Nation-Building

"This is a brief moment in history when the United States has pre-eminent military, economic and political power. It won't last forever.... This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now." -- President William Jefferson Clinton , 02/22/02. "No serious candidate for the Presidency has ever before suggested that he would compromise or tolerate an erosion of America's military supremacy.... [It is] surprising and eye-opening to see a major candidate for president even ponder the possibility of not having the strongest military in the world." -- Chris Lehane, John Kerry's Spokesperson , 04/28/03.

Buried inside Dionne's examination of Gephardt's healthcare proposal, one finds a glimmer of support for Howard Dean's alternative. ...the plan would be expensive. Gephardt's own numbers peg its costs in 2007 at $247 billion. Yes, it further subsidizes Americans who are already insured. Dean, a physician who has been saying sensible things about health care for months, wants new money spent primarily on expanding help to the uninsured. And Gephardt's plan won't satisfy those who think the country needs to move away from employer-based health insurance. Dionne calls it accurately that Dean was an active advocate for healthcare reform much earlier than Gephardt. This contrast also serves to point out that the very existence Gephardt's plan makes it more difficult to paint Dean as a raving loony lefty * as his plan is the more practical of the two. ----- * This link, by the way, should infuriate all of us. It's dripping with contempt and thinl...

I'm not sure how many of you got to see the Daily Show on Monday. If not, you'd better view the video I've linked above (real player required). This is rich! It basically points out how Bush the President is not the same Bush who ran for President. Some choice excerpts: Bush in 2000: "I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say 'This is the way it's gotta be'." "If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. I think one way for us to end up being viewed as the Ugly American is for us to go around the world saying 'We do it this way, so should you.'" "I don't think our troops should be used for what's called Nation Building." "Let me say this to you: I wouldn't use force." Wha-wha-what?!?! ::rubs eyes:: Essentially, this is a good example of how dishonest Karl Rove was when he ran Bush's campaign. He ran Bush as a "compassionate ...

The Kerry Campaign continues to talk about the Dean campaign. Good news since this continues to raise Dean's profile and elevate his status as the candidate who can beat Kerry, and ultimately Bush. Dean draws the sharpest distinctions between himself and all the other candidates. And, he does it the good old fashioned way - by simply telling it like it is. Dean isn't scripted, he isn't careful - he is confident in his abilities, and confident in his views. Refreshing stuff, indeed! William Saletan writes in Salon that not only does Kerry's strategy suggest that Dean is the Democratic candidate that he's most afraid of - but that actually Kerry loses twice by attacking Dean: he elevates Dean's visibility and stature; and he reduces his own credibility by showcasing his hypocrisy, having made similar remarks in the past.

as a public service, here are condensed versions of today's Notepad entries. I've taken the liberty of reading between the lines as well. Graham : The Senator schmoozed in Iowa. He talked of everything from health care to education to the weather, except for whether he intends to run. Kerry : I was a Vietnam War veteran, the horror! Regarding the strongest military, thanks for replying, Dean. Please reply, Dean. Sharpton : I'm voting for Gephardt. Kucinich : Kerry and Dean didn't ask me about how I feel about our nation's military, so I'll tell them. They both suck. Edwards : Following Clinton's advice, I will put the phrase "Ma'am, that may be. But don't forget who won." on a bumper sticker. Dean : Chris Lehane is an asshole, but our campaign is too nice to say so. These guys, on the other hand... Gephardt : Sharpton likes my health care plan. I'm voting for Eric Alter. Lieberman : Dear Strongbad. LINK . I wa...

The problem with playing dirty politics is that it works. Bush successfully portrayed himself as a reformer and McCain as insensitive to cancer patients back during the 2000 GOP primaries. He won North Carolina as a result and ended McCain's bid. Much of the reason Bush was able to successfully pull this off was because his team was able to leverage their attacks, through simple repetition and a fat war chest, into the conventional wisdom. Kerry is clearly playing by the same rule book. He is targeting Dean with aspersions against his character. Rather than elevate himself into "Presidential" stature compared to his rivals, he is pulling the others down. The goal is to increase his relative fitness for the nomination in the eyes of the voters - and the pattern of attacks (always contracted out to flunkies) is a systematic campaign to solidify that desired perception as conventional wisdom. An excellent example is the MSNBC article linked above. The tag line to th...

