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

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (2097)	1/18/2004 1:38:55 PM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3079

Dean's volunteers driven by their love of country. Inspiring......... Caucus canvassers ride a rough road By ALAN FREEMAN From Saturday's Globe and Mail POSTED AT 2:11 AM EST Akeny, Iowa — Maybe it was the bright orange Howard Dean tuque that gave him away, but James Moore didn't get much of a warm Midwestern welcome when he knocked at the door of the Klosterman household Friday morning. “Is Ryan in?” Mr. Moore asked politely, after looking through his local list of registered Democrats. “Ryan is in Baghdad,” was the sharp reply from the man, who was clearly Ryan's father. “How is he?” Mr. Moore continued, desperately attempting to salvage the conversation. “He's alive,” the man replied. With that, the door was shut in Mr. Moore's face and he continued along Trilien Drive to the next two-storey home in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny. Mr. Moore, a 47-year-old owner of a white-water rafting business in Seattle, got on a plane Thursday morning and flew to Iowa to pitch in with an estimated 3,000 other volunteers to urge Iowans to choose Mr. Dean, the anti-war former governor of Vermont, in Monday's state caucuses. Mr. Moore, who paid his own way to Iowa, is typical of the Deanites who have made the 55-year-old candidate a political phenomenon and the early leader in the race to be the Democratic challenger to U.S. President George W. Bush in November. “I've always voted,” said Mr. Moore, a soft-spoken man who easily strikes up conversations with voters, or at least the few who are at home. “I come from a politically aware family, but I've never given any money to any campaign before.” Mr. Moore shudders at what has happened to the United States since Mr. Bush was elected in 2000. “The Bush dynasty worries me. I really feel it ought to be stopped. We could have Bushes for several more rounds.” With just three days before the state caucuses, the first serious electoral test of the long U.S. presidential season, Mr. Dean appears in a dead heat in Iowa with the other three contenders, Dick Gephardt, a veteran congressman from Missouri; and senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina. Canvassing for the caucuses is a tough business because so few Iowans actually take part. Although some voters say they like Mr. Dean, it's all for nothing if they admit they have no plans to attend the meetings. Only 10 per cent of registered Democrats bothered to show up in the 2000 caucuses. Mr. Moore was joined in Ankeny, a windswept suburb of comfortable homes with double garages and lots of cute garden ornaments, by fellow canvassers and political neophytes Mehrdad Moayedzadeh, a 39-year-old IT project manager, and James Thomas, a 31-year-old small-business consultant, both from Northern California. The three Deanites bumped into each other while flying to Des Moines and have become fast friends, bunking together at an overheated cabin in a campground rented by the Dean campaign. All three share a passionate dislike of Mr. Bush, the Iraq war and the wrong direction they believe the country has taken over the past three years. “We've gone seriously backwards in our democracy,” said Mr. Moayedzadeh, who arrived from Iran when he was 19. “I thought that Sept. 11 gave the world the opportunity to realize that our existing paradigm wasn't working and we must make changes.” He believes unilateral policies simply made more enemies. “It doesn't take a nuclear scientist to figure out how much hatred of the U.S. has increased because of U.S. foreign policy. And anger, hatred and fear are contagious.” The third and youngest member of the crew, British-born Mr. Thomas, is also angry about Bush's foreign policy, saying: “I don't like the way the U.S. neglected our allies in the run-up to the war.” But he's also upset by the domestic agenda, and angry about the policy of tax cuts for corporations and the rich. “And I would rather not see religious fundamentalists running the country,” he added. But for now, such political ideas are besides the point. There are dozens more doors to knock on and leaflets to stuff under doors before Monday evening.

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (2097)	1/19/2004 11:01:40 AM
From: Ron	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3079

I like Howard Dean a lot, and would certainly vote for him over Bush. However, Edwards has come a long way in the last few months, and now reminds me of Tony Blair in the way he articulates issues. I don't particularly like Edwards but he could have a better chance of unseating the disaster that occupies the White House now, than Howard Dean. Especially if Dean's wife doesn't make herself more visible. Then again, if she DOES become more visible, she could become a liability. She is a major unknown at this point.