Brownstein - Desperate to Stop Dean, His Rivals Escalate Criticism

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dems13dec13,1,6657112.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Democratic hopefuls are looking for a chink in the armor -- and clues to their own strengths.

By Ronald Brownstein, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Inexperienced. Unelectable. Shifty. Insular in his cultural views. Elitist in his economic views.

Those are the arguments Howard Dean's rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination are hurling against him as they try to slow his accelerating momentum in the final five weeks before voting begins.

Other top-tier candidates in the race — and two of the three long-shots — are now trying to raise doubts about Dean on a panoramic array of issues. The attacks are coming from so many angles in part because they are shaped by his rivals' contrasting calculations about where they might draw their own support. Yet the intensifying assault is powered by the common belief that if someone can't find a chink in Dean's armor soon, he may be impossible to stop.

"There's a very narrow window for everyone else," a senior advisor to one of Dean's rivals said.

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[dfong63]

1. pathetic

[realFedUp]

2. cryptic

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