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Miamiu1027
Atlas Superstar
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« on: December 08, 2003, 06:21:22 PM » |
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From CNN.com:
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore -- the Democratic party's presidential candidate in 2000 -- has decided to endorse former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for the party's 2004 presidential nomination, Democratic sources told CNN Monday.
Events are being planned for Tuesday in New York and Iowa -- and the dramatic endorsement is likely to cement Dean's status as the leading Democratic candidate heading into the kickoff contests now just weeks away in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Dean's campaign declined public comment. But a source close to the former vice president told CNN that Gore decided to endorse Dean.
Another source said the endorsement would occur at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Harlem, and that the two would then travel together to Iowa.
Reacting to the news, Erik Smith, a campaign press secretary for Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, said, "Dick Gephardt fought side-by-side with Al Gore to pass the Clinton economic plan, pass the assault weapons ban and defend against Republican attacks on Medicare and affirmative action. On each of these issues, Howard Dean was on the wrong side."
Dean and Gephardt are the top two candidates in Iowa.
Underdog candidate Al Sharpton said endorsements don't carry the weight they once did. "Gore can support who he wants," Sharpton told CNN.
Paul Begala, a political adviser for President Clinton and now a host of CNN's "Crossfire," called the endorsement an "enormous boost" that would clearly give Dean momentum going into Iowa and New Hampshire.
"It's very good for him," Begala said, adding, "I wouldn't go so far as to say it locks anything up though, because people want to make up their own minds."
GO dean GO!!
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