Dean, sunny-side up
Dogged by criticism that he is "too angry," Howard Dean rolls out a new, positive message on his rapidly expanding road show.
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By Josh Benson
On the trail
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Dean, sunny-side up
Dogged by criticism that he is "too angry," Howard Dean rolls out a new, positive message on his rapidly expanding road show.
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By Josh Benson
Nov. 20, 2003 | BURLINGTON, Vt. -- At the beginning of last week Howard Dean was flying around the country on a Learjet, with room for himself, a couple of staffers, up to four reporters and about nothing else. Thursday, he flew from Albuquerque, N.M., in the morning to Burlington at night on a much larger GulfStream 2, in an attempt to accommodate the crush of media now assigned to stick close to him nearly full-time.
The increased attention from the press is an indication of the turn his campaign has taken over the last two weeks, as Dean has picked up key labor and political endorsements and appears to be solidifying his position as front-runner. It's also an illustration of the sort of scrutiny Dean will be subjected to from now on.
Now, then, begins a real battle for Dean's image: His opponents want voters to see him as an inconsistent supporter of key Democratic causes and an unreconstructed, unelectable liberal. And Dean, who has made a concerted effort in recent days to broaden his message beyond a central antiwar, anti-Bush theme, is attempting to show more of the free-thinking, ideologically moderate policy wonk he was when he ran Vermont.
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After beginning his day at the National Congress of American Indians in Albuquerque, Dean jetted to a middle school in Davenport, Iowa, to talk about his plan for education, which consists largely of undoing what he considers to be the "huge mistake" of President Bush's reform, "No Child Left Behind." In front of a library room full of teachers, parents and reporters, he outlined a plan to do away with much of the currently mandated regimen of standardized testing for public schools, saying that it was essentially a recipe for undermining the public school system.
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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/20/dean/