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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news">
Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues Iowa
Presidential Watch's
IOWA DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 1
Tuesday,
September 9, 2003
Notable Quotable:
“The trick for
Dean is to ensure that the
ultra-liberal positions he has taken in the
primaries, which contradict his sometimes
centrist record, don't cripple his ability to
reach out to Middle American voters in a
general election -- should he make it that
far.
If he does, and then finds a way to zig-zag
back toward the center, Howard Dean could be
George W. Bush's worst nightmare.” –
Club for Growth’s Stephen Moore,
writing in the 9/15 issue of The Weekly
Standard.
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
On the
agenda: Dem hopefuls debate tonight in
Baltimore. The 90-minute forum on Fox
News Channel at 7 p.m. CDT
Related
item:
Report this
morning says Dean campaign attracts
few black, minority supporters
Edwards
puts all his political eggs in presidential
basket. North Carolina newspaper says he’s
taking “a high-risk political gamble” by
dropping possible Senate bid
New York
Post: Hillary’s PAC – HILLPAC – more about
supporting Hillary than helping other
candidates: 80% goes for her own political
operation
GOP chair
Gillespie hits Dem wannabes for sinking to
“new low” – charges they are engaging in
“political hate speech”
Iowa:
Quad-City Times this morning reports that a
rural Decorah man – Bob Watson, 55 – is
mounting an independent challenge to
Grassley
Edwards,
in New Hampshire last night, calls for
repeal of sections of the Patriot Act
Kerry –
apparently trying to appeal to Dean’s
antiwar supporters – says he’ll oppose Bush
request for Iraq funding without dramatic
policy changes
Report:
Largest union in AFL-CIO could make
endorsement by tomorrow night – Dean,
Gephardt and Kerry are top contenders
In
editorial, Rocky Mountain News drills
Dean for being “ignorant” on trade, suggests
he needs an economy lesson
Boston
Globe report notes that heroes from most U.
S. wars have gone on to presidency, but none
from Viet era yet – “a gap Kerry now hopes
to fill.”
Lieberman
goes after Dean for Middle East neutrality
stand
Boston
Herald report: Clark candidacy would
undercut Kerry’s military/veteran theme and
take antiwar votes from Dean
LA Times’
Ronald Brownstein: Florida Dems losing
enthusiasm for rematch with GWB
Sioux City
Journal report: Edwards hopes to “follow
in Jimmy Carter’s footsteps” with LeMars
visit
Wannabes –
as expected – attack Bush’s Sunday night
speech, Dean charges Congress won’t
“stand up” to the president on Iraq policy.
Could he be talking about some of his
wannabe rivals who are in the Senate?
To many
in South Carolina, Kerry is just another
northern liberal – like Michael Dukakis
Gephardt
launches an anti-Bush “A Miserable Failure”
website
Club for
Growth’s Moore warns that Republicans may
not want to face Dean in the ’04
campaign
Sharpton,
in Virginia, tells Dem Party to stop
treating black voters as “mistress”
New York
Times’ Nagourney: Some (like Edwards and
Gephardt) push personal life stories while
others (such as Dean) ignore their
backgrounds and experiences on campaign
trail
Miami Herald
report: Since the aloof, patrician image
wasn’t working for Kerry, it appears he’s
going to test drive a political teddy bear
approach now
The
Edwards mystery: Why is he almost living in
New Hampshire – where he won’t win – while
ignoring SC Dems he needs to rally his
southern base?
While
others campaign in high-profile states,
Lieberman finds himself in tiny Delaware
pursuing “moderate Super Tuesday” strategy
Iowa:
Guv Vilsack, GOP lawmakers continue to spar
over fund transfers
Iowaism:
American white pelicans now dotting lakes
across Iowa All these stories below and more.
Morning reports:
Radio Iowa
reports that a new report from a DC-based
group indicates that Iowa farmers received
more federal farm payments from 1995 to
2002 than any other state
Morning
newscasts report that a former Speaker of
the Iowa House – Del Stromer, 73 – died on
Sunday in a Des Moines hospital.
Stromer, a Republican, represented the north
Iowa area around Garner from 1966 until
his retirement in 1989.
… Iowa Pres
Watch Note: Counting candidates – a Wannabe
Identity Crisis? Several recent surveys
have indicated that as many as two-thirds of
Democratic voters can’t name one of the
wannabes, but it appears some reporters are
having a similar problem. In two of the
reports below, the reporters mentioned that
there are eight Dem hopefuls.
For the record – and avoid further confusion –
the correct number of wannabes is nine.
… Today’s
campaign craziness: In today’s Daily
Report, it almost looks like the Civil War
revisited. A southern newspaper – The State of
Columbia, South Carolina – has a report that
says Kerry is “having a dickens of a time
shedding his image as a Northeastern liberal
from Massachusetts.” Meanwhile, a northern
newspaper – The Boston Globe – has an article
that questions why Edwards “is spending so
much time up here (in New Hampshire?” when he
“needs to energize his natural home base in
the South if he’s to win the White House.”
Coverage of both reports below.
… The table
has been set for nine at tonight’s Baltimore
debate, but don’t be too surprised if eight –
or fewer – show. FOXNews.com says all the
wannabes will be there, but Florida reports
indicate Graham will skip out for home state
fundraiser. Excerpt from FOXNews.com
report: “The nine Democratic hopefuls
seeking their party's nomination for president
will meet Tuesday for a third debate, one
co-sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus
Institute and Fox News Channel. Airing live on
FNC at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the 90-minute debate is
taking place at Morgan State University in
Baltimore, Md. Tuesday's meeting will be
the first major debate of the campaign season
in which all nine candidates will attend.
Eight of the nine candidates met last week in
New Mexico, but civil rights activist Al
Sharpton was unable to catch his flight
from New York and missed the forum. The nine
candidates met in May in South Carolina for a
taped debate that aired late in the evening.
‘This is an opportunity to excite the
electorate and remind them the election is
just around the corner,’ Rep. Elijah Cummings,
chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who
also represents Baltimore, told Fox News.
Tuesday's debate is the first of two that are
being co-sponsored by the CBC and Fox News.
A second debate that all nine candidates have
promised to attend, will take place Oct. 26 in
Detroit.” (Note: Florida media outlets
reported that Graham will miss
tonight’s debate, but has made a commitment to
participate in the Detroit forum.)
… “Democrat Dean
Attracts Few Faces of Color” – headline
from this morning’s Kansas City Star. Excerpt
from report by AP’s Will Lester: “Democrat
Howard Dean has drawn new faces to politics,
many of them young, middle-class Web surfers.
