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Politics : HOWARD DEAN -THE NEXT PRESIDENT? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (392)	11/13/2003 1:38:55 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3079

Page 2 The move stunned labor and political insiders and left some of Dean's rivals furious. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), who has the support of 20 unions, believed he would get the AFSCME endorsement and was particularly upset. According to one person, he fumed that McEntee had just "turned over the country to the Republicans for four more years." The SEIU and AFSCME ended up in the same place, but they followed far different paths, each reflecting the union's president. Stern, cerebral and democratic, oversaw a bottom-up process that gave strong voice to union rank and file. McEntee, the first union leader to endorse Bill Clinton in 1992, is a visceral politician who dominates his union. His process was top-down, and over the past nine months his allegiance shifted from Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark -- whose campaign's mistakes may have cost him AFSCME's support -- and finally to Dean. The only similarity was that at the beginning of their discussions, Dean was not on either union's list of likely endorsees. Last December, at one of their first meetings, Stern asked Dean if there was any way he could help him, thinking he could open some union doors to the little-known candidate. "He said, 'Well you can endorse me,' which I thought was a pretty bold, first opening comment," Stern said. "And I said, 'Well, we're a little far away from that,' and he said, 'Well, if you endorse me, I'm going to be president.' " The SEIU offered all the candidates the same resources: a list of their local leadership and a warning that the route to the endorsement began not in Stern's fifth-floor office on L Street NW but through the rank and file. "Everybody got the same advice," an SEIU official said. "Howard Dean took it to heart." No other candidate came close to Dean's outreach. "Shockingly" not close, Stern said. SEIU officials also told the candidates that the first prerequisite to winning an endorsement was a plan to give all workers access to health insurance and the means to pay for it. Gephardt built his entire campaign around a bold and costly plan to do that, but Dean, a physician, prided himself on being the health care candidate with a record in Vermont. At the beginning of the year, SEIU officials assumed that Kerry and Gephardt had the best chance of winning their endorsement. But as they looked at polls of their members from spring to early autumn, only Dean was moving up. By the time the union held its September convention to evaluate the candidates, Dean was the clear front-runner for the endorsement. Dean had enthusiastic support among the union's local leaders in Oakland, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. None was more important than Dennis Rivera, the powerful leader of Local 1199 in New York. When a friend suggested last year that he meet with Dean, Rivera said he did not even know who the former governor was. Since then, they have held several meetings and spoken by phone at least 10 times. Gephardt had hoped to win over Rivera, but in the end he lost out to Dean. "We have come to the conclusion that, in order to win the presidency, we need to change the political configuration," Rivera said. "We need to bring more people to the political process. I don't think that's happening with the candidacy of our good friend Dick Gephardt." (continued)

To: Mephisto who wrote (392)	11/13/2003 1:41:39 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 3079

Page 4 As he began shopping for a new candidate, McEntee had a positive meeting with Gephardt, leading the former House Democratic leader to believe he might get the support of Iowa's most powerful union. But McEntee had also asked two top advisers, executive assistant Lee Saunders and political action director Larry Scanlon, to go out and look at the headquarters operations of the campaigns. When they got to Dean's Burlington headquarters in late October, they found energy, innovative use of technology, fundraising prowess and a clear strategy for winning. "They were blown away in Burlington," McEntee said. By early last week, McEntee was ready to hatch his surprise plan. As Gephardt and Dean were going through a final audition before Iowa AFSCME officials, McEntee and Stern were working out the choreography of the dual endorsements, and McEntee was calling his board to a special meeting here today. McEntee knew the SEIU was planning to endorse Dean last Thursday. He asked Stern to hold off formally announcing the endorsement. "Gerry is very instinctual," Stern said, "and his instincts were that, if we were both going to do this, it would be better to both do it together, for us, for Dean, for the importance." With today's endorsements will come not only more publicity for the Dean campaign, but the kind of institutional muscle his grass-roots campaign has so far been lacking. McEntee summed up the dividends this way: "We bring money, we bring boots on the ground, and we bring blood and treasure to the process."

To: Mephisto who wrote (392)	11/16/2003 2:38:01 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 3079

Dean Proposes $7.1 Billion to Help Cover College Costs The New York Times November 14, 2003 By JODI WILGOREN Excerpt: CONCORD, N.H., Nov. 13 - Taking a page from philanthropists who adopt elementary school classes and promise to pay tuition for those who make it to college, Howard Dean proposed a $7.1 billion program on Thursday to guarantee eighth graders who commit to higher education $10,000 a year in grants and loans. Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said he would also use tax credits so college graduates would never owe more than 10 percent of their annual income in loan payments and would retire their debt within 10 years. For students who become nurses, teachers, police officers or firefighters or otherwise pursue public service, the loan repayments would be capped at 7 percent of annual income. In addition, Dr. Dean said he would quadruple AmeriCorps, the program that enlists young people for two years of domestic service, to 250,000 slots a year. "This is about more than money," Dr. Dean said. "When a student enters high school, they need to know that the door to college is potentially open for them, that all they have to do is work hard and plan ahead and the path will be there." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (392)	11/26/2003 11:03:29 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 3079

