Free Republic

South Central Iowa, December 7THE CAMPAIGN CALENDAR is against you. Already the camera crews and stage-prop crowds are beginning to take over, and the rope lines are going up, and soon enough it'll become pretty much physically impossible to form a personal impression of the Democratic party's likely nominee for president next year. None of the men who still have a realistic hope for that prize will any longer be within reach of even the most determined civilian--certainly not where more-than-momentary, relatively unscripted, and intimate conversational encounters are concerned. In that sense, at least, our current election cycle is operating...

Some Excerpts Q: What is it that led you to run and say I can do this? A: I thought the country was in really bad trouble. I thought the right-wingers were really hurting the country badly, huge deficits that we are never going to be able to pay back. A defense policy that is making this country weaker not stronger for all the president’s bully-boy stuff. I just think this country needs a fundamental change in direction and we really need to go back to principled American ideals that we are all in this together, a defense policy that...

<p>OGDEN, Iowa -- College teacher Linda Lind was already sold on Rep. Dick Gephardt when the White House hopeful arrived Sunday morning in a community center basement to make his pitch to about three dozen residents of this snow-draped central Iowa town.</p>

Details of new television ad from Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt that began running this week in Iowa: TITLE: "Republicans." LENGTH: 30 seconds. PRODUCER: Morris & Carrick. AIRING: Iowa. SCRIPT: Male narrator: "Dick Gephardt is the Democrat Republicans fear most." Gephardt: "President Bush's economic policies are a miserable failure. As president I will repeal the Bush tax cuts and instead provide health care for every American. My Apollo 21 plan will free us from foreign oil and create jobs. I'll push for an international minimum wage and raise our minimum wage. I'm Dick Gephardt. I approve this message because I...

It's Like Christmas In December! December 17, 2003 SAY, HAS ANYONE asked Dick Gephardt if this falls under "miserable failure"? Obviously we'll have to wait for all the politics to play out, but at this stage it's hard to say which was worse for Howard Dean: the capture of Saddam Hussein or Al Gore's endorsement. Until Sunday, Gov. Mean's big applause line in speeches has been to sneer about the Bush administration's failure to catch Saddam Hussein. It seems the governor is better at prescribing bitter pills than at swallowing them. In a speech to the Pacific Council the day...

Bonior to head up Gephardt campaign in state, nationally By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN The Associated Press 12/18/2003, 5:14 p.m. ET LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. David Bonior of Mount Clemens said Thursday he will head up Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt's Michigan campaign and serve as co-chairman of the Missouri congressman's national campaign. The two worked closely together in the U.S. House before Bonior chose to run for governor in 2002 rather than for another House term. Bonior was the House minority whip and Gephardt was the House minority leader during Bonior's last years in office. Gephardt campaigned...

WASHINGTON (AP) - By declaring America no safer after Saddam Hussein's capture, Howard Dean defied conventional wisdom and opened himself to intense criticism from his Democratic presidential rivals - again. But baiting his foes and plowing new political terrain didn't irreparably harm Dean when he opposed a popular president's push toward war, subjected his candidacy to the whims of the Internet or abandoned the public finance system. And several Democratic strategists and independent analysts predict there will be no immediate backlash this time, either.They believe the Democratic front-runner is up to his old tricks: Preaching to the choir of primary...

Quinnipiac has come out with their latest poll out of Pennsylvania. Bush's approval rating split stands at 53%/43% (up from 51%/44% in October). Against the leading Democrats and John Kerry, Bush leads all of them. Bush 49% Dean 43% Bush 50% Lieberman 43% Bush 50% Kerry 42% Bush 50% Clark 41% Bush 51% Gephardt 42%

<p>Democratic presidential hopefuls attacked front-runner Howard Dean yesterday over his opposition to the Iraq war, attempting to use the country's elation at Saddam Hussein's capture to bring down their rival.</p> <p>Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, urged his party yesterday to abandon Mr. Dean, saying the former Vermont governor's "anger" and "extremism," especially on the war, will lead to the re-election of President Bush.</p>

DIGGING HIMSELF A DEEPER HOLE"Great, but ..." -- that was the response from a Howie Dean New Hampshire staffer, when discussing the capture Sunday of Saddam Hussein. "I'm glad we have him, but what about bin Laden? He's more dangerous and has been out there longer than Saddam. And what about the WMD? Now that we have Hussein, they can't cover up that lie." The conversation revealed the direction the Dean camp will now take, since the Hussein capture takes a talking point off the table. "You don't have to be a high paid consultant or talking head to figure...

ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt demanded Saturday that front-runner Howard Dean release records of meetings and phone calls about tax breaks given to corporate villain Enron, which Dean denies he did. Visiting with local Democrats in this town near the North Carolina border, Gephardt alleged that Dean, while Vermont's governor, "met regularly with the corporate chiefs who benefited from the tax windfall he created for them. A chief beneficiary of his tax cuts for corporate special interests was Enron." Dean has faced questions about corporate tax breaks enacted during his 11 years as governor. Enron...

<p>December 13, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) yesterday blasted Howard Dean as a hypocrite for giving a tax break to an Enron subsidiary while he was Vermont governor. "Gov. Dean has been engaging in gross hypocrisy. While he has been attacking President Bush's special treatment of Enron, he's been hiding the fact that he turned Vermont into a tax shelter for that very same corporate criminal," Gephardt said in a conference call.</p>

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean is getting the kitchen sink thrown at him, with rivals attacking his record, his temperament and anything else that might knock him from his perch atop the field. Two candidates, Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sen. John Kerry, accused Dean of catering to corporate interests while governor of Vermont. A third, Sen. John Edwards, suggested that the front-runner is waging a negative, divisive campaign doomed to fail against President Bush. Another rival, Sen. Joe Lieberman, plans to criticize Dean's economic record and policies in a speech next week. The fresh round...

<p>A new ad questioning Howard Dean's national security credentials is backed by a group that includes former supporters of rivals Dick Gephardt and John Kerry.</p> <p>The ad shows a picture of Osama bin Laden and says that Dean, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, doesn't have the military or foreign policy experience needed to take on "those who wake up every morning determined to destroy Western civilization."</p>

U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt's labor friends are calling Iowa's Tom Harkin, this year's most popular senator, urging him to resist the urge to endorse Howard Dean. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe is calling Ralph Nader, apparently on a regular basis, lending an ear and, we assume, an olive branch. Harkin isn't taking sides in the 2004 race, at least not yet. But that hasn't stopped Gephardt's labor allies, who increasingly hear rumblings that the Iowan is moving toward Dean, from mobilizing on the Missourian's behalf. Harkin got a call Thursday, for example, from Teamsters President James Hoffa, Gephardt's most...

Clyburn edge may not do it for Gephardt Endorsement could take back seat to Gore’s support of Dean, other factors By LEE BANDY Staff Writer U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s coveted, long-awaited endorsement will give some traction to Dick Gephardt’s quest for the White House, political experts and black officials say, but it might have lost some of its luster. Some say Wednesday’s show of support from South Carolina’s most prominent black politician was overshadowed by former Vice President Al Gore’s backing of national front-runner Howard Dean earlier in the week. And then there’s the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has visited...

<p>December 11, 2003 -- THE stop-Howard Dean movement is now on full red-alert - and his rivals are counting heavily on black voters. But the first question is Iowa, because unless Dean gets derailed fast, he may be impossible to stop from steamrolling to the Democratic nomination.</p>

Thank you, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, for making sure George W. Bush gets re-elected. I suppose, Judicial Court, there was nothing else you could do but make your ruling when you made it. Nevertheless, you have kicked the Democrats in the shins, and the resultant bruise is not going to go away any time soon. Personally, I couldn’t care less whether or not gay marriage is made legal. For a cynic like myself, a ruling outlawing all marriage of more than one person to him or herself would have been welcomed. Such a ruling would have required a mischievous imagination...

PRINCETON, NJ -- With little over a month until the first contest for delegates to the Democratic National Convention, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey of Democrats shows, for the first time, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has moved into first place for his party's nomination among Democrats nationally. Twenty-five percent of registered voters who identify with or lean to the Democratic Party say they are supporting Dean for the nomination. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark ranks second with 17%. Three weeks ago, Dean and Clark were tied at 17%. Candidate Preference Among Registered Voters:Democrats and Democratic Leaners The latest figures, with...

It ain't easy being a presidential candidate. Pundits generally agree that Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean hurts Lieberman the most of any candidate in the race. Yet the morning after the shocking news of the endorsement emerged, there was Joe Lieberman on The Today Show, smilingly explaining why this doesn't harm his candidacy in the least. You had to hand it to Lieberman. He whistled past the graveyard with nary a dropped note. Interviewed by Matt Lauer, Lieberman took the high road. No, Gore wasn't being disloyal. In fact, Lieberman would be "forever grateful" to Gore for giving him...