Dean Says He Favors Edwards Over Kerry

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's not surprising that John Edwards says he would be a tougher opponent for President Bush than Democratic front-runner John Kerry. It raises eyebrows when Howard Dean says the same thing.

With the race's fourth major candidate, Wesley Clark, quitting the race, Edwards and Dean are ganging up on Kerry, winner of 12 of the 14 nominating contests so far. Dean told CBS News in an interview that will air Wednesday night that he believes Edwards would be the better candidate in the general election, even though Kerry has the advantage right now.

"My fear is that he actually won't be the strongest Democratic candidate," Dean told the network.

Asked about Dean's comment, Edwards told reporters: "I agree with that. I think that he is a very wise man. ... The truth is that this campaign to bring about change is working with independents and voters that we will have to get in order to win the general election."

Kerry is speeding toward the nomination, and Dean and Edwards are hoping to stop him after a showdown in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dean urged voters in Wisconsin's primary to stand up against Kerry and other Washington insiders who he said are trying to derail his candidacy. He said he would support the Democratic nominee, but Kerry would be the "lesser of two evils" in a race against President Bush.

Dean, once the race's high-flying front-runner, has gone winless while Kerry has captured 12 victories, including Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday. Clark decided to quit the race after dismal third-place showings, while runner-up Edwards forged ahead with a busy campaign day in Wisconsin.

Edwards said he has not entertained the thought of dropping out and not one Democratic official has asked him to. He is planning to focus his campaign on trade and job losses in Wisconsin, hoping the contest will force Dean from the race and leave him as the alternative to Kerry.

"I'm going to be the nominee," Edwards told The Associated Press in an interview aboard his plane. "I'm definitely staying in."

Edwards' advisers also said he would remain positive and refused to criticize Kerry. Dean, on the other hand, sought to portray Kerry as part of the Washington machine working against him.

"What we now see is that John Kerry is part of the corrupt political culture in Washington," Dean said in an interview. He said he came to that conclusion after learning that former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli contributed to an independent group that ran ads that used images of Osama bin Laden to question Dean's ability to combat terrorism if elected president.

Torricelli, who was forced out of office over ethical lapses, is now raising money for Kerry's presidential campaign. Dean said disclosures that money was also raised by backers of Dick Gephardt show Washington insiders are trying to derail his candidacy.

"The link is unassailable," Dean said. "The same fund-raiser who was ethically challenged and had to step aside from a Senate race because of that raised money from the same donors to support both Senator Kerry and his ... political action group.

"I intend to support the Democratic nominee under any circumstances," Dean said. "I'm just deeply disappointed that once again we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils."

Kerry spokesman David Wade called it "another day, another Dean act of desperation." Wade said Kerry has a record of fighting special interests in Washington and that voters across the country have said they want his leadership in the White House.

Dean finished in single digits in Virginia and Tennessee, having skipped both states to campaign in Wisconsin. He's hoping to revive his candidacy there, but some of his supporters have been questioning whether it is possible.

"I think there comes a point when you have to recognize reality," said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, one of Dean's high-profile endorsers. "I understand he made the commitment to go to Wisconsin, but I think at some point there's going to have to be a reckoning here."

Meanwhile, Kerry campaign officials said he picked up more congressional endorsements - New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Maine Rep. Tom Allen.

Kerry retreated to his home in Georgetown, nursing a cough and making phone calls. He returns to the campaign trail Friday with stops in Wisconsin and Nevada, which holds its caucuses Saturday.

The Bush campaign is increasingly convinced that Kerry will be the opponent in the November elections. They are planning to portray Kerry as a tax raiser who wants to roll back efforts in Iraq and has changed from a war supporter early last year to an opponent when his position started to hurt him in the Democratic primary.

"Certainly Senator Kerry looks to be the front-runner," said Bush spokesman Scott Stanzel. "Democrats are supporting his campaign and we are anxious for the time when we'll have a chance to highlight the clear contrast that voters will have in this election between George Bush's positive leadership and the negativity and pessimism that's being offered by the Democratic candidate."

Kerry pledged to take it "one step at a time," first clinching the nomination and then focusing on President Bush. But he spoke like a front-runner Tuesday night, devoting more than half of his victory speech to the president.

"George Bush, who speaks of strength, has made America weaker - weaker economically, weaker in our health care, weaker in education. And the truth is that he has made us weaker militarily by overextending the armed forces of the United States," Kerry said.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton, both winless, also have indicated that they intend to push on regardless of how well they do in upcoming primaries.

Awesome...meanwhile Kerry has been playing extreme hardball with Dean

Click here to watch this ad....I bet Karl Rove already has 10 of these ads ready.

http://progressivevalues.com/images/flash/movie2.wmv

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040211/pl_nm/campaign_dean_dc&cid=615&ncid=1963&sid=96378800
Democrat Howard Dean Rips Kerry on Attack Ad

Democrat Howard Dean Rips Kerry on Attack Ad
1 hour, 52 minutes ago Add Politics to My Yahoo!

By Thomas Ferraro

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Democrat Howard Dean (news - web sites) said on Wednesday presidential rival John Kerry (news - web sites) was part of "a corrupt fund raising" climate in Washington that spawned attack ads against him in December, when the former Vermont governor was leading the pack of presidential contenders.

Dean, whose one-time front-running campaign has faded as Kerry has ripped off 12 wins in 14 contests, cited reports that former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli contributed to a group that ran ads in December using images of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) to question Dean's ability to combat terrorism.

Torricelli, who left the Senate in a cloud of ethics problems, is now raising funds for Kerry in the race for the Democratic nomination to face President Bush (news - web sites) in November.

Kerry "supports the kind of corrupt fund raising, politically corrupt fund raising mechanism, that George Bush has also employed," Dean charged at a news conference the day after suffering double-barrel defeats to Kerry in Virginia and Tennessee.

Dean hopes to begin what would be a dramatic comeback in Wisconsin's primary next week but a local poll has shown him running far behind.

Dean said "the link is unassailable" between Kerry and Torricelli, although he later added "I have no idea" if the Massachusetts senator had prior knowledge of the spot.

Dean, a staunch opponent of the Iraq (news - web sites) war, made reference to Kerry's vote for a congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq.

"First he sided with the president on the war ... now we find he is more like President Bush than we ever imagined," Dean said. "This is exactly what we don't need in Washington. I got into this race because I wanted to stand up and give the Democratic Party some backbone and character."

He added: "If we have to become like Republicans in order to beat them, then I think the Democratic Party needs to change fundamentally, and I don't think John Kerry is capable of changing the political culture in Washington."

Kerry spokesman David Wade rejected the accusations and said Kerry had a long history of fighting Washington special interests. "Another day, another Dean act of desperation," Wade said.

At one point, Dean inadvertently referred to Kerry as, "President Kerry." He quickly corrected himself, saying, "President Kerry, please. Senator Kerry."

Dean took a timeout from the campaign on Wednesday to return home to Vermont to attend his son's high school hockey game. He plans to return to Wisconsin on Thursday. Dean began airing television ads in Wisconsin on Monday with a $1.3 million warchest he raised in an e-mail appeal to supporters last week.

In the online plea, Dean said if he lost Wisconsin his campaign would be over. But on Monday, he said he had changed his mind, saying supporters had convinced him to fight on, regardless if he wins or loses the state.

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