http://www.post-gazette.com/election/20030729dems0729p1.aspDemocratic presidential candidates joined in a round of tag-team Bush-bashing yesterday, taking turns flaying his administration's performance on education, the economy and national security.
Seven Democrats spoke on the same stage the president had occupied just hours earlier, addressing delegates of the National Urban League conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.
Had he stuck around, the president wouldn't have liked what he heard.
Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, said Bush had played the race card on affirmative action. The Rev. Al Sharpton accused Bush of lying. All of the candidates bemoaned the administration's record of job losses, while U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Bush had displayed "a serious case of wishful thinking" in predicting the economy had begun to turn around.
Bush elicited a polite if not electric reception from the predominantly African-American group in late-morning remarks that highlighted his support for faith-based institutions amid a familiar defense of his administration's policies on the economy and in response to terrorism.
Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, chats with Mark McLawhorn, 18, a student from South Carolina and a Dean supporter, as the candidate makes his way into the convention center for yesterday's forum. (John Heller, Post-Gazette)