Kerry Argues Gore Backed 'Wrong' Dean
 December 10, 2003 Associated Press by Ron Fouriner Manchester, NH -Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry said Wednesday that Al Gore endorsed "the wrong Howard Dean," accusing the front-runner of flip-flopping on the Iraq war. A day after a debate dominated by the former vice president's endorsement of Dean, Kerry argued that the former Vermont governor tried to have it both ways on Iraq - casting himself as an anti-war candidate even as he embraced a congressional resolution that would have authorized President Bush to go to war. "I think the great missing story of this campaign is in fact the truth about Howard Dean's statements about the war," Kerry said. "I don't know which judgment Al Gore endorsed yesterday." The Massachusetts senator said Dean backed the resolution by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joe Biden, D-Del., that would have urged Bush to get a new U.N. resolution to enforce weapons inspections in Iraq. If the United Nations had declined, the president would have had to make a formal determination that the Iraqi threat was so serious that the use of military force would be necessary. Kerry argued that mere technicalities distinguished the congressional resolution he backed and the one Dean supported. "Howard Dean exercised the exact same judgment that the rest of us exercised," Kerry said of himself and other pro-war Democrats in the race. Dean later said he supported the Biden-Lugar resolution and acknowledged that Bush could have used it to go to war without a vote from Congress. "Biden-Lugar required the president to come back to Congress - not for a vote," but only to certify that a number of actions were taken, including more diplomacy, Dean said. "Had the president done that, we would not have gone to war, because then he would have been forced to certify with his word ... all the claims he made that were not true," he said. In endorsing Dean, Gore cited the front-runner's fervent opposition to the Iraq war, calling him "the only major candidate who made the correct judgment on the Iraq war." Responding to Gore's statement, Kerry said Wednesday, "If Al Gore is endorsing the Howard Dean who made the judgment at the same time as the rest of us, then he is endorsing the wrong Howard Dean." Kerry made his comments as the Democratic field tried to diminish the significance of Gore's endorsement and slow the gathering momentum of Dean's candidacy, which was built on the perception that he was the staunchest opponent of the Iraq war. Setting aside the arcane mechanics of congressional resolutions, Dean has been by far the most vocal opponent of Bush's policies in Iraq among the major candidates. He demanded during the congressional debate that Bush produce more proof that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat, even as Dean conceded he suspected Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
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