Club for Growth has new ad assailing Dean
Liz Sidoti, January 6, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new television ad against Howard Dean's plan to repeal President Bush's tax cuts says the Democratic presidential front-runner should take his "left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs." In the ad by the GOP-leaning Club for Growth, an announcer asks a couple leaving a barber shop, "What do you think of Howard Dean's plans to raise taxes on families by $1,900 a year?"

The man responds: "What do I think? Well, I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ...," and the woman continues, "... body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."

The 30-second ad will begin airing in Iowa on Wednesday, running in the Des Moines media market until the state's precinct caucuses on Jan. 19. It is the group's second ad to hit Dean on the tax issue. STEPHEN MOORE, president of the group, which helps elect fiscal conservatives, said Dean has "LUNATIC ECONOMIC IDEAS."

The ad describes a group of "CULTURAL ELITES across America who are the ones behind Dean," he said. "But middle-class families with middle-America values, as in Iowa, are going to be very turned off by Dean's economic program."

Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman for Dean in Iowa, said Dean has support from a diverse group of people and that Moore is off base. "It's like he's insulting the people of Iowa with his tounge-and-cheek name calling," Leonard said.

Dean has called for rolling back all of Bush's tax cuts and using the money to provide health care and to relieve the pressure on state and local taxes. Dean has not indicated he would raise taxes beyond their previous levels, but taxes undoubtedly would increase if all the cuts are repealed and rates return to levels under President Clinton.

The ad is exempt from a year-old federal election law that prohibits certain issue advertisements from mentioning federal candidates in the month before a primary contest. That is because the Club for Growth is paying for the ad with money from its PLOTICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, instead of using what is known as "soft money."

The buy is relatively small, about $75,000 worth....

See: www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf

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The Appeal of Howard Dean
by STEPHEN MOORE

September 15, 2003, Volume 9, Issue 1
form the article, "Why he could be Bush's more dangerous opponent"

SEVERAL YEARS AGO an obscure Democratic governor from the politically inconsequential state of Vermont was the guest speaker at a CATO Institute lunch. His name was Howard Dean. He had been AWARDED one of the highest grades among all Democrats (and a better grade than at least half of the Republicans) in the annual Cato Fiscal Report Card on the Governors. We were curious about his views because we had heard that he harbored political ambitions beyond the governorship.

Dean CHARMED nearly everyone in the boardroom. He came across as ERUDITE, policy SAVVY, and, believe it or not, a friend of free markets--at least by the standards of the Tom Daschle-Dick Gephardt axis of the Democratic party. Even when challenged on issues like environmentalism, where he favored a large centralized mass of intrusive regulations, Dean remained affable.

"You folks at Cato," he told us, "should really like my views because I'm economically conservative and socially laissez-faire." Then he continued: "Believe me, I'm no big-government liberal. I believe in balanced budgets, markets, and deregulation. Look at my record in Vermont." He was scathing in his indictment of the "hyper-enthusiasm for taxes" among Democrats in Washington.

He left--and I will never forget the nearly hypnotic reaction. The charismatic doctor had made BELIEVERS of several hardened cynics. Nearly everyone agreed that we had finally found A DEMOCRAT WE COULD WORK WITH. Since then, I've watched Dean's career with more than a little interest and we chat from time to time on the phone....

....Republicans are said to be salivating over the prospect of a Bush-Dean match-up. They shouldn't get carried away. Howard Dean, warns John McClaughry, has been "underestimated throughout his political career. He has an uncanny knack for finding where the political capital is stored and walking off with it." The trick for Dean is to ensure that the ultra-liberal positions he has taken in the primaries, which contradict his sometimes CENTRIST record, don't cripple his ability to reach out to Middle American voters in a general election--should he make it that far. If he does, and then finds a way to zig-zag back toward the center, Howard Dean could be George W. BUSH'S WORST NIGHTMARE.

STEPHEN MOORE is president of the Club for Growth and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

See: www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/073ylkiz.asp