[Peace-discuss] From the heartland

[Danielle Chynoweth]

March 10, 2003
Democratic Hopefuls Find Antiwar Minefield in Iowa
New York Times By Adam Nagourney

SIOUX CITY, Iowa, March 9 — Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri 
came here today for a thoughtful Sunday morning living room conversation with 
Iowa Democrats about the issues of his emerging presidential campaign: 
education, health care and pension.

But for 25 minutes, Mr. Gephardt was badgered about his support for President 
Bush's Iraq policy in a tense session that finally ended when the local 
Democratic chairman said Mr. Gephardt was running behind schedule. In an 
instant, Mr. Gephardt was out of the room headed to his next stop.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts came to Iowa on Saturday to give a speech 
in Des Moines about women's issues. But he arrived to the shouts of antiwar 
demonstrators, and a meeting with local Democrats turned into an anguished 
discussion about what was taking place in Washington and Iraq and Mr. Kerry's 
support for the Iraq resolution passed by Congress last October.

Even Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who has repeatedly presented 
himself as the antiwar candidate to what Democrats said has been notable 
success here, expressed frustration at what he encountered as he tried to 
talk about farm prices on Friday.

"I had a press conference and it was all about the war," Dr. Dean said. "And 
finally I said, `Would anybody like to talk about the enormous jump in the 
unemployment rate that was announced in the morning papers?' "

With the nation readying for a possible war, Democratic presidential 
candidates in Iowa this weekend got a taste of the complicated new world that 
presumably awaits them this spring — a world of trying to campaign for 
president at a time of a war, or a near-war, that has captured the attention 
of the nation while sowing ideological divisions within the Democratic party 
and among the candidates.

The coming weeks or months are shaping up as a period of American 
presidential campaign history unlike any since perhaps 1944, when Thomas E. 
Dewey found himself in the unenviable position of campaigning against 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Roosevelt sought a fourth term during World War 
II. 

By contrast, in 1968 during the Vietnam War the fighting was so far engaged 
and judged by so many Americans to be a failure that two candidates built 
their campaigns entirely on an antiwar platform.

Beyond the loss of attention being paid to Democratic candidates who were not 
drawing a lot of attention to begin with, the campaigns are now struggling 
with crucial decisions about what is appropriate to do or say if the United 
Sates goes to war, with some considering whether to suspend public 
campaigning. 

The Democrats are considering these questions with the expectation that what 
takes place over the next two months could be critical in setting the 
framework for the election of 2004 by determining the extent to which Mr. 
Bush is able to command the issue of national security. It has put four 
candidates — the members of Congress who backed the Iraq resolution in 
Congress last fall — in the difficult position of finding their own immediate 
campaign prospects linked, at least to some extent, to Mr. Bush's decisions 
and a possible war that they at least initially approved.

And members of Congress, including six of the Democratic presidential 
contenders, are going to be under pressure to stay close to Washington so 
they are not perceived as neglecting the nation's business. 

Campaign advisers to all the major candidates said they believed it would be 
foolhardy to criticize Mr. Bush on his Iraq policy if hostilities began, and 
some suggested that criticizing Mr. Bush on domestic issues during a war 
could carry the risk of being portrayed as unpatriotic.

Advisers to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who has been the most 
consistently pro-war candidate in the Democratic field, said he was not sure 
how much time he would spend campaigning if the nation went to war, and they 
spoke with frustration about the uncertainty of current events.

"Can somebody tell me what day it's going to start?" asked Mr. Lieberman's 
campaign manager, Craig Smith. "You know it's out there, and you know it's 
looming, and it's like 10 days from now, should we schedule a big boisterous 
rally? I'm not sure that's a smart thing to do."

The candidates are struggling with the question of what they can say. In 
recent days Mr. Kerry, in defending his vote in favor of the Iraq resolution, 
has been criticizing Mr. Bush for what Mr. Kerry suggested was a rush to war. 
The senator said in an interview in Des Moines that such comments would cease 
should fighting begin.

"When the war begins, if the war begins, I support the troops and I support 
the United States of America winning as rapidly as possible," he said. "When 
the troops are in the field and fighting — if they're in the field and 
fighting — remembering what it's like to be those troops, I think they need a 
unified America that is prepared to win."

By contrast, Dr. Dean, who acknowledged that his fortunes in Iowa had been 
lifted by the perception that he is more antiwar than many of his opponents, 
stopped short when asked what he would say if there was a war.

"You know, I don't know the answer to that yet," he said, while campaigning 
through eastern Iowa on Friday. "Certainly I'm going to support Americans 
kids that are sent over there. Obviously, I'm going to wish everybody well. 
You know, you root for your country."

Several Iowans who said they opposed the war said they were uncomfortable 
with the idea of Democratic candidates criticizing Mr. Bush's war policy when 
Americans troops were in the field. 

"I think they should support Bush," said Mary Agnew, who lives near Amana. 
"It gives all the Arab countries the wrong idea that we are vulnerable."

If there is any silver lining to this for the candidates, it is that an 
imposed blackout on public appearances leaves time for private fund-raising 
by candidates, and this happens to be the time that they are under 
extraordinary pressure to get to their telephones. March 31 is the end of the 
first quarter of fund-raising.

The four Democrats who were in Iowa this weekend — Representative Dennis J. 
Kucinich of Ohio was the fourth — represent a cross-section of candidate 
opinion on the war, and they were campaigning in a state where antiwar 
sentiment among Democrats runs high. Their travels provided them with 
abundant reminders of how times had changed. When Dr. Dean showed up for 
lunch at the Ox Yoke Inn in Amana, Iowans who had come to see him were 
quietly gathered around a television set watching the proceedings at United 
Nations Security Council.

And the questions they encountered were usually about Iraq. Mr. Gephardt saw 
that at his first stop of the day as he was loudly and repeatedly challenged 
by Democrats in the living room of Chris Jensen, who before Mr. Gephardt 
arrived had said he was upset with the war policies of his guest.

Mr. Gephardt wanted to talk about his plan for universal health care and 
pension portability, but this audience had no interest in that. 

"I feel like I'm on a bus and Bush is driving and I'm looking back and I'm 
thinking, `Who gave him the key?' " said Brad Kollars, 53, a lawyer from 
Sioux City, staring intently at Mr. Gephardt.

Mr. Gephardt repeatedly defended voting in favor of the Iraq resolution in 
Congress, invoking the image of "an A-bomb in a Ryder truck" planted by 
terrorists killing hundreds of thousands of citizens in a major American 
city, as he applauded Mr. Bush's goals while criticizing his style.

"I didn't vote for him, and I would never vote for him," Mr. Gephardt said. 
"The problem we've got is he is the president of the United States." 

"As a leader of Congress," Mr. Gephardt said, "I felt an obligation to try to 
help him keep the people safe."

Mr. Kerry said in an interview that he had no regrets about voting in favor 
of the Iraq resolution, but said that in implementing it, Mr. Bush had 
"butchered what ought to be straightforward and very important diplomacy."

Mr. Kerry's explanations left at least some Democrats here a little 
frustrated. 

"I'd like to hear something stronger from Congress," said Barbara Boatwright, 
a longtime Polk County Democratic activist who sternly pressed Mr. Kerry on 
his vote. "I wish we'd have an outcry and protest from Democratic members of 
Congress."
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