Two Democrats Accuse Dean Camp of Dirty Tricks

[rodbarnett]

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The campaigns of two Democratic presidential contenders accused front-runner Howard Dean (news - web sites)'s camp of political dirty tricks on Thursday, including plans to have out-of-state supporters pose as Iowans and participate in the Jan. 19 caucuses.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=1&u=/nm/20040109/pl_nm/campaign_dc

[IndianaGreen]

1. Gephardt and Kerry, again!

Two of the four pro-IWR pukes! They have the credibility of a flea.

[janx]

4. Yeah--how serendipitous that is! n/t

[Cicero]

2. Ripe for abuse

From the article:

Participants in the caucuses, sponsored by the state Democratic Party, must be registered Democrats who will be old enough to vote in November, but they can register on the spot and identification or proof of residence is not required.

I'd be more worried about Republicans becoming DINOs in order to skew the results. There's prescedent in South Carolina in 2000, where Democrats registered as Republicans in order to vote for McCain, and even now in 2004, where S.C. Republicans are promising to return the favor.

Later,

[Eric J in MN]

3. Why doesn't Iowa ask for id? (nt)

nt

[progressivebydesign]

10. Ummm... the DINO tradition is a RNC tradition.

That is a longstanding Republican dirty trick, as is recruiting candidates with similar names to run against front runners thereby diluting the vote. These are all Republican dirty tricks. I think it's odd to see you saying it was some sort of Democratic invention.

[killbotfactory]

5. Desperate...

Keep it up, losers.

[cavebat2000]

6. Bull sh**

Utter bull sh**

[NashVegas]

7. "I'm Shocked. Shocked I Tell You!"

That any candidate would encourage their non-Iowan supporters to head to that state.

[realdem]

8. I leave for Iowa on the 16th.

I'm one of hundreds from Texas gong to Iowa. I'm going because I feel passionate about Dean's message and I want other to hear it. Dean inpires people. Something the others could only hope to do. They know the power we possess so they have to try and smear us before we get there. They should be ashamed. For once, Americans are again engaging in the process, taking part, trying to make a difference. For Gephardt to say this is shameful and appalling. I can only hope Iowans know this is a desperate attempt to negate the influence those of us traveling there cold have. Gephardt will never receive my vote. His campaign has just proven there can be a worse alternative to Bush.

[diamond14]

13. shame on your tactics.....why not stay home and let IOWANS vote.?...

it is really horrible that some people want to wreck the democratic process, just so dean can win...

stay home in Texas and play fair...don't lower yourself to scummy political scams....

[progressivebydesign]

15. Ummm.. tell me you are being sarcastic!

Please.. your response to that nice person from Texas was incredibly rude, if it's not sarcastic. You weren't clear. "Scummy tactics"??? They said they were going to help canvass, pass out literature. It's called.. campaign volunteering. Please... you were being facetious? Right???

[IndianaGreen]

17. What about all of those out-of-state USWA activists for Gephardt?

Don't confuse volunteers with people pretending to be Iowa voters.

[xxqqqzme]

16. Good 4 U

I think traveling to work 4 your candidate is so rewarding. I'd go 2 Iowa but after living in SoCal 4 lo these many years, I have no warm clothes. Decided the money I would spend on warm stuff could B better used by the campaign! I'm off 2 New Mexico over MLK weekend.

[progressivebydesign]

9. These desperate pricks will stop at nothing!

They bring new meaning to the term Sore Loserman.

Yes.. Dean is actively recruiting people to go to Iowa. Not one word, not one insinuation is made about crashing the caucuses. How DARE these slimeballs tarnish a REAL grassroots effort!! People are taking time from work, spending their own money to travel to Iowa to knock on doors, hand out flyers, and help the Iowans for Dean. Has the Democratic Party gone nuts? What's happened to us? Hateful and power hungry.. I used to use that exclusively for Republicans. Why the FUCK would Dean jeopardize his lead in Iowa, his upcoming kick-ass performance in the caucus for that?? This is PRECISELY the SHIT that Bush and the RNC did to Al Gore in Florida! Regardless of whom you support in the primary, this should make your blood boil, and your skin crawl.

[NWHarkness]

11. This is not an insult to Dean

So much as it is an insult to the people who support him.

It's ironic that the Beltway Boys whine that Dean's supporters might not get behind another candidate if Dean does not get the nomination, but they have no compunction against implying that they are criminals.

[fabius]

12. Gephardt just lost me.

I saw Gephardt on the Tweety show, and Tweety was really grilling him on whether he actually thought the Dean campaign would commit election fraud. Gephardt just waffled and kept talking about "rumors" and said "I hope nobody would do such a thing".

At the same time Gephardt has a bunch of union people coming in from out of state to help get out the vote and canvass, just as Dean does.

If I thought Dean was actually planning to imnport fake voters, I'd dump him in a heartbeat. But I don't believe it for an instant.

What I do believe is somebody is running a little Rovian slime tactic.

[Cocoa]

14. they should be doing this privately

among the campaigns, or with the DNC, or even the FEC.

I don't see any reason to make it public, except as a smear.

I said the same thing about the dubious "gay-bashing" thing, which got very little attention but which is basically the same kind of thing.

[stickdog]

18. People often see in others what they

hat most about themselves.

BTW, I have indisputable proof that Gephardt and Kerry are actually planning to cheat in this manner, so it's very sly of them to pre-emptively accuse Dean of the very scheme they've already decided to pull.

[libview]

20. What's your proof? please share.

[Malva Zebrina]

19. I wish these two would just be a little more graceful in their defeat

obviously they are jealous of Dean's energy. They do not get my vote--they are too immature and have little honor--Lieberman also. Edwards, Kucinich, Dean and Clark have their noses on straight--the others have their noses on backwards and it is most unbecoming.

[sendero]

21. Failures...

...losers are as losers do.

I can't WAIT until certain people are eliminated from the primary. And I will NEVER FORGET the completely unnecessary damage they have done to the Democratic party in a lame and futile attempt to make up for their own shortcomings.

Certain people better hold on to their sellout congressional seats, because when those are gone their political careers are over.