MUST READ: MORE OF THE SAME IN BALTIMORE (RNC Research)

DEAN: Iraq Is “Battle Created By President.” “This is a battle for terrorism all right. It's a battle created by the President of the United States who ignored the greater danger in Iran and North Korea and al Qaeda at home to do it. This was a mistake, this war, and the President has gotten into it, now we're going to have to get out of it.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

KERRY: President Was Negligent By Rushing To War. “This president rushed to war against the advice of many in this country. He clearly didn't plan for the peace. And it's extraordinary, it's an act of negligence of remarkable proportions.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

GEPHARDT: President “Needs To Get Help.” “This President’s foreign policy is a miserable failure. He has failed the American people and he’s failing the people in Iraq. He needs to get help. We’ve got our young people over there being hurt. We’ve got people over there being injured and killed.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

GRAHAM: President “Intentionally Misled” Americans. Ed Gordon: “[I]n your heart, do you believe that the President intentionally misled the American people?” Graham: “Yes. I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee for 10 years, chairman the last two years during the investigation into 9-11. The President knew or should have known, for instance, that the materials that he alleged were going to be used to rebuild Iraq’s nuclear weaponry …” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

DEAN: President Took “18-Month Holiday” From Peace Process. “If we want peace in the Middle East, we need first not to do what this President did, which is to give this whole matter an 18-month holiday and pay no attention at all for the first 18 months of his term.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

KERRY: “Serious Suspicions” On President’s Involvement In Policy Formation. “There are serious suspicions about the level to which this President really was involved in asking the questions that he should have.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

GEPHARDT: Bush’s Performance In Iraq Is “Abomination.” “It is an abomination that he has not gotten our country and our troops the help that we need.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

GEPHARDT: Bush Has One Idea, “Tax Cuts For The Wealthiest Americans.” “[The President] only has one idea in his head -- tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, followed by tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, followed by tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

EDWARDS: President Is Leaving “Kids Behind.” “This ‘No Child Left Behind’? This President is leaving millions of kids behind every single day.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

KERRY: Bush “Walked Away” From African-Americans. “We have a President who’s walked away from them [African-American children], broken his promise and refused to fund ‘No Child Left Behind’.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

LIEBERMAN: Bush Is “Most Fiscally Irresponsible President” Ever. “[L]et me state it straight out. George Bush is the most fiscally irresponsible President in the history of the United States of America.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

LIEBERMAN: African-American Community Suffered Because Of Bush. “No community has suffered more from the fiscal irresponsibility of George W. Bush than the African-American community. Hey, it began before he was President. In the denial his team carried out in Florida for African-American voters who were trying to go to the polls and help elect Al Gore and me.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

EDWARDS: The President Is “Hazardous To Your Health.” “This President … is cutting funding, every single day for programs like prescription drug benefit. This is a President who says we can’t do anything about the healthcare crisis in America. This is a President who blocked the patients’ bill of rights. Here’s what we ought to do. We ought to go over to the White House and hang a big warning sign on the door of the White House that says, ‘this President is hazardous to your health.’ that’s what we ought to do.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

KERRY: Bush’s Economic Development Program Is In Baghdad. “I’m glad the President finally found an economic development program. I’m just sad that it’s only in Baghdad.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

“[T]he President of the United States essentially played the race card when he described the University of Michigan affirmative action program. And for that reason alone he deserves a one-way bus ticket back to Crawford, Texas.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

LIEBERMAN: Bush “Compromised” American Dream. “I said when I declared my candidacy for President that I was running to keep the American dream alive, the dream that has been compromised by George W. Bush so badly …” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

LIEBERMAN: African-Americans Not Allowed To Vote In Florida. “It pains me to look back to 2000 and realize that though we eliminated the laws that stopped African-Americans from voting, [but] they still were not allowed to vote in the state of Florida.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

GEPHARDT: “Like Father, Like Son, Four Years And He’s Done.” “We need to beat George Bush. You know, I have a saying these days, ‘Like father, like son, four years and he’s done.’ We’re going to get rid of George Bush.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

KERRY: Bush “Behaves Like Jefferson Davis.” “This is the biggest say-one-thing-do-another Administration in all time. The President says one thing about children, does another, one thing about taxes, does another, about housing, about the war, about--goes to Goree Island, spends a few minutes, behaves like Abraham Lincoln, goes to South Carolina, behaves like Jefferson Davis on the Confederate flag. We deserve a president of the United States who will write laws for all Americans, not for campaign contributors.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

LIEBERMAN: Bush Is “Worse Nightmare.” “The Presidency of Bush has been a worse nightmare than even Al and I warned America about.” (Democrat Candidates Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)

I think Dean is dangerous too! Just received this email from AOL Update Mail that shows Edwards going after Dean:

Edwards Critical of Dean Over Race Remark

By NEDRA PICKLER
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat Howard Dean's claim that he is the only white politician who talks about race to white audiences drew criticism Wednesday from his presidential rivals. Sen. John Edwards said the entire field discusses racial issues on the campaign trail.

