Mark Kegans for The New York Times
Joe Briggs and his daughter Jenny
in Newton, Iowa. She said she had
been a supporter of Howard Dean
but was having second thoughts.
Posted on 01/09/2004 3:04:15 AM PST by Pharmboy
Mark Kegans for The New York Times
Joe Briggs and his daughter Jenny
in Newton, Iowa. She said she had
been a supporter of Howard Dean
but was having second thoughts.
NEWTON, Iowa, Jan. 8 — Only a few weeks ago, Jenny Briggs, an Iowa State University graduate, was all set to enthusiastically support Howard Dean in the caucuses. But now, with the vote 11 days away, Ms. Briggs said she is having second thoughts as she watches Dr. Dean stumble through his difficult days of the presidential contest.
"I had listened to him on TV, and I thought he sounded pretty good," Ms. Briggs said, standing in the town square in Newton, Iowa. "It turned out he was too good to be true."
She said she grimaced when Dr. Dean, in what she described as an act of arrogance, declared at a debate in Des Moines on Sunday that he would balance the budget "in the sixth or seventh year of my administration," and then looked befuddled when his audience broke out laughing.
"I think Dean has turned a lot of people off by acting cocky," she said.
Ms. Briggs does not appear to be alone.
Democratic leaders in Iowa say that in a contest that is notoriously difficult to measure with polls, Dr. Dean is the dominant candidate, and they are struck by the powerful commitment of his supporters.
Still, in dozens of conversations with voters across central Iowa over the past three days, it became clear that some Democrats are taking a second look at the doctor from Vermont whose candidacy has transformed the Democratic presidential contest.
Such qualms could benefit Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Both were often mentioned by voters as strong alternatives to Dr. Dean.
"I don't know why, but there is just something that makes me uncomfortable about Dean," Laura Sims of Webster City said on Thursday.
In Baxter, after a town hall meeting with Representative Richard A. Gephardt, Al Flyer, an I.R.S. agent, said that among Democratic voters, there was a "little bit of mistrust there" toward Dr. Dean.
"It's what you see is not what you get," said Mr. Flyer, who added that he had not decided whom to support.
At the same time, Democrats in the interviews expressed weariness about a campaign that many said had gone on too long and had overwhelmed them with mail and automatic telephone calls. More than a few described the contest as grating in tone and texture. And in an electoral environment where animosity toward President Bush is matched only by the sense that he cannot be defeated, many Democrats expressed concern that the warfare among the candidates was making a hopeless cause all the more hopeless.
Indeed, several Democrats praised Mr. Edwards for largely avoiding the animosity, and said they would reward him with their votes.
"All these attacks on Dean — if Dean is the nominee — are going to come back to haunt us," said Dorraine Schuling of Altoona. Ms. Schuling, a state worker, said she had dropped her support for Dr. Dean and had traveled to east Des Moines to see Mr. Edwards speak.
Sue Nading, 38, standing in an antique shop in Cedar Rapids, likened the candidates to a "swarm of bees."
"Right now they are too busy taking pot shots and saying why they should be considered over this other yahoo," Ms. Nading said. "It is fracturing the party and making Democrats look like we're dervishes."
Given that Dr. Dean has drawn many new Democrats into the process, and given the intensity of his supporters, no one in Iowa is suggesting he is in serious trouble now. Among the campaigns now conducting nightly counts of supporters, there is a rough consensus that Dr. Dean is in front, followed by Mr. Gephardt, with Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards fighting it out for third.
In Des Moines, a stronghold for Dr. Dean, Nick Colacino, 80, a retired postal worker, dismissed the attacks on Dr. Dean and said that if anything, they made him more likely to turn out for his candidate.
"He's the favorite and they are trying to bust him down," Mr. Colacino said. "I made up my mind a long time ago that I was going to vote for him."
Yet the concerns voiced in interviews come during a rough month for Dr. Dean: what his own aides have described as political missteps — such as saying that the capture of Saddam Hussein had not made the United States safer — have coincided with a stretch of time when many voters in Iowa are making decisions. Today, the campaign was confronted with an NBC News report about critical statements Dr. Dean made about the Iowa caucus system in a television interview four years ago.
