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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (18604)	12/4/2003 11:44:26 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793597

Granite Status: Dean not the focus of GOP, says the GOP By JOHN DiSTASO Senior Political Reporter Union Leader TARGET DEAN? Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie insists Howard Dean isn’t getting extra attention from the GOP now that he’s emerging as the favorite to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. Gillespie, in Concord yesterday, insisted the nomination is “wide open.” But, in an interview, he said Dean is defining the Democratic race. “They’ve all moved further and further outside of the political mainstream in pursuit of the nomination,” said Gillespie, “and I think it is partly in response to him. “The fact is,” said Gillespie, “they’re all Howard Dean now.” Is he impressed with, if not concerned about, Dean’s organizational juggernaut? “Anyone who can capture the Democratic Party nomination in a nine-person field is a skillful politician, and he clearly has the opportunity to do that,” the chairman said. A day after appearing in Vermont and blasting the former governor at a GOP fundraiser, and a day after the RNC sent out a blistering e-mail responding to Dean’s anti-Bush attacks, Gillespie tried to downplay his focus on Dean during his New Hampshire visit. Gillespie had spoken in Vermont about Dean’s refusal to open his secret governor’s files unless Bush unseals his files. But that was only because the story happened to break, he said. And, “Obviously if you’re talking with Vermont Republicans, you’ve got to talk about Dean.” Besides, said Gillespie, Dean was dead wrong to say this week that President Bush wants to cut combat pay for U.S. troops. He said his obligation as RNC chair is to ensure that voters understand “the President just signed a bill to increase combat pay by 50 percent.” He said that under Dean, “Taxes went up in Vermont twice as fast as personal income did. As a result of his big spending, Vermonters work longer to pay for their state government than any other Americans.” If the RNC is spending more time on Dean than the others, it’s because “he tends to generate the most news on their side,” Gillespie said. Gillespie spent midday at Republican National Committeeman Tom Rath’s law office, first meeting with about 40 state GOP women activists, exhorting them to work hard for Bush and bring others into the party — and promising them Bush-Cheney lawn signs soon. Turning to the other candidates, Gillespie said, “Wesley Clark is wrong about calling for raising taxes on the top 2 percent, (Dick) Gephardt is wrong in saying the President’s tax policies are a miserable failure, John Kerry was wrong when he said there was no such thing as partial birth (abortion).” Gillespie insisted that Dean should not think of himself as “the Lone Ranger.” theunionleader.com