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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (513392)	12/20/2003 1:17:19 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Analysis: Diffused support for Dem nominee By Christian Bourge UPI Congressional and Policy Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Although Howard Dean has in many ways emerged as the "it" candidate among Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination, no clearly favored nominee has emerged among party members on Capitol Hill. Despite Dean's front-runner status, strong support in the party rank and file remains for other candidates. A senior House Democratic leadership aide told United Press International that many on the Hill feel Dick Gephardt, the favored candidate of many party insiders in Washington, remains a viable alternative to Dean if the Missouri congressman is able to pull off a win in the Iowa Caucuses on Jan. 19. "We still have nine candidates and opinions (among Democratic staff and members of Congress) are all over the map," said the aide. "There are those that think that Dean is going to get it (the nomination) and are jumping on the Dean bandwagon but many people are waiting to see. They are not so bowled over and think the Dean thing may be overstated." Gephardt currently has 34 congressional endorsements, the most of the nine remaining Democrats fighting for the nomination. Dean comes in second at 24. The fractured support among party members reflects the variance in opinion around Washington more generally. While any given endorsement is unlikely to make or break a campaign, they remain important because they can provide a real boost for candidates at the local level. If they come from popular party leaders, it can also enhance a candidate's ability to raise money and get attention. "The support of members of Congress is important for two reasons," Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the centrist Democratic organization New Democrat Network, told UPI. "It is a show of the political strength of the candidate and also, in certain states, certain members of Congress really matter." Although it remains to be seen how much mileage Madonna's endorsement of retired Gen. Wesley Clark will provide his campaign, campaign and party sources say that the Democratic candidates have actively courted the support of party members in Congress, both congressmen and staff. While the other candidates have downplayed the importance of former Vice President Al Gore's endorsement of Dean, campaign officials stress the endorsements their candidates receive from the Hill. Bill Buck, national press secretary for Clark campaign, told UPI that the general has received the endorsement of the entire Democratic congressional delegation from his home state of Arkansas along with Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, who officially endorsed Clark last week. "We are pleased that we have received as many endorsements as we have considering our late entry into this race," Buck told UPI. "It shows a certain importance from our campaign's perspective that General Clark has never held elected office and so many are supporting his candidacy." Clark and the other candidates have made an effort to reach out to members of Congress, going as far as working the Hill themselves, meeting with individual members. Dean campaign spokesman Jay Carson noted that the former Vermont governor has received more endorsements from congressmen than any other candidate except for Gephardt. "Governor Dean is an outside Washington candidate but we appreciate the people in Washington who have recognized the strength of his campaign," Carson told UPI. His supporters include six of the 20 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and sources on Capitol Hill told UPI that House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey will come out in support Dean's candidacy in the near future. Menendez, who is the highest-ranking Hispanic in the House, could prove helpful in gaining the Latin vote for Dean in the New Mexico and Arizona primaries early next year. A sign of the importance of congressional endorsements at the local level is the tact taken by the Dean campaign of announcing support in the member's home states. However, some campaign officials were quick to point out that an endorsement, even from top party members, only takes you so far with voters and that they must be reached out to directly. "At the end of the day it is the people at polls," said Buck. Menendez's backing would provide Dean his first public support from a member of the party's congressional leadership. Gephardt has the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman James Clyburn of South Carolina, and Assistant Minority Leader John Spratt of South Carolina. The breakdown in support seems less pronounced in the party as a whole, but still present with polls of party leaders and registered Democrat indicating less than fevered support overall. A Los Angeles Times poll taken the first and second week of December showed that Dean is emerging as the top presidential pick of 268 of the 386 members of the Democratic National Committee. However, his support numbers are not out of the ballpark with only a little less than one-third of the responding DNC members naming Dean as their preferred party nominee for president among the nine current candidates. But the other top candidates -- Gephardt and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts -- claimed less than half of Dean's support in the poll of party leaders. The poll was conducted prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein which some believe may hurt the Dean campaign as other candidates, particularly Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, attack Dean for his stance against the Iraq invasion. It remains to be seen if these attack will slow down the Dean train. Some party insiders predict that he will surpass Gephardt in terms of support among congressional Democrats in the early months of 2004. No matter how the race turns out, there is clearly a growing respect among party insiders -- begrudging in some corners -- about what the Dean campaign has accomplished. Dean seemingly came from no where to the head of a large pack, has gained strong support for with core Democratic voters and raised a great deal of money, much of it directly from supporters over the Internet. "The Dean campaign is the best-run campaign that anyone has ever seen," said Rosenberg. "I respect and admire what they have been able to do. People may or may not be warming to him, but they are certainly growing to respect him and are recognizing that the political accomplishments of what they have pulled of this year is incredible."