After Complaint, Dean Explains Himself to Party Chairman
By DIANE CARDWELL and JODI WILGOREN
oward Dean reached out to the Democratic national chairman on Monday, a day after rebuking him as failing to stop attacks by Mr. Dean's rivals for the Democratic nomination, even as those candidates seized on the episode as grist for new criticism.
The rivals � Senators Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts, Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and the Rev. Al Sharpton � took issue with Dr. Dean's suggestion on Sunday that the chairman, Terry McAuliffe, should seek to tone down their attacks and with his comment that many young Dean supporters might not vote in November if he was not the nominee.
A senior aide to Dr. Dean, Kate O'Connor, said that he called Mr. McAuliffe in the morning to discuss his comments and that they spoke for about five minutes. Ms. O'Connor would not say whether Dr. Dean had apologized to the chairman.
"I can't talk about what they talked about," she said, "but I can say it was very friendly. Believe it or not, they touch base fairly often."
The call to Mr. McAuliffe came less than two weeks after Dr. Dean, a former Vermont governor, called former President Bill Clinton to clear the air a day after seeming to repudiate Mr. Clinton's statement that the "era of big government is over."
Dr. Dean's critics were undeterred on Monday.
In a conference call with reporters, Mr. Lieberman said that he was stunned that Dr. Dean wanted Mr. McAuliffe to "protect him from criticisms from other Democratic candidates" and that he had threatened "to take his supporters and go home if he doesn't get the nomination."
"What does Howard do now that he is being substantively challenged about his policies and his judgments and various misstatements and retractions?" Mr. Lieberman asked. "He goes to the Democratic Party leadership and complains we're being mean to him."
Mr. Gephardt pointed out that Dr. Dean himself had frequently criticized the eight other candidates.
"He said that we weren't real Democrats, that none of us accomplished anything while we were in the Congress. I didn't scream and yell and say Terry McAuliffe has to save me from these discussions. That's what you do in elections," he said.
Mr. Sharpton focused on Dr. Dean's comments about his supporters. "To threaten to withdraw support unless you are the one nominated six months prior to the convention is arrogant and divisive and frankly is one of the reasons so many are questioning Dean's ability to unite the party should he win the nomination," he said.
Mr. Kerry echoed those remarks.
"Listening to Howard Dean's comments yesterday makes me wonder if he's worried about our party's chances for victory or his own personal political future," the senator said. "No one who really cares about the future of the Democratic Party would make such a divisive and threatening statement."
An official of the Democratic National Committee who spoke on condition of anonymity, sought to place the issue in perspective, noting that the party chairman did not act to halt such attacks 12 years ago. "The '92 election was bloody � Ron Brown didn't step in," the official said. "Clinton got beaten up, but everyone recognized it was a primary."
The debate about party unity came on a day when many of the candidates tried to focus on other issues. Mr. Gephardt outlined a plan to expand services for the disabled; Dr. Dean called for an increase in the minimum wage.
Dr. Dean declined to answer reporters' questions about the latest attacks as he campaigned in Green Bay, Wis., and Detroit. In an interview with a local television reporter in Wisconsin, he said, "I'm not going to respond to Senator Lieberman," adding, "I think these guys are running a desperation campaign."
In a hotel ballroom in downtown Detroit, Dr. Dean received an endorsement from Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the longest-serving African-American in Congress, as he promised to raise the federal minimum wage to $7 an hour from its current $5.15.
"Our philosophy is give your working people a little more money; they might be able to spend some of it down on Main Street," Dr. Dean told about 150 supporters.
Dr. Dean took pains on Monday to connect his urban initiatives to Mr. Clinton, mentioning the former president several times and promising to restore some of his best-known policies like community policing.
Mr. Gephardt, in a one-day dash through Iowa, outlined a plan to expand services for the disabled. He promised to fully finance the Americans with Disabilities Act, to require federal contractors to increase their hiring of disabled people and to expand federal aid to companies owned by entrepreneurs with disabilities.
In Des Moines, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina reserved his criticism for President Bush, saying the administration's economic policies had divided the country into "two Americas."
"One America does the work, another America reaps the reward," Mr. Edwards told about 100 people at the Creative Visions community center. |
