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Get Four
|  | JUNE 16, 2004
Dean: "People Are Ready for Kerry" The former Democratic front-runner looks back at his failed campaign and forward to the battle to unseat President Bush In the annals of Presidential campaigns, the rise and fall of Howard Dean's candidacy will be pored over by political scientists for years to come. The MD and former governor of Vermont emerged from obscurity last year to become an early front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He raised an unheard-of $50 million in campaign contributions on the Internet, showing the power of the medium for filling political war chests. Then Dean, who was an odds-on favorite before a single primary or caucus vote had been cast, saw his campaign fall apart. He became the target of constant attacks from all his Democratic rivals, and his organization ran into trouble. He finished third in the Iowa caucuses, never recovering from the infamous "Dean Scream" episode. His rousing exhortation to his network of Deaniacs the night of the caucuses was played over and over on national TV, and it became the butt of endless jokes on late-night talk shows. Try as he might to project a more somber and substantive image, he bowed out in the spring of 2004, after winning only one primary, in his home state of Vermont. Now Dean -- relaxed and reflective -- is helping his former rival, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, in the battle against incumbent President George Bush in November. Dean is writing a book about the experiences, giving speeches, and still keeping a network on the Internet with the many supporters who contributed $10 and $20 to his effort. Recently, he visited BusinessWeek's Washington bureau to talk with reporters and editors about his quest for the White House, what he learned, what he wished he had done differently, and what he sees ahead. Here are edited excerpts (a BusinessWeek Online Video View of the conversation is also available): Q: So what did you learn about this year's electorate from your primary campaign? A: I think [people] are very worried about their jobs. They have a lot of concerns -- moving jobs overseas is a huge issue. You work for 20 years, and all of a sudden, your job is gone, and it's not coming back. Q: Hasn't an improving job picture defused that? A: Not a bit. Because the jobs we're getting are $8.50-and-no-benefits at Wal-Mart. The numbers you see help Wall Street [but] don't help people who are laid off. We globalized corporate rights, but we didn't globalize workers' rights. So, essentially, we have to relearn as a global economy the same lesson America learned when unions came in a hundred years ago...that you have to find a way to divide the spoils of capitalism in some way that the workers feel is reasonable. Q: You were very forceful in your criticism of the invasion of Iraq during your campaign. And your message seemed to resonate strongly with Democrats. Yet, there's very little difference between John Kerry and George Bush [on Iraq policy]... A: That's mostly because George Bush has moved to the left on Iraq, since things haven't been going well. The President is incapable of doing anything right in Iraq at this point. He got us there under false pretenses, and it's hardly likely we will have a successful outcome. My guess is he'll try to pull the troops out, and Iraq will probably go up in flames. And he will have created a national security problem for the U.S. where none existed before. Q: Kerry says he would go to the U.N.... A: It [would be] irresponsible to pull out of Iraq without having the U.N. in. The President is never going to be able to get the U.N. [to assume some peacekeeping responsibilities in Iraq], but John Kerry will be [able to] as President. Q: What about Ralph Nader's candidacy? A: A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. Third parties served a very good and important function [in the past, but] this is just a very bad year for a third party. Q: What do you think Kerry needs to do in order to improve his message? A: There's a two-step decision in changing Presidents. First, do you think George Bush should be reelected? I think a lot of people are considering that question now, who might not have considered it a month ago. The second is, do you think that John Kerry should be the President of the United States? People don't know John Kerry that well, yet. He has five months. And I think he'll do a good job. I think people are ready for John Kerry. But they need to see what John Kerry is about.
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