WASHINGTON (CNN) --When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
When it's withheld, of course, with the hope that joining forces with your powerful arch-nemesis will ensure that your double-nod packs a real punch.
Confused? Imagine how Howard Dean must have felt.
That's the logic now motivating Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, two of the nation's most powerful and politically active union bosses, who are poised to hand Dean one heck of a double-nod next Wednesday. Labor sources say Stern's Service Employees International Union and McEntee's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Dean, handing him, among other things, the support of the largest unions in New Hampshire (SEIU) and Iowa (AFSCME).
McEntee plans to meet Wednesday morning with his 30-member executive board, at their national headquarters near Farragut North.
The unusual arrangement between two men with a storied rivalry seemed to come as a surprise yesterday to Dean, who joined Stern at a Washington news conference just minutes after the SEIU board met. (Curiously, however, Dean was wearing an SEIU jacket that already had the words "Dr. Dean" embroidered on it. Those are some pretty speedy embroiderers Stern's got over there).
"We have reached a decision, and we are hopeful that there are other unions who share our members' excitement for Dr. Dean's candidacy," Stern said in his wink-wink-nudge-nudge announcement before letting Dean say a few, but not too many, words.
So, if he wasn't ready to announce his endorsement of Dean, why did Stern trot him out, in front of the world and CNN? Our theory, which SEIU officials have already dismissed as far too cynical: Stern did so to make sure everyone knows he backed Dean first, guaranteeing that McEntee is seen as following his lead.
Neutral Democrats said the significance of the joint endorsement, which sources characterize as a "done deal," cannot be underestimated.
"That would give Howard Dean a tremendous boost in winning the Democratic nomination," Donna Brazile said yesterday on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics." "First of all, these are the most active unions. They have people on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. They raise money. These are not paper endorsements. It means that SEIU and AFSCME may be joining together to help put their name and their brand behind Howard Dean."
Once again, the big loser in this storyline is Dick Gephardt, who traveled to Iowa just three days ago in an 11th-hour bid to court state AFSCME leaders. His aides kept a stiff upper lip yesterday, saying he remains the candidate of organized labor and firing off an e-mail, titled "Gephardt's Union Strength," which detailed just that.
"I'm very confident about Dick Gephardt's organization in Iowa. Dean's going to need all this help," said Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith. "This moves things into a situation where it's a jump ball, it's an organizational war, and both parties are going to come to the table very well armed. But look, AFSCME has 13,000 members in Iowa. SEIU has 1,200. We've got 50,000 union members in Iowa. Organizationally, we're still in great shape."
Before the union story resurfaces next week, though, Dean plans to spend the weekend focusing on how to finance his increasingly likely general-election campaign against Bush/Cheney Inc. He's scheduled to hold a news conference at noon EST tomorrow in Burlington, where he'll announce, based on the results of his e-survey, whether he'll join Bush in abandoning campaign spending caps.
Dean's e-vote, announced Wednesday at the top of a previously scheduled speech at Cooper Union in New York, began that night and continues through midnight tonight. Aides on Wednesday have e-mailed voting information to 484,000 supporters. Tonight, they will call an additional 88,000 supporters and urge them to vote. Earlier this week, the campaign also mailed letters to 26,000 supporters asking them to vote by telephone or over the Internet.
Both Dean and John Kerry have long claimed to support public financing of elections, but now Dean is poised to opt out of the federal system and Kerry said he may follow suit. "If he gets out, he invites somebody else to get out," Kerry told the AP yesterday.
Their justification is strikingly similar: Kerry says he may opt out because he fears Dean will outspend him in the primaries; Dean says he may get out because he fears Bush will outspend him in the general election.
Nearly 700 words, and not one mention of the Confederate flag or pickup trucks! Bravo, Joe Trippi.
*** GRIND EXTRA ***
A high school student instructs a senior citizen on computer navigationin an AARP-sponsored program. AARP supports the endeavors of senior citizens.
