Gore for Dean

By Raquel Maria Dillon on Tuesday, December 9, 2003.

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With a major debate this evening in Durham, New Hampshire politicos were long expecting political news to break. But former Vice President Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean today was a surprise.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Raquel Maria Dillon has more.

GORE :20 he was the only major candidate about the correct judgment about the Iraq war. He had insight and courage to say and do the right thing. That's imp. That's what you want in a president.

Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean set New Hampshire's political world spinning. Local Dean supporters were delighted.
BUTLER :03 it's thrilling news, very exciting.
Dean supporter Debby Butler was one of several co-chairs for Al Gore's 1988 presidential bid. This campaign season she signed on early with Dean, and started emailing Gore about the Vermont Governor. She says the endorsement really means something because many New Hampshire Democrats know Gore well.
BUTLER :13 it kinda puts to rest the "he has no Washington support" the reason du jour that he can't win is that he has no Washington support. So this ends that argument and they have to move on to the next.

But other former Gore supporters say they feel disillusioned. Jean Fahey is a teacher in Claremont who's supporting Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.
FAHEY :20 and I'm very, very disappointed in Al Gore. He sees train rolling down track and he wants to be on Dean bandwagon. I was going to support him if he ran again, in hindsight I'm glad I didn't. this is very disheartening to me. I think it was very disloyal.

The conventional wisdom is that Gore's running-mate in the 2000 election, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, is hurt the most by Gore's endorsement of Dean. While in Durham preparing for the debates, Lieberman responded:
LIEBERMAN :21 I can't understand how Al Gore can stand with someone who stood with Newt Gingrich in one of the biggest battles of the Clinton/Gore Admin when the Repbulicans tried to cut the heart out of the Medicare program. That was wrong then and it is wrong today. FADE CHEERS

New Hampshire Democratic activists had also speculated that, John Kerry might get the nod from the former V-P. Former governor Jeanne Shaheen is Kerry's national campaign chair. Shaheen and her husband Billy campaigned hard for Gore four years ago. But Kerry's deputy campaign director Judy Reardon didn't show any concern. She says New Hampshire voters are independent.
REARDON :21 in a state like NH where the major candidates have been spending a lot of time, do tv advertising, and voters have chance to see them numerous times, I don't think an endorsement, even from Al Gore, on its own, will impact voters.

St. Anselm College Political Science professor Dante Scala says Gore's endorsement might make a difference with middle and working class voters who are undecided.
SCALA :17 Al Gore is household name among NH Dems, like Dems nationwide. For people who are just tuning in and looking for clues as to who to vote for, the fact that Al Gore is endorsing Dean may help them make that decision.

Scala says Gore's endorsement was well-timed - It wouldn't have meant much if he waited until the new year to get on board with Dean. He says that the endorsement might reposition Gore farther to the populist, liberal side of the national Democratic Party
SCALA :09 Howard Dean is making people choose sides within Dem party, interesting to see how that all plays out over the next couple months.

For NHPR News, I'm RMD.