In my opinion, it's revenge for Davis determining the outcome of the Republican primary when the voters selected their candidate on March 5, 2002. Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan, arguably the best Republican prospect for the office at the time, ran against human speedbump Bill Simon and lost - due to a convincing television "dirt" campaign showing how wrong Riordan was for the job. The Republican voters paid heed and voted for Simon. What most of the voters didn't realize was that it was Democratic Governor Gray Davis who bought those commercials - not Simon, who Davis considered (correctly) would be easier to beat in November.
Well, kids, today it seems the John Kerry campaign is going to use the same strategy on Howard Dean, who is now in a virtual tie with Kerry as the Democratic front-runner:
The presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry may be saying that it doesn't care about the new momentum of Howie Dean's team, but it sure isn't acting like it. Kerry's folks have begun intensive opposition research on Dean, sending staff to Vermont to pull together whatever dirt they can find out about not only Dean but also his wife, who continues to work as a physician in the state.Ah...so if the proper forums don't work out for ya, then it's time to mix up some mud. Swell.
"It's early, but not too early to start taking him down a notch," says a Kerry staffer. "We've gone head to head with Dean in debates, we've tried to shout them down and shut them up, and they are still hanging around. We're going on the offensive."
