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Democratic presidential contenders meet in debate
January 29, 2004

Democrats debated in South Carolina, which has a primary election on Tuesday. (MSNBC)

Greenville, S.C. — (AP) Democratic presidential contenders agreed in campaign debate Thursday night that they can and must compete successfully against President Bush this fall in the South, a region that has been hard to crack for many of the party's past contenders for the White House.

"People in the South care about their jobs, they care about health care they care about safety, they care about their children, and I intend to campaign on mainstream American values," said Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and campaign front-runner.

Sen. John Edwards, a first-term senator from North Carolina, said the party has "never elected a Democratic president without winning at least five Southern states."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut said he was the type of Democrat who can compete in the South, "moderate, strong on defense, strong on civil rights."

Al Sharpton, the only black contender in the race, said he could bring new voters to the polls for the Democrats. "I'm the son of a man who couldn't be a mill workers because of the color of his skin but his son could be president of the United States," he said. The debate unfolded five days before the next round of Democratic contests, seven primaries and caucuses with a total of 269 delegates. South Carolina holds one of the featured contests, the first Southern state to vote and the first election expected to draw heavy participation by black voters. Bush is a former Texas governor. Kerry's triumphs in the Iowa caucuses and this week's New Hampshire primary made him the front-runner in the race and sent Howard Dean reeling.

The first question to Dean, the former Vermont governor, concerned the campaign staff shake-up he made on Wednesday when he installed Roy Neel, a longtime aide to Al Gore and a telecommunications lobbyist, as his campaign CEO.

Moderator Tom Brokaw started out by saying Dean had "fired the man who brought you to this dance," and Dean swiftly disputed that. "No, I didn't," he said.

Brokaw described Neel as a "quintessential Washington insider" and lobbyist and asked whether that didn't mark a fundamental change in Dean's antiestablishment candidacy.

Dean said Neel had "never lobbied and kept faith" with the ethics pledge he made in the Clinton administration. He then pivoted back to his bedrock campaign claim.

"A lot of people on this stage have now embraced my message," he said, but added that "I stood up for that message when nobody else did. The question is when you go to elect a president, you want somebody who's going to stand up for you. How do you know anybody else is going to stand up for you if they didn't do it when it really counted?"

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