DATE=9/08/03

TYPE=DATELINE

NUMBER=7-37831

TITLE= DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

BYLINE=PAT BODNAR

TELEPHONE=619-0720

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=NEAL LAVON

CONTENT=

DISK: DATELINE THEME [PLAYED IN STUDIO, FADED UNDER DATELINE HOST VOICE OR PROGRAMMING MATERIAL]

ANNCR: Presidential hopefuls in the Democratic Partythe opposition party to President Bush's Republicans--took to the podium in their second debate this past Thursday. As we hear in this Dateline report from Pat Bodnar, criticism of the Bush administration's policy on Iraq may prove to be the center of the Democratic presidential strategy.

PB: The eight candidates for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party who took part in Thursday night's debate in the western state of New Mexico, joined forces to attack the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. Some political observers believed that instead of President Bush, the candidates would be attacking the politician who is leading to date in the Democratic Party's nomination race.

Physician and former governor of the small eastern state of Vermont, Howard Dean, has leaped to the head of the Democratic Party candidates with his withering criticism of the Bush's administration. This week, in the first nationally-televised debate of the presidential contenders, they joined Governor Dean in denouncing what they claimed was President Bush's failure to orchestrate international support for the war in Iraq.

There are nine presidential candidates running for the Democratic Party's nomination. Besides Governor Dean, they include former minority leader of House of Representatives, Richard Gephardt; Massachusetts Senator John Kerry; North Carolina Senator John Edwards; Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman; Florida Senator Bob Graham, and former Illinois Senator Carol Mosely Braun. Also in the race are Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and African-American civil rights activist, Al Sharpton, who did not take part in Thursday's debate.

Representative Gephardt helped President Bush win congressional support for the Iraqi invasion. But he has since withdrawn his support and now seeks an expanded role for international peacekeepers.

TAPE: CUT 1, GEBHARDT ACT., :24

"We've got to see that this situation is left in a better place. We have to form an international coalition to get it done. This president is a miserable failure. He's a miserable failure…APPLAUSE….FADE)"

PB: Massachusetts Senator John Kerry began the campaign as the acknowledged frontrunner for the nomination. He is a decorated Vietnam War veteran and backed the war in Iraq. Senator Kerry and other Democrats largely supported President Bush's decision this past week to go to the United Nations and seek more international support in Iraq. But the Massachusetts senator argued that the president should have gained such support before the war.

TAPE: CUT 2, KERRY, :36.

"I remember the lesson of Vietnam is that you need to be able to look a parent in the eye if you send their kids to war. And to be able to say to them we tried to do everything possible not to lose your son and daughter. We did everything available to us. I think there is a failure of leadership because this president did not pass that test in the way he rushed to war. And I, and others, warned him not to rush to war, but take the time to build the coalition to do what's necessary. Why, not only because you gain support for your country but you protect your troops in the field."

PB: The candidates generally agreed that securing the support of traditional U.S. allies in advance of the war. However, most agreed that the U.S. cannot now withdraw.

Florida Senator Bob Graham of the southern state of Floridawho did not support the congressional measure backing the war in Iraq--said the president had to answer a number of questions that the American public has about his Iraq policy.

TAPE: CUT 3, GRAHAM, :47.

"What will be, with international cooperation, our long-term commitment be in Iraq? What will we do about restarting the war against Osama bin Laden which we effectively abandoned twelve months ago. What will we do about those countries that pretend to be our friends but are our enemies in the war on terrorism. What is our exit strategy. How will we leave Iraq. Who will pay the 60 to 80 billion dollars. Will we ask our children and grandchildren to pay for it when we already have a staggering debt."

PB: Governor Howard Dean, who opposed the war from the start, sharpened the policy debate further by raising doubts about the veracity of the administration's rationale for going to war in the first place.

TAPE: CUT 4, DEAN, :57.

"The president told us that Iraq was buying uranium from Africa. That was not true. The Vice President told us that the Iraqis were about to get atomic weapons. That turned out not to be true. The Secretary of Defense told us he knew exactly where the weapons of mass destruction were, around Tikrit and Baghdad. That turned out to be false as well. As commander-in-chief of the United States military I will never hesitate to send troops anywhere in the world to defend the United States of America. But as commander-in-chief of the U.S. military I will never send our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to a foreign country into harms way without telling the truth to the American people about why they are going there. We need more troops and they are going to be foreign troops not American troops. Our troops need to come home."

PB: Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg says Democrats now seem to feel emboldened to criticize the president on his Iraq policy.

TAPE: CUT 5, ROTHENBERG ACT, :23.

"Most of the attention is on the post-war period, the vulnerability of American military personnel in the region, and the costs of rebuilding Iraq, as well as the internationalization of the post-war effort. There's no doubt that issue which was once seen as a great victory for the president, is now a target for Democrats."

PB: Political observers also say the Democrats are planning to make support for a more multilateral approach to U-S foreign policy a centerpiece of their campaign. But the question remains, whether American voters will notice, or even care about their message.

A recent national poll suggested that two thirds of American voters could not name one of the nine Democrats currently running. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone says, for now, Americans appear supportive of President Bush and his Iraq policy.

TAPE: CUT 6, MALONE, :27

"Iraq will remain an issue for the Democrats, but it is unclear right now how it is going to play with the public. Opinion polls continue to show that the public generally support what the President did in Iraq in removing Saddam Hussein. What the public is concerned about continuing American casualties and what is the endgame for the reconstruction of Iraq? There is growing concern about that, but in general, they seem to be standing with the president for now."

PB: An old saying in America goes, a year can be a lifetime in politics. And more than year remains before the presidential election in 2004. Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg says Democrats must make the most of that time to paint an unflattering portrait of the president.

TAPE: CUT 7, ROTHENBERG ACT., :36.

"Part of the problem is that when the public is asked by pollsters about George W. Bush, most Americans, a clear majority still see him as a down to earth, straight-talking, honest guy. While Democrats, Democratic voters, Democratic politicians have clearly turned on the president, it is not as clear that the average voter sees him as this deceptive phony. They don't see that. If Democrats could achieve that they would be in a much stronger position of defeating him in 2004. "

PB: For his part, President Bush will go into the election with more money than ever, and for now, support for most of his foreign policies. The nine Democratic presidential candidates must still try and establish themselves as viable candidates in the eyes of the public which is not focusing on the race.

The debate in New Mexico was just the first of six sponsored by the Democratic Party. The first real test of the Democratic candidates, voter caucuses in the midwestern state of Iowa are nearly four months away. Then the field of nine will begin to winnow.

Analysts say that the president's hold on the White House will loosen if he fails to get results in two areas: Iraq and the economy. The Democrats are counting on the president's failure in those two issues as well as the emergence of a popular alternative to regain the White House in 2004. They hope that scenario began this past week in New Mexico

For Dateline, I'm Pat Bodnar in Washington.

MUSIC: SNEAK IF YOU SEEK THE OFFICE, CAPITOL STEPS, 2:04, PLAY TO TIME.