The Note
"'Howard Dean wants to contrast a record of results with a record of nothing but rhetoric on transcripts,' a senior aide said."
"The spots refer blindly to 'my opponents.' But they are clearly aimed most directly at Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Dr. Dean's most serious competitors in Iowa and New Hampshire."
"In recent weeks, Dean has stepped up his antagonism to against 'Washington politicians' and their 'hot air.'"
Were the ads attacks?
The New York Times ' Wilgoren and Rutenberg: "While the spots fall short of singling out Dr. Dean's opponents by name, they are unusually negative for this stage of the campaign, when biographical commercials are the norm." LINK
"The spots refer blindly to 'my opponents.' But they are clearly aimed most directly at Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Dr. Dean's most serious competitors in Iowa and New Hampshire."
In recent weeks, Dean has stepped up his antagonism to against "Washington politicians" and their "hot air."
Lloyd Grove reports Ace Smith has been hired by the Dean campaign to head up the oppo department. LINK
Howard Dean takes a play out of Jim Dyke's playbook, according to Roll Call 's Cillizza.
"Once again seeking to capitalize on his outsider status, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's campaign is circulating a memo attacking his opponents for their spotty voting records as they pursue the presidency."
The Union Leader carried a column by The Doctor himself laying out his economic plan and accusing Bush of bringing "Enron economics from Texas to Washington." A few highlights:
"With deception and misleading announcements, the president has pushed the country deeply into debt and presided over the largest job loss since the Depression."
"The Bush presidency is the realization of the worst fears of our nation's founders."
"My pledge to the American people is this: The Dean administration will balance the federal budget." LINK
More from Ambinder:
"At the stroke of 7:44 p.m. ET last night, Dean's caravan rolled into his 99th Iowa county."
"They called it 'Howard in Howard,' not to be confused with 'Howard at Howard,' which was a stop a few weeks ago at the Washington, D.C. university; (though did Dean did wear a Howard University windbreaker."
"A plan to have Howard county residents named Howard join him on stage was dropped because the campaign simply couldn't find a whole lot of said-named people there."
"Dean first visited Iowa as a presidential candidate in February 2002."
Clark: From ABC News' Clark campaign reporter Deborah Apton:
"For now, General Clark is not attacking any of the other Democratic candidates. At the Phoenix debate, Clark said, 'I am not going to attack a fellow Democrat, because I think everybody on this stage shares the same goal.' And, Clark has even gone so far to commend some of his opponents — most recently this week in Nashua he spoke of John Kerry's decision not to vote for the $87 billion saying: 'I'm proud of the fact that John Kerry didn't vote for it.'"
