Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean was blasted over the weekend by longtime Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, who complained that the ex-Vermont governor is too quick-tempered and suggested that Dean's expression of sympathy for Confederate flag-carrying Southerners should cost him the nomination.
"He's quick of lip, and quick of temper and stubborn," Ickes complained in little-noticed comments to Time magazine.
No stranger to emotional flare-ups himself, Ickes next criticized Dean for repeatedly telling audiences that he wants to court fans of the Stars and Bars.
"In another time, the Confederate-flag story would have taken him down the drain," Ickes said, sounding almost unhappy that it hadn't.
Ickes' comments sharpened the focus on the rumored rift between the Clinton camp and the Dean campaign juggernaut, a split which Dean supporters fear may take the wind out of their candidate's sails.
Not only did Ickes serve as Mr. Clinton's deputy White House chief of staff, he also helped mastermind Mrs. Clinton's successful campaign for the Senate in 2000.
More troubling still for the Deanies: Ickes has been placed in charge of crafting ways to ensure that the Democrats' presidential candidate has enough soft money to compete with President Bush in 2004.
Though both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton have insisted they won't take sides in the Democratic primary race, Ickes' anti-Dean broadside suggests that they aren't happy with the prospect of seeing the Vermont liberal become their party's standard-bearer.
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