Kerry Argues Gore Backed 'Wrong' Dean

Kerry Argues Gore Backed 'Wrong' Dean

NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Democrat John Kerry accused presidential rival Howard Dean of flip-flopping on his signature anti-war views and suggested Wednesday that former Vice President Al Gore was duped into endorsing "the wrong Howard Dean."

Dean later conceded that he backed an alternative to last fall's resolution that would have allowed President Bush to wage war against Iraq without congressional approval. But he said the measure, which never passed, might have averted war.

A day after a candidates' debate dominated by Gore's blockbuster decision, Kerry sought to diminish the endorsement's impact by shifting the focus to Iraq. "Howard Dean exercised the exact same judgment that the rest of us exercised," he said. "I'm saying there are several Howard Deans."

"If Al Gore is endorsing the Howard Dean who made the judgment at the same time as the rest of us, then he is endorsing the wrong Howard Dean," the Massachusetts senator said.

New Hampshire polls show Kerry badly trailing Dean, the former Vermont governor. Six months ago, Kerry led his fellow New Englander and was considered the leading candidate for the nomination.

Dean's anti-war rhetoric came under scrutiny Wednesday as eight of the nine Democratic candidates crisscrossed this early primary state weeks before the Jan. 27 contest. Among the developments:

Wesley Clark outlined a plan to restrain spiraling tuition costs and give local governments $40 billion in federal aid.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina pledged to limit how much money American contractors earn in Iraq.

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri picked up the endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the most influential Democrats in South Carolina. The state's Feb. 3 primary is key to Gephardt's post-New Hampshire strategy.

Campaigning in New Hampshire's northernmost city, Gephardt suggested the president is insensitive to the families of soldiers slain in Iraq. "Bush found time to go to 34 fund-raisers since the war," Gephardt said in Berlin, N.H., "but has not found time to go to one funeral."

From the Ranks

Dean rose from the ranks of second-tier insurgent to the consensus front-runner based largely on his anti-Iraq war rhetoric. His opposition to a Bush administration war resolution - crafted with the help of Gephardt and Lieberman, and backed by Kerry and Edwards - became emblematic of Dean's willingness to confront Bush on a series of policies while other Democrats fell in line behind the GOP president.

But the former Vermont governor rarely mentions his support of a resolution by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joe Biden, D-Del., that would have asked Bush to get a new U.N. resolution to enforce weapons inspections in Iraq.

If the United Nations had declined, the president would have had to make a formal determination that the Iraqi threat was so serious that the use of military force would be necessary.

Bush would have been required to send Congress a letter - not seek a vote of approval - before waging war, Kerry said. He argued there was no significant difference between the Lugar-Biden resolution and the one passed by Congress.

Dean acknowledged that the alternative resolution was not binding against the president, but argued that Bush would have somehow been more likely to use restraint.

"Biden-Lugar required the president to come back to Congress - not for a vote," but only to certify that a number of actions were taken, including more diplomacy, Dean said. "Had the president done that, we would not have gone to war, because then he would have been forced to certify with his word ... all the claims he made that were not true."

Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who campaigned in Iowa for Kerry on Wednesday, criticized Dean. Cleland said Dean "avoided the war of his generation and now is finally admitting that he did support a resolution for unilateral action against Iraq. The truth will out in my point of view."

In endorsing Dean, Gore cited the front-runner's fervent opposition to the Iraq war, calling him "the only major candidate who made the correct judgment on the Iraq war."

Clark admonished his rivals for trying to capitalize on their positions regarding the war resolutions. "Somehow this has been exploited by some people in this race to sort of give them an advantage over others," he said.

Gore's running mate in 2000, Joe Lieberman, was stung by his failure to secure the endorsement. Addressing 400 high school students, most of them too young to vote, the Connecticut senator said, "it's you, the people who decide elections, not the pundits and the pollsters and endorsements."

At another high school, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio criticized his rivals for offering less-than-bold health care reforms, while Carol Moseley Braun predicted her "contrarian" spirit will catch fire here.

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