In comments, I keep seeing questions like, "Well, what did Dean mean when he said that the U.S. 'won't always have the strongest military.'" Frankly, I think it is pretty clear. He said that the U.S. won't always have the strongest gosh-darn military. Is that really unclear? And do some Americans really believe that after World War II, God granted America with an eternal gift of a military that would always be strongest? Cause that's pretty much what you'd have to believe to disagree with this statement. But, that explanation doesn't seem to satisfy, so here's my full explanation. Dean is recognizing that within the world, power revolutions occur. Powerful dynasties are destroyed. Empires are pulled apart. Colonies rebel. Regional powers become regional hegemons, play strategically, and soon are close to ruling the world. But nothing lasts forever, not even cold November Rain. And what these comments imply, to me, anyways is that De...

Here's the NYTimes story on Kerry's misrepresentation of Dean's comments. Dean acquits himself well and gets in the last word.

Matt Singer has a very important post below about the Kerry campaign's latest descent into scorched-earth politics by questioning the fitness of their opponent to serve. Dean supporters and all Democrats should know that this has become a disturbing pattern of behavior from the Kerry camp. Indeed, the eerily similarity of the latest personal attack to a previous one demonstrates the Kerry campaign has decided to try to take the low road to the nomination. John Kerry needs to own up to this strategy and either repudiate what his aides have said or say these things himself to Howard Dean's face at this Saturday's debate. The latest below-the-belt punch from the Kerry's spokesman/amoral sniper Chris Lehane: "Howard Dean's stated belief that the United States 'won't always have the strongest military,' raises serious questions about his capacity to serve as Commander-in-Chief. No serious candidate for the Presidency has ever before suggeste...

(Before I begin, let me say that this is just my post, wasn't asked for by the campaign, by Aziz or anyone else.) I just came across the CNN story on the fight that Lehane started and is deciding to continue : Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi responded with his own written statement, calling Lehane's comments absurd. Trippi said Dean would never tolerate an erosion of American military power, but the war on terrorism cannot be won by relying solely on military power and must include diplomacy. "Governor Dean believes that even the most sophisticated military in the world acting alone cannot eliminate all sleeper terrorist cells, nor should it be called upon to take on every dictator for the purpose of regime change," Trippi said. Trippi said if Kerry supports Bush's approach to foreign policy "then John Kerry is running for the nomination of the wrong party, because the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war must stop here." Lehane said the T...

Chris Lehane, Kerry Communiations Director, turned on Dean once again yesterday (via the Note): "Howard Dean's stated belief that the United States 'won't always have the strongest military,' raises serious questions about his capacity to serve as Commander-in-Chief. No serious candidate for the Presidency has ever before suggested that he would compromise or tolerate an erosion of America's military supremacy. A President Kerry, who will bring the perspective of having served on the frontlines to the job of Commander-In-Chief, will guarantee that America has the strongest, best trained, most well equipped military in history," Lehane wrote in a statement. Is Lehane slow, a liar, or an asshole? The statement that the US "wont't always have the strongest military" seems to me to be an entirely defensible claim. And it seems to me that keeping that in mind is the best way to keep it supreme the longest. A notion that the U.S.'s superi...

Christopher Curtis has already ably handled the recent New Republic Online piece by Ryan Lizza on the 2004 candidates , but I worry that some of Lizza's many conjectures are seeping into the ether unquestioned. With nine candidates in the field, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is getting complicated. Lizza makes a heck of a lot of presumptions and Dean supporters should be on the lookout for shoddy interpretation of their candidate's situation. Again, it's complicated, so for your convenience we present a true/false guide to this Democratic candidate round-up piece using the following format: RIGHTNESS: Excerpt. Reason: If necessary. From "Field Test" by Ryan Lizza at the New Republic Online : FALSE: If Karl Rove had designed the ideal setting to magnify the stature gap between the wartime president and his Democratic challengers on the day tanks rolled through Baghdad, he could hardly have done better than forcing the viable cand...

The Dean Call to Action Blog is beginning to run a series of posts called "On the Road" which will be written regularly by Kate O'Conner , the Governor's traveling sidekick. One of her first dispatches about their exploits in Iowa was posted a few hours ago!

