Dean-McGovern Signs Sold By Republicans

By Brian McWilliams on Monday, November 24, 2003.

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Thanks to New Hampshire's rapidly approaching Democratic presidential primary, political yard signs have been sprouting up all over the state.

But there's one sign that has some people doing a double take.

The light-blue-and-white sign has recently shown up on a couple Granite State roadways, including an I-93 off ramp in Concord.

The mysterious signs read, "Dean McGovern 04 ? Conservative landslide."

At the bottom of the signs is a website address, deanmcgovern.com.

Who's responsible for the signs, and what are their goals? NHPR's Brian McWilliams filed this report.

Like many people, Michael Marino is pulling for Howard Dean to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

But Marino's motives are quite different than most Dean supporters'.

Marino is a Republican.

"We are for Howard Dean winning the candidacy, because we do believe that George W. Bush would beat Howard Dean, and we're hoping for a landslide."

Marino and his associate Bill Hubicki reside in the Albany, New York area.

They say they came up with the idea for the yard signs and the deanmcgovern.com website a couple weeks ago.

Marino says it's been a boring autumn for Republicans.

So he and Hubicki decided to create a little excitement by calling attention to the parallels between Howard Dean and the Democrat's 1972 nominee.

"George McGovern lost in a landslide in an anti-war stance. Howard Dean has the same stance, and basically that is our tool to go out there and energize people and bring back those memories of 1972 and a landslide and that it could happen again."

At the DeanMcGovern.com website, Marino and Hubicki are selling a package including the yard sign and two matching bumper stickers for $19.95.

Besides ordering information, the website includes photos of the yard signs on some roadways in New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.

Representatives of the Dean campaign say they're not worried about the Web site or the comparisons to McGovern.

According to New Hampshire press secretary Matthew Gardner, Howard Dean is his own man.

And Gardner says he doesn't think Republicans truly want to see a Dean-Bush match up in 2004.

"It's a strange tactic to attack someone that you claim you most want to see as your opponent. You?d think they'd attack whoever they think is their strongest opponent, and I think that in fact is what we're seeing here."

Another theory floating around is that the DeanMcGovern signs and Web site are actually the work of Democrats hoping to de-rail the Dean campaign.

But election officials in New York confirmed that Marino and Hubicki are in fact registered Republicans

John Kerry's campaign says it's not responsible.

New Hampshire Kerry spokesman Mark Kornblau called the message on the signs "rather convoluted."

But he says the signs do bring up what the Kerry campaign considers a valid point.

"Democrats want to unite behind a candidate who can take on George Bush next year, and Howard Dean is not that candidate."

So far, the DeanMcGovern.com operators say the signs haven't generated much income.

But Marino says he and his partner plan to give any profits they make to the Bush re-election campaign.

For NHPR News, I'm Brian McWilliams.