Few of those faces are of color. The
presidential candidate has seized the momentum
in the nine-way primary race with an
Internet-driven campaign that has attracted
thousands of supporters and millions of
dollars. But Dean's success with
minorities, a crucial constituency for any
Democratic candidate, has been limited and
political analysts wonder whether he can
broaden his appeal. ‘I think it's going to
be difficult for him to connect,’ said David
Bositis, a political analyst at the Joint
Center for Political and Economic Studies, a
think tank focused on black issues. ‘He
doesn't have any history with blacks.’ Dean,
a Park Avenue-raised, Yale-educated internist,
practiced in Burlington, Vt., and later served
as the state's governor for 11 years. Vermont
has a population that is nearly 98 percent
white, according to the latest Census data.
Throughout the campaign, much of Dean's
support has come from the Internet, either
through his own Web site or Meetup.com, a
point of contact for those looking for Dean
gatherings. Extensive computer use, according
to recent surveys, is more common among whites
than minorities. More than six in 10
whites describe themselves as Internet users,
while about half of blacks say they use it,
according to Lee Rainie, director of the Pew
Internet and American Life Project. Among
frequent Internet users, the digital divide
widens between whites and minorities, with 60
percent of whites and 40 percent of blacks who
go online saying they do so often. Beyond
the source of support, two issues that could
prove problematic for Dean are his opposition
to expanding gun-control laws and his
decision, while governor, to sign a
civil-unions bill. Gun control is popular
among inner-city residents faced with high
crime rates. And while some equate
discrimination based on sexual orientation
with racial discrimination, many blacks do not
see those prejudices in the same terms,
viewing the matter through the prism of
religion. A recent Pew poll showed blacks were
more likely than whites to oppose gay marriage
-- 64 percent to 51 percent. ‘That might be a
sticking point,’ said Alan Smith-Hicks, a
black electrical engineer attending a Meetup
session for Dean in Baltimore last week.
‘They're concerned he's too liberal, that he's
going to make gay marriage a federal law.’
Minority support for the candidates will be at
the forefront Tuesday night as the nine
Democrats gather in Baltimore for a
presidential debate sponsored by the
Congressional Black Caucus and Fox News.”
… Edwards blasts
Ashcroft and Patriot Act at New Hampshire town
meeting last night. Headline from this
morning’s The Union Leader: “Edwards wants
repeal of parts of Patriot Act” Coverage –
dateline: Merrimack – by AP’s Holly Ramer: “While
Attorney General John Ashcroft continued his
efforts to defend the USA Patriot Act,
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards
proposed repealing some provisions of the
anti-terrorism law. Ashcroft was in New
Castle on Monday for the latest stop on a
monthlong tour to counter criticism that the
act has given the government too much power to
monitor its citizens secretly. In other
cities, he has described a series of terrorism
arrests that would have been more difficult
had the act not helped intelligence agencies,
criminal investigators and prosecutors share
information. But Edwards, who voted for the
Patriot Act in 2001, argues that Ashcroft has
abused the power given to him under the law
and taken away citizens' freedoms without
making them safer. ‘John Ashcroft has trampled
on our rights and claimed unprecedented power.
We need to rein in this attorney general,’
he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a
Town Hall meeting Monday night. He proposed
repealing a portion of the act that allows
anti-terrorism investigators to access library
or business records and replacing it with a
new provision that would require them to
better justify their requests in court.
Ashcroft has defended the libraries provision,
saying subpoenas of business or library
records are subject to greater scrutiny by
judges under the anti-terrorism law than those
issued under regular criminal investigations.
But Edwards said more scrutiny is
needed. ‘Judges should be a real check, not a
rubber stamp,’ Edwards said. Edwards
also wants the government to provide the
public with more information about how the
Patriot Act is working. For example, the
public should know how many wiretaps
investigators have used, he said. Repeating
earlier comments, Edwards added that
the act should be updated to prevent U.S.
citizens from being detained indefinitely
without access to lawyers if they are declared
‘enemy combatants.’”
… Kerry says he’ll
vote no on Bush Iraq funding without policy
changes, but his real target is Dean. He
emphasizes that ex-governors – Carter, Reagan
and GWB – get in “trouble real fast” on
foreign policy. Has he forgotten that his
buddy Bill Clinton also was a governor?
Excerpt from last night’s report by AP’s Ron
Fournier: “Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry said Monday
he would not support President Bush's $87
billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan
without a dramatic shift in White House
policies. ‘I'm not going to vote for an
open-ended ticket,’ Kerry told The
Associated Press. He said Bush should get more
foreign troops into Iraq and use oil revenues
to help pay for reconstruction before
Americans are forced to foot the bill.
Kerry said the United States cannot
abandon the Persian Gulf nation. In a
wide-ranging interview, the Massachusetts
senator said Democratic rival Howard Dean,
a former governor of Vermont, lacks foreign
policy experience in a post-Sept. 11 period
that demands it. ‘We've seen governors
come to Washington who don't have the
experience with Washington and they get in
trouble real fast. And they don't have the
experience in foreign policy, and they get in
trouble pretty fast,’ Kerry said.
‘Look at Ronald Reagan. Look at Jimmy Carter
and now, obviously, George Bush.’ On
foreign and domestic policy, Kerry
said, ‘We've got to have somebody who knows
how to pull the levers of this city and get
something done.’ Kerry, fielding
questions from AP reporters and editors for
more than an hour, condemned Bush's
policies on North Korea, the Middle East,
homeland security, the environment and taxes.
While shrugging off his own political
problems, Kerry criticized Dean and fellow
Democratic candidate Dick Gephardt for seeking
to repeal Bush-backed tax cuts for the middle
class. Kerry waded into the
California recall fight -- he'll campaign for
embattled Gov. Gray Davis later this month --
and gingerly addressed his own state's liberal
political lineage. While he would
‘absolutely and with pleasure’ welcome Sen.
Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., on the campaign trail,
Kerry noted that he didn't always agree with
former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the
1988 Democratic nominee who lost to Bush's
father. Kerry once served as Dukakis'
lieutenant governor…Kerry insisted he
is comfortable being 12 points behind Dean in
a recent poll of voters in New Hampshire,
which shares a media market with Massachusetts
and is considered vital to his chances.
‘Absolutely. Are you kidding? Al Gore
was way behind that with Bill Bradley’ in the
2000 primary fight, Kerry said. Gore
eventually defeated the former New Jersey
senator in New Hampshire. Asked what he was
doing to slow Dean's momentum, Kerry
replied, ‘I don't know what you mean. What
about my momentum?’ He cited national polls
as proof that his campaign has grown stronger.”
