Harkin's support a caucus boost

Saturday, January 10, 2004

By Maeve Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

CONCORD, N.H. -- Four-term Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin announced yesterday that he would support Democratic presidential contender Howard B. Dean, praising his "plainspoken" style and saying the former Vermont governor was the "Harry Truman of our time."

The announcement was a critical boost for Dean with less than two weeks before the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses. Roughly a quarter of Iowa voters are still undecided, and Dean has been locked in a tight race with Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and, to a lesser extent, with Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry for the top spot.

The endorsement was also a patch of good news for Dean on a day when his campaign was trying to downplay negative remarks he made four years ago on Canadian television about the Iowa caucuses, which were rebroadcast Thursday on NBC Nightly News. In the Canadian program, Dean said the caucus system was "dominated by the special interests," and that "special interests don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people; they represent the extremes."

The popular Iowa senator's endorsement was another milestone for the Dean campaign in the race toward the Democratic nomination. It followed an endorsement by 2000 presidential contender and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley earlier this week. Dean has also been endorsed by former Vice President Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, and by two of the nation's most powerful unions.

Peverill Squire, a University of Iowa political science professor, said Harkin's nod was "an important cue for undecided voters."

"Getting this series of endorsements from Gore, Bradley and certainly Harkin in Iowa really gives him the Democrats' 'Good Housekeeping' seal," Squire said. "It's a signal that the people who are active in the party are comfortable" with Dean, he said. "For people who have had their doubts, that may be reassuring."

Campaign news in Iowa early yesterday was dominated by Dean's past remarks about the caucuses, which his rivals pounced on. Gephardt questioned whether Dean was "cynically participating" in the Iowa caucuses. In an e-mail statement Thursday night, Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter asked rhetorically: "Which Howard Dean are Iowans going to vote for -- the one who insults them or the one who will soon be releasing yet another clarifying statement?"

Dean emphasized yesterday that he knows a lot more about the Iowa caucuses today and would never make the remarks he did four years ago. "I don't think this campaign can continue to be about what people said four years ago," he said.

"I wouldn't be in this race without Iowa and New Hampshire," Dean said. "Iowa and New Hampshire are the two places a candidate with no money but a great message can go and get sized up by Americans who then decide whether they get to be president or not."

Dean said Harkin's endorsement was "very helpful" to his campaign in Iowa and that he admired Harkin as "a real fighter."

"I was particularly honored when he compared me to Harry Truman," said Dean, who has often named Truman as one of his two favorite presidents because Truman didn't allow himself to be guided by public opinion polls but instead did what he thought was right. Truman, Dean said, "also shared a characteristic with me, which is that sometimes he spoke off the cuff and later had to bail himself out of that."

Dean had been competing with Gephardt, Kerry and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for Harkin's support. The Iowa senator has appeared with all of the candidates, and they all courted his endorsement.

Before yesterday, it was not clear if Harkin would remain neutral, as Iowa's Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack has decided to do.

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