Gephardt, Dean pull negative ads as undecideds seek positive tone [View All]

Gephardt, Dean pull negative ads
as undecideds seek positive tone

RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

Friday, January 16, 2004


(01-16) 14:37 PST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) --

Democratic presidential rivals Howard Dean and Dick
Gephardt declared a truce in their air war Friday,
pulling negative ads from Iowa television in the
closing days of a remarkably tight caucus race.

The shift came as the four-way contest, the closest
since 1988, focused on the growing number of
undecided voters suddenly choosing sides.
Fence-sitters usually reject negative ads, thus Dean
and Gephardt went positive.

Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John
Edwards of North Carolina were drawing the most
support from the last-minute shoppers, campaign
pollsters and strategists said. After starting the week
behind Dean and Gephardt, the two senators closed
the gap in a race that is impossible to predict
because the vagaries of the caucus system makes
polling unreliable.

The stakes are highest for Gephardt, who won the
1988 caucuses by four percentage points -- a
landslide in comparison to where the race stood
Friday. A defeat would effectively end the Missouri
lawmaker's 28-year political career, aides said.


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