… Slippery Howard
I: Beware of People Powered Howard:
Club for Growth’s Steven Moore says
Republicans “shouldn’t get carried away” and
begin salivating over a possible Bush-Dean
contest. Headline on commentary in the
9/15 issue of The Weekly Standard: “The
Appeal of Howard Dean” Excerpt from
Stephen Moore’s op-ed: “Part of Dean's star
appeal has been the refreshing genuineness of
his campaign rhetoric, even when his ideas are
cockeyed. By pledging to repeal the entire
Bush tax cut--a move that would raise the
average tax burden on middle income families
with three kids by about $2,500 a year,
Dean is attempting to prove that voters
will swallow higher taxes to get more
government largesse. In a recent debate, he
confidently asserted that when working class
voters saw his universal government-run health
care plan, they would gladly pay for it. ‘If
we're going to have a system of universal
health care in America, we will have to pay
more taxes,’ he said...God save the country
if voters actually buy into Dean's health care
socialism, but at least he is honest about the
sacrifices required. This is not a man who
believes in the mythical free lunch. Ever
since that first meeting with Howard Dean
some five years ago, I've been trying to think
of what politician he most resembles. The
former governor of a small state, he is
charismatic, good looking, wonkish, craving of
the spotlight, and capable of telling a room
full of people precisely what they want to
hear. The obvious answer recently hit me: Dean
is Bill Clinton, but without the
skirt-chasing. Republicans are said to be
salivating over the prospect of a Bush-Dean
match-up. They shouldn't get carried away.
Howard Dean, warns John McClaughry [of the
Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont's sole
dispenser of free-market views], has been
‘underestimated throughout his political
career. He has an uncanny knack for finding
where the political capital is stored and
walking off with it.’ The trick for
Dean is to ensure that the ultra-liberal
positions he has taken in the primaries, which
contradict his sometimes centrist record,
don't cripple his ability to reach out to
Middle American voters in a general election
-- should he make it that far. If he does,
and then finds a way to zig-zag back toward
the center, Howard Dean could be George W.
Bush's worst nightmare.”
… RNC chair
knocks Dem wannabes for sinking to “new low” –
but the odds are that they will sink lower
before the Iowa caucuses. Headline from
yesterday’s Washington Times: “GOP decries
‘hate speech’ by Democratic candidates”
Excerpt from report by the Times’ Audrey
Hudson: “The rhetoric of Democratic
presidential hopefuls has sunk to a ‘new low’
of ‘political hate speech’ that will be
rejected by voters, the chairman of the
Republican Party said yesterday. ‘I think
history will show that this field has taken
presidential discourse to a new low,’ Ed
Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National
Committee, said on NBC's ‘Meet the Press.’…’The
kind of words we're hearing now from the
Democratic candidates go beyond political
debate — this is political hate speech,’
he said. Rather than campaigning against one
another during the party's first debate in New
Mexico on Thursday, eight of the nine
Democratic candidates in attendance aimed
their attacks at President Bush. Rep. Richard
A. Gephardt of Missouri called Mr. Bush ‘a
miserable failure,’ and former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean said the war in Iraq has
increased the likelihood of more terrorist
attacks. ‘The truth is, there are more
likely to be more people from al Qaeda bombing
Iraqis and Americans today than there were
before Saddam Hussein was kicked out,’ Mr.
Dean said. Asked yesterday on CNN's ‘Late
Edition With Wolf Blitzer’ if the ‘miserable
failure’ statement is intended to be a
campaign theme, Mr. Gephardt responded that
‘it is what it is.’ Terry McAuliffe,
Democratic Party chairman, seized on that
phrase more than once yesterday during an
appearance on NBC: ‘George Bush has been a
miserable failure in dealing with the domestic
issues that relate to education, health care,
job creation,’ he said. Mr. Gillespie said
the Democrats' message will backfire with
voters. ‘They appreciate the president's
strong and principled leadership and the fact
that he has a positive agenda, and [Democrats]
have, frankly, nothing but negativity and
pessimism and protest to offer,’ he
said. Citing previous elections, Mr. Gillespie
said the rhetoric on either side of the aisle
never reached such heated levels. Accusing
the Democratic Party of going negative is
‘laughable,’ said Mr. McAuliffe, who said
Republicans have used negative campaigns
against both Democrats and Republicans. ‘The
Bush campaign went out and attacked John
McCain. They attacked his wife, they attacked
his children, they attacked his mental sanity,
they attacked his patriotism,’ Mr. McAuliffe
said. Mr. Gillespie called the charges
‘patently false.’…’Terry McAuliffe
cannot find one instance where this president
in his campaign said anything about John
McCain's mental health or his wife's,’ Mr.
Gillespie said.”
… This should scare
the White House – and swing the Dem nominating
derby in Gephardt’s direction: The MO wannabe
launches an anti-GWB “Miserable Failure”
website. Headline from the site: “Dick
Gephardt Will End the Bush Era of ‘Miserable
Failure’” Excerpt: “As president. Dick
Gephardt will restore the American economy
using principles of growth he helped forge in
the early 1990s. Most significantly, he
will work to provide the surest stimulus means
we can give our economy: providing
guaranteed health insurance for all Americans.
This will give direct financial help to
families who pay health care premiums, provide
assistance to businesses and state and local
governments struggling to pay health care
costs for employees, and free up money for
better wages and job creation.” The “A
Miserable Failure” content also lists
Gephardt’s contentions about the
inadequacies of the “Bush Economic Record.”
There’s also a fundraising solicitation: “Your
$25, $50, $100 or even $250 contribution
will be put immediately to use as Dick
Gephardt takes his winning message through
Iowa, New Hampshire and beyond. Help Dick
Gephardt end George Bush’s string of
miserable failures and make an online donation
today. Let’s stand tall as Democrats, and
let’s stand behind Dick Gephardt!” (Iowa
Pres Watch Note: First, Gephardt
should be charged with false advertising –
what “winning” Gephardt message? Has he
checked the New Hampshire polls lately?
Second, it appears Gephardt is trying to jump
on the anti-Bush bandwagon – which should be
described and dismissed as Dean Lite.)
… Is this
political fiction writing? Edwards says his
prez bid is “going exceedingly well.” At least
Edwards won’t be back in the Senate – and,
barring a major change in the political
landscape, won’t be in the White House either.
Headline from yesterday’s News & Observer
of Raleigh: “Edwards rejects Senate bid”
Coverage by the N&O’s John Wagner and Rob
Christensen: “In a high-risk political
gamble, U.S. Sen. John Edwards said Sunday
that he will not seek re-election to the
Senate next year so that he may focus his full
attention on a presidential bid that has been
struggling to gain traction in the polls.
