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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (4045)	8/12/2003 10:57:16 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 10965

Choose me! Forum frenzy may dull Dems' images By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — In a season of excess, it had to happen — a command performance every day this week for Democratic presidential candidates. Democratic candidates convene in Chicago last week. By Stephen J. Carrera, AP By the end of the week, C-SPAN will have broadcast at least 13 joint appearances by the Democratic field — in 1991, Bill Clinton had not even entered the race until October. The cable network will air Monday night's forum sponsored by the Sheet Metal Workers union in Philadelphia and a health care forum Thursday in Des Moines. C-SPAN is skipping Tuesday in Stillwater, Okla., Wednesday in Waterloo, Iowa, and Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "The candidates are running around like conditioned rats in some psychologist's maze," says Fred Greenstein, a presidential leadership scholar at Princeton University. "You're in danger of trivializing yourself at these forums and simply wearing yourself down. It's a strange incestuous game with a lot of opportunities for error. " The forums have been sponsored by unions, governors, local parties, environmental and health-care groups, and groups that fight for abortion rights, civil rights and gay rights. Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says at least five groups in his state — 13th in the primary lineup next year — are trying to sponsor debates or forums, "and it's bound to double or triple." The forums have their purpose, Sabato says. Those tuned in now "are the people who vote in primaries and caucuses," he says. "But it does look like a pander-ama." Democrats learned a harsh lesson last month when NAACP President Kweisi Mfume condemned missing candidates as "persona non grata" with no right to expect black votes. The three absentees hastily arranged to show up later in the week and fell over one another pledging fealty to civil rights causes. That same week, most candidates showed up at the Human Rights Campaign to stress their gay rights credentials. Last week, they vied for labor support from the AFL-CIO; this week, they have three more labor gigs and, on Thursday, a health care grilling by Iowa doctors, nurses and administrators. Coming up: six debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. Every group considers its event paramount, but there are good reasons to skip some. Most of the major Democrats have day jobs in the Senate or House of Representatives. All presumably want to avoid the belittling labels a pack sometimes attracts (think "seven dwarfs," aka the 1988 Democratic presidential field). They need to differentiate themselves, and they must conduct their campaigns. "If they did nothing but forums, they'd never get elected. They'd never meet any real people or raise any money," says Bill Press, an MSNBC commentator and former chairman of the California Democratic Party. Tonight, Press is moderating his second forum in less than two weeks. He says he wants the candidates to respond to one another and him. So far, he says, "points are made, and there's never any response or follow-through." That's been largely due to rules set by sponsors. A classic example occurred last week at the tightly formatted AFL-CIO forum when host Bob Edwards asked several candidates about trade before getting to Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. "Will you cancel NAFTA?" Kucinich demanded of several rivals, referring to the trade treaty unions contend has drained U.S. jobs. "What a pity I didn't ask you first" about trade, Edwards said. "At the moment, we are now going to move to health care."