Will Dean's gaffes haunt him at the polls?
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Howard Dean says he would press for Iowa to be the first contest in 2008: "I support the Iowa caucus."
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From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in Washington:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Howard Dean's focus over the weeks ahead will clearly be the caucuses and primaries that will change the course of his career, and his party's future.
But now, he faces the dilemma which snags so many worthy candidates in the barbed wire of politics: his past -- specifically, comments he made on an obscure public affairs program in Canada -- in a series of appearances in 2000, while he was still governor of Vermont.
In the interview, Dean slammed the same Iowa caucuses he's now desperately trying to win.
"If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by special interests, on both sides and both parties ... I can't stand there, listening to everybody else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world," said then-Gov. Dean.
The comments are reappearing at a critical time, with the caucuses less than 10 days away.
Recent polls show Dean's lead in the state is eroding.
The candidate now closest to him in Iowa is not one to squander such an opportunity.
"The remarks he made about the Iowa caucuses to me are unbelievable. It would lead one to believe he is cynically participating in these caucuses," said fellow candidate Rep. Richard Gephardt.
Voters in the Hawkeye state are reacting with some bitterness.
"I think it's a bunch of baloney! A bunch of baloney! He don't know the people in this part of the country," said one.
Others are showing more understanding.
"Doesn't bother me. Interesting that it airs this close to caucus time. They're trying to drum up all these things about him," said another.
The candidate himself -- on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics" Friday -- attempted to put the remarks in perspective.
"This is election is not about what was said four years ago," Dean said.
He went on to say, "If I knew then what I know now about the Iowa caucuses, of course I wouldn't have said that."
Dean's resilience in the wake of other controversial remarks is something of a phenomenon on the campaign trail.
Almost on cue Friday, after his three-year-old ruminations on the Iowa caucuses splattered over the airwaves, he got a crucial endorsement in Iowa from Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.
Can other Democrats be so forgiving after hearing these opinions on President Bush from 2000?
"George Bush I believe is, in his soul, is a moderate ... So I think all those of us who are salivating and saying 'Ah ha, this is gonna be a one-term presidency,' I think that is a mistake," Dean said.
Time will tell if Howard Dean will prove to be a "Teflon" candidate, or if the gaffes will prove fatal.
