Campaign gets second wind
By Bill Schneider
CNN Political Unit
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Joe Lieberman
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(CNN) -- John Kerry once remarked in frustration after a press conference where all he was asked about was the Democratic front-runner, "Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean!"
Aren't any of the other Democrats worth talking about? Yes. One of them merits the Play of the Week this week.
It was certainly quite a week for Joe Lieberman, whose campaign got a second wind -- blowing from a negative direction.
Last week, it was an anti-Gore direction. "There's been a remarkable reaction to the Gore endorsement. ... Our phone lines, our Web site, are jammed with people wanting to help," Lieberman said on "NewsNight with Aaron Brown. "We raised more money in my campaign in the last 24 hours than on any day in this quarter, and I'm encouraged by it."
This week, anti-Dean. "How many people here believe that we're safer with Saddam Hussein in prison?" Lieberman asked in a recent speech. "Well, Howard Dean says we're not. He said yesterday the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer."
Lieberman's favorability among Democratic primary voters jumped over the weekend.
He's found his voice. It's the leading anti-Dean voice; warning Democrats, think hard before you nominate this guy. "Gov. Dean has made a series of dubious judgments and irresponsible statements in this campaign," Lieberman said in a recent speech, "that together signal he would take us back to the days when we Democrats were not trusted to defend our security."
On Thursday, Dean appeared to repudiate President Clinton's "third way." "I reject the notion that damage control must be our credo," Dean said in a recent speech."
That really got Lieberman going. "I could not believe it," he told reporters on a telephone conference call. "It more clearly than ever makes the point that Howard Dean would take the party and our country back to where we were before Clinton was president."
Which was not close to the White House.
The "Stop Dean" movement is on the move, thanks in part to Joe Lieberman. Is it enough to propel Lieberman to the Democratic nomination? We'll see. But it is enough to get him the political Play of the Week.
