McGreevey met for about 45 minutes
at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion. The former
governor of Vermont was scheduled to attend
fund-raising events in Princeton, Plainfield and
Upper Saddle River later Sunday, in addition to a
fund-raiser in Asbury Park for Rep. Frank J. Pallone
Jr., D-N.J. McGreevey termed the meeting a frank
exchange of views in which Dean reiterated his
belief that infrastructure spending in areas like
mass transit, roads and schools construction would
stimulate job growth in New Jersey and elsewhere.
Dean said this policy runs counter to the
strategy of the Bush administration, which he said
has cut aid to education to finance tax cuts that
don't address the problem. ‘Discretionary income
does not create jobs,’ Dean said. The Bush
administration's tax cut took effect this summers…Dean
also said the issue of medical malpractice limits
should be decided on the state level, not by the
federal government. President Bush has pushed
for Congress to limit malpractice damage awards, a
stance Dean called ‘fraudulent,’ since a
related measure pending in Congress has little
chance of passing.” (9/22/2003)
… “Dean’s Wife Sticks With Doctorly
Duties, but Pens Letter” – headline in this
morning’s Washington Post. Coverage by the Post’s
Evelyn Nieves: “Judith Steinberg Dean is her own
person, thank you very much. She manages a bustling
medical practice in Burlington, Vt., that she simply
can't abandon to play the waving wife while her
husband, Howard Dean, runs for president.
Interviews, likewise, are rare, and brief --
tortured almost. Steinberg Dean, admittedly,
enjoys getting prodded by reporters as much as the
average person enjoys getting prodded by doctors. As
she said a couple of months back, ‘I'm just too
busy.’ Still. There are ways for busy, shy doctor
spouses of presidential candidates to help out now
and again. The other day, Steinberg Dean, in one of
her first public actions of the campaign, pitched in
her way: She wrote a letter. Specifically, she
wrote a two-page fundraising pitch to ‘target
donors’ in which she explains her absence from the
campaign trail and gives her take on why her husband
became such a great governor of Vermont…Both
explanations are about being doctors. ‘As a doctor
and a partner in a medical practice,’ she writes in
her pitch, ‘I have a responsibility to my patients.
That's why my time on the campaign trail is limited;
when people are sick they want and need to see a
physician.’ As for why her husband makes such a
good politician? Why, he is a doctor, and thus has
the empathy and compassion and ability to make
important decisions. ‘Howard is an
excellent physician,’ she wrote, ‘and we make a
great team. I think Howard was a better
governor because of his experiences as a doctor.’
The Dean campaign said the target donors in question
are past donors large and small. A spokesman,
Sue Allen, said Steinberg Dean will continue
to contribute to the campaign ‘in her own way.’”
(9/22/2003)
… The Great Money Chase is on again – with
a Sept. 30 deadline to determine how the wannabes
stake up in the real First Primary. Headline
from yesterday’s Boston Globe: “Dean leads the
pack in money race…His contributions expected to
break quarterly record” Excerpt from report by the
Globe’s Brian C. Mooney: “Before the votes are
tallied, the checks are counted. With the nine days
until the next quarterly deadline for reporting on
the financial status of their campaigns, most
presidential candidates will be spending time on the
phone begging for money rather than on the stump
pleading their case. For some, the results could
be critical. With Howard Dean breaking away
in both fund-raising and opinion polls in several
early caucus and primary states, the battle for
second place is intensifying. To many pundits and
opinion leaders, fund-raising is an early barometer
of viability, affecting news coverage and
perceptions heading into the Democrats' early-state
contests, starting in January. Dean's campaign
has already predicted it will shatter President
Clinton's 1995 quarterly record for a Democrat of
$10.3 million in a non-election year. The
question is: by how much? At this point, the Dean
campaign isn't projecting, though rival campaigns
believe he will bring in well over the Clinton
record. Another new wrinkle is the impact of
Wesley K. Clark, whose entry last week expanded the
Democratic field to 10 candidates. Initial
campaign contributions will be scrutinized to gauge