In a letter to N.C. Democratic Party
Chairwoman Barbara Allen, Edwards
asserted that his White House run is ‘going
exceedingly well’ and said that he will
‘devote all of my energy to running for
president.’…’The decision to move forward
decisively to seek the nomination was not a
difficult one,’ Edwards said. Edwards,
whose political ascent has been strikingly
swift, faced considerable pressure in North
Carolina in recent weeks to choose either the
presidential or Senate race, both of which
will appear on the 2004 ballot. His decision,
made public Sunday night, likely caps
Edwards' legislative career at a single term
and opens the door for other Democrats to
enter what is expected to be a highly
competitive contest to succeed him. At least
two Democrats are expected to get in: Erskine
Bowles, a Charlotte investment banker who ran
unsuccessfully for the Senate last year
against Republican Elizabeth Dole; and former
state Rep. Dan Blue, who lost to Bowles in the
Democratic primary…Edwards, meanwhile, is
scheduled to formally announce his
presidential bid next week in his boyhood home
of Robbins. Although he has effectively been
running for president since January, his
campaign envisions the announcement as a
pivotal event in his bid to become a top-tier
contender. In recent polls from Iowa and
New Hampshire, the first two nominating
states, Edwards remains in the single
digits, far behind the front-runners. His
numbers, however, have started to inch up in
both states since the launch of TV
advertisements and a pair of high-profile bus
trips in August. Edwards, meanwhile,
sat atop a tightly grouped field in a poll
last week from South Carolina, drawing 10
percent of likely voters. His lead,
however, is not considered statistically
significant by pollsters, given the margin of
error built into such surveys. Moreover,
the poll indicated that nearly half the likely
Democratic primary voters in South Carolina
are undecided about whom to support. Still,
the poll provided a sign of momentum for the
Edwards campaign to cite at an
important point in the race.”
… In new
Iowa TV ads, Dean hits “Washington
politicians” – such as guys named Kerry,
Lieberman, Gephardt, Graham, Edwards and
Kucinich. Excerpt from report by AP’s Iowa
caucus-watcher Mike Glover: “Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean has
launched his second wave of television ads in
Iowa, with spots that focus on his health care
record during his tenure as governor.
‘Washington politicians talk about the
problem,’ a narrator says, ‘but a governor
named Howard Dean did something about it and
today virtually every child in Vermont has
access to quality health care.’ The
commercial will air in nearly every media
market in the state for an undetermined amount
of time, Dean aides said. The
commercial is the same one the candidate has
been airing in six states. Dean became the
first of the Democratic hopefuls to begin
airing commercials in Iowa earlier this
summer, but he has plenty of company as the
fall campaign picks up. Sens. John Kerry
of Massachusetts, Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina and Rep. Dick Gephardt
of Missouri also are on the air with ads in
Iowa. Dean has sounded an anti-Washington
theme, and his latest spot follows that
message. ‘If we can do that in a small
rural state and still balance the budget, we
can do that for every American,’ he said.”
… Big day
-- or doomsday -- for Gephardt may be on
horizon. Report says that the largest union in
the AFL-CIO could endorse a wannabe by
tomorrow night. Headline from this
morning’s The Union Leader: “Major union
eyes Dean, Kerry, Gephardt for endorsement”
Excerpt from report by AP’s Leigh Strope: “The
largest union in the AFL-CIO could endorse a
Democrat in the presidential primary race as
early as Wednesday, with Howard Dean, Dick
Gephardt and John Kerry among the top
contenders. Andy Stern, president of the
Service Employees International Union,
characterized an endorsement as a best-case
scenario, saying members at this week's
conference will drive the decision. If a
consensus does not emerge, an endorsement
could be delayed, Stern said Monday. The 1.5
million-member SEIU is the nation's
fastest-growing union and among the most
progressive and diverse, making it an enticing
prize for Democrats seeking labor support.
Eight of the nine presidential hopefuls spoke
to about 1,500 rank-and-file members at its
political action conference. Nine
Democrats, including Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida, also were meeting Monday and Tuesday
with the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, the second-largest in
the AFL-CIO and the most politically powerful.
AFSCME spends more than any other union on
politics. SEIU's support is vital to
Gephardt, who is seeking a labor-wide
endorsement next month from the AFL-CIO. The
Missouri congressman is the only candidate so
far to nab backing from an international
union. The SEIU represents janitors, home
health care workers, nursing home workers,
hospital nurses and government workers. A
large number of its members are Hispanic.
Dean, the former Vermont governor leading
in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, made his
pitch to Stern and his union, telling the
labor leader recently that SEIU would provide
him with much-needed support from an
ethnically diverse population. Stern noted
that Dean so far has attracted white,
upper-income backers, and told him he needs to
broaden his base. Dean said ‘he
will shorten the primary season because we
will give him something he doesn't have now,
which is a much more diverse pool of support,’
Stern said. In a recent call, Kerry, the
Massachusetts senator, told Stern an SEIU
endorsement would help revive his struggling
campaign. North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards called Stern on Sunday, asking him to
hold off making an endorsement and give him
time to show an energetic campaign now that he
had decided against running for a second
Senate term…Stern said SEIU would not
endorse a candidate who had not proposed a
comprehensive health insurance program to
cover most Americans and show how it would be
funded.” (Editor’s Note: See related item
about SEIU playing “Candid Camera” with the
Dem wannabes below.)
…
Slippery
Howard II:
“Dean’s
ignorant stand on trade”
– headline on editorial in yesterday’s Rocky
Mountain News. Editorial excerpt: “Howard
Dean has a Catch-22 idea that would be a sure
formula for keeping impoverished nations
impoverished.
The former
Vermont governor, now a Democratic
presidential candidate, says the United States
should not trade with these poor countries
unless they enact the same sorts of labor and
environmental standards as exist here.
But of
course they are incapable of doing that until
they get richer, and one of the few ways they
will get richer is through trade with us,
which he would rule out. Tough luck, poor
people. As Sen. Joseph Lieberman of
Connecticut pointed out in an Albuquerque,
debate of the candidates last week, it's not
just the poor nations that would suffer. So
would the United States, which would lose
export markets and millions more jobs. Want
another recession? Dean is the man to bring it
our way, Lieberman observed. As
Lieberman observed, ‘He said he would not
have bilateral trade agreements with any
country that did not have American standards.
That would mean we would not have trade
agreements with Mexico, with most of the rest
of the world. That would cost us millions of
jobs.’ And the net result? According to
Lieberman, ‘The Bush recession would be
followed by the Dean depression.’ Dean
is pretty much an unknown quantity in the
country at large, but he will become known in
a hurry if he is sitting on top of the
Democratic heap after the initial primaries,
as some are predicting. In the meantime, he
might want to acquaint himself with the field
of economics.”
… Must-see TV:
Wannabe Candid Camera playing in DC this week
– as union members seek to find “human sides”
of the Dem contenders. Headline from
yesterday’s Washington Post: “Union Puts
Democratic Candidates on Candid Camera”
The report: “The Democratic presidential
candidates will troop before another of the
party's constituency groups here in Washington
[Monday] at the convention of the Service
Employees International Union, but this will
be more than the ordinary candidate forum.
The SEIU is one of the largest unions in the
AFL-CIO, and its members have not yet endorsed
a candidate for the Democratic nomination.
