Seeking guidance on how to react to Osama bin Laden's pre-election message, the Kerry campaign took a poll to determine how its candidate should respond - a move that drew howls of derision on Sunday from Vice President Dick Cheney.
"The thing I find most amazing about it is John Kerry's first response was to go conduct a poll," Cheney told GOP volunteers in Iowa. "It's as though he didn't know what he believed until he took a poll."
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Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg reportedly added the bin Laden question to a poll already under way on Saturday, asking about voter reactions to the bin Laden tape.
Reaction 1) "It makes me think that George Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and diverted resources to Iraq." (46 percent agreed)
Reaction 2) "It underscores the importance of George Bush's approach to the war on terrorism." (36 percent agreed)
Reacting to Cheney's comments, Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart told the Associated Press that he "should examine his own house before throwing stones."
Asked whether Kerry's polls included questions about the videotape, Lockhart said, "We don't talk about our internal polls."
Bush-Cheney strategist Matthew Dowd told the AP that the GOP campaign didn't poll on the bin Laden tape. "We have not asked any questions related to bin Laden, this tape, or any other tape in our polling."
Vice President Cheney said the Greenberg poll showed Kerry really didn't know what he thought about the 9/11 mastermind, telling the Iowa crowd, "George Bush doesn't need a poll to know what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden.
"Ever since I heard about the poll, I've been agitated about it," he added.
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2004 Elections
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