Meanwhile, CNN's Jonathan Karl reports that as House and Senate negotiators wrestle with the final details of the Medicare/Prescription drug bill, Republicans are making an aggressive push to court AARP, the most important senior lobby in the country, and the effort may be paying off.
The political stakes are huge. AARP is a political powerhouse that usually sides with Democrats and is widely seen as a guardian of Medicare. Democrats would have a hard time accusing Republicans of destroying Medicare if AARP supports the bill.
AARP director of legislative and public policy John Rother met with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Bill Frist on Wednesday and Thursday. "I'm cautiously optimistic," says Rother. "I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill."
About the 35 million-member lobbying organization's possible role, Rother says: "We could be a quite visible voice urging Congress to enact a benefit." He adds that, depending on the final compromise, AARP could still end up opposing the bill, but "We've worked at this for four years now and we badly want to see Congress enact a benefit."
That kind of conciliatory language is at stark odds with the highly negative comments this week by senior Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, who say they will oppose the bill if comes to the Senate floor without major concessions.
"I'm very disappointed that there hasn't been more vocal opposition to much of this from AARP," said Daschle in an unusual public rebuke against a group that has traditionally been a Democratic ally. "We've expressed our disappointment to them personally. I think that these stakes are as high as they've ever been. I don't think since the inception of Medicare have we had stakes any higher than what we are now facing on the Senate and House floors today."
Asked if the AARP could support a bill opposed by Daschle and Kennedy, Rother said, "Theoretically that is possible, but on the other hand, the issues we care about are the same issues they've been raising." But, he adds, the Democrats have political concerns that are not a factor for the AARP.
WASHINGTON (CNN) --When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
When it's withheld, of course, with the hope that joining forces with your powerful arch-nemesis will ensure that your double-nod packs a real punch.
Confused? Imagine how Howard Dean must have felt.
That's the logic now motivating Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, two of the nation's most powerful and politically active union bosses, who are poised to hand Dean one heck of a double-nod next Wednesday. Labor sources say Stern's Service Employees International Union and McEntee's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Dean, handing him, among other things, the support of the largest unions in New Hampshire (SEIU) and Iowa (AFSCME).
McEntee plans to meet Wednesday morning with his 30-member executive board, at their national headquarters near Farragut North.
The unusual arrangement between two men with a storied rivalry seemed to come as a surprise yesterday to Dean, who joined Stern at a Washington news conference just minutes after the SEIU board met. (Curiously, however, Dean was wearing an SEIU jacket that already had the words "Dr. Dean" embroidered on it. Those are some pretty speedy embroiderers Stern's got over there).
"We have reached a decision, and we are hopeful that there are other unions who share our members' excitement for Dr. Dean's candidacy," Stern said in his wink-wink-nudge-nudge announcement before letting Dean say a few, but not too many, words.
So, if he wasn't ready to announce his endorsement of Dean, why did Stern trot him out, in front of the world and CNN? Our theory, which SEIU officials have already dismissed as far too cynical: Stern did so to make sure everyone knows he backed Dean first, guaranteeing that McEntee is seen as following his lead.
Neutral Democrats said the significance of the joint endorsement, which sources characterize as a "done deal," cannot be underestimated.
"That would give Howard Dean a tremendous boost in winning the Democratic nomination," Donna Brazile said yesterday on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics." "First of all, these are the most active unions. They have people on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. They raise money. These are not paper endorsements. It means that SEIU and AFSCME may be joining together to help put their name and their brand behind Howard Dean."
Once again, the big loser in this storyline is Dick Gephardt, who traveled to Iowa just three days ago in an 11th-hour bid to court state AFSCME leaders. His aides kept a stiff upper lip yesterday, saying he remains the candidate of organized labor and firing off an e-mail, titled "Gephardt's Union Strength," which detailed just that.
"I'm very confident about Dick Gephardt's organization in Iowa. Dean's going to need all this help," said Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith. "This moves things into a situation where it's a jump ball, it's an organizational war, and both parties are going to come to the table very well armed. But look, AFSCME has 13,000 members in Iowa. SEIU has 1,200. We've got 50,000 union members in Iowa. Organizationally, we're still in great shape."