This week's meetings will help determine
whether any of the Democratic candidates
receive the union's backing. The candidates
will each speak to the members and will be
seen in other ways. SEIU officials
recruited a group of young filmmakers to
travel with each of the candidates and prepare
short videos designed to present the human
sides of the politicians. The SEIU members
will see Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) talking about
what his grandchildren call him (‘Doodle,’ and
when he's really good to them, ‘Super
Doodle’). They'll see Rep. Richard A. Gephardt
(Mo.) try to rave about how much he likes hot
dogs. And they'll see Sen. John F. Kerry
(Mass.) threading a microphone up through his
shirt as one of the filmmakers asks him if he
would drink a beer with them if they brought a
six-pack to the interview the next day.
‘You're damn right I would,’ Kerry
says. ‘I might drink more than one.’ ‘Good
news,’ says the filmmaker. The candidates
won't get anywhere with the SEIU leadership
without a plan for expanding health care
coverage, but union President Andrew L. Stern
said that the films and other activities
planned for the candidates will help his
members gauge how well the Democratic
contenders connect with voters. ‘We think
it's very important that by the [time of the]
elections, voters have a sense this is a
candidate they would like to have dinner with,
go bowling with,’ he said. ‘I think George
Bush did incredibly well in the last election,
and Al Gore had his problems.’”
… Least surprising
report of the day: Dem hopefuls take turns
blasting Bush’s Sunday night speech.
Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune: “Candidates
offer sharp criticism over holes in Iraq plan”
Excerpt from coverage by Trib national
correspondent Jeff Zeleny: “The leading
Democratic presidential candidates, already
relentless in their criticism of the Bush
administration's handling of postwar Iraq,
said the president's address to the nation
Sunday night did little to ease concerns about
achieving stability in the region. "We
have trapped ourselves in Iraq because the
president was impetuous in his decision and
the Congress wouldn't stand up to him," said
Howard Dean, the former governor of
Vermont, whose presidential candidacy ascended
with his strident opposition to the war.
‘It is beginning to remind me of what was
happening with Lyndon Johnson and Dick Nixon
with the Vietnam War,’ Dean said while
campaigning in California. ‘The government
began to feed misinformation to the American
people in order to justify an enormous
commitment of American troops, which turned
out to be a major policy mistake.’ While no
other Democratic presidential hopeful leveled
criticism as sharp as Dean's, other candidates
said the Bush administration was too slow to
seek help from allies and the United Nations.
‘The people of America deserve a real plan for
winning the peace in Iraq, for safeguarding
American troops until they come home and for
building an international support that will
ease the burden on our men and women in
uniform,’ said Sen. Joseph Lieberman of
Connecticut. In a speech from the White House,
Bush said he would seek $87 billion from
Congress to pay for the costs of securing Iraq
and the region. He offered no timeline for how
long American troops would serve in Iraq.
‘Other than telling the country that this will
be expensive, the president did very little to
demonstrate he has a true plan,’ said Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts, adding that the
speech failed to answer several other
questions. ‘How do we get others involved
to take the target off the back of American
soldiers?’ he asked. ‘How will we assure our
soldiers they won't be overextended? How do we
end the sense of occupation in Iraq?’
Despite their criticism, Democrats fighting
for the right to challenge Bush in the 2004
presidential election agreed that the United
States should not withdraw troops from Iraq
until the country is stabilized. ‘We need
a plan that wins the peace with the world at
our side and brings our troops safely home
with their mission truly accomplished,’ said
Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina,
who will not seek re-election to the Senate in
2004. Sensitive to growing criticism about
Iraq, the rising causality count of American
soldiers and declining poll ratings for Bush,
the White House scheduled the prime time
address three days after Democratic
presidential candidates leveled heavy
criticism during their televised debate.
Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri five times
called Bush ‘a miserable failure.’ On a
Sunday morning television program, he unveiled
a Web site that aides said received 1,100 hits
in a few minutes. ‘Now that the president has
recognized that he has been going down the
wrong path,’ Gephardt said Sunday
evening, ‘this administration must begin the
process of fully engaging our allies and
sharing the burden of building a stable
democracy in Iraq.’”
… Yankee John Kerry
finds tough going in the South as his
Northeastern liberal reputation follows him to
South Carolina. Headline from Sunday’s The
State: “Kerry needs to shed liberal tag”
Excerpt: “Democratic presidential hopeful
John Kerry is having a dickens of a time
shedding his image as a Northeastern liberal
from Massachusetts. It haunts him
everywhere he travels in South Carolina, site
of the first-in-the-South Democratic primary
on Feb. 3. ‘The word Massachusetts keeps
creeping into the conversation,’ said
College of Charleston professor Bill Moore.
‘Massachusetts and liberalism are identified
as one and the same.’ S.C. voters, more
conservative than the Democratic electorate
nationwide, see Kerry as a wealthy
Northeastern politician. ‘That's all they
know,’ said Winthrop University political
scientist Scott Huffmon. Consequently, his
message of hope and opportunity gets lost in
the process. ‘His image trumps his
message,’ Huffmon said. Aware of the
problem, Kerry made little mention of
his home state as he formally launched his
campaign for the Democratic nomination Tuesday
in South Carolina. Selection of the state
to kick off his campaign was no accident,
campaign operatives say. Kerry needs to change
his image and let folks here know he is on
their wavelength, Huffmon says. And one
way to do that is for the senator to distance
himself from the ‘Massachusetts liberal’ label
-- a moniker that doomed the presidential
bid of another Bay State Democrat, former Gov.
Michael Dukakis. ‘The interesting thing
is, South Carolina would probably be more
receptive to Kerry's message if it came
from another person,’ Huffmon said. Kerry
didn't help himself earlier this year when he
told a California audience the Democrats could
win without the South. He since has backed
away from that. He now says he can win
Louisiana, Georgia and perhaps Alabama. In an
effort to change his image, Kerry chose
Mt. Pleasant for his formal announcement,
launching his campaign with the aircraft
carrier USS Yorktown as a backdrop. He focused
on his record as a decorated Navy veteran who
served in Vietnam…Francis Marion University
political analyst Neal Thigpen, a Republican
activist, suggests it is somewhat unfair to
tar and feather Kerry as a flaming liberal
from Massachusetts. If you analyze the
senator's entire voting record, you would find
him to be ‘moderately liberal.’…’Just
being from Massachusetts is a big problem,’
Thigpen said. ‘Somehow, he needs to remove the
curse of being from the commonwealth. He is a
very respectable candidate.’ The latest Zogby
International poll of likely S.C. primary
voters shows the race has not yet caught fire
here. Four candidates are in a virtual tie for
the lead: Kerry, U.S. Sens. John
Edwards of North Carolina and Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut, and former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. …Kerry
needs a win in South Carolina. It would
help him shed some of his Massachusetts
liberal baggage and show he has traction
outside New England. But it's a fine line he
must walk:” If he goes too far to the right
to court the South, he could fall ever further
behind Dean in the more left-leaning
Democratic battlegrounds of Iowa and New
Hampshire.”
… Lieberman goes
after Dean again – for saying U. S. should
take neutral position on Middle East.
