Longtime Dem Says 'No Thanks' to Bush
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-wrong-man,0,3910637.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlinesBy WILLIAM C. MANN
Associated Press Writer
February 1, 2004, 4:54 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- It was an offer that Rep. John Dingell just had to refuse. A letter to the dean of the House, a staunch Democrat sworn in by Speaker Sam Rayburn in 1955, whose father was a New Deal Democrat for 22 years before him, asked Dingell to become a charter member of Virginia's state "Bush-Cheney '04 Team."
The "Dear John" letter from the campaign's national chairman, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, spoke of a coming very close and difficult election in which "the Democrats will be relentless in attacking the president, distorting his record and trying to mislead the voters."
Dingle's response:
"In fact," he wrote in a letter dated Friday, "I was very surprised that the (Republican National Committee) is so desperate for money that it is now soliciting sitting Democratic Congressmen for donations. With all the special interest giveaways to contractors like Halliburton, energy companies like Enron, or the pharmaceutical industry, I would think the Bush-Cheney re-election fund would be flush with contributions. ... This makes me very sad."
He agreed with Racicot that the election will be difficult for Bush but said the campaign should not worry about Democrats' distorting the record. "We know we can win just by laying out the president's record including being the first president to actually lose jobs since Herbert Hoover -- another fine Republican -- led us into the Great Depression."
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