Audio Howard Dean's remarks Sen. Joe Lieberman's remarks Rep. Dennis Kucinich's remarks Sen. John Kerry's remarks Rev. Al Sharpton's remarks Richard Gephardt's remakrs Photos Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean Rep. Dennis Kucinich Sen. John Kerry View full slideshow (6 images) More from MPR Ailing economy remains politically important concern for Bush (06/18/2003) Dean hunts for money in Minnesota (06/09/2003) Campaign 2002 Campaign 2000 (08/01/1999) Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Democratic hopefuls make their cases
by Michael Khoo, Minnesota Public Radio
June 20, 2003

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean at a gathering of leading Democrats in St. Paul Friday. (MPR Photo/Bob Collins)

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean led off the parade of presidential hopefuls at a gathering of Democratic Party officials in St. Paul Friday. Six of the nine prominent candidates appeared, some in person and some via videoconference. All the candidates criticized Bush's handling of the economy, but the differences between them were also evident.

St. Paul, Minn. — Six of the nine declared Democratic presidential candidates addressed a St. Paul gathering of party officials from across the country Friday. Democratic National Committee members and the representatives of the 50 state Democratic parties are in town this weekend for their annual summer meeting. The forum gave party leaders a chance to assess the candidates who hope to challenge President George Bush in 2004.

Democrats have been holding this annual summer meeting since 1984 -- and many credit Bill Clinton's performance at the event in 1991 with helping him to break out of the pack that year, win the party's nomination, and ultimately defeat the former President Bush.

	Sen. Joe Lieberman

So it's a chance for Democratic hopefuls to introduce themselves to the party activists that they'll need to staff their campaigns and to distinguish themselves from their competitors. They also hoped to demonstrate their strengths vis-a-vis the current president.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean did a bit of both. While criticizing the president's tax cut plans, he also tweaked members of his own party for not taking principled stands against Bush. In particular, he singled out his early opposition to the recent war in Iraq.

"A lot of people in the campaigns, both Republicans and Democrats, are saying, 'Whisper, whisper, Dean can't win because ... he didn't support Iraq, the pre-emptive strike.' I actually would believe that I may be the only person who can win because I did not support the president's policy in Iraq," Dean said.

Dean also presented himself as slightly more conservative than his opponents for the nomination, citing his support for a balanced budget and his reluctance to tighten federal gun laws.

	Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., supported the pre-emptive action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Lieberman ran as Al Gore's running mate in 2000, ultimately losing that race to Bush and Dick Cheney.

Lieberman also challenged Democrats to shed their image as protectors of government programs and entitlements. He told the forum that criticizing the Bush tax cuts isn't enough: Democrats, he said, have to show themselves capable of fiscal restraint as well.

"Some Democrats want to go back to the big government spending ways of the past. And I don't agree with that," Lieberman said. "George Bush thinks that tax cuts are the answer to every one of our problems, doesn't leave any money to spend. But we can go just as far into deficit be forced to take just as much money as Bush does out of the Social Security and Medicare funds if we overspend."

Lieberman, in fact, attempted to differentiate himself by coming out in favor of tax cuts, including a capital gains tax reduction. But he said he'd target the relief to middle-class families and to investments in new companies and jobs. Lieberman spoke to the forum from Washington, DC, via video conference.

Lieberman and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts were held up in Washington for the ongoing debate on a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. And as you might expect, health care and medical costs were an important theme as well.

	Sen. John Kerry

Kerry laid out a health care plan that he says would make available to all Americans benefits that elected officials enjoy.

"I will provide a health care plan to all Americans that will guarantee, as I said earlier, every American will have the ability to buy into the same plan we have," Kerry said. "But more importantly, I'm also going to lower the costs of health care for everyone today, so that union members don't negotiate a raise and see their entire raise go to the increase in premiums."

Kerry says he'd keep insurance premiums down by having the federal government pick up a portion of the health care costs for the riskiest cases. He says that would hold down premiums for the everyone else.

There's a sense that Republicans are stronger on the issues of defense and national security. But the Democrats are clearly trying to turn that to their advantage, too. Many complained Bush has focused too much on Iraq and Afghanistan and overlooked homeland security.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is a former mayor of Cleveland. He says the president has overlooked the frontline municipal and county governments that would respond to terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"What's happening with the tax cuts -- the cascading effect is causing local communities to lay off police and fire. So here, this administration thinks that that we're going to be secure by bombing other nations. Every terrorism expert says, 'No, you don't make America secure that way.' Actually, the bombing of Iraq was a recruiting poster for Osama bin Laden," said Kucinich.

	The Rev. Al Sharpton

There were also criticisms from several of the candidates over the failure so far to locate any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The candidates also focused on the struggling economy, and all of them criticized Bush for his handling of it.

Democrats clearly remember the first President Bush's defeat during the recession in the early 1990s, and they believe the current president is also vulnerable on that point. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who also spoke via video conference, blasted the president's tax cuts.

"These tax cuts are not creating jobs. They are creating tax increases at the local and state level. They are creating service cuts at both the federal level and the state and local level," Gephardt said. "They are hurting people, they're hurting this economy, they're mindless. And it's the only idea this president has about what to do about the economy."

Gephardt also criticized trade agreements that he says are simply shipping U.S. jobs overseas.

	Rep. Richard Gephardt

The Rev. Al Sharpton of New York also spoke, and hit on many of the common Democratic themes mentioned by the other candidates. He also made an appeal not to abandon core constituencies.

Sharpton says too often Democrats have acquiesced on many Republican initiatives, and have tried to moderate their positions to capture swing voters. Sharpton says this cycle, candidates should remember the traditional strengths of the party.

"I do not think we can go through another political season of trying to act like we are Republicans in a Democratic cloth. We have too many elephants running around with donkey jackets. We are Democrats. We stand for people. We stand for progress. We stood for civil rights, for women's rights. That's what a Democrat is," Sharpton said.

Three candidates weren't able to participate in the forum -- former Illinois Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun and Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida.

The forum comes only one day after President Bush was in Minnesota to promote the recent federal tax cut. Republicans say it's a mere coincidence that Bush and the Democrats overlapped in Minnesota. State GOP chair Ron Eibensteiner was dismissive of the opposition candidates, calling them too liberal for most Americans.

"I don't think there is any of them, of the nine who are currently running for president, that have the wherewithal to defeat President Bush in the general election. We really don't care who they nominate. We feel that they're all very liberal," said Eibensteiner.

Republicans feel they have a good chance to win Minnesota for Bush in 2004, and that belief has only been reinforced by strong GOP showing last fall. Democrats, of course, will fight just as fiercely.

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