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LIVE THREAD: New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Debate
Fox News | January 22, 2004 | Carl Cameron/Major Garrett

Posted on 01/22/2004 3:58:25 PM PST by Howlin

Dems to Face Off in Debate

Thursday, January 22, 2004

By Liza Porteus

MANCHESTER, N.H.  — The seven Democratic contenders for the nomination to go head-to-head with President Bush in November will face off Thursday night in the last public debate before the New Hampshire primary.

The debate could be a make-or-break event for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (search) and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark (search), in particular, leading up to Tuesday's first-in-the-nation Democratic primary. Clark's campaign seems to have lost a little momentum to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search) and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (search), whom many politicos see as a potential up-and-comer.

"I think if you're looking for an upset, look toward John Edwards ... there still could be a late break," said Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review.

Dean has seen his poll numbers spiral downward quickly and Clark's chances of getting one of the tickets out of New Hampshire could hinge on his performance in the debate, sponsored by Fox News Channel and scheduled to air at 8 p.m. EST.

According to a Fox News New Hampshire Primary Tracking Poll released Thursday evening, Kerry, still riding the "Iowa bounce" from his caucus victory in the Hawkeye State Monday night, is leading the race to win the New Hampshire primary. Dean continues to drop in the eyes of Granite State Democrats, according to the poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center (search).

Dean has dropped 7 percentage points in the last three days while Kerry has gained 6 percentage points. There was a potential sampling error of 4.4 percentage points.

Click here for the N.H. Tracking Poll (pdf).

Meanwhile, Fox News has learned at least one New Hampshire tracking poll to be released Friday will show Dean has slipped as far as third place.

The pollster, who requested anonymity, said, "Dean is done, he shot himself in the foot with his scream and has not done anything to stop the bleeding. Dean is going on Letterman next? He's crazy."

That "scream" was in reference to Dean's post-Iowa caucus outburst, in which he screamed red-faced into a microphone — a move that still has a lot of people shaking their heads.

"Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York," he yelled. "And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House. YEAHHHH!!!"

Late-night talk shows are using the impassioned speech for comic relief, and remixes of the speech featuring the rock band Guns 'N Roses and house music are flying around the Internet at warp speed.

"There's something that happened in Iowa Monday night that I don't think you can undo," said Fred Barnes, co-host of Fox News' "The Beltway Boys." "The 'yeahhh' heard around the world."

Based in part on that incident, added the other co-host, Mort Kondracke, "the danger is, this guy will go postal in the middle of a world crisis."

Thursday, Dean made light of his political blunder, saying, "I still have not recovered my voice from my screeching in Iowa."

For more campaign news, click to view Foxnews.com's You Decide 2004 page.

The Debate

The presidential contenders campaigned their way into the final debate Thursday.

"It's an important moment," said Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (search), trailing in the polls behind Clark, Edwards, Kerry and Dean.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (search) and Al Sharpton (search ) also rated spots on the debate stage at Saint Anselm College.

Dean and Clark supporters arrived at the debate locale more than four hours early.

Dean's voice is still hoarse from his Monday night outburst. He wouldn't discuss his debate strategy if he had one, he said, "because I wouldn't like to make that public before we actually do the debate."

A large number of Democrats see Dean as the least consistent candidate in the field. Rival campaigns expect the doctor-turned-politician to take the edge off of his Iowa performance with self-deprecating humor.

"I think he'll take the risk. The question is, is he too cute?" asked Tony Coelho, former campaign manager for Al Gore and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "If he's too cute and you add that to the hotness of the other night, it's not presidential."

The potential big winner of the night could turn out to be Edwards — whose poll numbers have been gradually rising — if he comes across as positive and upbeat as he has in recent weeks.

Clark's selling points have been his military pedigree and his southern roots, but Edwards is increasingly popular in the South and Kerry is also a respected military man. Clark spokesman Bill Buck said his boss won't launch verbal attacks against other candidates except Bush.

New Hampshire voters will be drawn to "Gen. Clark's very positive view of the possibilities of America's future," Buck said.

Kucinich told Fox News he plans on being completely honest as part of his debate strategy.

"It's really a matter of being true to yourself … it's important to focus on the purpose and my purpose in the presidential race," the congressman said in a pre-debate interview, adding he will focus on proving the Iraq war was unnecessary, pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq and inserting U.N. peacekeepers.

"It's so important we have a president that will lead this country to peace and prosperity and the only way to do that is to tell the truth," Kucinich said.

To continue and even further his lead, Kerry advisers told Fox News that the senator will try to stay above the fray in Thursday night's debate and look presidential and electable. He will not to attack and will try to respond gracefully to attacks against him.

"Kerry does not want in any way to get negative and he's going to have to deflect people who come after him," Coelho said. "So he's going to have to try to keep it calm. No mistakes, Kerry will win."

The Polls

Of the 489 likely New Hampshire primary voters who were interviewed from Jan. 19-21 in the pre-debate Fox News poll, 30 percent of likely Democratic primary voters support Kerry, 25 percent support Dean, 19 percent Clark, 8 percent Edwards, 7 percent Lieberman, 3 percent support Kucinich and 7 percent remain undecided.

An earlier Boston Herald poll of New Hampshire voters showed Kerry with 31 percent to Dean's 21 percent, while Clark had 16 percent. Edwards garnered 11 percent and Lieberman 4 percent.

A previous Fox News New Hampshire tracking poll taken from Jan. 18-20 showed Kerry and Dean in a virtual dead heat.