Before the union story resurfaces next week, though, Dean plans to spend the weekend focusing on how to finance his increasingly likely general-election campaign against Bush/Cheney Inc. He's scheduled to hold a news conference at noon EST tomorrow in Burlington, where he'll announce, based on the results of his e-survey, whether he'll join Bush in abandoning campaign spending caps.
Dean's e-vote, announced Wednesday at the top of a previously scheduled speech at Cooper Union in New York, began that night and continues through midnight tonight. Aides on Wednesday have e-mailed voting information to 484,000 supporters. Tonight, they will call an additional 88,000 supporters and urge them to vote. Earlier this week, the campaign also mailed letters to 26,000 supporters asking them to vote by telephone or over the Internet.
Both Dean and John Kerry have long claimed to support public financing of elections, but now Dean is poised to opt out of the federal system and Kerry said he may follow suit. "If he gets out, he invites somebody else to get out," Kerry told the AP yesterday.
Their justification is strikingly similar: Kerry says he may opt out because he fears Dean will outspend him in the primaries; Dean says he may get out because he fears Bush will outspend him in the general election.
Nearly 700 words, and not one mention of the Confederate flag or pickup trucks! Bravo, Joe Trippi.
*** GRIND EXTRA ***
A high school student instructs a senior citizen on computer navigationin an AARP-sponsored program. AARP supports the endeavors of senior citizens.
Meanwhile, CNN's Jonathan Karl reports that as House and Senate negotiators wrestle with the final details of the Medicare/Prescription drug bill, Republicans are making an aggressive push to court AARP, the most important senior lobby in the country, and the effort may be paying off.
The political stakes are huge. AARP is a political powerhouse that usually sides with Democrats and is widely seen as a guardian of Medicare. Democrats would have a hard time accusing Republicans of destroying Medicare if AARP supports the bill.
AARP director of legislative and public policy John Rother met with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Bill Frist on Wednesday and Thursday. "I'm cautiously optimistic," says Rother. "I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill."
About the 35 million-member lobbying organization's possible role, Rother says: "We could be a quite visible voice urging Congress to enact a benefit." He adds that, depending on the final compromise, AARP could still end up opposing the bill, but "We've worked at this for four years now and we badly want to see Congress enact a benefit."
That kind of conciliatory language is at stark odds with the highly negative comments this week by senior Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, who say they will oppose the bill if comes to the Senate floor without major concessions.
"I'm very disappointed that there hasn't been more vocal opposition to much of this from AARP," said Daschle in an unusual public rebuke against a group that has traditionally been a Democratic ally. "We've expressed our disappointment to them personally. I think that these stakes are as high as they've ever been. I don't think since the inception of Medicare have we had stakes any higher than what we are now facing on the Senate and House floors today."
Asked if the AARP could support a bill opposed by Daschle and Kennedy, Rother said, "Theoretically that is possible, but on the other hand, the issues we care about are the same issues they've been raising." But, he adds, the Democrats have political concerns that are not a factor for the AARP.
WASHINGTON (CNN) --When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
When it's withheld, of course, with the hope that joining forces with your powerful arch-nemesis will ensure that your double-nod packs a real punch.
Confused? Imagine how Howard Dean must have felt.
That's the logic now motivating Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, two of the nation's most powerful and politically active union bosses, who are poised to hand Dean one heck of a double-nod next Wednesday. Labor sources say Stern's Service Employees International Union and McEntee's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Dean, handing him, among other things, the support of the largest unions in New Hampshire (SEIU) and Iowa (AFSCME).
McEntee plans to meet Wednesday morning with his 30-member executive board, at their national headquarters near Farragut North.
The unusual arrangement between two men with a storied rivalry seemed to come as a surprise yesterday to Dean, who joined Stern at a Washington news conference just minutes after the SEIU board met. (Curiously, however, Dean was wearing an SEIU jacket that already had the words "Dr. Dean" embroidered on it. Those are some pretty speedy embroiderers Stern's got over there).
