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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt delivered a stinging criticism of rival Howard Dean Friday, likening him to Republican Newt Gingrich and linking Dean to past GOP policies to overhaul a bedrock program for seniors. Intent on cutting Dean's advantage in Iowa — as well as energizing his own campaign — Gephardt used a speech to a union audience to assail Dean's past comments on Medicare and Social Security and tie him to one of the Democrats' political boogeymen — former House Speaker Gingrich, R-Ga. "Howard Dean actually agreed with the Gingrich Republicans," said Gephardt, the...

Former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean continues to build support in search of the Democratic presidential nomination.  In September 8-9 polling of 500 likely Iowa voters in the January Democratic caucus, Dean captured the lead with 23%, moving the earlier leader, Missouri Congressman Richard Gephardt, to second spot with 17%. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry was third with 11%.  No other candidate reached double digits, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who was a close second in January Iowa polling. Candidate Sept 2003 % April 2003 % Jan 2003 % Dean 23 6 2 Gephardt 17 25 19 Kerry 11 13 11 Edwards...

<p>Washington -- Democrats, underscoring the national stakes in California's recall election, are sending their most popular figures to the state in an effort to rally the party's base behind Gov. Gray Davis.</p> <p>Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to campaign this weekend with Davis, followed next week by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, one of the party's candidates for president. Discussions are under way with a long lineup of Democratic luminaries including former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, several current governors including Washington's Gary Locke, Democratic consultants James Carville and Donna Brazile, and the rest of the Democratic presidential field.</p>

Truth Is Scarce Some years ago, I gave up interviewing politicians. They will not tell the truth. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in his official campaign-opening speech recently, is a perfect illustration of the politician's aversion to truth. "I voted to allow the president to threaten the use of force," Kerry said, adding that it was the right decision. That's a lie. Kerry did not vote to allow the president to threaten force. He voted to authorize the president to use force. Why couldn't he just say that and add, "In retrospect, that was a mistake." No, Kerry is not going...

In case anyone doubted Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie when he said: . . . I think history will show that this field has taken presidential discourse to a new low. . . . The kind of words we’re hearing now from the Democratic candidates go beyond political debate. This is political hate speech. And I think that the American people will reject that approach. They appreciate the president’s strong and principled leadership and the fact that he has a positive agenda, and they have, frankly, nothing but negativity and pessimism and protest to offer. (NBC's "Meet the Press,"...

Wednesday, September 10 2003 THE DEMOCRAT'S DEBATE: Some initial thoughts and grades from the Democrat's debate last night in Baltimore. THE BIG THREE Howard Dean (A-): Dean wasn't great, but he was very solid, which is probably exactly what his campaign wanted him to be. It was obvious he was trying to portray an image of seriousness and responsibility, as opposed to trying to gin up the faithful. Hey, he's already got the faithful. He came in as the front-runner and he left the front-runner, if not even stronger in relation to Kerry and Gephardt. John Kerry (C-): The man...

UNFASHIONABLY LATEWhile Sen. John Kerry will deny that he has little in common with former President Bill Clinton, there are a group of kids in Charleston, S.C., who would probably disagree. Clinton was famous for running sometimes more than an hour late for events and meetings, keeping guests and sometimes foreign dignitaries cooling their heels. In the case of Kerry and his coterie, it's the little people -- literally -- who came in for rude treatment. Several weeks ago, when the Kerry braintrust decided to shift the candidate's "official" announcement that he had been running for president for the past...

I got a real chuckle when Gephardt called President Bush a "Miserable Failure" in light of Gephardt having to give up his House Leadership position because he couldn't deliver the House to Democratic Control. ( Gephardt said the Demoquacks could pick up 40 seats in the House in the 2002 election)

US President George Bush is nothing but a “miserable failure”, according to Democratic presidential hopeful Richard Gephardt, who participated in a live televised debate. Though the seven Democrats present at the debate, all of whom are vying for the right to fight George Bush in next year’s presidential election, differed on trade and taxation issues they were united in their most vociferous condemnation yet of the current president. "We have young men and women in a shooting gallery right now, and the primary reason for that is because this president had no plan," said North Carolina Senator John Edwards in...

