Spitzer toyed with coming out for Kerry - Newsweek

[Native]

"Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, Richard Gephardt and Wesley Clark have all gone to see him, hoping for his endorsement, NEWSWEEK has learned. Clark let it be known he'd consider asking him to join his cabinet, or even to be his running mate. Spitzer isn't backing any of the candidates yet, though people close to him said he toyed with coming out for Kerry, who impressed him when they met."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3770497/
January 5, 2004 issue

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Kerry's a former prosecutor himself

and very impressive. No surprise. No doubt Spitzer has the political heat of DDF to consider.

[WiseMen]

5. Sad, but a lot of officials are Scared of crossing Dean. IOWA Guv. for eg

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. that's true. There is a "Dean constituency" now to consider

and Gore didn't help.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[adadem]

9. Totally correct

I'm not going to any more Dem Party events or meetings until after the convention. As a precinct delegate I appear to be "targeted". I've decided to start marking letters "return to sender".


I watched Ghost last evening...at the part where the bad guys get taken down by the shadows...that's how it feels to be targeted...

[Larkspur]

13. Writing hand written letters, intimidation?

Hmm. The 2500 letters Al Gore received from Dean supporters asking him to endorse Dean didn't intimidate Gore. It excited him. Those letters along with the rest of Dean's energetic grassroots campaign convinced Gore that Dean had the plan and organization to beat Bush.

Kerry mortgaging his house to pay for his campaign smacks of the same tactics of a drug addict in denial and on the path towards self-destruction.

[blm]

14. Or an HONEST politician who the energy companies want disposed of

and are using Dean and his supporters to do so.

Koch brothers have snowed alot of people.

[Rose Siding]

27. If only the Washington insiders weren't so

personally financially invested in de-regulated industries!

Oh, wait. That's Kerry.... Dean got a contrib of less than 20 grand from regulated energy- which profitted as a result of functioning as a good citizen of VT.

[blm]

29. Yeah right...like you saw Dean's deal with Entergy. Funny that YOU are so

certain when the Conservation Law Foundation was prohibited from seeing those papers which they requested from Dean's office.

Funny that Dean is preventing THAT deal from seeing the light of day while his supporters swear that he's only protecting gay patients.

Funny that you believe the Koch brothers only had the welfare of Vermont citizens in mind when they got their sweetheart deal from Dean.

Funny that YOU would trust BFEE loyalists like the Koch brothers.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. So Kerry puts his house on the line- (and 35 years ago his life)

for something he believes in. I like his fight. The man's a fighter.

[Larkspur]

17. But Dean didn't have to mortgage his home.

He got his supporters' approval to opt out of FEC matching funds and our money to back that up.

Kerry mortgaging his home to fund more negative ads against Dean is a sign that he's got no way to inspire Dems to donate to him and is a major sign that Kerry has lost it as an effective leader.

[blm]

19. It's a sign that the media sold Dean as the liberal antiwar candidate

when he was neither.

Some of us are suspicious of the media and Dean because his election year rhetoric doesn't match his 11 year record as a compromising centrist who kissed GOP ass and those of his corporate masters.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. Kerry leads and others will follow

and a leader will risk all.

[Larkspur]

10. Yep, and we have the power!!!

Kerry certainly has felt the wrath of us Dean-ocrats (Dean Democrats) via The Bat.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. the power to intimidate

nothing to be proud of.

[Larkspur]

16. Well, why can't Kerry get his supporters as excited to donate to his

campaign as Dean does with his supporters? If Kerry is really the best person to be president, then he should be able to easily rally Democrats away from Dean, but he's not.

Dean doesn't intimidate us. He inspires us and gives us hope that we can defeat Bush and make a better future for us all.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

21. Dean's following has intimidated people like Spitzer

from doing what they really want to do- which in this case is to endorse Kerry.

[Rose Siding]

28. So you've speculated.

Any evidence of truth to your theory other than the dreaded campaign mail? There's a danger that rumors can get started based only on the suppositions of one or two. -and I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen.

I'm thinking Spitzer would *bust a gut* at the idea of his being intimidated out of doing ANYTHING he thought was right. He's done such important work, I'd hate to see anyone try to peg him as a wimp for deciding not to support Kerry, if it isn't true.

[blm]

12. I distrust ANY Dem who tries to take Kerry down. They must be FOR govt.

corruption and resentful that Kerry exposed it and the powerstructures behind the corruption. Not REAL Dems in my book would be so forcefully against Kerry. So, they must be corrupt themselves.

No wonder the Koch brothers dealt with Dean on their Vermont Yankee deal. They know Dean is a procorporate whore.

[Larkspur]

18. Kerry is sinking on his own

His IWR vote became an albatross around his neck and that was because he chose to ignore the Dem base who protested that war and Kerry underestimated the anger and frustration of us who are still angry at 2000 and the IWR vote.

[blm]

22. so you support the guy who supported the same measure

of the resolution that allowed Bush to determine use of force. Duh...THAT'S your disconnect on that IWR.

[WiseMen]

23. I Guess You Were not around when Dean was Slashing Away at Kerry

Howard Dean and his supporters carried out a comprehensive rally, door-to-door and online campaign to belittle, ridicule and demonize John Kerry, even as he was adopting many of Kerry's positions and anti-Bush rhetoric.

[mdmc]

25. not Eliot Ness Spitzer

He was quick to paint Dean unelectable for not suppporting the war.

[blm]

26. yes...Spitzer is not a fan of Dean's, but

I don't see him alienating the network of support that Dean has. Not when he has yet to run for higher office himself.

[blm]

2. Because Kerry exposed more government corruption than any other lawmaker

in modern history. That would MATTER to a man like Spitzer because he knows how hard and how unpopular it is to expose the biggest dirt that the establishment doesn't want uncovered.

He also is likely aware how little gratitutde there is for those who actually do the heavy lifting.

[HFishbine]

3. Funny

One of the talking heads this weekend (don't ask me who, I don't remember), predicted a Dean/Spitzer ticket.

[blm]

4. No. Mark Shields said Spitzer should be on any Dem ticket

with a question mark for the Pres. slot.

[HFishbine]

8. Yes, you are correct.

I remember now. You're right. Thanks for the correction. (Maybe I subliminably thought the question mark represented Dean.)

[Sensitivity]

24. He had better not endorse anyone if He wants to be V.P.