"We have reached a decision, and we are hopeful that there are other unions who share our members' excitement for Dr. Dean's candidacy," Stern said in his wink-wink-nudge-nudge announcement before letting Dean say a few, but not too many, words.
So, if he wasn't ready to announce his endorsement of Dean, why did Stern trot him out, in front of the world and CNN? Our theory, which SEIU officials have already dismissed as far too cynical: Stern did so to make sure everyone knows he backed Dean first, guaranteeing that McEntee is seen as following his lead.
Neutral Democrats said the significance of the joint endorsement, which sources characterize as a "done deal," cannot be underestimated.
"That would give Howard Dean a tremendous boost in winning the Democratic nomination," Donna Brazile said yesterday on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics." "First of all, these are the most active unions. They have people on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. They raise money. These are not paper endorsements. It means that SEIU and AFSCME may be joining together to help put their name and their brand behind Howard Dean."
Once again, the big loser in this storyline is Dick Gephardt, who traveled to Iowa just three days ago in an 11th-hour bid to court state AFSCME leaders. His aides kept a stiff upper lip yesterday, saying he remains the candidate of organized labor and firing off an e-mail, titled "Gephardt's Union Strength," which detailed just that.
"I'm very confident about Dick Gephardt's organization in Iowa. Dean's going to need all this help," said Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith. "This moves things into a situation where it's a jump ball, it's an organizational war, and both parties are going to come to the table very well armed. But look, AFSCME has 13,000 members in Iowa. SEIU has 1,200. We've got 50,000 union members in Iowa. Organizationally, we're still in great shape."
Before the union story resurfaces next week, though, Dean plans to spend the weekend focusing on how to finance his increasingly likely general-election campaign against Bush/Cheney Inc. He's scheduled to hold a news conference at noon EST tomorrow in Burlington, where he'll announce, based on the results of his e-survey, whether he'll join Bush in abandoning campaign spending caps.
Dean's e-vote, announced Wednesday at the top of a previously scheduled speech at Cooper Union in New York, began that night and continues through midnight tonight. Aides on Wednesday have e-mailed voting information to 484,000 supporters. Tonight, they will call an additional 88,000 supporters and urge them to vote. Earlier this week, the campaign also mailed letters to 26,000 supporters asking them to vote by telephone or over the Internet.
Both Dean and John Kerry have long claimed to support public financing of elections, but now Dean is poised to opt out of the federal system and Kerry said he may follow suit. "If he gets out, he invites somebody else to get out," Kerry told the AP yesterday.
Their justification is strikingly similar: Kerry says he may opt out because he fears Dean will outspend him in the primaries; Dean says he may get out because he fears Bush will outspend him in the general election.
Nearly 700 words, and not one mention of the Confederate flag or pickup trucks! Bravo, Joe Trippi.
*** GRIND EXTRA ***
A high school student instructs a senior citizen on computer navigationin an AARP-sponsored program. AARP supports the endeavors of senior citizens.
Meanwhile, CNN's Jonathan Karl reports that as House and Senate negotiators wrestle with the final details of the Medicare/Prescription drug bill, Republicans are making an aggressive push to court AARP, the most important senior lobby in the country, and the effort may be paying off.
The political stakes are huge. AARP is a political powerhouse that usually sides with Democrats and is widely seen as a guardian of Medicare. Democrats would have a hard time accusing Republicans of destroying Medicare if AARP supports the bill.
AARP director of legislative and public policy John Rother met with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Bill Frist on Wednesday and Thursday. "I'm cautiously optimistic," says Rother. "I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill."
About the 35 million-member lobbying organization's possible role, Rother says: "We could be a quite visible voice urging Congress to enact a benefit." He adds that, depending on the final compromise, AARP could still end up opposing the bill, but "We've worked at this for four years now and we badly want to see Congress enact a benefit."
