Headsup: Yet another debate tonight

[Jobber of the Week 0]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/09/...e.ap/index.html

 

Watch the CNN/Arizona Democratic Party Presidential Debate from Phoenix with Judy Woodruff, Candy Crowley and Jeff Greenfield at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday

 

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- The bickering Democratic presidential candidates face off Thursday in their fourth debate in five weeks, with disputes over middle-class tax cuts, Medicare and their commitment to party values dominating the fall campaign.

 

The 90-minute debate, broadcast live on CNN, is the first since Sen. Bob Graham of Florida abandoned his 5-month-old campaign Monday after determining he could never win.

 

Graham's departure left nine candidates, including retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark; former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean; Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri; and Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

 

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton are considered long shots at best.

 

Polls show Dean tied or ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first major contests of 2004. His anti-war, anti-establishment message has caught fire through the Internet, helping Dean raise three times more money than any of his rivals from July through September.

 

His surge to the top has made Dean a target. Rivals accuse him of flip-flopping, playing loose with facts and shading his record as governor to pander to liberal voters. He has been criticized for showing a willingness to restrain spending in Medicare, the federal health care program for seniors treasured by many Democratic voters. Dean has rejected the criticism.

 

Kerry has assailed Dean and Gephardt for seeking to repeal all of President Bush's tax cuts, including some favoring the middle class. Kerry and others want to roll back tax cuts only on the wealthy.

 

In recent days, Dean has been spared some barbs while his opponents focus on Clark. The Arkansan entered the race less than a month ago, and immediately jumped to the top in national polls. Many Democrats hope he is a military-burnished alternative to Bush's perceived advantages on terrorism and national security.

 

But his campaign has been hobbled by missteps, the latest being a power struggle that resulted in the departure of campaign manager Donnie Fowler. Many of Clark's Internet-savvy backers who gave rise to his campaign now complain that it's being taken over by career political operatives.

 

Kerry, Lieberman and others have questions Clark's commitment to the party. He entered the race without registering as a Democrat, and just two years ago called Bush's foreign policy advisers "a great team."

 

Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice presidential candidate, is being urged to pull out of Iowa and focus his few resources on New Hampshire and beyond.

 

Edwards, a freshman North Carolina senator, leads in polls in neighboring South Carolina but nowhere else.

 

Kerry and Gephardt are buoyed by their ties to Democratic establishment; Gephardt to organized labor, Kerry to elected officials and other party leaders drawn to his record as a Vietnam War hero.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Bunch of people I'll probably never vote for are arguing. I'll take a pass...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

None of them? I thought you'd at least vote for Lieberman, if only to make some blood pressure boil in the middle east.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I said "probably," and it looks like Lieberman is dead in the water.

 

I don't mind Edwards, for a lawyer, and I used to like Kerry until he actually became a candidate. I'm still up in the air about Clark -- I won't bother with him until he becomes a bigger player. No sense in wasting precious video game time to vote for someone that's in a primary I'm not allowed to vote in.

 

Too bad Zell Miller, John Breaux and Evan Bayh aren't running.

 

There will be other debates -- there's only one ALCS Game 2...

[NoCalMike 0]

Jotw, is it getting a replay later tonight? I have orientation for school right as it starts airing.