Al Gore endorses Howard Dean.
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| Tue, 12-09-2003 - 9:17am |

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/09/elec04.prez.gore.dean/index.html
Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean's bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, substantially deepening Dean's fast-developing drive for dominance in the nine-candidate field of would-be challengers to President Bush.
"I'm very proud and honored to endorse Howard Dean as the next president of the United States of America," Gore said.
The announcement in Manhattan's Harlem, coming on the morning of another debate between the "'04 Dems," as they're called, could cement Dean's status as the leading Democratic candidate heading into the kickoff contests now just weeks away in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"We need to remake the Democratic Party, we need to remake America," Gore said.
"This nation cannot afford to have four more years of a Bush-Cheney administration," he said.
Prior to Tuesday's endorsement, a source told CNN that Gore -- the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in 2000 -- thinks a protracted primary campaign would serve only to help President Bush.
"In a field of great candidates, one candidate clearly now stands out and so I'm asking all of you to join in this grassroots movement to elect Howard Dean president of the United States," Gore said.
Dean thanked Gore for his leadership: "We have needed a strong steady hand in this party and I appreciate Al's willing(ness) to stand up and be one," Dean said.
Gore said part of the reason he chose to endorse Dean was his ability to appeal to the nation's "grassroots" elements, a reference to Dean's success in organizing and raising funds on the Internet and in small voter gatherings.
Gore also praised Dean's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The former vice president called the Iraqi war a "catastrophic mistake" by the Bush administration, a move that leaves the United States less effective in the nation's battle against terrorism. He said the United States is now in a "quagmire" in Iraq.
Gore said that he and Dean would travel together to Iowa following the announcement. Gore was to give a speech later in the day in Cedar Rapids. The Iowa Caucus is set for January 19.
Dean was expected to travel on to New Hampshire for Tuesday evening's Democratic debate s-sponsored by ABC News and WMUR-TV. The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for January 27.
The announcement came nearly three years to the date from Gore's concession in the 2000 election, when he won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Gore's vice-presidential running mate in 2000 and a current presidential hopeful, said he would continue to "to fight for what's right, win this nomination, and defeat George W. Bush next year."
"I have a lot of respect for Al Gore -- that is why I kept my promise not to run if he did," Lieberman said.
"Ultimately, the voters will make the determination and I will continue to make my case about taking our party and nation forward," Lieberman said in a written statement.
A source close to Lieberman said Gore, who was Clinton's vice president, did not call Lieberman to inform him of the decision.
Dean pulling ahead
With the Dean campaign gaining momentum, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows Dean widening his front-runner status among the eight other Democratic candidates.
The poll showed that 25 percent of registered Democrats surveyed support Dean as their nominee, with retired Gen. Wesley Clark coming in second with 17 percent. (Poll: Dean's New Hampshire lead increases)
In an interview before the news broke on CNN's "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," Dean played down his front-runner status.
"The pundits in Washington have been talking about me as the front-runner for a long time," Dean said.
"Well, guess what, the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Arizona and so forth get to decide who the front-runner is. So, it's nice talk but I'm not buying it."
Caught off-guard
Erik Smith, a campaign press secretary for Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, sounded as if the Gephardt team was caught off-guard by the news, as were Dean's other rivals.
Dean and Gephardt are the top two candidates in Iowa. (Gephardt calls for increased homeland security funding)
"Dick Gephardt fought side-by-side with Al Gore to pass the Clinton economic plan, pass the assault weapons ban and defend against Republican attacks on Medicare and affirmative action. On each of these issues, Howard Dean was on the wrong side," Smith said.
Saying he respected Gore and fought for his campaign four years ago, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said, "This election is about the future, not about the past." (Kerry: Bush administration arrogant, reckless)
"This election will be decided by voters, across the country, beginning with voters in Iowa," he said.
Paul Begala, a political adviser to President Clinton and now a host of CNN's "Crossfire," called the endorsement an "enormous boost" that would clearly give Dean momentum going into Iowa and New Hampshire.