That kind of conciliatory language is at stark odds with the highly negative comments this week by senior Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, who say they will oppose the bill if comes to the Senate floor without major concessions.
"I'm very disappointed that there hasn't been more vocal opposition to much of this from AARP," said Daschle in an unusual public rebuke against a group that has traditionally been a Democratic ally. "We've expressed our disappointment to them personally. I think that these stakes are as high as they've ever been. I don't think since the inception of Medicare have we had stakes any higher than what we are now facing on the Senate and House floors today."
Asked if the AARP could support a bill opposed by Daschle and Kennedy, Rother said, "Theoretically that is possible, but on the other hand, the issues we care about are the same issues they've been raising." But, he adds, the Democrats have political concerns that are not a factor for the AARP.
WASHINGTON (CNN) --When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
When it's withheld, of course, with the hope that joining forces with your powerful arch-nemesis will ensure that your double-nod packs a real punch.
Confused? Imagine how Howard Dean must have felt.
That's the logic now motivating Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, two of the nation's most powerful and politically active union bosses, who are poised to hand Dean one heck of a double-nod next Wednesday. Labor sources say Stern's Service Employees International Union and McEntee's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Dean, handing him, among other things, the support of the largest unions in New Hampshire (SEIU) and Iowa (AFSCME).
McEntee plans to meet Wednesday morning with his 30-member executive board, at their national headquarters near Farragut North.
The unusual arrangement between two men with a storied rivalry seemed to come as a surprise yesterday to Dean, who joined Stern at a Washington news conference just minutes after the SEIU board met. (Curiously, however, Dean was wearing an SEIU jacket that already had the words "Dr. Dean" embroidered on it. Those are some pretty speedy embroiderers Stern's got over there).
"We have reached a decision, and we are hopeful that there are other unions who share our members' excitement for Dr. Dean's candidacy," Stern said in his wink-wink-nudge-nudge announcement before letting Dean say a few, but not too many, words.
So, if he wasn't ready to announce his endorsement of Dean, why did Stern trot him out, in front of the world and CNN? Our theory, which SEIU officials have already dismissed as far too cynical: Stern did so to make sure everyone knows he backed Dean first, guaranteeing that McEntee is seen as following his lead.
Neutral Democrats said the significance of the joint endorsement, which sources characterize as a "done deal," cannot be underestimated.
"That would give Howard Dean a tremendous boost in winning the Democratic nomination," Donna Brazile said yesterday on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics." "First of all, these are the most active unions. They have people on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. They raise money. These are not paper endorsements. It means that SEIU and AFSCME may be joining together to help put their name and their brand behind Howard Dean."
Once again, the big loser in this storyline is Dick Gephardt, who traveled to Iowa just three days ago in an 11th-hour bid to court state AFSCME leaders. His aides kept a stiff upper lip yesterday, saying he remains the candidate of organized labor and firing off an e-mail, titled "Gephardt's Union Strength," which detailed just that.
"I'm very confident about Dick Gephardt's organization in Iowa. Dean's going to need all this help," said Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith. "This moves things into a situation where it's a jump ball, it's an organizational war, and both parties are going to come to the table very well armed. But look, AFSCME has 13,000 members in Iowa. SEIU has 1,200. We've got 50,000 union members in Iowa. Organizationally, we're still in great shape."
Before the union story resurfaces next week, though, Dean plans to spend the weekend focusing on how to finance his increasingly likely general-election campaign against Bush/Cheney Inc. He's scheduled to hold a news conference at noon EST tomorrow in Burlington, where he'll announce, based on the results of his e-survey, whether he'll join Bush in abandoning campaign spending caps.
Dean's e-vote, announced Wednesday at the top of a previously scheduled speech at Cooper Union in New York, began that night and continues through midnight tonight. Aides on Wednesday have e-mailed voting information to 484,000 supporters. Tonight, they will call an additional 88,000 supporters and urge them to vote. Earlier this week, the campaign also mailed letters to 26,000 supporters asking them to vote by telephone or over the Internet.
