Too Fast, Too Furious?

Events on the Democratic side of the Iowa caucuses remind me of that movie, "Too Fast, Too Furious." And, the wrecks have been just about as big.

Every time you think you have a handle one campaign's goofy behavior, someone else cuts to the head of the line and the demolition derby starts anew

A few days ago, the big controversy had to do with two Gephardt staffers who tossed a Dean spy from a campaign event here in Des Moines. The Dean staffer, described in the media as "openly gay," alleged he was the target of a slur from one of the Gephardt staffers. I'm not in the business of defending Gephardt or his people, but I covered the Missouri congressman in the 1980s and 1990s, have known people on his official and campaign staffs for many years and worked against one of the staffers in question last year. I may not agree with their politics, but no one in that operation would condone that sort of conduct and I can't imagine anyone there uttering any sort of inappropriate remark as was alleged.

Interestingly, the Dean staffer must have been the long lost grandson of former President Nixon's personal secretary, Rosemary Woods. You remember Rosemary Woods, she of the implausible explanation that the 18-minute gap in one of the Watergate tapes was the result of her contorting this way and that at her desk as she accidentally erased the tape while answering the phone and so on. Well, the Dean staffer was there to tape Gephardt's speech but somehow his own tape recorder didn't pick up any verbal assault by the Gephardt crew. Isn't that suspicious?

On the other hand, one tape recorder that Dean wishes wasn't working was the one held by the Des Moines Register reporter when the former Vermont governor and soon-to-be-former-Iowa-frontrunner said that he wants to be the candidate of "guys who have Confederate flags on their pickup trucks." It was a slap in the face to a lot of people -- African-Americans in all 50 states, Southerners of all backgrounds and just about everyone else. If Dean thinks he's going to win Southern votes with that sort of rhetoric, he needs to brush up on modern America. In Iowa, that insensitive remark hurts him with Democratic caucus goers. Gephardt got off a great line, saying he wants to be the candidate of people "who have American flags on their pickup trucks." That's why Gephardt will be back in front with the next round of polls and Dean will be described as "formerly tied with Gephardt for the lead."

Meanwhile, back in the pack, John Kerry went pheasant hunting late last week to prove he's a sportsman. That's important here in Iowa. Kerry also used the occasion to rip Dean for supporting the NRA position on assault weapons. At least, that was Dean's position back in the '90s, according to Kerry. I'm sure Kerry's correct and Dean has flip-flopped on that position just as he has on the Social Security retirement age, Medicare and any number of other issues. Kerry's criticism of Dean doesn't get him back in the race yet, but his Iowa campaign is starting to show signs of life again.

In a sign of desperation, John Edwards criticized the other candidates for, well, criticizing each other. He said the intraparty attacks were taking the focus off the real target: President Bush. But, that's sort of an Iowa tradition. Whenever a candidate has been squeezed out of the limelight by two battling frontrunners, an also-ran is quick to charge they've lost focus. And, the media is quick to run the story. At least for a day. Then, just like clockwork, the attention will go back to the battling top two and the trailing candidates will start looking for a new charge.

Too fast, too furious? Maybe for Democratic part leaders' comfort. But, I suspect, you ain't seen nothin' yet.