I don't think Dean dislikes Kerry too much. He said he would vote for him

[NNN0LHI]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4112959

MR. RUSSERT: Why?

DR. DEAN: Because I think this party needs a new face in front of it. I don't think we can do business the same old way. You know, I mean no disrespect to John Kerry, and if he's the nominee, believe me I'm going to support him and vote for him and all that. But we saw yesterday in The Washington Post, he's taken more special interest money than any other senator in 15 years. How can you go after George Bush because of all the dealings with the Medicare bill, which really sent the money to the insurance companies and the HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies, or his energy bill, which really sent the money to the gas and oil bill, if you're the senator who's taken more special interest money in the last 15 years than anybody else? That is not what I came all this way to do for the Democratic Party or for this country.

Yes sir, Dr. Dean! ABB baby. Now you are singing my tune. Party unity rules.

Don

[EXE619K]

1. Although, I cannot speak for others....

This "Dean supporter" has an independent mind and judgement.

Al Gore's "preference" didn't do a lot for me nor Dr. Dean's.

It seems to me that some have been singing the ABB tune while propagating the ABD tune in reality.

[sandnsea]

2. Dean took more pharmaceutical & HMO money

How is HE going to go after Bush???

[Eloriel]

4. And wasn't the total of all that money just $30K over 11 years?

I don't think he'll have any trouble at all. It's not like they're bankrolling him NOW, for heaven's sake.

Dean is the ONLY viable candidate who is unbought in this race, the ONLY one who has any credibility re special interest financing of campaigns.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Actually you should go to the MTP transcript

He did handle that question well and pointed out that while he took pharma money, he also was sticking it to them in the VT legislature.

[blm]

3. Kerry never accepted corporate or special interest pac money. Dean misled

the audience and he knows it.

They lumped together all the individual donations made to Kerry over 19 years.

Would Dean release HIS numbers for his donations over his entire career using that EXACT same formula?

[Eloriel]

5. If it was so little, why did the NYT say "more than any other Sen"

Sounded pretty bad to me.

I'm sure you can find Dean's numbers -- that's public information. Go for it.

[girl gone mad]

6. Take it from some unbiased experts. He did.

"The note of reality is he has been brought to you by special interests," said Charles Lewis of the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group that has closely studied the senator's relationship with special interests. "It's very hard to utter this rhetoric without some hollowness to it."

"I think it's harder for someone like Kerry to take on" Bush over special interests "because he's taken money . . . from a lot of the same" corporate sectors, added Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors money in politics. Dean, who has raised more money than Kerry in this campaign, has taken considerably less from lobbyists.

[deutsey]

13. Oh, but don't you see? They're part of Rove's plot!!!!

:eyes: sarcasm off

[F.Gordon]

8. I'll stay on message....

Since the "special interest" comments are the most popular here.

The $2.34 question is will Dean ask his supporters to do the same?

The $5.21 question is will Dean accept Kerry as the nominee? If no one goes into Boston with more than 40% it's going to be ugly. Dean would need to make this committment before Boston. I have nightmares about 5,000 Orange-Hat Dean Troopers making the 1968 Convention look like a love-fest.

My biggest concern with Dean is that he would have no problem taking down the Democratic Party down with him. Even if its by proxy.....using his supporters. I'd trust Dean to vote for Kerry, but I don't trust Dean to support the Democratic Party.

[lastknowngood]

9. The Democratic party has no problem

trying to take down Dean why should he care about them. If this party doesn't wake up it will be attain 3rd party status after this election.

[F.Gordon]

12. And who is the "Democratic Party"???

Your argument doesn't hold water. I believe Dean has gotten quite a few endorsements from members of the Democratic Party. The "Democratic Party" is made up of people like myself and you(?). If you see the Democratic Party as some "boogie-man" and evil force working against Dean then I fear you are more paranoid than myself.

There's always the Green Party, the Libertarians, and the Reform Party. Take your pick.

[dansolo]

10. If Kerry has the necessary delegates

Than Dean will accept him as the nominee. He said that quite clearly. The point is that why should he concede that point now when so few delegates have been chosen. If Kerry can't get the required number of delegates before the convention, then he must earn it just like everyone else. It's not going to just be given to him.

[F.Gordon]

11. I'll take your word for it

If Kerry has the necessary delegates....Than Dean will accept him as the nominee. He said that quite clearly I've not heard him make a specific reference to "the necessary delegates".

And I agree......If Kerry can't get the required number of delegates before the convention, then he must earn it just like everyone else. It's not going to just be given to him.

But at what point....what number does Dean, Kerry, or any candidate make that determination? My concern is that Dean's "necessary delegates" would have to be 80% or higher for him to back down. I would hope that any of the other candidates, including Kerry, would accept a 10+ point lower difference as a sign to back down and support the candidate with the higher numbers.

I don't see Dean doing that. That's my concern. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.