Excerpt from report by AP’s Lolita C. Baldor:
“Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman
lashed out against Democratic front-runner
Howard Dean on Sunday over the former Vermont
governor's recent statement that the United
States should not take sides in the Middle
East conflict. ‘It's hard to say if this
is a well thought out position,’ Lieberman
said. ‘If it is, it is a major break in a half
a century of American foreign policy. If it's
not (well thought out), as a candidate for
president, you've really got to think before
you talk.’ Lieberman, an orthodox Jew
who has traveled extensively to the Middle
East as a senator, said Israel has long been a
vital U.S. ally and that the two countries
have a special relationship that ‘is as real
and necessary and beneficial to both as it has
ever been.’ Dean's comments came last
Wednesday when he was speaking to a crowd of
people at a Santa Fe coffee shop. He said it
is not America's place ‘to take sides’ in the
conflict. And he added that there are an
‘enormous number’ of Israeli settlements that
must go…Responding to Lieberman's
criticism, Dean spokeswoman Tricia
Enright, said: ‘The United States will always
maintain its commitment to Israel's long-term
defense and security. But peace will only come
to the region through negotiations between the
parties facilitated by a president of the
United States who is personally engaged in the
process and willing to treat both sides
fairly.’ Jeremy Ben-Ami, Dean's policy
director, said Dean believes ‘when
you try to negotiate peace, you have to
negotiate with both sides, you have to
recognize legitimate claims on both sides.’”
…
Presidential footsteps I: Edwards wants to
follow Carter. In 1975, Jimmy
Carter started his White House adventure with
a stop in LeMars. Over the weekend, Edwards
showed up in the Ice Cream Capital of the
World, too. Excerpt from Michele Linck’s
Sunday coverage from LeMars: “Sen. John
Edwards brought his presidential
nomination campaign to this self-proclaimed
Ice Cream Capital of the World Saturday.
The North
Carolina Democrat is on his third swing
through western Iowa and drew about 30 people
– ‘a good crowd’ according to Ron Stopak, a
former chairman of the Plymouth County
Democratic Party -- to the party room of the
Wells Blue Bunny ice cream parlor…Edwards
is hoping to follow in Jimmy Carter's
footsteps: Le Mars was Carter's first campaign
stop in Iowa, made Feb. 26, 1975, on his way
to winning the White House.
Edwards, the grandson of a sharecropper
and son of a mill worker, never mentioned any
of the seven other Democratic contenders [Editor’s
Note: That – seven other contenders – is what
the report says.], but missed few
chances to point out that President Bush, the
obvious Republican nominee, is from a
privileged background. ‘I think the reason
George Bush is so out of touch with us and the
rest of America is the way he grew up --
wealthy,’ Edwards said. Edwards told
the gathering that while Bush was vacationing
last month, another 100,000 people lost their
jobs. ‘The best thing we can do about jobs
is to make sure George Bush gets a new job,’
he said, drawing his only mid-speech applause.
He also claimed Bush is underfunding his own
education initiative by $10 billion and never
talks about the country's health care
‘crisis.’ He called the war in Iraq ‘a mess’
and said the U.S. should be getting allies
involved. Among his own proposals, Edwards
said, are getting rid of tax policies that
make it profitable for U.S. companies to
operate overseas; providing venture capital
for start-ups willing to locate in
high-job-loss areas and instituting tax
policies to help existing industries expand to
high job-loss areas. He said he would
create a rural development initiative and
offer pay incentives to get good teachers into
poor school districts.”
… “General
strike poses threat to Dem field” –
headline from yesterday’s Boston Herald.
Report – by the Herald’s Noelle Straub – says
Clark would take military/veteran votes from
Kerry, antiwar support from Dean. Excerpt:
“Retired Gen. Wesley Clark probably
wouldn't be able to knock Sen. John F. Kerry
out of the ring of White House contenders, but
he'd at least have the Massachusetts Democrat
seeing stars -- four stars, to be exact.
The former NATO supreme commander and
four-star Army general could pull the plug on
one of Kerry's main campaign themes:
being the only Democratic contender with
military credentials, able to stand up to
President Bush on national security issues.
‘Wesley Clark gets in and at least part
of the Kerry rationale of courage and
strength under fire and serving his country
for years, part of this is undercut,’ said
political analyst Stuart Rothenberg. ‘Clark
has the potential to take some support out of
Kerry's hide.’ But Kerry spokesman
David Wade insisted that Kerry would not alter
his strategy if Clark joins the race.
‘John Kerry's message has never been
affected by anyone joining or leaving this
race,’ Wade said. Clark has said he will
decide whether to enter the race by Sept. 19,
when he is scheduled to give a speech at the
University of Iowa. Most political
analysts agree it would be an uphill battle
for Clark, who would trail other
candidates in fund raising and recruiting
activists in key states and has few ties
inside the Democratic Party. In fact,
Clark only declared last week that he's a
Democrat. ‘I think he'd enter with a lot
of fanfare and attention,’ said Rothenberg.
‘He'd spike up in the polls from one or two
points to six or seven points. (But) he has no
organization. He has no money. He's unproven
as a candidate.’ Former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean has said he often seeks
advice from Clark and that he would
make a good vice presidential running mate.
But Clark seems determined to run for
the top office, and some political
observers say Clark could draw supporters from
Dean, because both appeal to anti-war voters.
So far, Clark's support comes from two
Internet groups, one based in Washington and
the other in his home state of Arkansas, who
are pushing him to enter the race. But he'd be
far behind on the ground in states with the
first caucus and primaries.”
… Strange
strategy: Lieberman heads to political byways
– like tiny Delaware – in effort to make most
of “moderate Super Tuesday” after Iowa and New
Hampshire. So this is where the moderates who
will power Joe to the Dem nomination live –
Delaware, South Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma,
New Mexico and North Dakota. Excerpt
from weekend report by Phil Dine in the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch: “As other Democratic
candidates battled recently for the lead in
the high-profile states of Iowa and New
Hampshire, Sen. Joseph Lieberman found himself
in tiny Delaware. Lieberman was
there to pick up endorsements from key
statewide Democratic officeholders, who touted
him as a centrist well-suited for Delaware's
primary and as having the best chance to
defeat President George W. Bush next year.
Lieberman said the endorsements were
‘giant steps’ in his campaign. If so, it's
evidence of a new political influence for
Delaware -- and a presidential campaign in
need of a boost. Though it has fewer than
800,000 residents, Delaware is for the first
time one of the early primary states. That,
plus its centrist orientation, makes it --
along with South Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma,
New Mexico and North Dakota -- part of
Lieberman's hope of getting some momentum from
victories on what his staff dubs ‘moderate
Super Tuesday’ on Feb. 3. The senator from
Connecticut seems to have little choice.