Dr. Dean's advisers have been watching for signs of deterioration in his standing, a difficult thing to measure in Iowa because of the unusual nature of the caucuses, all the more so this year given the number of new voters Dr. Dean has brought into the process.
Polls and the interviews suggest that Mr. Gephardt, with his base of union backers, old-line Iowans and elderly voters, enjoys an unwavering if different field of support.
"I like Gephardt because I think he is a labor man," Wilma Hansen, a retired worker at the Maytag plant, which has its headquarters in Newton, said as she ate at the Maid-Rite diner.
In Baxter, Mr. Flyer said he was considering Mr. Gephardt after hearing Mr. Gephardt speak, though the I.R.S. agent suggested that enthusiasm for the Missouri Democrat was not quite electric.
"No one says anything bad about him," Mr. Flyer said. "He's a strong second."
If Dr. Dean shows signs of polarizing voters — inspiring strong feelings from supporters and detractors — Mr. Edwards and Mr. Kerry appear to be emerging as comfortable alternatives.
"I personally kind of like John Edwards," said Jackie Tierney, 43, a mother of three. "He seems a little more positive and a little bit more friendly and approachable than some of the others."
Mr. Edwards's potential, though, is limited, many Democrats say, by the fact that he does not have the kind of organization needed to win a caucus. By contrast, Mr. Kerry has methodically built an organization that many Democrats say might compensate for what even his supporters concede have been Mr. Kerry's shortcomings as a candidate.
None of the candidates stirred as intense emotions as Dr. Dean did.
"I think he is too radical," David Martin, a retiree in Fort Dodge visiting a home supply store, said on Thursday. "I think if we follow him, our tax bill is going to go way up."
Gai Neurohr, 50, the proprietor of an antique store in Cedar Rapids, said: "The debates showed me I really didn't like Dean. The first one I ever watched, he just got so hot-tempered and I didn't like that."
But several Democrats said they admired the way Dr. Dean had held his own in the face of attacks from rivals at the debate on Sunday, and they said that spoke well to how he might endure a general election campaign against Mr. Bush.
"Dean has weathered his attacks quite well," said Elaine Mattingly, who owns a bookstore in Newton with her husband.
Whether it all matters is another question. In Webster County, some of the voters interviewed were not interested in the Democratic field at all, expressing strong satisfaction with President Bush.
"I am pretty happy with Bush," said Peter Lann, 60, of Fort Dodge, an unemployed cook whose son is serving in the Navy as a salvage diver. "At least he has done something."
Can Mr. Bush be beaten? "That's a real hard question," Mrs. Hansen, the retired Maytag worker, said in Newton. "Because, um, no."
Michael McElroy contributed reporting for this article
The tax payer participation has decreased every year since the inception of the program, from a high of 28% to the present 11%. This is insanity and why doesn't the media discuss this? Probably because they (the media) are the recipients of the bulk of the money! - leprechaun9But aren't the partisan media shills completely objective? Aren't they above reproach? *expressions of disgust* Getting rid of taxpayer financing of partisan campaigns should be a platform plank. Since it's matching funds, it doesn't do much to lower the financial bar for candidacy. It's just welfare for the idle rich.
His willingness to threaten non-compliant media outlets with Anti-Trust litigation, based on their ideological beliefs, is what I think made so many newspapers turn on him. - cniredrum
They hate each other's guts. They endorsed different candidates and both want to control the party. In the end one of the going to come out the winner. - goldstategopHitlery won't run in 2004. This struggle is for 2008. It isn't ideological. The party is shredding itself. This has happened before. Sometimes that works (Andrew Jackson's schism was successful) and often it doesn't (the Whigs, the 1860 campaign, Bull Moose, the Dixiecrats, Nelson Rockefeller, John Anderson).
the Times is doing their part to push Dean aside for the Clinton candidate (Clark) as they dutifully sow seeds of doubt about his candidacy. - captnorm
All they're doing is setting up Hillary as the "Joan of Arc" who can save the Democrat Party from itself. It's all in the plan. - leroysmort
That is table-pounding funny....
I've always hated that leveling the playing field crap.The idea of a level playing field makes one think of the Handicapper General found in one of Vonnegut's short stories.
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