early enthusiasm for the retired Army general, whose
supporters have set up an Internet fund-raising
operation similar to the one Dean pioneered. But
the results could be most crucial for the gang of
candidates who have slipped behind Dean in recent
published polls in Iowa, the first caucus state, and
New Hampshire, site of the first major primary. Dean
has left them in his fund-raising dust to this point…Most
campaigns declined to divulge to the Globe their
quarterly goals. Short-term stakes may be highest
for Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri,
whose campaign had vowed to rebound from a dismal
second-quarter fund-raising performance. Looming for
him is a mid-October endorsement decision by the
AFL-CIO, and some labor leaders have said his
ability to raise money could be a factor. In the
second quarter, Gephardt took in about $3.9
million, fifth in the field and more than $1 million
below his campaign's stated target. He started this
quarter with $6.3 million in the bank, fourth behind
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts ($10.9
million), Senator John Edwards of North
Carolina ($8.1 million), and Dean ($6.4
million). Gephardt aides would not disclose the
goal for Sept. 30, sticking to earlier statements
that he would raise a total of $10 million in the
six months before Dec. 31. Spokesman Erik Smith
would only say the campaign expects to exceed its
last quarter total of $3.9 million and improve again
in the fourth quarter. For Kerry, the challenge
may be to finish second for the third consecutive
quarter, though campaign manager Jim Jordan
said: ‘I don't think win, place, or show matters
that much. What matters is making your budget and
having the resources to run your campaign.’ Best
estimates from within the campaign are that Kerry
will raise in the $5 million to $6 million range by
Sept. 30. Kerry has slipped into a double-digit
deficit behind Dean in three recent polls in
New Hampshire, arguably a must-win contest for the
Bay Stater. In the first quarter, he was outraised
by Edwards; in the second, by Dean…The
Edwards camp predicts a drop in quarterly receipts
from the pace of the first six months when it
averaged almost $6 million per quarter. His aides
were not specific, however, and attributed it to the
candidate spending more time on the campaign trail
and less on the phone and at fund-raising events.
Staff members for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of
Connecticut would not specify their own target.
Lieberman, however, stepped up his fund-raising
activity two weeks ago, holding events in New York,
Boston, and Chicago. ‘Fund-raising is certainly
an important part of the process, but not the most
important part,’ said Lieberman spokesman
Jano Cabrera. ‘Money isn't everything.’ Last
quarter, Lieberman raised $5.1 million, third
in the field, but through the first six months of
the year his top-heavy campaign had spent more than
half of his $8.1 million intake, a ‘burn rate’ of
more than 50 percent, highest by far among the
leading fund-raisers. That prompted a series of
budget-tightening moves. Senator Bob Graham of
Florida will ‘beat what we raised last quarter and
have enough money to compete in the primaries,’
spokesman Jamal Simmons said. In the three months
ending June 30, Graham raised $2 million and had
$1.8 million on hand…Representative Dennis J.
Kucinich of Ohio is trying to capitalize on his
opposition to the Iraq war…Kucinich raised
$1.5 million in the second quarter, more than half
on the Internet, Cohen said. He started this quarter
with $1.1 million in the bank. Perennial
candidate Lyndon LaRouche had raised $4.8 million as
of June 30. The Rev. Al Sharpton and
former senator Carol Moseley Braun have
lagged in fund-raising, and spokesmen for both
declined to project their second-quarter results.
Sharpton, who had collected $184,415 through
June 30 and had only $12,061 on hand, was in
Louisiana this weekend, raising money, spokesman
Frank Watkins said. Moseley Braun took in
$217,109 in the first six months and had $22,127 in
the bank…’The third quarter is an absolutely
critical quarter,’ analyst Sabato said. “The
candidates are running out of excuses and getting to
the point that you either have to produce or get out…If
they are raising substantial sums now, they're for
real and can go the distance.’” (9/22/2003)
…
Dean – in Kerry’s
backyard – to tell Boston rally today that Dems must
win to protect nation’s ideals, says right has
“contempt” for democracy.