Despite the best name-recognition of any of
the nine Democratic aspirants, his lead in
several national polls -- including recent
ones by CBS and CNN-USA Today-Gallup -- and
his presence on a 2000 presidential ticket
that drew the most Democratic votes in
history, Lieberman appears to lag the
front-runners in early buzz. Lieberman
says he awaits a ‘breakthrough’ the week
after New Hampshire, when a ‘broad sweep’ of
voters more representative of America in
geographic, ethnic and perhaps philosophical
terms get their say in selecting a nominee.
(He doesn't, however, expect to win one state
voting Feb. 3 -- Gephardt's home state
of Missouri.) South Carolina, the biggest
prize that day, is a focal point of his
strategy. It may seem strange for a
northeastern, moderate Democrat, the only
non-Christian in the race, to rely on a
conservative Christian, Southern state.
But Lieberman thinks he can win the
state, for many of the same reasons he argues
he can beat Bush in a nationwide race: His
long-standing advocacy of a strong defense
policy aimed at defending American values, his
support for the war in Iraq and his role in
establishing the Department of Homeland
Security.”
…
Presidential
footsteps II: Kerry wants to follow
Washington.
While Edwards tries to follow in Carter’s
footsteps, Kerry has higher ambitions –
although not all candidates with war records
are treated equally. Headline from
Sunday’s Boston Globe: “Candidates with war
records are popular, but they don’t always win
elections” Excerpt from report by Globe’s
Anne E. Kornblut: “George
Washington started the trend -- riding his
military experience into the presidency in
1789.A
few years later, however, John Adams started
the countertrend. With no military experience,
he occupied the White House from 1797 to 1801,
even overseeing the development of the first
Department of the Navy. Does military
service matter in electoral politics? More to
the point today: Will Senator John F. Kerry of
Massachusetts gain any advantage by harking
back to his Vietnam days? The historical
record is divided almost evenly. While a total
of 21 presidents have been elected after some
kind of military service -- and in more than a
dozen instances, both major party candidates
have been veterans of some sort -- there
are numerous instances when civilians have
beaten veterans. Bill Clinton, who didn't
serve in Vietnam, beat two respected veterans
in back-to-back elections. Senator John S.
McCain of Arizona, a decorated former Vietnam
POW, lost the 2000 Republican primary to
George W. Bush, who spent a brief period in
the Texas Air National Guard. Bush then beat
Al Gore, who had volunteered for Vietnam as a
military journalist. Seventeen of the 43 US
presidents never served in the armed forces,
according to data compiled by historian Henry
E. Mattox for the University of North
Carolina. ‘A direct relationship between a
heroic military reputation and election at the
highest national level can be demonstrated
explicitly in only a half-dozen cases over the
past two centuries,’ Mattox wrote. At
times of war or national crisis in the past,
voters have turned to respected military
leaders -- most obviously Dwight D.
Eisenhower, who had commanded Allied forces in
World War II. ‘When Dwight Eisenhower ran,
[military service] was terribly important
because we were locked in this Korean War that
people were terribly frustrated by,’ historian
Robert Dallek said. ‘Just the hint that
Eisenhower was going to get us out of the war
by saying he would travel to Korea was enough
to give him an additional boost in the polls.’
Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant also
parlayed his military success into electoral
prowess. Eight other generals besides Grant
and Eisenhower have become president,
according to Mattox. In the 20th century,
Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard
M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush
all used their military service as a political
asset. Another historical footnote: Almost
every major US war to date has produced a
future American president, according to
Mattox's study. The central exception is
Vietnam -- a gap that Kerry now hopes to fill.”
… ‘Sharpton:
black voters tired of being ‘mistress’ to
Democratic Party’ – headline from
yesterday’s The Union Leader. Excerpt from
report – dateline: Richmond, VA – by AP’s Bob
Lewis: “The Rev. Al Sharpton cautioned the
Democratic Party that it can't treat black
voters as its ‘mistress’ and rebuked rap
artists for lyrics that that degrade black
women. The fiery New York preacher and
Democratic presidential candidate told a
dinner for executives from minority
construction companies Saturday that the
patience blacks have for the party was about
at an end. ‘We must not be in a
relationship with a Democratic Party that
takes us for granted. We must no longer be the
political mistresses of the Democratic Party,’
Sharpton told the audience attending the
first awards banquet for the Central Virginia
Business and Construction Association. ‘A
mistress is where they take you out to have
fun but they can't take you home to mama and
daddy. Either we're going to get married in
2004 or we're going to find some folks who
ain't ashamed to be seen with us,’ he
said. Sharpton has trailed among the
eight [Editor’s Note: That – eight – is
what the report says.] Democratic
candidates in recent polls in Iowa and South
Carolina, but hopes to find a boost in
February primaries in Southern states with
sizable black voting blocs. Sharpton also
denounced what he called ‘negro amnesia’ among
a generation of black people who had forgotten
the sacrifices of people who were jailed,
beaten and even killed for their involvement
in the civil rights movement 40 to 50 years
ago. He took particular aim at rap artists
whose violent lyrics refer to women in
derogatory terms. ‘To think that we have
come down dangerous alleys, that we have
traveled through the backwoods of terror, that
we have survived beatings, been shot down in
cold blood doesn't give you the right to call
your mama a whore,’ Sharpton said.”
… Edwards
baffling Dems in both New Hampshire and South
Carolina – as well as the Boston Globe’s
Patrick Healy – by campaigning in NH while
ignoring southern voters. Headline from
Healy’s Sunday report from Durham, NH: “Edwards
meets, greets, repeats” Excerpt: “If
Senator John Edwards has little hope of
winning the New Hampshire primary -- as some
of his own aides acknowledge -- then why is he
spending so much time up here? That was a
question on the minds of some Democrats during
a recent Edwards swing through South Carolina,
where, they complained privately, the North
Carolinian needs to energize his natural home
base in the South if he's to win the White
House. Yet the Edwards campaign is
operating on the conventional assumption that
you win South Carolina the old-fashioned way
-- with a pricey run of television commercials
-- while you write off the Granite State at
your peril. What's more, Edwards
advisers say that retail politics, which New
Hampshire demands, shows their candidate at
his best. He uses a town hall-style format
here that adds heft to a campaign some deride
as Clinton Lite, and has pledged to hold
more than 100 before the Jan. 27 New Hampshire
primary. Far from shaking hands in Hampton or
kissing babies in Bedford, these town halls
are issues-oriented, sometimes unpredictable
affairs. Voters have an hour to pose any
question or take any shot they want, and
Edwards usually handles it all with aplomb
-- offering detailed answers on everything
from clean air to Chinese currency, and
showing poise in the face of unwelcome
comments (on his support for the Iraq war
resolution, for instance) or difficult topics
such as the death of his elder son, Wade.
But 100 town hall meetings will consume a
large chunk of a candidate's schedule, and
Edwards takes every opportunity to hold
another one. (He has had about 30 so far.)
