Nation-Building

It looks like Howard Dean is facing some dissatisfaction at home in Vermont, due to his extended campaigning for his presidential bid. He has spent a lot of time recently in Iowa and other states laying the groundwork. However, Vermonters feel slighted, to the degree that in a recent poll, 49% said they disapproved of Dean's presidential bid and would not vote for him against Bush.

The article goes into much more detail, analyzing how Dean's numbers compare to Bush with men and women, and tracking how these numbers have changed over recent time.

Here's an excerpt:

Last week’s poll of 600 likely voters showed that 49 percent said they disapproved of Dean’s bid, while 39 percent approved and 13 percent said they were unsure.
...
If the election were held today, 46 percent of Vermonters would vote for Bush, while 34 percent would support Dean, according to the poll. The remaining 20 percent were undecided.

The poll, conducted over two days last week by Research 2000 of Rockville, Md., has a 4 percent margin of error.
...
The recent survey shows a marked decline in Dean’s numbers in his home state since the last poll in June when Dean netted 40 percent of the vote to Bush’s 45 percent. At that time, more voters also approved of Dean’s bid — 45 percent against 44 percent who disapproved.
...
Dean’s job approval rating held better news for the Democratic governor, who is stepping down next year after leading the state for 11 years. Dean received an excellent or good rating from 44 percent of those polled, while 42 percent described his performance as fair and 14 percent said he was doing a poor job.

There is also an exhaustive analysis of the Governor's race in VT (since Dean is resigning after this term).

Continue reading/discuss Dean loses ground to Bush in VT poll ...

Governor on quirky, quixotic quest for the presidency - By JULIE MASON, Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

This is an interesting profile, in the Houston Chron of all places. It describes Dean in fairly flippant terms:

A 53-year-old physician whose wife is also a physician, Dean wears corny ties and gives windy, detailed answers to questions about his cornerstone issues -- children, health care and balanced budgets. When he travels, he stays at the home of a local supporter or party activist, where he dutifully makes his bed.

but is the first piece I've seen in a while that mentions the Bill Bradley comparison. Specifically, the article says:

Less optimistic but still positive comparisons also can be made of Dean to defeated former presidential candidates Bruce Babbitt and Bill Bradley -- Democrats outside the mainstream who attracted limited but fervent support.

"I think there are some similarities between me and Bill Bradley," Dean said, "although I am shorter."

The most interesting part of this article, though, is the sunny analysis of the impending Iowa caucuses. excerpt:

Few think Dean really has a chance, although a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses 14 months from now could raise his profile. Badamo, a progressive who is making his own long-shot run for the Vermont governor's seat, put Dean's prospects for winning the nomination on par with his own.

"When I first heard about it, I gave him about a zero chance, and I would still rate his chances very low, although he is really getting around and working hard," Badamo said. "He's just a little guy from a little state."

Vermont, always a quirky state politically, in the past two years has wielded significant influence on national politics. The 2001 defection of Sen. Jim Jeffords from the Republican Party delivered control of the Senate to the Democrats and severely curtailed Bush's control of the national political agenda.

As a result of the Senate realignment, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont's other senator, ascended to the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats have stymied White House efforts to nominate conservatives such as Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to federal benches.

But quirky can work in Iowa, and Dean, who has visited more than any other prospective Democratic contender, is managing to impress some of the state's Democratic Party opinion makers.

"He's an interesting, different kind of guy, the kind with not much name recognition," said Dennis Goldford, political scientist at Iowa's Drake University. "But the caucus system works well for candidates like that, where a lot is accomplished through word of mouth, personal contact and retail politics. This is where you can do that."

Continue reading/discuss Governor on quirky, quixotic quest for the presidency ...

Howard Dean denounces Bush, makes long-shot bid for 2004 nomination
"I’m tired of my party being bullied by the right wing," says Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

This is a very detailed article with a lot of quotes from Dean. He comes across as very vocal and determined and focused. It's a major PR boost, and note that it deliberately re-evokes the "dark horse" theme. Parts of the article are excerpted below.





On President Bush:

Self-confident, sometimes impatient, Dean is brusquely dismissive of the man he wants to boot from the White House, George W. Bush.
His open contempt for Bush is in contrast with some other Democratic contenders, such as House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who stood side by side with Bush at the White House to support his Iraq policy.
“The president is incapable of managing the economy of America,” he contends.

Comparisons to Dukakis:

In his brisk assertiveness, Dean is reminiscent of another governor from New England, Michael Dukakis, the man who won the Democratic nomination in 1988 and then went down to defeat by the first George Bush.
“This election is about competence, not ideology,” Dukakis said during his campaign against Bush. Like Dukakis, Dean presents himself as someone more competent than those running things in administration in Washington now.

Quotes on Republicans:

“I’m tired of my party being bullied by the right wing.”
“This country has been taken over by the ideologues in the Republican Party.”
“The economy is not going to recover until we have a new administration.”
“The Republicans are the most fiscally irresponsible party in the history of this country.”
“The Republicans know nothing about economic prosperity and there has been very little under Republican regimes.”

