FIRST-TIMING TWO-TIMER
Former Vermont Governor Howie Dean has always
claimed he was proud of signing the first state law allowing same
sex unions. But now that he thinks he may be a viable presidential
candidate, he’s running away from his gay-lesbian-and transgender
base.
Earlier this week Dean was in Des Moines, Iowa, meeting with
gays and lesbian voters. When asked about the meeting afterward,
Dean claimed that it was the first gay and lesbian event he had
participated in in a year. Perhaps he wasn’t aware the story would
get outside the state.
Regardless Dean, who has accused other candidates as well as the
president of lying, clearly lied, knowing full well he has attended
fundraisers and spoken to groups of almost exclusively gay,
lesbian, and transgender supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los
Angeles, and San Francisco within the past four months.
In fact, Dean’s own campaign heavily promoted his appearance in
New York, where it claimed Dean was the first mainstream Democratic
candidate to appear at such a far-left gay, lesbian, and
transgender meeting. Dean himself has made much of the fact that he
was using such groups to help him finance what was then seen as a
third-tier presidential run.
“Clearly Dean thinks he has a better shot of winning than he did
five months ago, and he’s embarrassed and fearful of his close ties
to the gay and lesbian community,” says a campaign staffer for
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Recall that Kerry
has been criticized by Dean over the past two weeks for supposedly
stealing Dean’s best lines.
“Dean should be ashamed of himself,” says the Kerry campaign
staffer. “If you get into bed with a group like these people and
use them for your own political purposes, you should at least stick
by them until someone calls you on it. Dean’s running away from the
gays before anyone has raised it as an issue.”
Dean’s staff, for its part, has not commented on its candidate’s
attempt to distance himself from a voting bloc he has spent months
scrupulously courting. But now that Dean has so publicly lied about
his meetings, look for gay groups to be more resistant to being
used by Dean for his political ends.
HILLARY’S CAPTIVE READERS
Now that Sen. Hillary Clinton’s book has topped
out at the 600,000 sales range, Clinton and her supporters seem to
have found a way to keep the book sales coming. Clinton’s Senate
staff and schedulers have made it clear to her Democratic Senate
colleagues and groups interested in having her appear at
fundraisers that she will only attend if copies of her books are
either purchased in bulk for free distribution at the event or her
books are made available for purchase while she is in
attendance.
“They told me Mrs. Clinton will be more than happy to sign all
the books and that she would spend plenty of time with those people
who bought them,” says a publicity director for a Washington-based
nonprofit who inquired about a possible appearance by Clinton early
next fall. “It wasn’t like they were telling me we had to have the
books, but the underlying message seemed to be, if we want a
commitment, a promise of the book sales would help us get her.”
Further confirmation of Clinton’s people seeking a quid pro quo
would be her planned appearances at fundraisers for Barbara
Boxer, Patty Murray, and Blanche
Lincoln, all up for re-election in 2004. All three will be
selling copies of Clinton’s book and she will be appearing at all
three events with the express purpose of signing them.
Also, the Democratic National Committee is negotiating not with
the publisher Simon and Schuster, but with several local
Washington, D.C. bookstores for purchases of Clinton’s book which
would possibly be used as premiums for donors. “We haven’t worked
it out yet, but we think by going through the bookstores the sales
would be reflected not as bulk and would insure Senator Clinton
would have a long stay at the top of the bestseller lists,” says a
DNC staffer.
It’s expected that Clinton will emerge in the top slot of the
New York Times latest bestseller lists. And Democrats have
made keeping her on top a priority throughout the summer.