During a recent lunchtime ‘drop by’ at Young's
Restaurant, Edwards passed up time to munch
on a sandwich and instead declared that he was
holding an impromptu town hall because he had
a bigger crowd than expected. ‘One hundred
town halls is a serious commitment of time,
but we're talking about someone who works 16-,
18-hour days, seven days a week,’ said
spokesman Colin Van Ostern. ‘He can campaign a
lot in New Hampshire, a lot in Iowa, and a lot
in South Carolina.’”
… Why isn’t
Howard Dean talking more about his personal
background when every Iowan knows that John
Edwards’ father was a millworker? The New
York Times’ Adam Nagourney notes that some
candidate’s won’t discuss intimate details of
their lives – while others can’t stop
disclosing things that nobody wants to know.
Headline from Sunday’s Times: “Democrats
Split on Pushing the Personal or the Political”
An excerpt from Nagourney’s report: “John
Edwards, a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination, cannot pass a crowd
these days without talking about his father
the millworker or growing up in rural North
Carolina. For Richard A. Gephardt, the
campaign stories are about his father the milk
truck driver and his son's successful battle
with prostate cancer. But spend a day with
Howard Dean and it is almost as if his life
began the day he stepped behind the governor's
desk in Vermont 12 years ago. Senator Joseph
I. Lieberman is far more animated talking
about the intricacies of trade policy than in
sharing stories about growing up in Stamford,
Conn. A striking stylistic divide has
emerged among the Democratic candidates as
they struggle to determine the extent to which
they can — or should — build candidacies on
often intimate details of their lives, in an
era that celebrates the public airing of the
most personal of tales. Their responses — from
the intense intimacy of Mr. Gephardt to
the rigorous avoidance of personal biography
that has characterized Dr. Dean's
candidacy — reflect fundamentally different
calculations by the candidates about what
voters are looking for in this election.
But they also illustrate disagreements among
the candidates over what is appropriate to
talk about in the context of a political
campaign, and the complexity of divulging
intimate details that might enhance their
standing without appearing to exploit personal
tragedy for political gain. That perception
dogged Vice President Al Gore when he
ran for president in 2000, a cautionary lesson
for many Democrats this time…Democrats said
these divisions that have emerged reflect, at
least in part, long-observed variations in
cultural sensibilities in different parts of
the nation. Candidates from the North — Mr.
Dean, Mr. Lieberman of Connecticut and Senator
John Kerry of Massachusetts — are more
reserved and less likely to dwell on the
intimate details of growing up or personal
tragedies than the candidates from the South
and Midwest. Those candidates include Mr.
Edwards, Mr. Gephardt of
Missouri, and Senator Bob Graham of
Florida. And there are elements of economic
class at play. Candidates from
working-class backgrounds are much more likely
to promote their life stories than those who
grew up wealthy. Accordingly, Mr.
Gephardt and Mr. Edwards have woven
stories of their modest upbringings into their
campaign speeches; revealingly, there is a
30-year gap in Mr. Edwards' story, which stops
about the moment he becomes a wealthy trial
lawyer, living in the Georgetown section of
Washington. By contrast, growing up as the
son of a stockbroker on Park Avenue and
spending the summer on Long Island — as Dr.
Dean did — is not exactly the stuff of the
compelling presidential biography.
Perpetuating a widely circulated myth, a
senior adviser to a Dean rival sent an
e-mail message saying, ‘You do know that he
is the Dean of Dean Witter, don't you?’ He is
not.”
… Will the new, improved cuddly Kerry
image sell better than the aloof, stoic,
patrician personality that he’s been using
during the campaign? Headline from
Sunday’s Miami Herald: “Kerry warms up his
campaign with a new image, strategy”
Excerpt from coverage – dateline: Derry, NH –
by the Herald’s Peter Wallsten: “It was hardly
an intimate lunch at Mary Ann's diner as Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts sat down to
chat with six jobless New Hampshirites: Forty
reporters, a scrum of TV cameras and a
campaign crew filming video for an ad loomed
inches away. But suddenly, to the excitement
of reporters who had settled in for another
predictably staged event along the road to the
White House, there they were: tears welling
up in Kerry's eyes. Camera bulbs flashed
and pens scribbled as he wiped a drop from his
nose. ‘That's really moving,’ Kerry
said, his voice quivering, as he pondered the
tale of Barbara Woodman, 46, a laid-off
medical bibliographer who declared that, no
matter what, her kids would go to college.
‘It's tough, it really is,’ Kerry
added, comforting Woodman with a rub on the
shoulder. One day later, in the otherwise
staid environment of Thursday night's debate
in New Mexico, there was Kerry, smiling and
cracking jokes about President Bush. On
his campaign plane earlier in the week, wife
Teresa Heinz Kerry, outspoken philanthropist
and heiress to the steak sauce fortune, handed
out brownies and bragged about her baking
prowess. This was not the John Forbes Kerry
of conventional political wisdom: the aloof
millionaire, Boston blue blood, devoid of
humor and incapable of relating to the little
guy. This is the new Kerry, the one that
campaign strategists hope will be introduced
-- or reintroduced -- in the coming months.
The old Kerry has so far failed to
connect with enough Democratic primary voters
in key states where he has been campaigning
for years. Until recently, it appeared that
Kerry, 59, had banked on his biography
alone to make his case for the presidency: his
military service in Vietnam, his 20 years in
politics, his foreign affairs experience in
the U.S. Senate. It seems that his
personality -- or at least the perception of
it -- was getting in the way.”
… This
should be real reassuring for most Iowa Dems
and rural Americans: Dean to be endorsed by
the majority of the DC council. What’s next –
endorsements from the councils in Detroit, LA,
Chicago and NYC? Excerpt from AP report: “Democratic
presidential hopeful Howard Dean is poised to
pick up endorsements from a majority of
Democrats on the District of Columbia council.
‘His campaign has reached out to us, and
frankly nobody else really has,’ said
Councilman Jack Evans, adding that the Dean
campaign has been courting local Democratic
operatives for at least two months. The
District of Columbia holds a nonbinding
primary on Jan. 13, six days ahead of the Iowa
caucuses and two weeks before the New
Hampshire primary. It is considered a
‘beauty contest’ rather than a true primary
because delegates will not be selected until
caucuses on Feb. 14. The support of at
least five and possibly seven of 11 Democrats
on the 13-member city council could boost
Dean's candidacy, Evans said. Dean won
favor by coming out early in support of the
city's successful effort to establish a
presidential preference contest before Iowa
and New Hampshire. Evans has been working
to persuade several of his colleagues to back
Dean, citing his support of issues
important to city Democrats. ‘It's almost
like we did with Bill Clinton back in 1991,’
said Evans, who expected Council colleagues
Sharon Ambrose, Jim Graham, Adrian Fenty and
Kathy Patterson to join him Tuesday to make
their formal endorsement.”
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