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

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (2659)	1/30/2004 11:02:13 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 3079

Some Democrats Favor, Others Downplay Importance of South in Presidential Race By Jimmy Moore Talon News January 30, 2004 GREENVILLE, SC (Talon News) -- The seven remaining Democrat presidential candidates moved their campaigns to the South on Thursday night in a 90-minute televised debate just days before next week's key primary elections. All of the candidates said their message was relevant to Southern voters and that it would help them in their efforts against President George W. Bush in November during a debate in Greenville, South Carolina. The Democrat presidential candidates believe they can take on Bush and win, despite historical precedence against them. Bush handily won the South in 2000 and is expected to do so again in 2004. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), a northern liberal who has said he does not necessarily need the South to win the Democrat nomination, stated in the debate that he wanted his campaign to focus on promoting "mainstream values." As Talon News reported on Thursday, Kerry picked up an endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn, the most prominent black politician in the state. Clyburn formerly supported Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) before Gephardt dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie argued this week that Kerry is nothing more than a hard-nosed liberal from the Northeast and does not represent the core values that most Americans believe in. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who is currently leading the polls and desperately needs to win the first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina on February 3 to remain a viable candidate in the race for president, noted that the Democrat Party must choose a candidate who can win "at least five Southern states" since no Democrat has ever been elected president without doing so. "What has happened is that the Republicans take the South for granted," remarked Edwards. "And too many times, the Democrats ignore the South." Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), arguably the most conservative Democrat in the race, has failed to generate much attention for his campaign at the ballot box so far. He believes his candidacy is a winning one in the South because he is a "moderate" who is "strong on defense, strong on civil rights." "I'm the one experienced moderate in this field," Lieberman expressed. "And in states like this, it is only moderate Democrats who win elections." Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is also expected to do well in South Carolina, where half of the voters in next week's primary are expected to be black. Sharpton says his candidacy will bring in voters who would otherwise stay home and not vote. "There are people that I can bring into the process that won't come in if someone like me is not in the process," Sharpton exclaimed during the debate. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark focused on his "leadership" and the fact that he is an "outsider" in the race. Yet, Clark's ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton make this claim questionable. A total of 269 delegates are up for grabs on Tuesday in South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, Delaware, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and New Mexico. All of the Democrat contenders said they will focus on jobs, the war in Iraq, and trade as the major issues that will win them votes in the South. "A president has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time," Edwards said, insinuating that Bush has not focused enough on domestic policy while fighting the war on terrorism. After the February 3 election, the Democrat race for president could either be whittled down or drawn out indefinitely. If Edwards does not win South Carolina, then his campaign is likely finished. His campaign is hoping to ride a win in South Carolina into other Southern states on their way to the Democrat's National Convention in Boston this summer. Lieberman, who was advised to drop out after a dismal fifth-place finish in New Hampshire, believes he is due for a win in the South. However, if he fails to gain any traction after next week's elections, he will likely drop out as well. Another candidate who needs to win on February 3 is former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Although he was the chosen front-runner by the mainstream media for months prior to the primary elections, his stock has fallen dramatically after devastating losses in both Iowa and New Hampshire. In fact, Dean poured so much money into those two states that his $40 million campaign war chest has nearly been depleted. As a result, he decided on Thursday to pull the television ads he had scheduled for the seven states in next week's primary races. Dean admitted he will not need to win any of the seven states and contends that he will focus on picking up delegates instead in the coming weeks. "We're going to have to win eventually," Dean stated. "But the question was do we have to win Feb. 3? Of course we want to, but we don't have to." He added, "I said consistently yesterday that we're after delegates. We have a good organization in Michigan and we want to try to win." Delegate votes are awarded to a candidate who earns at least 15 percent of the vote in each primary election. Dean concludes that he can survive in the delegate count until he is able to be more competitive in states he expects to win.