Another flip flop by Dean

[Tigermike 3,715]

Dean Rescinds Withdrawal Promise, Contends He Is 'Strongest Candidate' to Beat Bush

By Jimmy Moore

Talon News

February 10, 2004

GREEN BAY, WI (Talon News) -- Just days after promising to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president if he does not win the February 17 primary race in Wisconsin, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has rescinded that statement and declared he will continue on as a candidate beyond Wisconsin -- win or lose.

"It's critical," Dean told reporters, referring to winning Wisconsin.

Still, he added, "It's not going to be the end of the line, but there better be a win in Wisconsin, and Wisconsin has a tremendous opportunity."

Talon News reported on Friday that Dean called Wisconsin a "must-win" state and vowed to drop out of the race if he did not win in that state's primary race next Tuesday.

However, when a reporter inquired further to clarify whether this latest announcement meant Dean would remain in the race after Wisconsin, the once-frontrunner responded by saying, "Yup."

Dean, who has not yet won any of the 12 states in the Democratic primaries, said his supporters were the ones who urged him not to give up on his candidacy even if he loses in Wisconsin.

"I've just been convinced that we are not going to drop out," Dean quipped. "There are too many people who have come up to me and said, 'Whatever you do, don't drop out.'"

Nevertheless, Dean said at a news conference, "We are going to do everything we can to win Wisconsin. It really is a make-or-break state for us in many ways."

Maintaining he is second only to Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry in delegate votes, 426 for Kerry compared with 184 for Dean according to the Associated Press, Dean said he would stay in the race until he is no longer a viable candidate.

Dean contends Wisconsin will propel his campaign forward to big races in Ohio, California, and New York, where his anti-war stance and liberal ideas will resonate better with voters.

"I can't quit on all the people who are depending on me to raise the issues that we have raised," Dean commented.

In a week-long campaign dubbed "Real Choice, Real Change," Dean is hoping to drum up enough support in Wisconsin to seriously challenge Kerry next Tuesday.

Touting his record as Vermont governor as evidence, Dean said he believes he would give President George W. Bush a battle in the general election.

"The way to beat George W. Bush is with a candidate who already has stood up to him ... on issues that mattered -- like health care, investing in our children, the national debt and the Iraq war," Dean said.

Taking a stab at his fellow Democratic presidential rivals who are a part of the Washington establishment, Dean said he is the only clear choice for Democrats who want a change.

"Democrats who watched the popularity polls and cut bad deals with the White House are not the right people to stand up to George Bush this fall," he said.

Although he once boasted a campaign war chest of $40 million, Dean spent nearly all of it in Iowa and New Hampshire. He came in a dismal third and second, respectively.

Yet Dean has been able to raise $1.1 million over the past week to help him fund a new political ad telling Wisconsin voters about himself.

In the ad, Dean is featured as a Washington outsider who believes he is the only candidate to defeat Bush.

Dean is telling Wisconsin voters to disregard the media reports and opinion polls that show Kerry will automatically win the Democrat nomination.

"[T]he media claims this contest is over," Dean remarked. "They say your voice and your vote don't count. They expect you to rubber stamp the choice of others. But you don't have to listen to them."

He said that the voters are the ones who have "the power to choose the strongest candidate to beat George W. Bush."

Even still, according to a recent University of Wisconsin Survey Center poll sponsored by The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kerry has a commanding 45 percent lead over the other Democrat candidates. Dean received less than 15 percent in the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In fact, another poll conducted by the American Research Group also finds that Kerry leads comfortably in Wisconsin. The margin of error of this poll taken last week was plus or minus 4 points.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/februar..._campaign.shtml

[CShine 0]

Nobody cares about Dean anymore.

[MDM4AU 338]

I Agree. I never did.

[Tiger Al 0]

Mike, don't you just hate a guy who won't quit??? I know all of your heroes were quitters but that just doesn't sit right with me.

[Tigermike 3,715]

Actually Al I was hoping that Howie was the democrats nominee. Maybe we could have heard him scream again.

[DKW 86 7,899]

He was my personal choice as a Dem candidate.

[AUloggerhead 2,516]

Well I have good news & bad news about Dean. Good news for those of you who really want to see Howlin' Howie as a presidential candidate this fall. Bad news if you really plan on voting for him: Plan B in case this Democrat gig doesn't work out.

GREEN WITHOUT ENVY

Former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean and his advisers are looking into options that would allow him to run for president on the Green Party ticket should he fail in his bid to wrench the Democratic nomination away from Sen. John Kerry.

Dean had been looking at the Green Party long before his campaign caught fire. As early as late last summer, Dean was considering the Greens as an option, particularly because at the time Ralph Nader, the Green nominee in 2000, appeared less interested in a run.

"This isn't a ploy to get Democrats to pay attention to us," says a Deaniac in Washington. "This is about ensuring that our man's views and this supporters' views get carried into the fall campaign. A Green Party bid puts him in the debates with Bush and whomever the Democrats nominate. It keeps us viable."

It would also, as the Deaniac pointed out, get the attention of Terry McAuliffe and the DNC pretty quick. Dean is first to brag he's brought in hundreds of thousands of new voters to the party -- voters who most likely would follow Dean to the Greens. He probably would generate more votes than Nader himself pulled in 2000, again dooming Democrats to another loss.

Nader has not yet indicated what he will do in the 2004 campaign. In the past three months he has twice pushed back a decision on whether he's running.

[CarolinaTiger 0]

TA, whom would you vote for if Dean ran as a 3rd party candidate?

[CarolinaTiger 0]

oh yeah...the fact that he's changed his mind about when he may or may not get out of the race doesn't bother me at all. the man's entitled to see this through until he feels at peace w/ it. he'd hate to quit 'early' in his mind and wonder all along if he could've "pulled it out".

and there's also that chance at hearing 'the scream' again, too.

ct

[TitanTiger 21,241]

I hope he stays in until the bitter end. And if by some dream of mine, he got the nomination, then all the better.

[Tiger Al 0]

TA, whom would you vote for if Dean ran as a 3rd party candidate?

I would probably vote for the Democrat because it's still primarily a two party country. How about this, though: Howard Dean-The Lean, Mean, Green Fighting Machine!

BTW, who are the Libertarians trotting out this year?

[Tigermike 3,715]

BTW, who are the Libertarians trotting out this year?

Michael Badnarik is their candidate. I never heard of him.

I thought they always let Lyndon LaRouche run for them.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Mike, don't you just hate a guy who won't quit??? I know all of your heroes were quitters but that just doesn't sit right with me.

There is a difference between "quitting" for the sake of quitting and "quitting because reality has sunk in and you have too much integrity to keep wasting other people's money on a lost cause". If it were just his own money he was spending, I would say fine, go ahead, but he is still extorting money from people, claiming he still has a chance to win! I am fairly certain, but haven't looked into it, that Kerry has all but sewn up enough delegates to win the nomination, so Dean really and statistically doesn't stand a chance. Should Dean quit now, it would not, in my mind, make him a quitter, but actually would make him seem brighter than I originally gave him credit for.