Kerry, Challenging Dean’s War Stance, Suggests Gore Endorsed the Wrong Dean

MANCHESTER, N. H. -- Democrat John F. Kerry, campaigning here Wednesday, accused presidential rival Howard Dean of flip-flopping on his antiwar views and suggested that former Vice President Al Gore was duped into endorsing “the wrong Howard Dean.”

Dean later conceded that he backed an alternative to last fall’s resolution that would have allowed President Bush to wage war against Iraq without congressional approval. But he said the measure, which never passed, might have averted war.

A day after a candidates’ debate dominated by reaction to Gore’s decision, Kerry sought to diminish the endorsement’s impact by shifting the focus to Iraq.

“If Al Gore is endorsing the Howard Dean who made the judgment at the same time as the rest of us, then he is endorsing the wrong Howard Dean,” the Massachusetts senator said.

Dean’s antiwar rhetoric came under scrutiny Wednesday as eight of the nine Democratic candidates crisscrossed this early primary state weeks before the Jan. 27 contest. Among the developments:

* Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark outlined a plan to hold down tuition costs and give local governments $40 billion in aid. He also admonished his rivals for trying to capitalize on their positions on the war resolutions.

* Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina pledged to limit how much money American contractors earn in Iraq.

* Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Gore’s 2000 running mate, told 400 high school students: “It’s you, the people, who decide elections -- not the pundits and the pollsters and endorsements.”

* Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri picked up the endorsement of Rep. James E. Clyburn, an influential South Carolina Democrat.

Gephardt suggested the president is insensitive to the families of soldiers slain in Iraq. “Bush found time to go to 34 fundraisers since the war,” he said in Berlin, N. H., “but has not found time to go to one funeral.”

Dean’s opposition to a Bush administration war resolution -- crafted with Gephardt and Lieberman’s help and backed by Kerry and Edwards -- has become emblematic of his willingness to challenge Bush policies while other Democrats fell in line behind the GOP president.

But the former Vermont governor rarely mentions his support of a resolution by Sens. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) that would have asked Bush to get a new U.N. resolution to enforce weapons inspections in Iraq.

If the United Nations had declined, the president would have been required to send Congress a letter -- not seek a vote of approval -- before waging war, Kerry said. He argued there was no significant difference between the two resolutions.

Dean acknowledged that the alternative resolution was not binding against the president, but argued it would have made Bush more likely to use restraint.

“Biden-Lugar required the president to come back to Congress -- not for a vote,” but to certify that a number of actions were taken, including more diplomacy, Dean said. “Had the president done that, we would not have gone to war, because then he would have been forced to certify with his word ... all the claims he made that were not true.”

In endorsing Dean, Gore cited the candidate’s fervent opposition to the war, calling him “the only major candidate who made the correct judgment on the Iraq war.”