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To: michael97123 who wrote (23083)	1/5/2004 6:39:54 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 794298

ABC News Gephardt campaign reporter Sally Hawkins tees up the month for the Missouri Congressman: DES MOINES, IOWA, Jan. 4 — Congressman Gephardt says he's fired up. In two weeks, he'll know his political fate and his staffers will either be dreaming of White House jobs, or looking for new ones. The new year has brought an infusion of energy to the candidate as he attracts bigger and more attentive crowds who are signing up for "Team Gephardt" in Iowa at double the rate of last month, the campaign says. Fresh Dean attacks are aplenty as Gephardt continues his mission to gray the area between Dean and Bush and draw stronger contrasts for himself on issues like Medicare, trade and now national security, where Dean has been picked apart. There are lots of new faces at each stop. New staffers and volunteers can be seen scanning the stump crowds for nodding heads and enthusiastic clappers who they beeline toward when the speech concludes. It's signing-up time. The addition of supporters adorned in campaign buttons standing as a backdrop behind Gephardt is the work of new advancers. Other staffers that have been added to the dole include press handlers to take care of the ever-growing pool of weary reporters, and a new press secretary in South Carolina in anticipation of a heated February 3rd race. Another addition to the Iowa trail is Gephardt's new full-size campaign bus (actually it was built in the 80's) that has a newly overhauled exhaust system to prevent additional headaches on the road. As crunch time sets in, Gephardt now unabashedly pleads for help at the end of his speech. After briefing the audience on his caucus-night needs for volunteers and precinct captains, the Congressman now holds his own wedding-like receiving line to shake hands with, and ask each attendee, "Are you going to caucus for me?" At one Des Moines union rally that attracted about 150 people, Gephardt stood at the auditorium exit and asked for help from almost every person who exited. Most people enthusiastically gave him a verbal pledge, but overheard several times was a version of "I will if the weather isn't too bad." Gephardt says his 4th-quarter earnings are going to look just as they did in the past two quarters, which would put him at an unremarkable $3.8 million. The number should put them "close to their goal of $20 million for the year", he said, which should be enough to get them through Michigan. With his primary support in Iowa being elderly folks on fixed incomes and union workers whose jobs are being sent overseas, Gephardt has a tough time raising the big bucks. He now travels full-time with a young fundraiser who arranges dialing for dollars while the Congressman is rolling through the cornfields or stuck at O'Hare. The new year has given a temporary reprieve to the campaign coffers with an infusion of $3.1 million of much-needed matching funds. When asked how they will compete with Dean's mother lode, several staff members are quick to point out that Howard Dean may have raised lots of money, but he is also a big spender and may not have as impressive amount of cash on hand. The matching funds will help Gephardt get up on the airwaves in more than the three states where his ads are now appearing. Since their run in South Carolina recently expired, Gephardt ads are up in only Iowa, Oklahoma and Michigan (where he is the first and only candidate on the air). Several more early states including New Hampshire, where he is the last holdout, will be added to the advertising list very soon. One campaign staffer says they have been waiting to spend the money on the higher-priced and farther-reaching Boston media markets. abcnews.go.com

To: michael97123 who wrote (23083)	1/5/2004 6:53:38 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 794298

You make some interesting points michael. That's why there is so much rancor these days. Much of what you described is what happens all too often. This free-for-all of spin, speculation & equivocation, while not getting pinned down to specifics, works in their favor. "For arguments sake..... If we continued to "contain" Iraq, and committed the additional forces used in iraq to afganistan and the hunt for bin laden, would be in better or worse shape today?" When one moves away from discussing specifics factually & accurately, to speculating about wouldda, couldda, shouldda, you gain a distinct advantage. You can speculate any reality you wish & paint your opponent any way you wish. You can claim you are absolutely right & your opponent totally wrong. You waste endless bandwidth while clinging to your biased POV. Not much worthwhile is accomplished. This tactic is even more effective when you initiate the debate making sweeping allegations, false assertions, gross exaggerations & blatant distortions. When challenged, keep the discussion away from specifics & begin speculating about the unknowable (if we did this instead of that, then....). It's a win-win for the spin meisters. Few people want to deal in specifics, facts & reality when their expressed POV won't stand up under scrutiny. Allowing them to dictate terms under these circumstances is a fools game IMO.

To: michael97123 who wrote (23083)	1/5/2004 9:34:09 PM
From: MSI	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 794298

Betcha most of them despite the rhetoric are opposed to the war in afganistan That's a losing bet. The objections have been to diluting forces to a an ill-conceived war in Iraq, after OBL was slipping out of Afghanistan and his cohorts are still on the loose. It defied rationale. Now it's clear to everyone that the mess has to be cleaned up. The idea that the Dems or Indies proposed avoiding going after OBL in Afghanistan is made up. Maybe you're thinking of the criticism following the Afghan invasion on failure to gain multinational support.