CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
The Democratic primary season hasn’t become so heated that the
various campaign are openly stalking one another. True, there were
reports yesterday about Howard Dean staffers being
assaulted by Dick Gephardt staffers at Iowa
events. But that shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, given
the high stakes for Gephardt in that state.
More surprising is the distinct lack of interest being shown in
Sen. John Kerry by younger Democratic voters,
particularly on college campuses.
Kerry hasn’t been rating large crowds on his occasional forays
to universities. His recent trip to the University of New Hampshire
drew spartan crowds and little attention. “He just didn’t network
those folks the way other candidates did,” says a Howie Dean
volunteer in California. “We pushed hard on college Democratic
groups, environmental groups, those types. Kerry went after the
establishment.”
Kerry’s campaign, many observers agree, lacks any sense of
political energy beyond the hum of professionals going about their
work. None of the youthful exuberance that younger volunteers and
grassroots types usually bring to a campaign. Just what that
feeling of joie de vivre — or lack of it — can mean
became abundantly clear in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this
week.
Dean was appearing at the University of Colorado. His
appearances on campuses usually draw at least a few hundred, and
more at his larger rallies. The Kerry campaign, attempting to put
up some sort of resistance, organized a waffle breakfast — Dean
waffles on issues, get it? — to take place at about the same time
as the Dean event. And what did the Kerry campaign’s efforts
achieve?
No more than a dozen attendees. The event was planned by Kerry’s
University of Colorado student supporters, who number about, well,
a dozen.
Meanwhile, Dean was speaking before hundreds of students, who
cheered on Howie’s announcement that he was a metrosexual, even
though he later claimed he didn’t know what that meant.
“If Governor Dean pulls this thing off [the Democratic
nomination], it is going to be his outreach to younger voters that
helps put him over the top,” says the Dean volunteer. “We’re the
ones who are driving this thing on the Internet and on the college
campuses. The other candidates aren’t doing much at all.”
EVERY TOM, BOOK, AND HILLARY
Unlike his colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
the best-selling author, Sen. Tom Daschle doesn’t
shake down fellow Democrats for book sales. Very quietly, Daschle
and his publicity team will embark next week on a national book
tour to tout Daschle’s tome on the changing political landscape
wrought by the presidency of George W. Bush.
Clinton, on her book tour, offered to make appearances on behalf
of Democratic candidates with the understanding that her book,
entitled “Living Hysteria” (or something like that), would be sold
at such events or purchased in bulk prior to her appearance.
Daschle isn’t doing any of that. In fact, he currently isn’t
slated to make any appearances on behalf of Democratic candidates.
“Right now, he’s only fundraising for himself,” says a Daschle
adviser. “He’s expecting a tough re-election race and needs the
money.”
A more cynical type might regard Daschle’s lack of collegial
fundraising as a sign that party regulars don’t want to be seen
with their drab minority leader, who has overseen the fall of his
party from majority to minority status in the Senate.
Not true, says the aide. “There will be plenty of time to help
others. This book is the chance for the leader to help
himself.”