An op-ed out today at Truthout.org, written by Howard Dean, takes Bush to task for praising Senator Rick Santorum: Equal Rights is the Responsibility of Every American By Governor Howard Dean George W. Bush ran for President on the promise that he would be ``a uniter, not a divider.'' Nothing could be further from the truth. Earlier this week, Senator Rick Santorum, the third highest ranking Republican in the Senate, compared homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. On Friday, President Bush praised Santorum as ``an inclusive man.'' With his praise, this President has once again demonstrated his willingness to follow the extremist Republican tradition of dividing our country for political gain. The President knows that his defense of Santorum's inflammatory words deeply offends millions of gay and lesbian Americans, their family and friends; his praise also raises grave concerns about this Administration's commitment to civil rights and ...

The Georgia Dean for America group writes: You asked for it, so we created it…. The original Howard Dean Dance Mix. Lovingly called “What I want to Know”, this song mixes snippets of Dean’s speech to the California Democratic Party Dinner and a popular dance song to give our campaign both momentum and an ANTHEM. This can easily serve as a Democratic anthem against the growing usurping of power by the radical right wing Republicans and corporate affiliated conflict of interest ridden leaders in our nation’s capital. For this week, GAForHowardDean dedicates this song to Senator Rick Sartorum for whom Howard Dean has asked his resignation. Bigotry can no longer be tolerated in this country. We want our country back……. Rock on Rick!

An interesting piece from The New Republic wonders if Dean will have staying power following the war in Iraq. Will the anti-war liberals that flocked to his campaign stay aboard when they hear more about his ideas? TNR thinks the upcoming Democratic debate hosted by ABC News is a big one for Dean to find out if his appeal can extend beyond the anti-war vote. They say that it's likely the campaign will try to reposition Dean as the health care candidate. Health care may indeed be an important issue in the race, but to pin his hopes on the health care issue is what everyone expects him to do... a better strategy to separate himself from the rest of the field (and to effectively attack Bush) is to become the "balanced budget" candidate. Dean can hammer both Bush and the Dems in congress for pushing for tax cuts while state budgets languish, and social programs go down the tubes. Meanwhile Bush (and the Senators and House members) fiddle with tax cuts we cannot afford whi...

A piece in Salon details Nader's consideration of running for President again in 2004. Was that the sound of jaws hitting the floor? Nader, who many Democrats and progressives blame for tipping the last presidential election to Bush in key states like Florida (where Nader won 96,000 votes), has not yet announced his decision about 2004. But according to national Green Party officials, Nader probably will run. "I'm getting that sense," says Ben Manski, one of five national Green Party co-chairs. Juscha Robinson, a member of the party's presidential exploratory committee, agrees: "The co-chairs of the committee met with Ralph a couple weeks ago -- it was a very comfortable discussion. It does look like he's leaning in that direction." Following Nader's lead, the Green Party is as bent on its scorched earth policy as ever: Far from being chastened by the way life has turned out under Bush -- the U.S. launched on neo-imperial expansionism ...

College students across the nation are jumping aboard former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's Democratic presidential bandwagon, launching Students for Dean chapters on more than 80 campuses from coast to coast -- the largest student network so far in this nascent presidential election cycle. ... "People are really upset with the political process and they're looking for a reason to get involved, they want a change," said Berkeley Students for Dean founder Adam Borelli, 20, a freshman from Ventura County. "He's the real deal ... and he's giving people confidence in the process."

Here's a refreshing twist on Dean from a woman who is just back from Quito, Ecuador and recently returned to Vermont to open a new business focused on sustainable development. She lauds Dean's understanding of environment/business/and the need for global collaboration. It's an interesting economic twist on the need for sustainable practices, and, in a sense, foreign policy - though not in the way we wield our military might. There's certainly much more to foreign policy than figuring out which country to invade next. She makes some good points.

BLITZER: Last month he called it the wrong war at wrong time. The former Vermont governor, the current Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's policies as far as Iraq is concerned. With the conflict pretty much over does he feel differently now? Howard Dean is joining us from Burlington, Vermont. Governor, do you feel differently? HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not really. I don't think anybody could reasonably suspect we weren't going to win. The problem now is how to govern, and that's where the real rubber is underneath the road. The hardest part is still ahead of us, and I think the events that we were watching on CNN showed that. The Shi'a in the south would like in some cases fundamentalist religious state or province, that would be much worse than Saddam Hussein in terms of a threat to the United States it would allow al Qaeda to move in. We seen chaos in Baghdad with th...

