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

To: calgal who wrote (7410)	12/11/2003 12:11:13 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

Part II: Bush's Advisers Focus on Dean as Likely Opponent Next Year Published: December 11, 2003 (Page 2 of 2) Gary Abernathy, executive director of the Republican party in West Virginia, a traditionally Democratic state that Mr. Bush won in 2000, said Dr. Dean would be way out of step with voters from both parties in that state on many issues. But, he said, the Democratic machine would no doubt unite around him. "If Howard Dean is the candidate, is that a slam dunk for George W. Bush?" he said. "No, it is not." Advertisement Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager, said one reason the Dean campaign opted not to receive public campaign money was to give itself flexibility to respond to what it assumed would be an early Bush advertising onslaught starting in January or February. By opting out of the system, Dr. Dean was freed to raise as much money as he can during the primary campaign instead of being bound by federal spending limits. "They're not afraid of Howard Dean, they're afraid of the hundreds of thousands of Americans that are building Howard Dean's campaign up," Mr. Trippi said. "Howard Dean is the only Democrat who's been able to rally all those Americans in common cause to beat Bush, and it's nice that they're noticing." Republican officials said they were not yet stopping work on preparations for taking on the other Democratic candidates. But there was an emerging consensus among Mr. Bush's closest confidantes even before Mr. Gore's endorsement, they said, that Dr. Dean would be their opponent. "There is a broad belief among the president's political advisers at the White House and the campaign, from top to bottom, from Cheney to Mehlman to Karl and Andy and all the other players, that Dean is very likely, extremely likely, to be the candidate," said one Republican strategist who works closely with the White House. He was referring to Vice President Dick Cheney; Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager; Mr. Rove; and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff. The Bush campaign's official line remains that whichever Democrat emerges victorious from the primaries will be a formidable candidate if only because the nation is so closely and passionately divided politically. Given Mr. Bush's dislike for seeing his aides and advisers quoted about strategy and tactics, few Republican officials were willing to be quoted by name about the plans for running against Dr. Dean. But the Republican National Committee and the Bush campaign are intensively reviewing their opposition research on Dr. Dean. The party is conducting polling not just on how Mr. Bush would match up against Dr. Dean but also on what effects Dr. Dean, as his party's presidential nominee, would have on other races, especially for Senate seats. Republican inside and outside the campaign are studying parallels between Dr. Dean's candidacy and other insurgent campaigns, including those of Senator Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and of Senator John McCain of Arizona, who nearly derailed Mr. Bush's march to the Republican nomination in 2000. URL:http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/politics/campaigns/11REPU.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=cf35cedabb3022e5&ex=1071723600&partner=GOOGLE