Governor Dean Announces National Invest for Success Early Childhood Initiative Gives Equal Opportunity To Every Child deanforamerica.com EXCERPT : ANKENY-"Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D. joined today by national children's advocate and film director Rob Reiner, announced his plan to give every child an equal opportunity to learn. Governor Dean toured the Des Moines MACC Child Care center before discussing his Invest for Success initiative. "We like to think that every child starts kindergarten with the same opportunities, but the truth is, some kids have great preparation and others have nothing," said Dean. "By the time those kids start kindergarten, even the best teachers can't make up for 6 years when a child was never read to, or never taught the alphabet, or never even saw a doctor." Governor Dean's plan, based on successful initiatives he created in Vermont, will provide all families with young children early access to health care, early education, and other supports critical to children's health and working families. The Dean Invest for Success plan will double the current investment in early education so that parents will have the resources to be their child's first teacher without having to struggle to pay for childcare or preschool. This $110 billion commitment over 10 years for community-based services will ensure all children start school ready to succeed at age six. "The truth is that when we help parents who have young children, the benefits reach far beyond those families," Dean said. "Kids who start school ready to learn do better in every grade. They're more likely to graduate. They're more likely to go to college. They help build a strong workforce and a strong economy. In fact, every dollar we spend on childcare produces $7 down the road. So when we invest in helping parents raise smart kids, we're really making an investment in our future." In 1992, Governor Dean created the Vermont Success By Six initiative, which includes a Welcome Baby program. Community-based partnerships offer Welcome Baby Activities such as meeting new parents at the hospital or in their homes on a voluntary basis. These visits provide community partners with an early opportunity to share information about the local resources available to help families raise healthy, successful children. Since then, Vermont has seen a 43% decrease in child abuse, and a 70% decrease in sexual abuse of children. DEAN'S NATIONAL INVEST FOR SUCCESS: Equal Opportunity for Every Child This nation has not developed adequate options for the care of children, even though we know that investment in young children yields a return of seven dollars for every one dollar invested. While society has changed, our leaders have failed to provide adequate early care and education options for children of working parents. The first six years of a child's life are critical for brain development and preparation for success. America's children are not starting kindergarten having had equal access to quality resources that will prepare them for school. By the time a child starts kindergarten, even the best teachers cannot make up for 6 years when a child was never read to or never taught the alphabet, or never saw a doctor. We must help children in the early years, otherwise they will not reach their full potential, and our country will not reach its potential. For some children, what they miss before kindergarten can trap them for the rest of their lives. Now, we have an opportunity to make the most of the time that young children must spend away from their working parents. National Invest for Success will address equal opportunity for every child. Governor Howard Dean announced today that as part of a new social contract for the 21st century he would make a significant new investment in educating our next generation by creating a national Invest for Success initiative that will provide all families with young children early access to health care, early education, and other supports critical to children's health and working families. The Dean Invest for Success plan will double the current investment in early education so that parents will have the resources to be their child's first teacher without having to struggle to pay for childcare or preschool. This $110 billion commitment over 10 years for community-based services will ensure all children start school ready to succeed at age six. The Dean plan to educate a generation is based on his success in Vermont. In 1992, Governor Dean created the Vermont Success By Six initiative, which includes a Welcome Baby program. Community-based partnerships offer Welcome Baby Activities such as meeting new parents at the hospital or in their homes on a voluntary basis. These visits provide community partners with an early opportunity to share information about the local resources available to help families raise healthy, successful children. Since then, Vermont has seen a 43% decrease in child abuse, and a 70% decrease in sexual abuse of children. Dean's Invest for Success gets kids ready to succeed in school. Governor Dean's plan will expand his signature Vermont initiative, Welcome Baby Activities, to interested new parents in communities across the country, and make a significant down payment on universal preschool activities for all interested families. To address the needs of children ages 0-6, the plan sets aside $2 billion over 10 years for Welcome Baby activities that will help parents during their child's first year, and puts $108 billion in a Fund for Early Childhood which states can use to meet their largest early education needs. These two components--targeted funds for the first year and a flexible, well-funded plan for children ages 0-5--together will provide parents the resources they need from the day their baby is born until they day that child enters kindergarten. Welcome Baby Visits The Welcome Baby Visit plan will make it possible to offer new parents information about community resources and services available to help them be their child's first teacher. In communities across the country, local partnerships of nonprofits, local government, health providers, and others will be able to apply for funding to support Invest for Success activities that incorporate Welcome Baby Visits. Qualifying partnerships will commit local funding and in-kind contributions to support the initiative. States can also provide the matching resources as part of a state plan to develop or expand Invest for Success initiatives. States and communities will be expected to work closely with the non-profit community to build on existing networks to create partnerships that will sponsor the Welcome Baby Visits. The $200 million a year proposed for this initiative will provide matching money to communities to take on this challenge. Fund for Early Childhood -- preparing children for lifelong success. This new investment makes a very significant down payment on providing preschool options for every child." deanforamerica.com