"It's very good for him," Begala said. "I wouldn't go so far as to say it locks anything up, though, because people want to make up their own minds."
cl-Libraone


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Renee
>"C'mon now, you know as well as I do that anyone likely to vote for Dean wouldn't possibly understand why Gore's treatment of Lieberman should have anything to do with it."<
Then your insulting post shows >"Traditional values"<.
Renee
>"As if there weren't enough already. C'mon now, you know as well as I do that anyone likely to vote for Dean wouldn't possibly understand why Gore's treatment of Lieberman should have anything to do with it. Traditional values are a forgeign language to these people."<
The above post is asinine nonsense.
>"Just stating the truth. That's a characteristic."<
I lived in Tx. for two years so I know about >"traditional Texas"< values.
cl-Libraone
I wish people would call a spade a spade and just say "MY values".
<>
(US/Canada's healthcare systems)
It took me a while to get back to you on this. I'm quite busy trying to finish up some deadlines before Christmas....
There has been discussion for quite some time about reforming the health care system. It is often referred to as a "two-tiered" health care system. What Canadians want basically is EQUAL access to good basic healthcare for EVERYONE regardless of financial status. However, there are undeniable problems in implementing this paticularly when one considers the aging population coming up. What most Canadians want to see is people given preferential treatment based upon how sick they are (not on their ability to pay). The problem lies in how to balance the financial aspects to this without having a "two-tiered" system where rich people get great care and the poorer folks are left out in the cold. Numerous approaches are being looked at.
Certainly there are a lot of optional procedures that you have to pay for (e.g. If someone has a couple of unsighly moles they want removed....since this is cosmetic they currently have to pay for that....on the other hand, all of our required vaccines and annual check-ups are covered as well as treatment if you are ill). With a two-tiered system in the case of real illness, there is a fear that the rich will be bumped ahead of the line for things like cancer treatments ahead of sicker, yet poorer people.
Currently we do need an infusion of capital from somewhere into the system.
This link will take you to an opinion poll of Canadians and how they feel about a two-tiered system:
http://www.pulse24.com/Plugins/Web_Poll/DisplayPollResults.asp?PollId=331
Here's an article talking about health care reform vis a vis the US:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0BJI/5_30/61530863/p1/article.jhtml
"Canada Mulls a Public/Private Health Care System.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Family Pratice News, March 1, 2000, by Timothy F. Kirn
SACRAMENTO - Canadian citizens are considering the creation of a blended public/private health care system that could ultimately serve as a model for health care reform in the United States, Walter Glannon, Ph.D., said at a conference on health care systems sponsored by the University of California, Davis.
Under the proposed two-tiered system, the existing public sector tier would continue to provide basic health care for all Canadians, and a private tier would be created to allow those who could afford it to access services at private hospitals, said Dr. Glannon, an economist at McGill University, Montreal.
Officials in the provinces of Alberta and Quebec have recently begun debating proposals that would allow for the creation of private hospitals, he explained. The Alberta plan appears to have support from a significant portion of the public and has been spearheaded by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. That plan also would allow the government to pay private hospitals to perform hip replacements and certain other procedures that some Canadians currently wait months to receive.
Until recently, Canadians probably would not have even considered such a change because they take such pride in their commitment to egalitarian medicine, Dr. Glannon said. A two-tiered system would be unequal, but "inequalities would not necessarily be unfair as long as everyone was at a decent basic minimum," he said.
In recent years, budget constraints have forced Canadian authorities to close many hospitals. At the same time, Canada's population is aging.
In Ontario, the overcrowding at some hospitals has become so severe that patients are openly encouraged to cross the border into the United States for cancer treatment.
Dr. Glannon said that political ideologies need to be put aside to solve the health care crises both in Canada, where hospitals have become so overcrowded that patients wait days in emergency rooms, and in the United States, where about 44 million people go without basic health care coverage.
COPYRIGHT 2000 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group"
Edited 12/16/2003 12:58:22 PM ET by suemox
That's the problem with socialized healthcare. It always needs a large infusion of cash from somewhere.
Renee
cl-nwtreehugger
Co-cl: In The News http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=iv-elinthenews&nav=start
Community Leader
Just stating the truth.
Actually, it's not the 'truth'.
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