Libertarians and Dean: A discussion going on around the web, with thoughts from Kos (click on the title): That's why I like Dean and Clark -- both are avowed supporters of the 2nd Amendment, and both can go far in helping capture the significant libertarian bloc from the grasp of the GOP. Noho-missives: Notwithstanding this entry's title, this reflects the Libertarian bent of The Conspirators more than anything, but I think it's indicative of the alignment of interests of the Libertarians and Democrats (especially Howard Dean). I know, I know, Libertarians hate the Democratic Party's tax policy, but I hope they don't allow this administration to pay them to shut up about civil liberties. and Eugene Volokh: I much appreciate the praise, but I think this misses a very basic point about Libertarians: We think that lower taxes and lighter economic regulation are matters of civil liberties. That -- plus other issues, such as gun rights -- are a big part of...

Laura Sahramaa of the Daily Cavalier writes that Dean is everything a Democrat could want... and more! I like this column because it's direct and concise (not unlike the qualities many of us like in Dean). A good, realistic take on why Democrats should get behind Dean's candidacy.

For all of you folks out there who share Atrios' love of Wolf Blitzer, you can see Gov. Dean on his show tonight. CNN 5 PM EDT Spread the word.

Howard Dean has demanded that Rick Santorum - number three on the GOP senatorial totem poll - step down from his leadership role in light of his recent comments equating homosexuality with incest, polygamy, and adultery. "Gay-bashing is not a legitimate public policy discussion; it is immoral. Rick Santorum's failure to recognize that attacking people because of who they are is morally wrong makes him unfit for a leadership position in the United States Senate," Dean said in a statement. Give 'em hell, Howard!

Fellow citizens of Deanistan, I'm here to report that we have completed our task. I will submit the text of the questions below to the campaign today. The ball is in Howard Dean's court. I'd like to make a public request to any and all Dean-friendly websites to please link to this post and publicise these questions. We make history today - the relationship of Dean's campaign to the netroot base is as significant to American electoral politics - and as ultimately transformative - as television was to John F. Kennedy. The questions below are just a harbringer of the potential. Everyone who participated in this affair should be proud - of ourselves, of our country, and our candidate. Israeli settlements You have openly stated that your views on Israel are "in line with AIPAC's". How do you reconcile your support for multilateralism (as pertained to Iraq) with AIPAC's support of the Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, which are illegal und...

Atrios lauds Dean's condemnation of Santorum. More surprisingly, in the comments thread, there are dozens of regular Atrios readers who seem to be discovering Dean only today! We do have a name-recognition hurdle to cross indeed if he is still unknown to the vast leftwing blogsphere readership.Let's leverage *our* numbers, and make sure the comment threads of all Dean-related posts in the blogsphere have someone linking to the campaign and to the DeanBlog! flood the message boards! go forth, and prosletyze!

The voting has concluded! These are the final questions, ranked in order from most popular to least. I combined the two Israel questions into one, and rewrote the "legalize hemp" question into a more general one about the War on Drugs. I also edited the questions to make them more succinct, and focus on the main issue (many were actually multiple and distinct questions lumped together). Please leave your comments/suggestions for further editing of the text of these questions in the comments thread, and then tomorrow we will mail them to the campaign. Israeli settlements You have openly stated that your views on Israel are "in line with AIPAC's". How do you reconcile your support for multilateralism (as pertained to Iraq) with AIPAC's support of the Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, which are illegal under UN Resolutions 242, 338, and violate the Oslo Accords and the Mitchell Plan? Media regulation How would you address growing conservative ...

At the end of today's editorial on Dick Gephardt's plan for universal health coverage, Thomas Oliphant gives Howard Dean his due. Dean is there on health care coverage off his experience in a state that now has insurance for nearly all kids and 92 percent of adults. Dean also emphasizes a refundable tax credit for business and investment in the other private and public programs. He also advocates a federal-state deal on health care responsibility -- young people to the age of 23 are for states to cover; drug costs and acute care for the elderly are for the national government. As the fog of war lifts, Gephardt and possibly Dean appear to be candidates who have serious business to transact at those all-important kitchen tables in America. It sure beats horse race baloney. UPDATE (Chris): Dean was the first candidate with a health care message - and a way to pay for it - both conceptually, and in detail. Notice Gephardt stealing elements of it per Oliphant's column....

