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

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (542466)	2/19/2004 11:21:33 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Mr. Edwards, a first-term senator from North Carolina, noted that Mr. Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, voted in the Senate for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993. Mr. Edwards asserted that he would have voted against it had he been in the Senate. He said he would, as president, renegotiate the treaty to provide protections for American workers. In Ohio, one of 10 states that vote on March 2, Mr. Kerry declared that he and Mr. Edwards held indistinguishable positions on future trade agreements. Mr. Kerry was preparing to return to Washington to accept the endorsement of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., an event his aides asserted would help rebut Mr. Edwards's challenge on this issue in states like Ohio, as well as California and New York, which also vote on March 2. "We have the same policy on trade — exactly the same policy," Mr. Kerry said, campaigning in Dayton, where he stood in front of a huge banner that read, "John Kerry: Protecting America's Jobs." "He voted for the China trade agreement; so did I," he said, referring to legislation that granted China permanent normal trade relations. "And we, both of us, want to have labor agreements and environment agreements as part of a trade agreement, so it's the exact same policy," Mr. Kerry said, before registering a note of skepticism about Mr. Edwards's commitment on the issue. "Well, he wasn't in the Senate back then," Mr. Kerry said. "I don't know where he registered his vote, but it wasn't in the Senate." In Burlington, Vt., Dr. Dean, the former governor there, said he was ending his presidential campaign but gave no indication that he would endorse any opponent. "I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency," Dr. Dean said, adding, "We will, however, continue to build a new organization using our enormous grass-roots network to continue the effort to transform the Democratic Party and to change our country." Both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards spoke to Dr. Dean on Wednesday, and Mr. Edwards said he would welcome Dr. Dean's support. The exchanges between Mr. Edwards and Mr. Kerry began almost as soon as Dr. Dean gave his final speech as a presidential candidate for 2004. The sparring signaled that the contest had entered a new and more competitive stage. Mr. Edwards appeared to some extent constrained in his attacks, because he has spent much of this campaign criticizing other Democrats for running negative campaigns. He kept many of his challenges to Mr. Kerry carefully calibrated. At least from the outset, the change of tone in the race appeared to pose a particular challenge for Mr. Kerry. He found himself battling on two fronts as President Bush's re-election operation also fired off attacks on many of the same issues that Mr. Edwards was raising. In attacking Mr. Kerry for his 1993 vote, Mr. Edwards rejected Mr. Kerry's contention that there was little difference in what they would do with future job treaties as president. "I think your record is an indication of what you'll do in the future and also shows the strength of your convictions on a particular issue," Mr. Edwards said. But Mr. Edwards acknowledged in an interview earlier this week that there was little evidence of his having opposed Nafta before 1997 or 1998, when he first ran for the Senate. He has close ties to the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of moderate Democrats that has pushed for liberalized trade agreements, but he said he had made his views known throughout that campaign. "What I've said is when I campaigned in '98 — since I wasn't in the Congress when passed — I campaigned and I was against Nafta," he said in the interview. But he said it was not a major part of his Senate campaign. Adam Nagourney reported from Milwaukee for this article, and David M. Halbfinger from Dayton, Ohio.

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (542466)	2/19/2004 11:26:30 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Democrats Can't Get Firm Grip on Jobs Issue By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 19, 2004; Page A01 Democratic presidential candidates have made the loss of U.S. jobs to international competition the centerpiece of their campaigns, but even some of the candidates' economic advisers acknowledge that remedies offered -- such as closing tax loopholes on overseas income and offering tax breaks for domestic hiring -- would probably do little to stop the bleeding.