Kerry: Stark choice in New Hampshire
'We need more than ... the latest slip of the tongue'
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In the primary bowl: John Kerry takes a break in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday.
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (AP) -- With a month to go before the New Hampshire primary, John Kerry made some of his strongest attacks yet against Democratic front-runner Howard Dean, portraying Dean as inexperienced in foreign policy, wrong-headed on the economy and a muddled thinker.
"People are left wondering: What will he say next?" said Kerry, addressing about 180 supporters in a city library auditorium.
"We need more than simple answers and the latest slip of the tongue," he said. "This election is too vital for us to lose it if voters refuse to take a gamble on national security and the steadiness of our leadership."
He pointed to Dean's statements on Saddam Hussein's capture and Dean's answer to a hypothetical question about where Osama bin Laden should be tried, if captured. (Dean on bin Laden)
"What kind of muddled thinking is it if you can't instantly say that in your heart you know that bin Laden is guilty?" Kerry asked. "After every episode comes a statement trying to explain it away. Will Americans really vote for a foreign policy by clarifying press release?"
The Massachusetts senator and Vietnam war veteran said "this is a perilous moment in history and we cannot master that moment with a stubborn unilateralism or a soft and vacillating isolationism."
Kerry, the early Democratic front-runner, now trails Dean by double digits in polls in New Hampshire -- a state in which Kerry has said he needs to finish No. 1 or No. 2 for his candidacy to have momentum..
Aides to Kerry note that Dean, the former Vermont governor, fares poorly against Bush in head-to-head matchups.
Kerry said "we can't beat George Bush by being Bush-lite," referring to Dean's criticism of more centrist Democratic candidates.
"But we also won't beat George Bush by being light on national security, light on fairness for middle-class Americans or light on the values that make us Democrats."
A spokesman for Sen. Joe Lieberman, who does not campaign on Saturday in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, welcomed what he called "this latest iteration" of Kerry and said he "has stopped trying to pretend he is Howard Dean and is not trying to define himself as an alternative." But spokesman Jano Cabrera said Kerry "is simply echoing many of the choices Lieberman laid out more than a week ago in New Hampshire."
Kerry also defended fellow Democratic hopefuls from some of Dean's campaign charges and claims.
"Howard Dean says he's the only candidate who talks about race in front of white audiences, but many of the candidates in this field have dedicated themselves to this cause," he said. He called Dean's claim an insult to the two blacks in the race, Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun.
Talking to reporters after his speech, Kerry stopped short of saying Dean was unelectable.
"All I'm trying to do is point out clear, real differences that matter to people who vote," he said.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
