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Gephardt prepping for White House bid

By John King
CNN Washington Bureau

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt has been aggressively preparing to run for president in 2004, according to his advisers and supporters.

Such a bid would get a jump-start if his party regains the House in the midterm elections and he becomes speaker. But his top advisers say that even if the Democrats don't take back the House, they believe Gephardt still intends to run for the nomination.

Even as he campaigned aggressively for Democratic candidates this year, Gephardt spent an average of two hours a week placing calls to the three critical early battlegrounds of presidential politics: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

"There is no doubt in my mind he is running, none," said an Iowa union leader who spoke to the Missouri Democrat recently.

Gephardt advisers do not dispute that characterization, saying Gephardt plans to make a public statement about his intentions to run for the Democratic Party nomination within a month or two.

"You have to make a definitive statement by Christmas at the latest, probably a little sooner," said one top adviser. Another said Gephardt is being urged by top advisers to make his intentions public by December 1.

Two advisers said that in calls to key activists around the country Gephardt is making clear his intention to run and asking them not to commit to other Democrats already publicly courting support -- Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman and John Edwards among them.

Guiding the nascent Gephardt effort is his congressional chief of staff, Steve Elmendorf.

Also involved in the discussions are two longtime advisers who worked on his unsuccessful 1988 run for the Democratic nomination, California-based Democratic consultant Bill Carrick and longtime Gephardt press secretary Laura Nichols.

Top Democratic strategists are not confident the party will win enough House seats to regain control and put Gephardt in line to be speaker.

But even if Democrats did win the House majority, top Gephardt advisers believe he would still seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

One added this caveat: "If he can be speaker, he will face extraordinary pressure from within the party, and from the interest groups, to stay. I don't think he will, but there will be a ton of pressure."

If Democrats fail to gain control of the House, the question on the table for Gephardt would be whether to stay as the House minority leader while actively campaigning for president.

Most Gephardt advisers answer yes, thinking that at least for most of 2003 Gephardt could juggle both roles while gaining prominence because of his House leadership position.

Meetings with family members and top advisers are planned for after the midterm elections, but one longtime Gephardt adviser said, "He is running today -- and I don't see that answer changing."

Gephardt would immediately be a major presence in the field because of his deep ties to union leaders and other Democratic groups, and because he has worked diligently over the years to keep a network of supporters in place in Iowa.



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