Rivals rip Dean lead in debate
DURHAM, N.H. -- Howard Dean, fresh off his surprise endorsement from former vice president Al Gore, fought off sharp attacks from his rivals last night during a presidential debate whose tenor suggested the nomination is increasingly Dean's to lose.
The eight other Democratic contenders sought to belittle Gore's role, but still sounded deeply stung by an endorsement that rocked the political landscape and gave new legitimacy to the insurgent Dean campaign. Dean downplayed the event as well, agreeing that in the end, voters, not party elders, will determine the nominee.
But his rival's attacks -- and several of the questions -- underscored Dean's front-runner status, with recent polls suggesting he leads in New Hampshire by as much as 25 percentage points. The new dynamic was reflected in the opening inquiry from ABC moderator Ted Koppel, who asked the candidates to raise their hands if they believed Dean could beat President Bush. Only Dean raised his hand.
"I think actually most voters in America make their own decision about who they believe should be the president of the United States," Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said to applause, dismissing the significance of the Gore endorsement.
"We're not going to have a coronation. The Republicans have coronations. We have campaigns, we have elections."
The Rev. Al Sharpton agreed, likening Gore's intervention in the campaign to "bossism."
"We're not going to have any big name come in now and tell us the field should be limited and we can't be heard," Sharpton said.
Several times during the event, candidates complained about the focus on Dean's endorsement or questions involving poll numbers. At one point, Koppel asked Representative Dennis J. Kucinich when he intended to pull out of the race given how low his polling numbers are -- a remark that drew a sharp response from the Ohio Democrat and set the stage for postdebate grousing that the event was superficial.
"To begin this kind of a forum with a question about an endorsement, no matter by who, I think actually trivializes the issues that are before us," Kucinich said.
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the onetime front-runner in New Hampshire who now lags far behind Dean in the polls, faced repeated questions about his chief rival's campaign. Unlike past events, when Kerry openly displayed his frustration with Dean, Kerry tried to approach the subject with a sense of humor -- and indignation.
After first being asked why he did not raise his hand in support of Dean, Kerry then faced a question about what -- if anything -- Dean had done right to rise so far in the polls. Kerry rubbed his eyes and his nose, looking down, during the question, then offered his biting response.
"If I were an impolite person, I'd tell you where you can take your polls," Kerry said.
To the extent that the debate focused on substantive matters, the candidates' responses were no different than on dozens of other occasions when they have convened in public. They spent a significant portion of the 90-minute event talking about Iraq, still the subject that divides the field and has put the candidates' differences most sharply into relief. Almost all the candidates condemned the handling of the war -- the sole exception being Lieberman, who referred to Saddam Hussein as a "homicidal dictator" and fully defended his decision to vote to authorize the use of force.
How to handle Iraq now -- in particular, how to begin withdrawing troops -- offered the clearest picture of how the candidates differ. Kucinich said he would pull troops out of Iraq within 90 days of UN approval of a resolution he would propose to replace US troops with UN forces. Both Dean and Clark said pulling US troops out right away would be a mistake.
Dean said the country needs an American presence, probably for several years, until the Iraqis have a sufficiently strong democracy and a constitution they respect. "The tragedy of what we did in Iraq, which I have opposed since the very beginning, is that now we are stuck there," Dean said.
Clark said the United Nations was unable and unwilling to "pick up this mission successfully," and called for US forces to remain in the region but to report to NATO. He said US forces might have to stay in the region for one to two years.
"We can put an Iraqi government in charge in the next week or two if we use indirect democracy," Clark said, "but we cannot rush the standup of an Iraqi security force if we pull out prematurely."
Lieberman and Kerry also endorsed further US involvement in the region, with the Connecticut senator calling for "an international Marshall plan for the Muslim world" and Kerry proposing a "greater Mideast initiative."
After an extended discussion about Iraq, it fell to Dean, who built much of his early support on his opposition to the war, to turn the debate to domestic subjects. "Iraq and national security are important, but they're not what this debate is about," Dean said, citing the high cost of college tuition, rising health-care expenses, and primary-school standards as "things that we ought to talk about as well."
That prompted Koppel to note that for the first 45 minutes of the debate, "we didn't even touch on Iraq."
Indeed, Koppel played an unusually interactive role in the debate. Toward the end of his first response, Kerry was reprimanded by Koppel for exceeding his time limit. It was one of several light exchanges between Koppel and the candidates, many of whom he has covered for decades.
"Senator Kerry, forgive me for interrupting. You may have noticed that red light," Koppel said.
"I didn't notice any red light," Kerry said, drawing laughter from the audience.
"Well, I mean, that's why I'm drawing your attention to it," Koppel replied. Kerry looked intently into the audience, toward the red light, and apologized.
Afterward, several candidates contended there was a lack of substance in the debate. "It was harder to get those ideas in tonight. You had to ram it into some question about a poll or an endorsement," Edwards said. "It was frustrating for a lot of people. It was frustrating for the people of New Hampshire, who probably switched [the channel] after 15 minutes.
"This should be a battle of ideas and vision and character and about who's ready to lead this country, not about who's where" in the polls.
