Primary Coverage: Howard Dean Returns

By Scott Glabe | Thursday, October 23, 2003

Howard Dean's appearance at Keene State College on October 6 was in many ways similar to his visit to Dartmouth last spring. At both events, the Democratic Presidential candidate delivered his standard stump speech to a few hundred students and local community members

Much has changed, however, since Dean's May stop on the Hanover Plain: the former Vermont governor has surged to frontrunner status in New Hampshire. According to a September Zogby poll, Dean currently leads Massachusetts Senator John Kerry by a margin of 38% to 17% among prospective voters. Moreover, Dean leads all other contenders nationally, outpolling Kerry 16% to 13%, with Connecticut senator Joe Liebermann in third with 12%.

Dean set a record among Democrats by raising nearly $15 million in the third quarter, much of it over the internet. More remarkably, as the governor noted in his stump speech, over 200,000 gave an average of only $72.

Though he rose to prominence as the anti-war candidate, Dean de-emphasized foreign policy in his Keene speech. He began by focusing on jobs, claiming that some three million have been lost under the Bush administration. The former governor also invoked his oft-used line that the President's tax cut "went to Ken Lay and his friends." Dean correlated the tax cut to the downturn in the economy, claiming that Americans would be "will to be Clinton-era taxes for a Clinton-era economy."

The good doctor then moved to an age-appropriate theme, flanked by an earnest coterie of Keene State students wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Generation Dean." (Apparently the Dean campaign has decided that a "students for Dean" organization would exclude sympathizers not in college.) Mentioning that a third of his donors this quarter were between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Dean said he hopes to catalyze a "transfer of generational power" and give young people a reason to vote, without discussing how he plans to do either.

When he finally discussed foreign policy in the middle of his speech, the governor justified his opposition to the war in Iraq by listing a series of "lies" supposedly used by the administration to rally public support for military intervention. Dean fought his peacenik image by pledging that he would be perfectly willing to wage war but simply opposed "fight[ing] without telling the truth about why we're fighting." He also vowed to negotiate with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, though he was careful to note that he doesn't consider him "such a hot guy."

Speaking more broadly, Dean vowed to "restore America's honor, dignity, and respect around the world." Though recent polls seemingly indicate otherwise, he argued that the Iraqi people don't want to be like Americans, by way of contrast with Cold War Eastern Europe.

After briefly outlining his health care plan, Dean moved on to the environment, insinuating that Americans should follow Europe's increased utilization of wind power and applauding the ethanol-burning Ford Escape.

It was at the conclusion of his speech that Dean most demonstrated the polish that has been added to his stump routine in recent months. While the substance of his closing plea to "take our country back" remains unchanged, his style is much improved and his most dramatic proclamations moderated. For instance, his earlier unbelievable claim that he didn't consult the polls or care about being elected has been replaced by his belief that "good policy is good politics."

Dean's onstage presence also reflects his new status as frontrunner. While he still gets red in the face and raises his voice occasionally, he no longer acts like the dark horse bomb-thrower he once was. Dean still has a penchant for supporting his main arguments with minor and somewhat random facts (for instance, he cites military pay cuts sans context to buffer his claim that the President doesn't actually care about the troops). The governor, however, has removed many specifics—build windmills in the Midwest—with generalizations—harness alternative energy—now that he is no longer on the offensive. Moreover, Dean has parlayed attacks from both his more and less liberal opponents into cultivating his image as centrist, noting that he has often been associated with both George McGovern and Newt Gingrich.

Though undoubtedly somewhat reflective of New Hampshire's demographics, the almost-entirely white audience indicates that the Dean campaign must still endeavor to broaden its heretofore upper-middle class base. Those in attendance responded most enthusiastically to attacks on supposed right-wing ideologues. Dean spurred the audience on with frequent name-dropping, garnering the biggest applause when he noted that "the country doesn't belong to John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, and Rush Limbaugh." And, hopefully, it won't belong to Dean either.

Primary Coverage: Howard Dean Returns

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