Outspoken ways on display
PHOENIX -- Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said yesterday he can be a bit too outspoken -- then went out and proved his point.
The front-runner said his blunt-speaking ways may some day get him in trouble. Rivals hope his campaign will implode, and Dean said he knows one way that could happen.
"I do have a mouth on me," the former Vermont governor said aboard a plane taking him here from Albuquerque, site of the first major debate of the race.
"That is, I generally say what I think, so I get in trouble." Could he hurt himself? "If I blew up in a debate or something like that, yes," Dean said. "But I haven't done that in 16 years of debates."
He also said he is learning to let irksome questions from reporters roll off his back.
Less than an hour later, Dean was visiting his new Arizona headquarters, where a reporter asked whether he was surprised that John Kerry did not criticize him in Thursday's debate.
"I wish he'd say to my face what he says behind my back," Dean replied
, underscoring one of the great dichotomies of his campaign: Blunt, unscripted comments and a brash approach are drawing Democratic voters, but could also be his undoing.
Before leaving Arizona for California, Dean realized he had unintentionally created news with his crack about Kerry.
In a television interview Sunday, Kerry suggested Dean was not ready to be commander in chief, and criticized him for wanting to repeal all of President Bush's tax cuts.
"I would have liked to have responded to that in person," Dean said, relishing the thought.