Both Dean and John Kerry have long claimed to support public financing of elections, but now Dean is poised to opt out of the federal system and Kerry said he may follow suit. "If he gets out, he invites somebody else to get out," Kerry told the AP yesterday.
Their justification is strikingly similar: Kerry says he may opt out because he fears Dean will outspend him in the primaries; Dean says he may get out because he fears Bush will outspend him in the general election.
Nearly 700 words, and not one mention of the Confederate flag or pickup trucks! Bravo, Joe Trippi.
*** GRIND EXTRA ***
A high school student instructs a senior citizen on computer navigationin an AARP-sponsored program. AARP supports the endeavors of senior citizens.
Meanwhile, CNN's Jonathan Karl reports that as House and Senate negotiators wrestle with the final details of the Medicare/Prescription drug bill, Republicans are making an aggressive push to court AARP, the most important senior lobby in the country, and the effort may be paying off.
The political stakes are huge. AARP is a political powerhouse that usually sides with Democrats and is widely seen as a guardian of Medicare. Democrats would have a hard time accusing Republicans of destroying Medicare if AARP supports the bill.
AARP director of legislative and public policy John Rother met with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Bill Frist on Wednesday and Thursday. "I'm cautiously optimistic," says Rother. "I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill."
About the 35 million-member lobbying organization's possible role, Rother says: "We could be a quite visible voice urging Congress to enact a benefit." He adds that, depending on the final compromise, AARP could still end up opposing the bill, but "We've worked at this for four years now and we badly want to see Congress enact a benefit."
That kind of conciliatory language is at stark odds with the highly negative comments this week by senior Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, who say they will oppose the bill if comes to the Senate floor without major concessions.
"I'm very disappointed that there hasn't been more vocal opposition to much of this from AARP," said Daschle in an unusual public rebuke against a group that has traditionally been a Democratic ally. "We've expressed our disappointment to them personally. I think that these stakes are as high as they've ever been. I don't think since the inception of Medicare have we had stakes any higher than what we are now facing on the Senate and House floors today."
Asked if the AARP could support a bill opposed by Daschle and Kennedy, Rother said, "Theoretically that is possible, but on the other hand, the issues we care about are the same issues they've been raising." But, he adds, the Democrats have political concerns that are not a factor for the AARP.
WASHINGTON (CNN) --When is an endorsement not an endorsement?
When it's withheld, of course, with the hope that joining forces with your powerful arch-nemesis will ensure that your double-nod packs a real punch.
Confused? Imagine how Howard Dean must have felt.
That's the logic now motivating Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, two of the nation's most powerful and politically active union bosses, who are poised to hand Dean one heck of a double-nod next Wednesday. Labor sources say Stern's Service Employees International Union and McEntee's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Dean, handing him, among other things, the support of the largest unions in New Hampshire (SEIU) and Iowa (AFSCME).
McEntee plans to meet Wednesday morning with his 30-member executive board, at their national headquarters near Farragut North.
The unusual arrangement between two men with a storied rivalry seemed to come as a surprise yesterday to Dean, who joined Stern at a Washington news conference just minutes after the SEIU board met. (Curiously, however, Dean was wearing an SEIU jacket that already had the words "Dr. Dean" embroidered on it. Those are some pretty speedy embroiderers Stern's got over there).
"We have reached a decision, and we are hopeful that there are other unions who share our members' excitement for Dr. Dean's candidacy," Stern said in his wink-wink-nudge-nudge announcement before letting Dean say a few, but not too many, words.
So, if he wasn't ready to announce his endorsement of Dean, why did Stern trot him out, in front of the world and CNN? Our theory, which SEIU officials have already dismissed as far too cynical: Stern did so to make sure everyone knows he backed Dean first, guaranteeing that McEntee is seen as following his lead.
Neutral Democrats said the significance of the joint endorsement, which sources characterize as a "done deal," cannot be underestimated.