Howard Dean released the following statement today: In an interview published yesterday with the Associated Press, Rick Santorum, the third highest ranking Republican in the Senate, compared homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. I am outraged by Senator Santorum’s remarks. That a leader of the Republican Party would make such insensitive and divisive comments—comments that are derogatory and meant to harm an entire group of Americans, their friends and their families—is not only outrageous, but deeply offensive. The silence with which President Bush and the Republican Party leadership have greeted Sen. Santorum’s remarks is deafening. It is the same silence that greeted Senator Lott’s offensive remarks in December. It is a silence that implicitly condones a policy of domestic divisiveness, a policy that seeks to divide Americans again and again on the basis of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. For the complete statement, visit the Dean Call to A...

Trouble on the Home Front? I don't put much weight on online polling, even though I have one on my own website for people to pick Gov. Dean's running mate; however, I did think this was interesting. The Hartford Courant ran a story on Gov. Dean and has a poll along with it measuring support for some of the 2004 Democratic candidates. You would think that Hometown Proud Joe Lieberman would be winning in a landslide, right? Not so: 1.1% Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (5 responses) 5.5% Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry (25 responses) 68.3% Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (313 responses) 2.8% North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (13 responses) 16.6% Connecticut's Sen. Joseph Lieberman (76 responses) 5.7% Other (26 responses) 458 total responses

This is a critical piece in the NYT that shows just how off-base the President's policies and priorities are. Billions for Baghdad, Nothing for New York. No to theocracy in Iraq, yes to theocracy in the US. Liberty for the Shi'a, the PATRIOT act for Americans. And rewards to the rich corporations and the wealthy in both. The general election will hinge on whether the Democratic nominee can successfully argue these points. The president makes a good political general. One of his canniest strategies has been to raise the bar so high that even the smallest of compromises seems like moderation. ANWR has become the red herring of the environmental wars; any energy bill that protects the caribou from the oil drillers will be seen as a victory even if it contains ridiculous tax breaks for the coal, oil and gas industries and does nothing to deal with the problem of gas-guzzling automobiles. Somehow, a budget with $350 billion in tax cuts — at a time of war and enormous government ...

It looks like the poll software only allows 100 responses per month. That's why no one has been able to vote since last week. If you have not yet voted on DeanBlog questions, please leave a comment for your top three choices in the comments field of this post. We will run the poll in this fashion until tomoirrow.

Do you want to know when Howard Dean is going to be on television? Do you want to be the first to know when Dean for America has an important press release or announcement to make? Do you want to hear important voice messages from Howard Dean himself? Checking this and other blogs is one way to stay in touch, but when you're offline or on the road, you can get the latest news by joining the Dean Wireless Network . How does it work? It's simple-- all you need is a cell phone that can receive text messages. Click on the link above to be taken to the Howard Dean 2004 Upoc group. Click on "join this group now." Click on "Register now" and follow the simple instructions under "Sign up." That's it! You're ready to receive text and voices messages from Dean for America on your phone. The FAQ's: Does this cost money? No. The service is free. Receiving text messages may be an additional charge depending on your cellular service, but...

From the Washington Bureau of the Hartford Courant: Already the new storyline on Dean is emerging. He's cleared the first hurdle... can he clear the second? And, will the call he's issued for a balanced budget, universal health care, and a stronger public education system keep those who've signed up this early on board for the long haul? So far, the answer is yes.

Matthew Yglesias points to two posts, by Ezra Klein against Dean and by Matt Singer for Dean . Excerpts of their arguments are below: Singer: Many of us are people who characterize ourselves as third-way liberals, but not in the DLC "third-way-as-conservatism" method, more in the New America Foundation sense. And I see Dean as being the candidate who is coming out to embrace the third-way radical center. He understands the reasons for grassroots democracy more fundamentally than most Greens do, who think that it translates most simply to direct democracy. He understands the Constitutional and Democratic reasons for respecting the rights of states, and also realizes that part of respecting the rights of states involves having the F.G. recognize state's contracts like civil unions. Now, scared Democrats claim that civil unions will derail Dean in the south. Can anyone tell me what state we're going to lose in the South? Florida? Solve that by putting Graham on the t...

Almost everyone is familiar with Dean's piece in Common Dreams by now, where he addresses what is wrong with the Bush Doctrine (and Bush in general). That piece was in response to the above linked article by Charles Knight, who praised Dean for his response . However, the original Knight piece did have more to it than taking Dean to task over Bush Doctrine - it also addressed N. Korea and described how Dean proposed to address their burgeoning nuclear program: For instance, Dean argues for reopening negotiations with the North Koreans over their nuclear program, while privately making it clear that the U.S. will go to war to stop their nuclear program if they don't settle in the end. In a preferred outcome of this diplomacy the U.S. might end up paying the North Koreans ten or twenty billion to abandon their nuclear and long range missile program. Dean would argue that despite the distaste of having to pay for disarmament, the financial costs would be about one-fifth to one...