<p>What's giving the bosses of Big Labor bellyaches as the nation heads into another presidential race? The prospect that Howard Dean might end up carrying the Democrats' water next fall.</p> <p>Dean is the folksy physician from Vermont, a former governor who speaks to the heart of die-hard Democratic lefties. He is inspiring an army of aging hippies and youthful idealists who find in his liberal ideals hope for wresting America from the fat cats and returning it to the people.</p>

Dean, Gephardt Tied for Lead in Iowa Poll .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt are tied for the lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa, according to a poll of likely caucus voters. Dean, former governor of Vermont, was at 25 percent and Gephardt, the Missouri congressman, was at 21 percent. The poll was conducted by Research 2000 for KCCI-TV of Des Moines and KIMT-TV of Mason City. The difference between the two was within the error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was at 16...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt are tied for the lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa, according to a poll of likely caucus voters. Dean, former governor of Vermont, was at 25 percent and Gephardt, the Missouri congressman, was at 21 percent. The poll was conducted by Research 2000 for KCCI-TV of Des Moines and KIMT-TV of Mason City.The difference between the two was within the error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was at 16 percent, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was at 12 percent. The rest...

Evans & Novak Week of August 25 by Robert Novak Posted Aug 22, 2003 Politics 2003 Week of August 25 Democratic: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is scaring the daylights out of the party establishment. 1) It is not brain surgery. Unless either Rep. Richard Gephardt (Mo.) beats Dean in Iowa and/or Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) beats him in New Hampshire, the Vermonter is home free. 2) Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has been belaboring Dean as too radical and a non-winner—epithets that seldom, if ever, stop an insurgent candidate. Lieberman’s path to the nomination is unclear. 3) Gephardt is trying...

WASHINGTON -- New York billionaire entrepreneur Donald Trump telephoned his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday and told him he better get rid of billionaire stock-picker Warren Buffett as his economic adviser if he wants to be elected governor of California. Trump told Schwarzenegger that he holds substantial real estate in California and that increasing state property taxes advocated by Buffett would be devastating to him personally and to the state's economy. "If you kill Proposition 13," Trump added, "you kill Schwarzenegger for governor." Buffett has called for the repeal of Prop. 13, a limit on property taxes approved by California voters...

The perception that Richard Gephardt is underperforming in his race for president has opened the door to some unexpected competition in his own back yard. While the veteran St. Louis congressman remains the favorite to win next year's Missouri Democratic primary, fellow candidates Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts are making plans to stump in Kansas City this fall. A third contender, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, also may venture into Missouri. Edwards has made at least one unpublicized Kansas City visit. And an aide to Joseph Lieberman said the senator from Connecticut...

<p>August 19, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - More than half of Americans favor a law that bars gay marriage and specifies that wedlock is between a man and a woman, an Associated Press poll found.</p> <p>The survey also found presidential candidates could face a backlash if they support gay marriage or civil unions, which provide gay couples the legal rights and benefits of marriage.</p>

Who could have thought that a 54-year old doctor and ex-governor of sleepy Vermont could send all of the Democratic presidential contenders scrambling for cover? There are lots of reasons for Republicans to wish Howard Dean all the best of luck in his quest to become George Bush's opponent in 2004. It makes a true Republican want to send a campaign donation his way. Howard Dean is such a thorn in everyone's side because he disrupts the delicate balance of power that has been so cultivated by the "front-runners." It was expected that Dick Gephardt would easily sweep the Iowa...

Throughout medieval times, and even in the antebellum South, members of the nobility measured their wealth, in large part, by the number of slaves they possessed. With the advent of representative government, power brokers were forced to become somewhat more creative, having to make promises to the lowly masses during campaign season in the hopes of purchasing their votes on Election Day. Of course those promises need not be kept once ballots were counted. With help from a sympathetic media, a mere series of excuses would ultimately suffice to pacify the rabble. But now those commoners have really gummed up...

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WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) -- When Dick Gephardt attacked his free trade-backing rivals for president, Deb Hansen shouted her approval. She shook her fist and applauded when the Missouri Democrat blasted President Bush's tax cuts. When he spoke in hushed tones about his son's recovery from cancer, she dabbed tears from her eyes. "I've never seen this much emotion from Gephardt," Hansen said after Gephardt and five other Democratic presidential candidates addressed her Iowa labor group. "It's a new face for him." Gephardt is working hard to put a new face on his campaign. The old one hasn't been working. The...