About the Bush tax cuts:

Dean’s Web site says that “the tax cuts (with some exceptions in the estate and retirement areas) should be repealed.”
But would he also repeal the child tax credit, which Bush’s tax measure will increase from $600 to $1,000 and which benefits most middle class families? “It’s unlikely I would do that, but I’d have to look at the specifics before I’d made any promises,” he said. “The blanket position is that it all ought to be repealed and we’ll look at some stuff on a case-by-case basis.”
Dean acknowledges that more than 70 percent of the federal tax burden is carried by people who earn over $75,000 — and that is fine by him.

Finally, the article makes the obligatory comparisons to Jimmy Carter and Dean's role as underdog, but also opines that his fiscal conservatism/social liberalism will not win him support in states like West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky which Clinton won in 96 but Gore lost in 2000. Dean responds to that critique, however:

Dean disputes this assessment with characteristically crisp arguments.
“Most Democrats are where I am on the issues,” he said. “I advocate health care for every American… expanding the existing system to cover everybody. That’s a huge issue among working-class people both white and black in the South, an area that has a lower rate of health insurance than other parts of the country.”

Characteristically crisp. Competence, not ideology. These are his core strengths.

Continue reading/discuss Democrats' provocative dark horse ...

Christopher Graff, bureau chief for The Associated Press in Montpelier, VT has written a open letter to Governor Dean on behalf of all Vermonters, which has appeared in almost all of Vermont's weekend papers. So far, no response from teh Dean campaign. It raises some questions that Dean will have to address. Some excerpts:

From what I am reading in the newspapers in Iowa, you tout your ability to balance the Vermont state budget as one of your chief qualifications to be president.

But Jim Douglas and Con Hogan say the state budget is not balanced and spending is spiraling out of control. I heard Hogan at one forum say something about a $100 million deficit.

Who’s right?

I saw in a newspaper in Texas where you were talking up your programs to provide health insurance to Vermonters. But the gubernatorial candidates here are saying those programs are in tough financial shape and face big deficits if they are not cut back.

Who’s right?

And in state after state I see that you talk about your ability to attract jobs. But Douglas, Hogan and even Lt. Gov. Doug Racine are saying the state’s economic development programs all need overhauls. And while you talk about creating thousands of jobs in the past decade, the focus here is on the loss of 7,000 jobs in the past year.

Some of the candidates have resurrected that old saw that Vermont is antibusiness. Act 60 is under fire, with Douglas blaming it for the sharp increases in property taxes.

Who’s right?

In the past decade, the slightest attack on you or your record would have generated a quick response – at a news conference, on television, radio or in a newspaper op-ed piece.

This year there is only silence.

I know you’re not running for re-election, but in a sense this election has a lot to do with you – and the record you will carry into a presidential bid.

Maybe that record looks pretty good as you listen to the applause and cheers in Iowa and Texas and New York and South Carolina and New Hampshire, but that’s not the picture here.

Continue reading/discuss Attacks on Dean's legacy go unanswered ...

The event already happened, but here was some local coverage in Texas:

Early handicappers in the 2004 presidential race have dubbed Gov. Howard Dean, a Democratic contender from Vermont, as a long-shot, liberal policy wonk.
But the five-term governor, who is to speak in San Antonio on Saturday, rejects being stereotyped.

"I'm much more conservative than President Bush is when it comes to money," Dean said by phone last week. He added that in his campaigns for governor, he has always enjoyed the support of the National Rifle Association.

Dean, a physician, is the only Democratic candidate for president who so far has officially filed to run against President Bush. He is to address the San Antonio Stonewall Democrats, a coalition of gay and lesbian political activists....

State Democratic Party Chairman Molly Beth Malcolm invited Dean to the Texas convention. But even two years from the presidential race, she is careful not to tip her hand.

"The Democrats have a great pool of talent for the presidential race. It's exciting," she said. "Dean is a doctor, and he was certainly what the doctor ordered for Vermont."

Dean says his presidential platform will be built around two core issues — health insurance for all Americans and a balanced budget.

He also brags that he has twice cut income taxes for Vermont residents.

"Most Democrats want a candidate who will behave like a Democrat on issues, and I don't mean radical left," Dean said. "We've balanced the budget; we've reduced the debt."

...Like other Democratic leaders, Dean raises questions about a possible invasion of Iraq, but does not oppose such a move if there is proof it is warranted.

But he thinks Bush has a big-picture problem that overshadows the debate over Iraq and the fight against terrorism.

"His foreign and economic policy has not been conducted with any long-range thinking. He says we should stay away from nation building, and that is exactly wrong," Dean said, countering that the United States should strive to create stable democracies when possible.

Continue reading/discuss Presidential hopeful slated to speak at Menger ...

The Austin group invited Dean to speak about the political challenges that
went into signing Vermont's groundbreaking civil unions bill into law that
gave same sex couples the same rights statewide as married couples.

Continue reading/discuss Dean Gives Texas Democrats a Boost ...