I know this is not entirely a "Dean related" article, but I think it's very important for Democratic primary voters to understand this. If they are hungry for a candidate who can actually beat George W. Bush , Gov. Howard Dean has the credentials that it seems America will be looking for. The Republican mindset is stuck in 1984. They think if they just keep throwing the term liberal around enough, that's all it takes. But when Dr. Dean stands up next to W at the debates and says he has balanced the budget and he can fix the economy, Americans will define what a "liberal" is for themselves. WASHINGTON -- For the first time since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the American people are more concerned about the nation's economic woes than about terrorism, war or Iraq, a new poll found. Fully 41 percent of those polled cited the economy, unemployment or the federal budget deficit as the nation's biggest problem, while 29 percent pointed to issues relat...

The crowds continue to pour out in New Hampshire! By Larissa Mulkern PORTSMOUTH - Turnout was unexpectedly robust at an early morning reception on Friday for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean; an estimated 150 people stood elbow to elbow in the lobby at Harbour Place punctuating points of the candidate’s speech with thunderous applause. "This is unbelievable; this is 7:30 in the morning, never mind Good Friday morning - on any morning - I really appreciate you coming," Dean told the crowd. Later at an editorial board meeting with the Portsmouth Herald, he said he was "shocked" at the turnout. He’s been so busy pressing the flesh on the campaign trail, he said, that his hand is partly bandaged. The five-term former governor of Vermont campaigned in the Seacoast on Friday at stops in Portsmouth, at the University of New Hampshire, and in Exeter at the RiverWoods elderly housing community. To date, his campaign has raised $2.9 million and ope...

The latest ARG poll has Dean losing three points, from 22 to 19, while Kerry gained one, from 23 to 24. Kos has some more analysis and a summary of the numbers. Are there any NH DeanBlog readers who can weigh in with their perspectives from the field? How can we leverage Meetup in New England to try and help Dean's numbers rise? Ideas, people! UPDATE: Of course, the variation is within the margin of error. As Joe Trippi wrote in Kos' comments: Every poll that has come out in NH over the past three months has shown remarkable consistency within the margin of error. In ARG John Kerry has been at 23 to 24% for 3 months -- In the Franklin Pierce poll he was at 21% -- even with different methodology those numbers are virtually the same and within the margin of error. Same is true for the entire field including Dean. Dean's numbers in both polls over the same period are 19%, 22% (ARG) 21% (Franklin Pierce) again the same number -- it does not matter what order you put the...

I would have posted this under the comments section of Aziz's posting, but I felt it was important enough that it warranted more attention. Click the link above if you want the whole story, but here's the bulk of it: The man behind Vermont's Civil Union law says he would recognize same-sex couples if elected president. But, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says he would not try to push a Civil Union bill though Congress. ... Dean said it was not the federal government’s role to become involved in marriage statutes. He pledged that if elected he would do all he could to undo the Defense of Marriage Act, passed during the Clinton administration, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing marriages between any couples except one man and one woman. He made a point of emphasizing he was not advocating full marriage rights. Nor was he pressing other states to enact civil union legislation. "What I am not going to do is tell every state they have to pass civil ...

This is a great piece (fwded by reader Brett Sokol), with some tidbits about Dean's foreign policy beyond Iraq (including a solid critique of Dean's "Marshall Plan for the Middle East" line). One exciting part where Dean spills the beans on the Veepstakes: "We do low-end fundraisers all the time," Dean said, dismissing any thoughts of disappointment over the lackluster crowd at Nerve. He was more interested in discussing campaign strategy. "Half of [Ralph] Nader's votes will go to me," he predicted, a significant pool of support overlooked by many. Bob Graham as his vice-prez? "He would definitely be on the short list." Getting his message out with limited funds? "Be very clear." More importantly, however, there's some thought-provoking questioning of Dean regarding civil unions at the federal level. As we all know, Dean's position on civil unions centers on states' rights, and is against trying to enact a...

