June 23, 2003 at 12:07:09 PDT
 
June 23, 2003 at 12:07:09 PDT 
Dean Formally Announces White House Run
By R FOURNIER ASSOCIATED PRESS 
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean sought to 
redefine and broaden his liberal, anti-war campaign in formally announcing his 
candidacy Monday, telling disenchanted American voters, "You have the power!" to 
oust President Bush and rid Washington of special interests. 
With at least 2,500 supporters crammed into a brick-lined town square, the 
steeple of a Unitarian church behind him, the former Vermont governor pledged to 
speak "for a new American century and a new generation of Americans." 
Dean pledged to fight conservative Republicans, docile Democrats and the rest of 
the Washington establishment - all of whom he holds responsible for turning 
Americans away from the political system. 
"You have the power to take our country back!" he shouted. "You have the power! 
You have the power! You have the power!" 
He accused Bush of dividing Americans, creating a "chain of insurmountable debt" 
and promoting tax cuts "designed to destroy Social Security, Medicare, our 
public schools and our public services through starvation and privatization." 
The president's foreign policies, Dean argued, have alienated allies much like 
the ancient Roman empire once did. "Every American president must and will take 
up arms in the defense of our nation. It is a solemn oath that cannot and will 
not be compromised," said Dean, knowing he faces questions about his lack of 
foreign policy experience. 
"But there is a fundamental difference between the defense of our nation and the 
doctrine of pre-emptive war espoused by this administration," Dean said. "The 
president's group of narrow-minded ideological advisers are undermining our 
nation's greatness in the world." 
Dean, 54, a 20-year veteran of Vermont politics, actually began his campaign 
months ago. But he staged a formal announcement to draw attention and money to 
his long-shot bid. 
The nine Democratic candidates are in a race for cash before the second 
fund-raising quarter closes June 30. Dean is expected to raise at least $4 
million by the deadline, a jump from the $2.6 million he collected in the first 
quarter, a senior campaign official said. 
Dean is airing the first political ads of the 2004 campaign, spending $300,000 
in Iowa through July 2. Supporters were urged through e-mail last week to help 
pay for the TV time. 
Besides a crowd here that spilled from an intersection into two nearby streets, 
15,000 Dean supporters had signed up to attend campaign events in more than 300 
cities. 
A turnout of that size would validate Dean's boast that he is building an 
Internet-driven, national grass-roots organization. It was impossible to verify 
Dean's projections, but in one city, Des Moines, Iowa, 87 supporters signed up 
to watch his address at the campaign headquarters; 47 showed up. 
"It's a good way to get out of the office," said Ben Stone of Des Moines. 
A former governor in a race dominated by congressional Democrats, Dean has 
gotten off to a surprisingly strong start despite a lack of money and meager 
support from party insiders. 
The key has been his opposition to the U.S.-led war against Iraq - a position 
that galvanized liberal voters who believe that Democratic leaders are kowtowing 
to Bush. 
In a call to disenchanted voters of all political stripes, Dean said, "You have 
the power to rid Washington of all the politics of money." 
"You have the power to take back the Democratic Party." 
The liberal tag defies his record in Vermont, where Dean was known as a 
centrist, pro-business governor for 12 years. 
He battled Democrats to restrain spending and balance the state budget, even 
pushing for cuts in human services programs such as benefits for the aged, blind 
and disabled. 
He nominated tough-on-crime judges, most of them former prosecutors. And he 
imposed work requirements on welfare recipients well before former President 
Bill Clinton did. 
As governor, some of his strongest supporters were Republican leaders of the 
business community. Difficult to label, Dean once called himself "an odd kind of 
Democrat." 
Now that he's a presidential candidate, Dean is not trumpeting his moderate 
credentials from Vermont, nor did he dwell on his anti-war position during 
Monday's address. 
Instead, he sought to widen his appeal by casting himself as a blunt-speaking, 
anti-establishment populist who will reform American politics issue by issue. 
"This president has forgotten ordinary people," Dean said. 
The physician-turned-politican once intended to make health care and children's 
issues the cornerstones of his campaign, but then came the war and his 
introduction to a disenchanted electorate. His cause changed, Dean said. 
"Everywhere I go people are asking fundamental questions: Who can we trust?" he 
said. 
Dean hopes to galvanize Democrats who have not voted in recent elections, as 
well as independents who rallied behind insurgent candidates such as Republican 
Sen. John McCain in 2000 and Democrat Gary Hart in 1984. 
Polls place Dean among the top three candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, where 
the first votes for the Democratic nomination will be cast. He lags in 
nationwide polls. 
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On the Net: 
Dean campaign: 
http://www.DeanforAmerica.com
 
http://www.cyberexpose.net
http://www.geocities.com/secretspyy 
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