Message 19730567
Part II:
Dean Criticizes Kerry's Stance on '91 War
On Sunday, Dean will be joined by his wife, Judith Steinberg Dean, at two events aimed specifically at female voters.
"We're probably holding our own among men, but you can't lose women that big," a Dean adviser said Saturday. A survey published Saturday by the Concord Monitor showed Kerry with a 13 percentage point lead over Dean among women, compared to a 3 percentage point advantage among men. Dean's campaign has distributed tens of thousands of copies of the interview the Deans did on ABC's "Primetime Thursday."
Dean has thrown everything into the final days here in New Hampshire, taking down ads in Feb. 3 states to concentrate here. One Dean adviser said the campaign has raised $1 million since the Iowa loss, but Kerry said he has raised a similar amount.
Followed by large packs of cameramen and reporters, the candidates tried to cover as much ground as possible on one of the coldest days of the winter. All of them were scheduled to appear at a party fundraiser in Nashua late Saturday.
Kerry appeared at a rally with environmentalists in Concord, where he received the League of Conservation Voters' endorsement, and pledged "to put an end to the false argument that America must choose between a growing economy and a clean environment." Kerry then played a few minutes of hockey with former Boston Bruins stars in Manchester, scoring a few goals, before heading north to Hanover.
Dean began his day on the seacoast, knocking on doors in Dover and firing up volunteers to continue the chilly canvassing duties on their own. Clark was in Portsmouth for a rally, while Edwards started in the lightly populated north country and worked his way back down the spine of the state. He ended the afternoon, bowling in Merrimack in the southern part of the state.
Dean's complaint about the Edwards tactics in Iowa was based on a manual the North Carolina senator's campaign distributed including negative information about Dean. Edwards said that, unbeknownst to him, an Iowa staffer had included unflattering comparisons with Dean in a handbook for precinct workers. The individual was severely reprimanded, a campaign aide said. But Edwards added, "I don't think it's for me to tell the people of Iowa how to conduct their caucuses."
Despite the positive poll numbers, Kerry ran into skeptical questioning at Dartmouth College, where voters asked how he could compete with Bush in the South. He said he would make his fight down there, but also pointed out that 2000 nominee Al Gore could have won the election simply by carrying New Hampshire.
Earlier in the day, Kerry said he was not looking past the Tuesday contest here, telling reporters, "We've got three days of campaigning left and . . . I'm campaigning hard and I have a lot of undecided to still try to persuade. . . . Campaigns aren't over until they are over and I still have a lot of work to do."
Staff writers Paul Schwartzman, Vanessa Williams, Dan Balz and David S. Broder contributed to this report.
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