Election 2004

Shots at Dean give Bush ammunition

WASHINGTON - Infighting between Howard Dean and some of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination has gotten so nasty of late that Dean called on party chairman Terry McAuliffe to step in. In the process, Dean managed to insult McAuliffe.

Republican strategists watch it all with barely contained glee.

"They are beginning to really gouge this guy," Republican pollster Bill McInturff said, chuckling. "Look at Howard Dean and, as a Republican, think about the advertising we're going to run."

McInturff said Republicans could use John Kerry's quotes about Dean wanting to tax the middle class, or the "wonderful attack" from Wesley Clark about Dean's draft status or the "terrific comments" from Joe Lieberman about Dean's stance on Saddam Hussein's capture.

Kerry has criticized Dean's plan to roll back all of President Bush's tax cuts, including those for the middle class. Clark has assailed Dean for heading to the ski slopes after getting a medical deferment to avoid Vietnam. Lieberman has ridiculed Dean's assertion that Hussein's capture did not make Americans safer.

For now, Republicans don't have to worry about beating up on Dean, who is ahead of his fellow Democrats in the polls nationally and in states with early nominating contests. His Democratic rivals are taking care of the job.

In complaining about the attacks, Dean wound up criticizing McAuliffe when he said a strong leader would intervene.

"If we had strong leadership in the Democratic Party, it would be calling the other candidates and saying somebody has to win here," Dean said Sunday. "If (former Democratic National Committee head) Ron Brown were chairman, this wouldn't be happening."

Debra DeShong, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said what Dean is going through is not unusual.

George Bush, father of the president, gave Democrats one of their best attack lines against Ronald Reagan in 1980 when he derided Reagan's "voodoo economics," said Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist.

Bill Clinton was under siege in 1992 on everything from charges of philandering to draft dodging.

Both Reagan and Clinton won their elections.

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