Former President Jimmy Carter will offer words of praise for Democrat Howard Dean on Sunday when the two are expected to attend church services together in Plains, Ga., one day before the Iowa caucuses.
The event will be an interruption in a six-day Iowa bus and airplane tour that Dean is expected to launch Wednesday evening.
“Gov. Dean felt there were few more appropriate places for him to be the day before the Iowa caucuses than attending Sunday school and church with the respected former president whose successful presidential campaign was catapulted by the people of Iowa,” said Dean spokesman Jay Carson.
Carter is not expected to formally endorse Dean but will offer kind words about the former Vermont governor and his presidential bid. A show of support from Carter could help Dean in the South.
–John McCormick
DES MOINES’ STREET OF DREAMS
Presidential campaign offices are like dogs: They often resemble their owners.
And so it is along a two-block stretch of downtown Des Moines, where three of the four major contenders in Monday’s Iowa caucuses have rented office space for their headquarters.
Start on Locust Street. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s campaign recently had to expand to a neighboring building (previously the office of the real dog of the Democratic field, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who dropped out of the race months ago). Dean needed more space for his “Perfect Storm,” the thousands of out-of-state supporters pouring into Iowa to help him in the days before the caucuses.
A short walk down Locust is the office of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the early favorite now fighting to hold on to at least a third-place showing. His status is aptly confirmed by his office locale–a former showroom for an imported-car dealership, not the best choice for a Democrat given that the United Auto Workers is one of the state’s most active unions.
Two blocks away, the campaign of Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has repainted a former NAPA auto-parts store, a fitting spot for a candidate who often boasts of his blue-collar roots. “I still believe in America,” reads the hand-painted sign in the front window, “the son of a millworker can beat the son of a president.”
A similar message is implied by the campaign office of Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri. It’s not in downtown Des Moines like the rest. Rather, the headquarters of the self-described voice of the working class sits in a rather unremarkable stretch of West Des Moines.
–Flynn McRoberts
BAND OF BROTHERS
Waterloo’s biggest claim to fame is as the hometown of the “Fighting Sullivans,” five brothers who perished when the cruiser Juneau was torpedoed near Guadalcanal in 1942.
Their story helped inspire Steven Spielberg’s film “Saving Private Ryan,” and it drew decorated Vietnam War veteran John Kerry to Waterloo on Tuesday to seek veterans’ support.
Standing behind the Massachusetts senator as he spoke were the Bolanos brothers of El Paso, Texas, the only four brothers who served simultaneously in Vietnam. They were in the Army, Navy, Marines and Special Forces.
“It’s quite extraordinary that any of them talk to each other,” Kerry said, making light of the traditional rivalries among the branches of the armed forces.
Campaign officials said they expect 10,000 veterans to back Kerry in Monday’s caucuses.
–Dan Mihalopoulos
NOT-SO-STUPID CANDIDATE TRICK
Though conventional wisdom has it that Howard Dean will attract the youth vote to Iowa’s caucuses, Rep. Richard Gephardt headed to the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Monday night with hopes of appealing to a younger and more hip crowd than has attended his campaign events.
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The Missouri congressman read that night’s “Top 10” list: “Top 10 signs you’ve been on the campaign trail too long.”
Gephardt appeared to have trouble keeping a deadpan look as he delivered No. 10 (“Every speech begins: `It’s great to be wherever in the hell I am today'”) and No. 9 (“You’ve hired Pete Rose to manage your campaign funds”).
But he couldn’t resist cracking a smile on arguably the best of the list, No. 7: “You black out while campaigning in Nevada and wake up married to Britney Spears.”
–Rick Pearson
ADDING YEARS TO HIS CAMPAIGN
Polls show that Richard Gephardt has the most support among Iowa seniors, but that hasn’t stopped John Kerry from doing his best Willard Scott impression with older voters.
Like the morning-show weatherman who congratulates viewers on turning 100, Kerry began a recent speech in Williamsburg, Iowa, by calling attention to 95-year-old Democratic voter Helen Jones. “My word,” said the Massachusetts senator. “I’ll tell you, that is amazing.”
Kerry said he would create the universal health-care system that President Harry Truman promised in 1948.
“Helen remembers voting for this,” he said.
At his next stop, on the front porch of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s home in Mt. Pleasant, Kerry met a woman celebrating her 91st birthday.
“She said her sister-in-law is 103,” said Kerry, 60. “She’s a spring chicken.”
–Dan Mihalopoulos