Dean Draws Fire From Debating Democrats [View All]

[ProudToBeLiberal]

Dean Draws Fire From Debating Democrats
Rivals Target Front-Runner Howard Dean in First Debate of the Election Year

The Associated Press

JOHNSTON, Iowa Jan. 4 — In a feisty, first debate of the election year, Howard Dean drew fire from fellow Democrats on Sunday over trade, terror and taxes, then calmly dismissed his rivals as "co-opted by the agenda of George Bush."

"I opposed the Iraq war when everyone else up here was for it," said the former Vermont governor, invoking the anti-war position that helped fuel his 2003 transformation from asterisk in the polls to front-runner.

Dean's all-purpose rebuttal came midway through a debate 15 days before the Iowa caucuses, the first contest for national convention delegates who will select a Democratic presidential challenger to President Bush.

The narrow window for campaigning prompted Dean's pursuers to attack him from the opening moments of the Des Moines Register-sponsored debate.

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http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040104_1031.html