See Dick Run

The media conspiracy descends on Gephardt in Iowa.
By Chris Suellentrop
Posted Thursday, October 30, 2003, at 7:16 PM PT


SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Dean season! Gephardt season! Dean season! Gephardt season! If any lingering debate remained over which presidential candidate is currently enjoying his media moment, my two days with Dick Gephardt settled it. The calendar says it's pheasant season in Iowa—it started Saturday—but the 20 national reporters who follow Gephardt for all or part of his campaign swing from Des Moines to Sioux City are the latest sign that not only have the leaves turned in late October, but so have the media.

I came along to witness firsthand the evidence for something I wrote earlier this month after the Phoenix debate, that Gephardt's hard-nosed and well-organized Iowa campaign presents, at the moment, the biggest obstacle to President Dean (or, to be fairer, Democratic Nominee Dean). But I missed the media conspiracy memo that told everyone else to show up, too. During Gephardt's weekend swing in Iowa two days before, only three national reporters trailed the candidate. But now, David Brooks is here. So are Mara Liasson of NPR and Carl Cameron of Fox News. Throw in reporters from ABC, MSNBC, Knight Ridder, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, and the New York Times. (Counting Brooks, on Wednesday there are two New York Times writers following Gephardt.) Just for the sake of overkill, there are reporters from the British press and from Japanese television along for the ride. At one event in Pocahantas, Iowa—a town with an absolutely gigantic statue of the Indian princess outside her teepee welcoming visitors from the highway—the number of journalists nearly matches the number of prospective caucus-goers. To add to the mid-December feel brought on by the growing press horde, on Wednesday morning it snowed.

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At his first stop, a senior center in Des Moines (the first of three consecutive senior centers visited by the campaign), Gephardt is supposed to deliver a "health policy address," but it turns out to be a rehash of old Howard Dean quotes about Medicare. (Later, while being ribbed by reporters about the false advertising, Gephardt's Iowa press secretary, Bill Burton, protests that he never called it a "major" policy address.) The newest wrinkle: Gephardt wants to paint the 1997 balanced budget accord—generally thought to be one of President Clinton's major accomplishments, and one supported by Dean—as a "deep, devastating cut" in Medicare.

While Gephardt speaks in front of a sign that reads "Protect Social Security" and "Protect Medicare" over and over, like computer-desktop wallpaper, I wonder: Does he really want to play this game? Dredging up old quotes and votes about Gephardt's onetime conservatism is what helped to derail his '88 campaign. He voted against the establishment of the Department of Education. He voted for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. He voted to means-test Social Security and to eliminate cost-of-living adjustments from the program. He voted for Reagan's 1981 tax cuts. He opposed an increase in the minimum wage. Does a man with a legislative record this long and varied really want to ostentatiously declare, "There are life-and-death consequences to every position taken and every vote cast"? If that's so, how many times was Dick Gephardt on the side of death?

http://slate.msn.com/id/2090515/

Because if he does, Dean will hand Gephardt his ass on a platter. Dean's opponents can't find any real "dirt" on Dean. All they can find is a couple of off the cuff remarks made in frustration that aren't even remotely anywhere near what Dean's positions on those issues are. If the Dean campaign decides to go excavating in Gephardt's and Kerry's back yards, there IS substantial dirt to be found. If they were smart they would stop, because it's only going to come back to bite them in the butt.

But he didn't seal up his records. Democracies die behind closed doors.

Our state government is essentially run publicly. Everything is open to the public, and the press is always there, so there are no closed doors in Vermont's politics. There is nothing that Dean did as governor that isn't public knowledge. You can't keep secrets in this state, that's for sure. I guarantee you that if Dean was not a great, honest leader he never would have been re-elected 5 times. Every Vermont Governor seals their records for 6 years after leaving office. Dean got an extra 4 because he was running for another public office. Had the other governors been running for president, their records would have been sealed longer, too. Frankly, just because someone is running for public office it doesn't mean that their private communications and corresponsence with constituents should be privy to nosy opponents. I certainly wouldn't want John Kerry reading a letter I intended to be read by someone else.

I stopped reading when I got to this:

Gephardt, now 62, still has his good looks…