``I think what Howard Dean said last night does a disservice to everyone he stood next to and all the people before us who have raised this issue over and over again in front of all audiences,'' the North Carolina lawmaker said one day after the nine candidates debated in Baltimore.

Dean, defending himself against criticism that his supporters are mostly white, told the predominantly black debate crowd, ``I'm the only white politician that ever talks about race in front of white audiences.''

Dean was wrong.

Edwards urges racial tolerance in nearly ever speech he gives on the campaign trail, including addresses to white crowds. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut talks about his efforts as a student during the 1960s civil rights movement. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has discussed race and its role in his Vietnam service.

``What he said last night was divisive and divisive is exactly what we're trying to overcome. He's right about one thing, politicians should talk about civil rights wherever they go. And in the future, I hope he leads by example instead of by attack,'' Edwards said in a telephone interview.

``Sen. Lieberman marched with Martin Luther King. Sen. Kerry talks about his experience in Vietnam. I grew up in the segregated South. Fighting for civil rights is part of who I am which is why I talked about it in front of every audience and whoever I'm with,'' he said.

The North Carolina lawmaker had avoided attacking his rivals until Wednesday, but his criticism is another sign that Dean's eight rivals are throwing elbows at the front-runner in an effort to force their way to the front.

``Governor Dean's statement was as false as it was inflammatory,'' said Jim Jordan, campaign manager for Kerry. ``John Kerry has been speaking out bluntly, in front of all audiences, on the issues of race relations and discrimination since he became a pubic figure more than 30 years ago.''

In previous appearances together, the candidates have looked more like a ragtag team of underdogs hankering to make the big leagues and take on President Bush. The sharpest barbs have been aimed at the president, while the candidates largely have avoided challenging each other by name.

Not so Tuesday night at a debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. Some of the sharpest exchanges were between front-runner Dean and Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Lieberman said comments Dean made last week about the Middle East ``break a 50-year record in which presidents, Republicans and Democrats, members of Congress of both parties have supported our relationship with Israel.''

The former Vermont governor responded that his position was the same as former President Clinton's, and Lieberman, who is Jewish, interrupted by saying, ``Not right ... not right.''

``It doesn't help, Joe, to demagogue this issue,'' Dean replied.

And so the gloves were off.

Several other Democrats said Lieberman's performance illustrated why his rivals shied away from attacking Dean, even at the risk of allowing Dean to build on the momentum he developed over the summer.

``It basically sounded shrill to me,'' said Joe Shanahan, veteran Democratic activist in Iowa. ``Lieberman didn't make his point well, and Dean responded strongly.''

One candidate who didn't take on Dean was the one who may be most threatened by him, Kerry. Dean has taken over Kerry's early lead in the early primary state of New Hampshire. Kerry has decided not to go negative now, although some of his supporters and even some advisers have been pressing him to do so.

The debate was at Morgan State University, a historically black college, and the Democrats took pains to stress their support for civil rights and other concerns to blacks - although Al Sharpton said black voters shouldn't allow themselves to be taken for granted.

``We need to correct the party so we can beat Bush with one expanded pie,'' he said in remarks critical of what he sees as Democratic inattentiveness to black concerns.

But international affairs dominated the debate. It opened with questions on Iraq, and some of the candidates tried to maintain their focus on Bush by criticizing his handling of the postwar reconstruction.

But those who opposed Bush's attack on Iraq put some of the blame on their fellow Democratic candidates who voted for the war resolution - Kerry, Lieberman, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt.

Without mentioning any names, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida said they handed Bush ``a blank check.'' Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun said they gave the president ``the right to go on a free-for-all.''

Sharpton threw one of Gephardt's favorite lines - that Bush's foreign policy is a ``miserable failure'' - back at him and the other war supporters.

``I've never heard of people acting like they didn't know we needed an exit when we gave him an entrance,'' Sharpton said. ``That is a miserable failure for us to allow this president to play these kinds of games.''

09/10/03 11:08 EDT

(My bold and underline)

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