Disdain for Bush Simmers in Democratic Strongholds

No need to spend all this time getting interviews with the heavyweights of the Democrats...just check in at this BBS with some consistency!

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/p...00&en=901d8e2cbf07ebc4&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Disdain for Bush Simmers in Democratic Strongholds
By ROBIN TONER

ES MOINES, July 31 — While Democratic leaders in Washington debate strategy and demographics for the 2004 election — the wisdom of campaigning from the left, right or center — something far more visceral is at work in the first caucus state, and in other Democratic redoubts.

There is a powerful disdain for the Bush administration, stoked by the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the continuing lag in the economy. There is also a conviction that President Bush is eminently beatable and a hunger to hear their party's leaders and candidates make the case against him — straight up, from the heart rather than the polling data.

It is not simply a lurch to the left, many Democrats say; it could, in fact, lead caucus voters to more centrist candidates, if they seem most likely to defeat Mr. Bush in the general election.

Tom Rusk, a state welfare worker who turned out this week to see Senator John Kerry in Fort Dodge, Iowa, describes himself as "pretty liberal." He says he likes what he hears from former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont and from Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, but he worries that both candidates could be "Dukakisized" in the general election.

What Mr. Rusk is looking for, he said, alluding to the infamous image that doomed that past Democratic nominee, is "someone who will look impressive enough at the helm of an M-1 tank."

Gordon Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said this week that he saw "an incredible amount of antipathy toward the Bush administration" in the party, much more than the Democratic hostility toward the first President Bush.

Geoff Garin, a pollster who is working for Senator Bob Graham of Florida, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, said the Democratic anger toward Mr. Bush was "as strong as anything I've experienced in 25 years now of polling," and perhaps comes closest to the way many Democrats felt about President Richard M. Nixon.

Some compare it to the hostility conservatives long harbored toward President Bill Clinton. For the past two and a half years, after all, a fairly consistent 38 percent of respondents in The New York Times/CBS News Poll have said that Mr. Bush was not legitimately elected president.

But Mr. Fischer and others say this animosity is not entirely personal, more about the agenda than the man.

Stan Greenberg, a longtime Democratic pollster, argues, "It's more about how conservative this administration is, how it's taken the country in this direction without a mandate, and a frustration with Democratic leaders for not articulating it."

That frustration was apparent during the war with Iraq, and obviously helped fuel the rise of Dr. Dean, one of the few national Democrats speaking flatly and without apology against the war. But the anger is broader now, on issues of civil liberties, health care, Social Security and domestic security, and the candidates are increasingly responding to it, Democratic strategists say.

One way to measure it is by what generates applause on the campaign trail these days. On a recent steamy night in Fort Dodge, more than 100 Democrats crowded a local state representative's home to cheer on Mr. Kerry of Massachusetts, who made a scathing case against the Bush record.

They burst into applause when Mr. Kerry described Mr. Bush's tax cuts and soaring deficits as "stealing from America's children to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America." They grimly nodded when he denounced the quality of intelligence used to justify the war against Iraq. They burst into applause again when he described Mr. Bush's management of the economy as "the worst record on jobs since the Great Depression," and added that the only jobs Mr. Bush had created were the nine candidacies for the Democratic presidential nomination.

It was the reddest of meat for this issue-oriented crowd, and Iowa Democrats came back for more in their questions. Can Mr. Kerry take a punch, and "give as good as he gets?" one Democrat asked. Mr. Kerry replied, "I'm in a fighting mood," a theme he referred to again and again.

Lois Dencklau, retired from the accounting business, watched Mr. Kerry with an appraising eye. She, too, said she was looking "for someone who can beat Bush" and thought Mr. Kerry was that person. She had her own indictment of the Bush administration, and a conviction that the country was moving her way.

"People are going to wake up and see what's happening," she said. "People are losing their jobs, the economy's really bad."

The next day, at the union hall of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 33, another crowd turned out to hear Dr. Dean take on the Bush administration. Sandy Opstvedt, an electrical worker and president of the Iowa State Conference of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was in the audience. She said of Mr. Bush: "I've never felt comfortable with him. He almost seems to have a mission to attack working people."

When Dr. Dean entered the room, sleeves rolled up, looking as if he was ready to fight, he was greeted like a rock star. "It's time we stood up to this president and stopped being intimidated by the Rush Limbaughs on the radio," he said. "We can do better than that."

His speech was laced with scorn for "too many people in Washington" who are "too afraid to lose" to stand up for Democratic values. By the time Dr. Dean closed with his trademark line — "You have the power to take this country back" — Don Chamberlain, a retired steamfitter, seemed well satisfied. "It's time somebody stood up for the Democrats," Mr. Chamberlain said.

When asked if Mr. Bush could be beaten, Mr. Chamberlain replied with the edge of moral clarity, "Absolutely."

There was no abstract battle for the soul of the Democratic Party here, just an abiding anger at what Mr. Bush has done, and a conviction that a majority of Americans will eventually share it.

Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said, "It's George Bush who will serve as the biggest unifying force for our party."