Report – an excerpt – by
AP political warrior Will Lester:
“Howard
Dean says his campaign is not about who will be the
2004 Democratic presidential nominee, but who will
protect democracy and the nation's ideals from the
Bush administration. ‘Democracy itself is at
stake in this election,’ Dean said in remarks
prepared for delivery Tuesday in Boston. ‘The
extreme right wing has shown nothing but contempt
for democracy.’ The former Vermont governor
invoked historic acts from the Boston Tea Party to
the creation of the Bill of Rights in his speech set
for delivery at a rally in Copley Square in downtown
Boston. ‘Once again, we stand here in Boston as
patriots -- and we stand with more than 410,000
other patriots around this nation who have joined
this campaign, and countless millions more who share
our values,’ Dean said. Dean set his
speech in the city that will play host to the
Democratic National Convention next summer and also
is the hometown of a principal rival, Massachusetts
Sen. John Kerry. Boston news stations also
consider New Hampshire a major market for their
telecasts. Dean and Kerry have been
battling in New Hampshire for months, with Dean
currently holding about a 10-point lead in the polls
in the state with a presidential primary tentatively
set for Jan. 27. Political analysts say Dean's
success in the states with early contests has been
closely related to his sharp criticism of the Bush
administration, which has tapped into Democrats'
anger over Bush policies. Dean said
Americans ‘are no longer willing to allow the
further depletion of our nation's treasury through
tax cuts for this administration's wealthiest
contributors.’ He criticized extensive political
squabbling while ‘41 million Americans live without
health insurance.’ And he said most are ‘no
longer willing to accept an administration lying to
the American people about the reasons for sending
our sons and daughters and brothers and sisters to
die in a foreign land.’ He recalled the founders
who outlined the vision for the nation's
Constitution. ‘But at every turn,’ Dean said,
‘the Bush administration has turned the
Constitution on its head.’” (9/23/2003)
…”In letter, Dean clarifies Mideast stance” –
headline from this morning’s Boston Globe. Excerpt
from report by the Globe’s Sarah Schweitzer: “Democratic
presidential contender Howard Dean has written a
letter to the head of the Anti-Defamation League,
seeking to clarify his views on the Middle East
after being criticized for saying the United States
should be evenhanded in the region. ‘There is no
difference between our positions when it comes to my
unequivocal support for Israel's right to exist and
be free from terror,’ Dean wrote in the
letter, dated Sept. 15. ‘I stand firmly with you in
the war on terror and have called on the Palestinian
leadership to renounce violence and to dismantle the
terrorist infrastructure that exists inside the
Palestinian Authority.’ Dean added that ‘the
United States must remain committed to the special
longstanding relationship we have with Israel,
including providing the resources necessary to
guarantee Israel's long-term defense and security.’
Abraham Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League, said yesterday that his
concerns were allayed by Dean's letter, which
was sent in response to an earlier one Foxman wrote
to the former Vermont governor criticizing his
campaign statements about the Mideast. ‘I am
confident that the doctor is beginning to understand
and is learning the nuances,’ Foxman said. ‘The
fact that he declared he wants to be president does
not make him an instant expert.’ Dean, who has
staked his campaign on a willingness to speak
plainly, had been criticized for saying the United
States should not take sides in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for describing as
‘soldiers’ the members of Hamas, which the State
Department has designated a terrorist group.
Dean later said he used the word soldier to
justify the Israeli policy of assassinating Hamas
leaders and called for evenhanded treatment as a
means of saying the United States must act as an
honest broker in the peace process. His political
rivals deemed Dean's comments missteps, with some
questioning his ability to handle the delicate
diplomacy of the region if elected president.”
(9/23/2003)
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