"That would give Howard Dean a tremendous boost in winning the Democratic nomination," Donna Brazile said yesterday on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics." "First of all, these are the most active unions. They have people on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. They raise money. These are not paper endorsements. It means that SEIU and AFSCME may be joining together to help put their name and their brand behind Howard Dean."
Once again, the big loser in this storyline is Dick Gephardt, who traveled to Iowa just three days ago in an 11th-hour bid to court state AFSCME leaders. His aides kept a stiff upper lip yesterday, saying he remains the candidate of organized labor and firing off an e-mail, titled "Gephardt's Union Strength," which detailed just that.
"I'm very confident about Dick Gephardt's organization in Iowa. Dean's going to need all this help," said Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith. "This moves things into a situation where it's a jump ball, it's an organizational war, and both parties are going to come to the table very well armed. But look, AFSCME has 13,000 members in Iowa. SEIU has 1,200. We've got 50,000 union members in Iowa. Organizationally, we're still in great shape."
Before the union story resurfaces next week, though, Dean plans to spend the weekend focusing on how to finance his increasingly likely general-election campaign against Bush/Cheney Inc. He's scheduled to hold a news conference at noon EST tomorrow in Burlington, where he'll announce, based on the results of his e-survey, whether he'll join Bush in abandoning campaign spending caps.
Dean's e-vote, announced Wednesday at the top of a previously scheduled speech at Cooper Union in New York, began that night and continues through midnight tonight. Aides on Wednesday have e-mailed voting information to 484,000 supporters. Tonight, they will call an additional 88,000 supporters and urge them to vote. Earlier this week, the campaign also mailed letters to 26,000 supporters asking them to vote by telephone or over the Internet.
Both Dean and John Kerry have long claimed to support public financing of elections, but now Dean is poised to opt out of the federal system and Kerry said he may follow suit. "If he gets out, he invites somebody else to get out," Kerry told the AP yesterday.
Their justification is strikingly similar: Kerry says he may opt out because he fears Dean will outspend him in the primaries; Dean says he may get out because he fears Bush will outspend him in the general election.
Nearly 700 words, and not one mention of the Confederate flag or pickup trucks! Bravo, Joe Trippi.
*** GRIND EXTRA ***
A high school student instructs a senior citizen on computer navigationin an AARP-sponsored program. AARP supports the endeavors of senior citizens.
Meanwhile, CNN's Jonathan Karl reports that as House and Senate negotiators wrestle with the final details of the Medicare/Prescription drug bill, Republicans are making an aggressive push to court AARP, the most important senior lobby in the country, and the effort may be paying off.
The political stakes are huge. AARP is a political powerhouse that usually sides with Democrats and is widely seen as a guardian of Medicare. Democrats would have a hard time accusing Republicans of destroying Medicare if AARP supports the bill.
AARP director of legislative and public policy John Rother met with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Bill Frist on Wednesday and Thursday. "I'm cautiously optimistic," says Rother. "I think we can see a path to a bipartisan bill."
About the 35 million-member lobbying organization's possible role, Rother says: "We could be a quite visible voice urging Congress to enact a benefit." He adds that, depending on the final compromise, AARP could still end up opposing the bill, but "We've worked at this for four years now and we badly want to see Congress enact a benefit."
That kind of conciliatory language is at stark odds with the highly negative comments this week by senior Senate Democrats Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy, who say they will oppose the bill if comes to the Senate floor without major concessions.
"I'm very disappointed that there hasn't been more vocal opposition to much of this from AARP," said Daschle in an unusual public rebuke against a group that has traditionally been a Democratic ally. "We've expressed our disappointment to them personally. I think that these stakes are as high as they've ever been. I don't think since the inception of Medicare have we had stakes any higher than what we are now facing on the Senate and House floors today."
Asked if the AARP could support a bill opposed by Daschle and Kennedy, Rother said, "Theoretically that is possible, but on the other hand, the issues we care about are the same issues they've been raising." But, he adds, the Democrats have political concerns that are not a factor for the AARP.
