"Perfect Storm" may rain on Gephardt's parade

DES MOINES, Iowa - In the hubbub of Howard Dean's presidential quest, tow trucks arrived last week to haul away illegally parked cars of volunteers showing up for the former Vermont governor's "Perfect Storm" campaign.

Down the street, Chuck Rocha, the burly steelworker running Rep. Richard Gephardt's labor organization in Iowa, predicted that hundreds of labor union operatives will trump the 3,500 rookies who have pledged to knock on doors for Dean.

"The labor piece of Gephardt's campaign will be a finely tuned machine," vowed Rocha, national political director for the United Steelworkers of America.

Then Rocha rubbed his shaved head and explained why that machine must work. "We know that if we don't stop Howard Dean in Iowa, he won't be stopped," he said.
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And it continues with the rumor that Senator Harken will endorse Dean (no attribution), has some good background on Gep's run in 88 and covers some of Kerry's recent campaign activity-

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At a campaign rally in the central Iowa town of Jefferson, Michael Thompson, 15, told Kerry that he has three brothers serving in the military. Then he asked if Kerry knew then what we know now - that weapons of mass destruction would not be found and that the aftermath of the war would go badly - would Kerry still vote for the war resolution?

In his six-minute, 33-second response, Kerry blamed the president for misleading Congress and Dean for playing politics with the issue. It was not the clear cut answer the boy wanted.

"He weaseled out of it," he said when Kerry had gone

STLtoday

Jerry won't win it, but it's an interesting thought. A three way virtual tie between Dean, Gephardt and Kerry with either Dean or gephardt squeaking out a win, the a Dean, Clark, Kerry NH result means Dean's front runner status goes kapoof.

Lieberman goes bye bye. Then we go into the south. Owie Howie.

caucus votes are tricky to call

Then Dena goes into the south with a commanding lead. Zowie Howie.

Julie

I understand being loyal to Gephardt because of his loyalty to labor, particularly on issues such as NAFTA and globalization. The problem is that Gephardt will never win the nomination. Gephardt supported the war in Iraq. Many USWA members also oppose the war in Iraq. Let's not allow this union to be used as an agent by the warmongers and reactionaries in the Democratic Party, for they are no friends of labor.

Why bother? If Gephardt isn't your candidate, why not Kucinich? Dean's done little for labor in his career, aside from not being a Republican (and not pushing "free trade" and "privatization" too, too much as governor).

I'll hold my nose but I won't cover my eyes!

Dean was not in Congress!

Get real!

I will tell you about a bigger threat than NAFTA. The industrial base of this country has been purposely destroyed. Both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in this. The trade unions have been decimated as our industries are shipped overseas, with significant help from consumers, I might add.

than fine. As Chair of the Governor's Association, Dean was a *leader* in pimping NAFTA. Dean never had any problems with the "free trade" agenda until he ran for President. Why should I believe him?

"I will tell you about a bigger threat than NAFTA. The industrial base of this country has been purposely destroyed. Both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in this. The trade unions have been decimated as our industries are shipped overseas, with significant help from consumers, I might add."

Yes, and Democrats like Dean, the "neo-liberals", are responsible. Maybe Dean did have a change of heart, but how can I possibly believe him?

from Dennis Kucinich, with whom I agree 100% on the Iraq issue, to Wes Clark.

I am totally committed to the defeat of any candidate that voted for IWR.

If a Democrat gets elected in November, I will be among those that will be putting pressure on the new President to immediately withdraw the troops from Iraq, end the occupation, and repeal the PATRIOT Act.

Getting a Democratic President elected is only the first step of many that will have to be taken to dismantle Ashcroft's police state, and turn this country 180 degrees.

I can't disagree with that, although I'm a lot more skeptical of Dean than you are (and perhaps a lot less skeptical of say, Kucinich, than I should be). ABB at some point anyway...

He listens and he cares. As governor of Vermont, it was his job to represent the people of Vermont. As someone who lived under his leadership, I can tell you he did a damn great job.

Yes, his record in Vermont does look somewhat different than his positions he takes as a potential president. That's because he wouldn't just be representing Vermonters anymore. Dean has always been a strong supporter of unions. He stood up for the nurses who wanted to form a union in Vermont's largest hospital.

The point is this...Dean sees what the problems are with NAFTA and he's always been a doer. You can always, always count on him doing everything he possibly can to do what he says he wants to. If he says he wants to fix the problems, that's exactly what he intends to do, and he's stubborn and determined enough to get it done.

His state benefited from it. But once he got out in the real world, he changed his mind. But I guess Dean's the ONLY candidate that can't change his mind, right?

and now things it should be reformed.

Why is this so hard to grasp? Do you think that if you supported the establishment of a new program 10 years ago, that means somehow that today you can not support reforms to that program?

Or at least, that's what they said - before they passed it without all the environmental and labor protections that they said they wanted.

So now he runs for President, and he wants to reform it again. Yeah, got it.

I'm in Iowa this weekend (from California), and it's wild. Dean volunteers are everywhere, streaming into the office with their suitcases and sleeping bags.

We cavassed all day, and my small sample size (100 or so Dems and Inds) says that Iowa will be decided by the few who are willing to go to the caucus. Most just won't go. Of the ones who are planning to go, the majority were for Dean strongly or leaning Dean, a couple said they are for someone else (I recall 1 Edwards, and 1 Gep and one "not your candidate!"), and several were still undecided. Dean was on the short list of many of those, too.

Saw 3 Dean lawn signs, 1 Edwards and 1 Bush.

The other group in our van worked some apartments and reported heavy Dean support.

Iowans are incredibly nice and polite, overall. I had a blast.

Tonight we did phone calling, which was harder -- somehow it feels more intrusive. Lots of undecided, I suggested they watch the debate.

This is a very exciting thing to be part of -- highly recommended to all.

I am counting down the days!!!! i leave from work on the 15th, will be on the bus overnight, will work my ass off the next 4 dyas, and then ride back. and I can't think of a better reason to deprive myself of sleep, get blisters on my feet, and freeze my ass off!!!!
:bounce: :silly: :bounce: :silly: :bounce:

It's just great fun, in the way that hard work for a good cause always is. The only thing I can compare it to is working in a startup, where everyone is happily working their asses off. But of course it's even more rewarding than that.

There's also something amazing about realizing at the end of the day that you just connected with 50-100 regular Americans.

for doing this and for reporting on it.

are the staffers I've met. These are the people who uprooted their lives months ago and moved to Iowa, for very little pay and no guarantees after Jan. 19. All of these people put their lives on hold to do this, giving up better-paying or more permanent jobs, leaving school and family and warmer climates behind.

They work long hours under a significant amount of stress; things change quickly, especially as the 19th approaches. Volunteers like me come and go, but these people are here for the long (cold!) haul.

Jan. 19th will be very rewarding for them... :)

Tony and I have spent 2 long weekends canvassing and surveying; we also found a depth of commitment from Dean supporters that seemed noticeably diminished among the supporters of other candidates. In reply to the the telephone surveys we did, Dean supporters were almost three times as likely to be 'firmly committed' in their support and twice as likely to attend the caucuses 'no matter what the weather'.

My 'gut feeling' is there is a HUGE surprise coming in Iowa, and it won't be one that brings happiness and light to the Gephart or Kerry camps. Can we say 'blowout'?

Really great stuff to hear! Thanks all who do so much. :toast:

Julie