The New York Sun | By JOSH GERSTEIN | January 5, 2004
Seven Democratic presidential candidates returned from their holiday hiatus yesterday to lock horns over trade, education policy, and the war against terrorism as this state's critical early caucus looms little more than two weeks away.
During a two-hour-long debate, most of the contenders directed barbs at Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who leads the Democratic pack in opinion polls. At times, Dr. Dean's rivals seemed to temper their attacks, perhaps in response to warnings that they would be providing fodder for Republicans if Dr. Dean is nominated.
Trade prompted one of the most contentious exchanges, with all of the candidates vowing to do more to protect American jobs by limiting low-cost imports. At one point, a competition appeared to break out over which candidate could repudiate the most international trade treaties. "I voted against the Chilean trade agreement, against the Caribbean trade agreement, against the Singapore trade agreement, against final passage of fast track for this president," said Senator Edwards of North Carolina.
"But you voted for the China agreement and it's had a bad impact here in Iowa," retorted Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, the former House minority leader.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio then upped the ante, asking Dr. Dean if he would commit to withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.
Dr. Dean did not say if he favored such a move, but he blasted the agreements as a giveaway to big business. The trade deals "only globalized the rights of multinational corporations but they did not globalize the rights of workers," he complained. The former governor defended his support for China's succession to the WTO as a matter of national security.
Only Senator Lieberman offered a warning about the dangers of severing the trade pacts.
"You break NAFTA, you're going to cut out tens of thousands of jobs here in Iowa," the senator said. "One-third of the cash receipts of Iowa agriculture are based on exports," the senator observed. "I want to avoid the kind of trade war that will hurt those exports and hurt jobs in farm country," he said.
Yesterday's debate was sponsored by the Des Moines Register and took place at the studios of Iowa Public Television in Johnson, just north of Des Moines. General Wesley Clark and Reverend Al Sharpton, who are not actively contesting the Iowa caucuses, chose not to attend.
The most memorable and television-friendly exchange occurred as Mr. Lieberman challenged Dr. Dean to open the records of his 12-year-long governorship of Vermont. Brandishing a pen and what appeared to be a legal document, Mr. Lieberman said to Dr. Dean, "You have the power, with one stroke of the pen, to open up your records to public view."
Dr. Dean replied that releasing the records in a wholesale fashion might invade the privacy of those who had contacted his office, but he said a judge would examine the files and determine what should be released. "They are free to release whatever they'd like, and that's fine with me," he said.
Mr. Lieberman pressed further.
"That is an unsatisfactory and disappointing answer. Why should you have to force a judge to force you to do what you know is right?" he asked. The senator said Dr. Dean's intransigence on the issue would hurt his ability to campaign against the Bush administration's secretive policies. "Your position on your records has undercut the high ground that we should be on," Mr. Lieberman said. The senator twice accused Dr. Dean of "ducking the question."
The clash prompted the moderator, Paul Anger, editor of the Des Moines Register, to suggest jokingly that the two "take it outside if you need to."
Dr. Dean also defended his statement America is no safer now that the deposed Iraqi dictator has been arrested.
"Since Saddam Hussein has been caught, we've lost 23 additional troops. We now have, for the first time, American fighter jets escorting commercial airliners through American airspace," the former governor said.
Mr. Lieberman declared himself baffled by Dr. Dean's view. "I don't know how anybody could say that we're not safer with a homicidal maniac, a brutal dictator, an enemy of the United States, a supporter of terrorism, a murderer of hundreds of thousands of his own people in prison instead of in power," the senator said.
Senator Kerry also faulted Dr. Dean for saying that he did not want to prejudge the guilt of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"What in the world were you thinking?" the senator asked.
Dr. Dean said he gave that answer because "a candidate for president of the United States is obligated to stand for the rule of law." He went on to say that he hoped Mr. bin Laden would receive the death penalty.
Dr. Dean did acknowledge that on occasion his statements have been less than artful, but he contended that his opponents were distorting his views. "While the words may not be precise, the meaning is not hard to figure out," he said.
While criticizing the administration's homeland security efforts, Senator Edwards made an alarming statement about the presence of terrorists on American soil.
"We know that terrorist cells exist all over this country," Mr. Edwards said. "Islamic Jihad - they're everywhere - Hamas," he added.
"We need to do a much more effective job of putting humans inside those terrorist cells so that we can stop them before they do us harm," the senator said.
Mr. Gephardt dodged a question about whether teachers unions contribute to the problems with public schools. He said he preferred to talk about the successes of the schools and not their failures.
At another point, the congressman, who enjoys strong support from labor unions, stressed his support for "reforms" in campaign finance laws.
"I have worked my entire career in politics to lessen the influence of special interests," Mr. Gephardt said.
In their efforts to make inroads against Dr. Dean, the candidates took different tacks.
At one point, Mr. Edwards appeared to emulate the governor's pugnacity, pointing at the camera while declaring, "I am so ready for this fight."
Mr. Lieberman declared that voters might abandon President Bush but would not do so for a Democrat that is out of the mainstream. "We are not going to defeat the extremes of the Bush administration with extreme anger of our own," Mr. Lieberman said.
Dr. Dean tried to parry some of the attacks by noting that he is only leading among the Democratic field.
"The front-runner in this campaign is President Bush," the governor said.
While he skipped the debate to campaign in New Hampshire, General Clark also took time yesterday to appear via satellite on NBC's "Meet The Press" program.
He said definitively that he would not accept the vice presidential position on the Democratic ticket.
"I do not intend to accept that nomination and I will not," Mr. Clark said.
The general said he plans to propose a new tax policy today. On NBC, he said his plan would be "more fair and more progressive than the current system" but he declined to give additional details.The New York Sun:
