posted on January 8, 2004 01:07:44 PM new
With Clark beginning to catch up to Dean [looks like the clinton dems are beginning to make headway] .....Dean's handlers are controlling his statements to the press.
From the NYT...
January 8, 2004
In Shift, Dean Starts Watching His Words
By JODI WILGOREN and EDWARD WYATT
URLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 7 —
With a wary eye on Gen. Wesley K. Clark's rise in national and New Hampshire polls, Howard Dean's campaign has begun to limit his availability to the press, and the candidate himself is watching his words after several recent statements unleashed a storm of criticism from opponents.
Dr. Dean, who has spent two years campaigning as the candidate willing to say what he thinks, initially told reporters that he would be "happy" to discuss his tax policy. Then, as aides glared at him, he immediately said a senior adviser had "veto power" over what he would say.
"I'm not allowed to say I'm happy to do anything anymore," he added.
Later in the day, the campaign released a statement saying Dr. Dean had long intended to propose "additional tax reforms."
His new reticence came as a CNN/USA Today poll published Wednesday showed a slide in Dr. Dean's support among Democrats nationally, with his lead over General Clark shrinking to four points —within the margin of error —from 21 in the same poll a month ago.
Though national polls are not considered that significant at this point, when the struggle is focused in Iowa and New Hampshire, the decline suggests that weeks of attacks on Dr. Dean may be having an effect.
The Clark campaign was ebullient Wednesday as the retired general drew crowds in the hundreds at two town hall meetings in New Hampshire, where some polls now indicate he is battling for second place.
Outside a Clark campaign event in Peterborough, N.H., a Dean aide handed out leaflets attacking the general. The fliers highlighted General Clark's praise for the Bush administration's prosecution of the war on terrorism in 2001 and 2002, his votes for Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and his sometimes conflicting statements about Iraq.
"I just think it's important to point out to the voters of New Hampshire that General Clark supported the war and General Clark spent most of his life as a Republican," said Jay Carson, Dr. Dean's national spokesman, "and he's now running as an antiwar candidate in the Democratic primary."
Asked about his voting history by a voter at the forum, General Clark said, "I never was a Republican." He added that many in the military did not belong to a political party but chose candidates who were "strong on national defense." "After the Vietnam War, the Democratic Party and some of the presidential candidates seemed to be wobbling all over the map on being strong for America," General Clark said. "So I voted for people who would take care of the country."
General Clark, who repeatedly refers to himself as "a leader, not a politician," said of the critical flier, "I guess that's what professional politicians do." But his campaign, giddy at finding itself the subject of criticism from the rival long considered to be leading, quickly patched together a conference call with reporters to speak about the flier. Clark aides said it showed he was threatening the man leading the Democratic pack. "We think Howard Dean's campaign is starting to get a little nervous," said Mo Elleithee, a Clark spokesman. "They're starting to hear our footsteps."
In fact, Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager, told reporters traveling with the campaign this week in Iowa that his own surveys showed General Clark gaining strength in New Hampshire, while Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri were both close on Dr. Dean's heels in Iowa.
Dr. Dean was not the only candidate who appeared to be taking General Clark more seriously. Both Mr. Gephardt and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut also criticized General Clark on Wednesday. "Wesley Clark gave a speech in Arkansas in 2001 in which he said he was for Nafta," Mr. Gephardt told a crowd of steelworkers in Georgetown, S.C., where the free trade agreement has been blamed for severe job losses. Mr. Lieberman, in a speech pitching himself as an alternative to both President Bush and Dr. Dean, slipped in a barb against General Clark, saying the general's recently released plan to overhaul the tax code was inadequate and portraying him as having waffled on the war. "Uncertainty is no answer at times of crisis," he said.
For Dr. Dean, who for months was called Teflon Dean as he continued to gain support and endorsements despite frequent attacks from his rivals, the attack on General Clark was one of several small shifts hinting that he was increasingly concerned about the competition. It came just 10 days after Dr. Dean called for the chairman of the Democratic National Committee to urge candidates to resist negative campaigning, amid signs that the criticisms may be starting to stick.
While Dr. Dean continues to draw impressive crowds at nearly every stop, he has also begun to face daily questions from voters about some of his recent statements and his vulnerability to President Bush. On Wednesday, the Dean campaign canceled a planned Saturday night stay in Burlington and decided instead to attend a Democratic dinner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, violating Dr. Dean's vow not to miss one of his 17-year-old son's hockey games.
Then there is the new clamp on Dr. Dean's mouth. On Saturday morning, Doug Thornell, his traveling press secretary, announced that the candidate would less frequently face groups of reporters, or chat freely in transit, but instead would field questions, one-on-one, by request. Three days passed without the kind of group interview with national reporters that used to be frequent, and the promised one-on-ones never happened (until Wednesday morning, when a Washington Post reporter was allowed to ask a question after a pancake breakfast in Muscatine about civil unions). Dr. Dean has met individually with local television and radio reporters, but he has not had a group meeting with local reporters, once a regular occurrence, since Dec. 16 in New Mexico.
After complaints, Dr. Dean's aides relented on Tuesday, and he sat for about 20 minutes as the bus bumped between events in Indianola and Altoona, Iowa. Asked if he was being more careful, Dr. Dean said, "I try to work on it but I'm not so good at it." He attributed his recent troubles to rival campaigns and the speed with which quotations circulate quickly over the Internet.
[ edited by Linda_K on Jan 8, 2004 01:20 PM ]
posted on January 8, 2004 01:38:52 PM new
[i]Then, as aides glared at him, he immediately said a senior adviser had "veto power" over what he would say.
"I'm not allowed to say I'm happy to do anything anymore," he added. [\i]
LOL!!
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Jan 8, 2004 01:39 PM ]