From the comments thread of this post comes this email written by Charles Knight, who wrote the original critique that prompted Dean's rebuttal in Common Dreams (and sent out to the campaign mailing list). I think it's a great acknowledgement of how responsive Dean is to critics: This past Monday a commentary I wrote critical of a Gov. Howard Dean speech to Democratic foreign policy specialists in DC was published by the Website Common Dreams. On Thursday Gov. Dean responded to my piece with his own article on Common Dreams . Dean "sets the record straight", so to speak, in a very progressive direction which strikes hard at key components of Bush foreign and domestic policy. I find myself in agreement with most of what he says, but that matters little. What does matter is that a pointed piece of political criticism has resulted in clarifications from the candidate and the clarifications are in a progressive direction. A good moment for "the power of the pen...

It's not just President Bartlet and Meathead anymore! WASHINGTON (CNN) -- What do rock star Joan Jett, actor Michael Douglas and "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David have in common? They all gave to the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont who is now seeking the 2004 Democratic nomination. With about $2 million in his campaign war chest, Dean is not leading the fund-raising pack among his Democratic colleagues. (Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has about $8 million on hand for his campaign, and Sen. John Edwards reports about $5.7 million in his war chest.) But Dean is ahead in the unofficial "Hollywood primary," winning donations from an impressive array of Tinseltown's stars and entertainment figures. Among the others who donated to Dean's campaign: Director and producer Rob Reiner (perhaps best known as "Meathead" from TV's "All in the Family"), M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell, and singers ...

courtesy Bully Pulpit, here is a transcript of Dean's closing remarks at teh Children's Defense Fund forum. If anyone has a transcript of the full speech, please let me know! I have two advantages in this race. One of which I share with Bob Graham. I'm a physician and I'm a former governor. We've heard a lot of great things and I would be very happy to support the nominee of my party and I intend to do that vigorously... because I expect it to be me. (laughter) But the advantage of a doctor is that I know what happens when people don't have health insurance and we put health insurance in our state for everybody under 18 and I know how to do that for the United States. The advantage of a governor is that we home-visit 91% of the kids in our state, we've reduced the child abuse rate by 43% and those kids are going to go to college instead of prison 10 years from now. You know, I want to thank my liberal friend Marian Wright Edelman. People have often ...

Thanks to everyone who left questions for the DeanBlog Interview! Especially with the various Haloscan comments failures - your patience was appreciated. I'd like to apologise to everyone for the long, inexcusable delays in getting this moving forward. I've painstakingly gone through the list, trimmed the duplicates, filtered out those that could be answered by Dean's Issues Statements on the campaign website, and these are the result. I also removed a few questions that were either too vague/philosophical, or too Vermont-specific, trying to keep the focus on concrete national issues. If you feel your question was unfairly removed, leave a comment and let me know. The final questions are in the comments section of this thread, and the poll below has the questions. Please vote for your top three (3) questions , and the ten most popular will be the ones we send to the campaign. Please note, the poll software will allow you to vote for more than three choices, but we ar...

Here is an article posted on CommonDreams.org written by Gov. Howard Dean. Dr. Dean wrote the article to "set the record straight." I know that it is a bit long, so I have only posted the start of the article. You can read the whole article by following the link above. [Note: After reading a recent article that called into question my opposition to the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war, I wanted to state my position clearly to set the record straight. I appreciate that the editors of Common Dreams have given me this opportunity.] When Congress approved the President’s authorization to go to war in Iraq – no matter how well-intentioned – it was giving the green light to the President to set his Doctrine of preemptive war in motion. It now appears that Iraq was just the first step. Already, the Bush Administration is apparently eyeing Syria and Iran as the next countries on its target list. The Bush Doctrine must be stopped here. Many in Congress who voted for this r...

This article was in yesterday's Washington Post under the headline, "Kerry Leads Democratic Hopefuls in Funds Raised". The point of interest for Dean supporters is that it breaks down who raised how much and from whom. While John Edwards was nabbing $2,000 checks from his fellow lawyers, Howard Dean was getting his money from the street: Dean, who has been running a campaign geared in part to smaller donors, raised $530,000 -- or 20 percent of his $2.6 million raised last quarter -- in $2,000 contributions. Dean had by far the largest percentage of small donations, many received through direct mail or via the Internet. A total of $760,891 -- or 29 percent -- of Dean's contributions was in amounts less than $250, and 60 percent in amounts less than $1,000. ... The detailed reports show interesting patterns of contributions. Dean, a medical doctor, raised $81,500 from physicians, and he also raised nearly $60,000 from educators and students. Politically, this...