Dean and his foes joust anew in Iowa

PERRY, Iowa -- Converging on Iowa after the holiday lull, the three Democrats vying for victory in the Jan. 19 presidential caucuses jabbed at one another on foreign affairs, on Medicare, and on Howard Dean's record in Vermont on securing his state's nuclear power plant.

While Dean's campaign fought back yesterday on the nuclear issue, Dean himself is opting for a new strategy after a few weeks of attacks: Trying to ignore them, and staying positive.

"There will be some times that I respond," Dean said on his campaign plane during a trip to Iowa Friday night. But for the most part, he said, "I'm not going to engage these guys."

Dean's track record on nuclear safety as governor of Vermont emerged as a new issue in the campaign yesterday. At least one rival campaign cited it to question Dean's ability to be a strong commander-in-chief. According to documents made available to the Globe, federal and state officials warned the former Vermont governor several times during his tenure about safety flaws at the Vermont Yankee power plant and its vulnerability to attacks.

Most recently, Vermont state auditor Elizabeth M. Ready wrote Dean in October 2001 about emergency drills at Vermont Yankee just before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The drills "raised new warning signs," Ready wrote, and led Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to identify 33 problem areas at the plant, located near the Massachusetts border in Vernon, Vt.

"FEMA staffers have sought to soothe the public by saying the problems are not serious and do not present health and safety risks," Ready said. "I disagree."

Senator John F. Kerry's presidential campaign, angling to make a run at Dean in Iowa and in New Hampshire's Jan. 27 primary, seized on the Vermont documents yesterday to declare Dean "is not fit to keep America secure in a dangerous world," in the words of spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter.

"Dr. Dean let Vermont's most attractive terrorist target remain vulnerable to attack," she said in a statement. "Given his lack of experience and this record, Dr. Dean is in no position to challenge President Bush on homeland security."

Dean's campaign said he consistently sought improvements at the plant in the 1990s. "After September 11, Governor Dean decided the buck stops here in terms of security and personally ran this effort, creating a Cabinet-level agency," spokesman Jay Carson told the Associated Press, which first reported on the documents.

The tenor of the Iowa campaign has grown increasingly negative over the last two weeks as Representative Richard A. Gephardt, Dean, and Kerry jostle in a race that polls indicate could become a three-way contest. The three men and several other Democratic contenders are scheduled to participate in a televised forum today in Des Moines, and the potential for harsh new attacks among the Democrats is high, political analysts say.

Dean discussed his new no-comment strategy hours after Gephardt launched a withering attack on the former governor's credibility. Gephardt, kicking off a three-day, 13-city tour Friday, assailed Dean's support as governor for steep cuts in Medicare financing and his commitment to the program yesterday. In the interview, Dean shrugged off Gephardt's attacks as a pinprick that could be overcome with a positive attitude. "Voters hate this stuff," Dean said. "They really don't want to hear who said what in 1983."

Dean's preference to avoid responding to his rivals' attacks recalls the tactical choice of the 1988 Democratic nominee, Michael S. Dukakis, who lost ground in his race against the first President Bush by not responding quickly to assaults. Yet one analyst said yesterday that Dean may not run the same risk as Dukakis.

"He's not very good at responding to attacks, so it's not necessarily a bad tactic for him," said Bruce Gronbeck, an expert on political communication at the University of Iowa. "Dukakis was also fighting a Republican attack. With Dean, he can look like he's playing with the idea that you have to keep party unity and that the attacks do no good for Democrats."

Kerry also hammered Dean for citing the heightened terror alert as evidence that Hussein's capture did not make America safer.

"Americans won't be fooled into confusing the war on terror with the capture of Saddam Hussein," Kerry said. "It's George Bush who tries to trick the American people into confusing Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. And Democrats owe it to America to be better than that."

In a rare coincidence, Kerry and Dean showed up at the same time at a house party in Ames, Iowa. Standing 15 feet apart, they listened to a Kerry friend, Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, sing one of his songs, "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?"

Dean clapped along, as Kerry nodded in time and ate a snack. They did not speak to each other.

Brian Mooney of the Globe staff contributed. Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.