Fox News' Carl Cameron and Major Garrett contributed to this report.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: 2004; democratdebate; dnc; dwarves; livethread; nh
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To: Fledermaus
true
2,181 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:04 PM PST by RedMonqey (Its is dangerous to be right when your government is wrong)
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To: Dog
This is the 92 Clinton interview all over again.

Yes and no. I like Judy Dean -- she is a million times more appealing than Hillary Clinton.

2,182 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:19 PM PST by NYCVirago
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To: Dog
Oh, that explains the sallow look.
2,183 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:26 PM PST by katz (Rush Rocks)
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To: Wait4Truth; Dog
**Clark was bad...look for his hatchet man Chris Lehane to start going negative.

Yes, and that will only make Clark look worse. That's fine with me because I don't think Clark is fit to lead America.**

And then we get the reactions of Hill and Bill.

2,184 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:27 PM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: StarFan
That WAS an honest statement by Dean to Sawyer. I almost feel sorry for Dean about how rabidly the media has gone after him and ignored the much worse things said by some of the others. The lies by the candidates about President Bush go unchallenged 99% of the time. I'm glad that Brit challenged Clark because nobody else would have.
2,185 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:36 PM PST by Wait4Truth
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To: A Citizen Reporter
Didn't I say this was going to happen..
2,186 posted on 01/22/2004 7:14:55 PM PST by Dog ("America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our Country")
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To: NYCVirago
Isn't her name Judy Steinberg? She doesn't use "Dean" I thought.
2,187 posted on 01/22/2004 7:15:11 PM PST by Fledermaus (Democrats are just not capable of defending our nation's security. It's that simple!)
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To: MEG33
Clark repeating that so called rumor is no different than Dean saying that there are rumors that Bush knew about 9/11 in advance.
2,188 posted on 01/22/2004 7:16:13 PM PST by OldFriend (Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
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To: mewzilla
We all know Fox was doing a hit on Clark. And we know why too. Forgot? Just read the inscription on the back of a one-dollar bill-hiding in the sun's glorious rays.

Don't think Clark won't ferret it all out too. He's a sharp one. He knows what we did to the Kennedy's. And to Ms. Monroe and to Kenny in every episode and to Jen and Ben's wedding. He strains to see the sun shining through the kitchen window when it purports to be raining furiously in every other one.

Be real careful with this guy. He SEES us but pretends not to - it's all in the gleam of his eye. Extra-precautions are authorized by the Committee.

2,189 posted on 01/22/2004 7:16:24 PM PST by kcar (.)
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To: Ophiucus
Still, the Cheney/LIEberman debate was my favourite. Cheney flat out rocked it.

))))))

Me, too. If I am feeling particularly nauseated by having to look and listen to some of these dems, I just do a little mental scroll of Cheney sitting quietly at that table and ZZZinging Lieberman. It erases all the negativity of today's slanderers of W.
2,190 posted on 01/22/2004 7:16:58 PM PST by maica (Mainstream America Is Conservative America)
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To: Fledermaus
She uses Steinberg for her professional life,Dean for home,kids school, etc.
2,191 posted on 01/22/2004 7:17:07 PM PST by tapatio (A leader makes the footprint for a nation to follow)
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To: cyncooper
We can't base it on the substance of his answers since he employed outrageous lies and rhetoric, but his performance probably helped him hold on to his lead.

What a sad commentary on the state of our politics. They can lie all they want as long as the "perform" well. At the same time, President Bush never even mentions them and he is skewered by the press.

2,192 posted on 01/22/2004 7:17:08 PM PST by Wait4Truth
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To: cyncooper
I don't know what "DU" is, but I'm very impressed with Dean too with the way he seems to be honestly relating to Diane Sawyer. I'm liking his answers.

Hope I'm not indulging in wishful thinking, but no joke, I'm VERY impressed with Howard Dean and his wife. She seems so genuine, doesn't she?

And somebody needs to slap Diane Sawyer. When she says "People say..." and "some people are asking...." it means she's the one criticizing Judy, making fun of Dean.

2,193 posted on 01/22/2004 7:17:19 PM PST by YaYa123 (@ I Got It, I Got It..... I Ain't Got it.com)
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To: Mo1
IMHO, the debate ended two hours too late!
2,194 posted on 01/22/2004 7:17:33 PM PST by OldFriend (Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
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To: kcar
That's it! Clark IS "Number One"!
2,195 posted on 01/22/2004 7:17:41 PM PST by Fledermaus (Democrats are just not capable of defending our nation's security. It's that simple!)
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To: Wait4Truth
Sawyer is so fixated trying to get the Deans to explain why they don't act more like the Clintons. If Dean were truly honest, he might ask her why she feels they should as they're not people he cares to emulate. I suspect she's hoping he will say something negative about Bill
2,196 posted on 01/22/2004 7:18:08 PM PST by StarFan
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To: kcar
Is your TIN FOIL too tight?
2,197 posted on 01/22/2004 7:18:11 PM PST by jaz.357 (We should be more open-minded toward people trying to kill us.)
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To: kcar
I was going to look at your profile and got my sense of humor back in time.LOL!
2,198 posted on 01/22/2004 7:18:35 PM PST by MEG33
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To: Jorge
After tonight I think there will be a re-assessment of Kerry's ability to take on our beloved President.
2,199 posted on 01/22/2004 7:18:56 PM PST by OldFriend (Always understand, even if you remain among the few)
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To: Fledermaus
The USMC never had a CMC called Cheney..so Kerry was mistaken when he said he was endorsed by former Marine Commandant Cheney...go to google and so a search and you can read about all 33 of the CMCs..
2,200 posted on 01/22/2004 7:18:59 PM PST by celtic gal
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