Best known for raising campaign funds via theInternet, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean is lured to Rhode Island for two traditional gatherings.

09:45 AM EDT on Friday, August 22, 2003

BY SCOTT MacKAY
Journal Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- One of the reasons former Vermont governor Howard Dean has catapulted to the front of the pack in the chase for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination is because his campaign has harnessed the power of the Internet in a way no other candidate ever has.

While other campaigns play computer catchup and pundits speculate that the Internet may do for Dean what television did for John F. Kennedy in 1960, last night's fundraiser in the shadow of St. George's, Dean's old prep school, proved that checks from the white and well-heeled have a role in a campaign better known for raising money with a mouse click.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean greets supporters at the home of Jow and Jennifer Gould, in Middletown.

So far, Dean has received contributions from 93,000 on-line supporters at an average of about $80 each. Last night's fundraiser at the home of Jennifer and Joesph Gould -- two top administators at St. George's -- had a minimum donation of $250 and drew about 175 for wine and canapes under a billowing white tent on a pleasant summer evening.

Dean aides did not give estimates of how much was raised, but the Middletown event and a separate afternoon fundraiser in Little Compton easily pulled in more than six figures.

These are heady days for the Dean campaign, a medical doctor who served 11 years as Vermont's governor. He was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek last week. Public opinion surveys released earlier this week show Dean leading Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry among those likely to vote in the leadoff 2004 primary in New Hampshire. The American Research Group poll showed Dean with 28 percent, Kerry with 21 percent and other candidates trailing far behind. The poll taken between Aug. 15 and 18, carried an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Dean and Kerry have been neck-and-neck all year in New Hampshire polls. Dean is also doing well in the first caucus state, Iowa, where a recent poll showed him with a slight lead over U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

"I never thought we would be leading in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire in August," said Dean. "But it just makes us work harder because . . . it makes us feel like the other guys are going to go after me really hard."

Dean was introduced last night by two leading Rhode Island Democrats who were at each other's throats this time last summer -- former State Sen. Myrth York and former Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who ran against each other in the gubernatorial primary won by York.

"Is this the first reunion," Dean joked as he draped his arms around York and Whitehouse.

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline attended the event as did former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell. Cicilline said he likes Dean but is not ready yet to endorse a candidate for his party's presidential nomination.

As is the case in other New England states, Dean faces his strongest opposition in Rhode Island from Kerry and Gephardt. Gephardt has support from some in organized labor and the state's two Democratic congressmen, Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch Julie Pell arrives at a Middletown fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

Sen. Jack Reed is so far neutral -- four of his Seante colleagues: Kerry, John Edwards of North Carolina, Bob Graham of Florida and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut -- are all running.

Kerry has harvested some strong Democratic financial support in Rhode Island, with former Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino Jr. and former party chairman Mark Weiner having hosted sucessful fundraising events so far.

Dean gained early traction by taking the hardest early anti-Iraq war line of any in the top tier of Democratic presidential aspirants. There is a less than subtle 'I-told-you-so' in Dean's assessment of President Bush's Iraq policies.

Dean predicted months ago that Iraq could turn into a serious foreign-policy problem for the United States.

"I was very much afraid this was going to happen in Iraq and it has," said Dean. "Now we've got to make the best out of a bad sitution and I don't think the president is capable of doing that."

"He went in there on a lot of faulty assumptions and he told the American people a lot of things that turned out not to be true," said Dean.

"We've got to go the United Nations and get a resolution that allows other countries' troops to come in," said Dean. "But it means ceding some control over the occupation which is why the president won't do it. I think that's a big mistake because our guys are going to die over there because the president won't go to the United Nations.

"You cannot go it alone, even a powerful country like the United States can't run other countries," said Dean. "We're spending a billion dollars a week over there. Just think if we had that money to improve our schools or our roads or our bridges."

Dean criticized Mr. Bush's economic policies and called for a repeal of the president's tax cuts.

"We have to get rid of the all tax cuts because you can't pay for the stuff," said Dean. "You can't pay for health care, balance the budget and fully fund special education and have a tax cut. People get a choice, you can have a tax cut but you can't do these other things."

Dean said he will release a comprehensive tax and economic plan in about six weeks.

One Dean family member who will not be out on the campaign circuit is his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg, who has a busy medical practice in Dean's home state of Vermont.

"She will do interviews," said Dean. "But she won't be out campaigning full-time."

"I think it's important to undertstand who Judy is," said Dean. "She's a physician, not a politician's wife. What we are going to try out here is what most working women in the country do, which is have a two-career family and she has a real career and she is not going to give it up."

Dean says the only way for a Democrat to defeat Republican Bush is to use his philisophy of raising money via the Internet. But for Dean, and his youthful fundraisers, the Internet is more than a cyberspace ATM machine.

"The Internet is a great tool, but it's not a great tool unless you have something to say," said Dean. "The Internet is not just a campaign tool . . . the Internet is also a community. The key thing about using the Internet is that people get to talk to you, it's not just about me talking to them."

"We read the stuff that people send us and we think about it and we think about our positions," said Dean.