Letters: Sep. 1, 2003

The Howard Dean Factor

"Dean has the courage to do good things, to restore faith to the disillusioned and the ability to make us proud to be Americans again." DAN GALLAGHER San Diego

I believe Howard Dean to be just the kind of centrist we need in the White House [NATION, Aug. 11]. I'm tired of the bickering over whether a candidate is too liberal or too conservative. I'm interested in electing a President who has a record of compromise that will permit things to get done without giving too much leverage to special interests. Dean is a fresh face with fresh ideas. He speaks his mind and his convictions. He is not afraid to be branded un-American for saying what needs to be said. JEFF ANDERSON Brattleboro, Vt.

Dean is a reincarnation of Eugene McCarthy. This is not the time for Democrats to do a Don Quixote routine. They need to find a real candidate who can win and enable Bush to become the next baseball commissioner. TIM CROUCH Lubbock, Texas

Dean is by far the best choice on the issues of foreign policy, taxation, health care and the environment. But best of all, he comes on like a scrapper! I've had a bellyful of wimps. ARTHUR HAUPT Chicago

I deeply appreciated your article "The Cool Passion of Dr. Dean," but I must correct one thing. You said I seem to regard the use of U.S. military power with "a mixture of contempt and suspicion." I supported American military intervention in the first Gulf War and in Afghanistan, which I considered to be a matter of U.S. national security. I did not back President Bush's attack on Iraq because I thought that the American people were not being told the truth about the reasons for invading. I do not believe any President should be given blanket authority to invade another nation unless the President sets forth clear and truthful reasons. That does not make me contemptuous of using military power; it makes me a candidate who is more judicious in the use of U.S. military power than President Bush and many of my Democratic competitors. HOWARD DEAN South Burlington, Vt.

You overestimated the importance of Dean's opposition to the Iraq war. Dean's support isn't made up only of the antiwar left. He appeals to voters because he challenges the cowardly, disastrous strategy that the Democratic Party pursued in the 2002 elections when the party's leaders refused to fight Bush's shortsighted, meanspirited policies. Like many Democrats, I have felt voiceless because none of the Democrats in Congress spoke for me. Dean speaks up. He doesn't apologize for what he believes in. That's why he will have my vote. DOUG MUDER Nashua, N.H.

You misread the Dean voter. We are not all young, white, upper-middle-class, suburban, East Coast--educated liberals. Some of us--like me--are black, middle-age, urban and politically pragmatic. We understand that Dean is not the flaming leftist some say he is. We support him because he did not cynically back President Bush's Iraq-war gambit. Dean speaks out for what he believes; he's willing to tackle difficult problems and try innovative approaches to solving them. He's not perfect, he has his rough edges, and we supporters may not agree with him on some issues. But we believe wholeheartedly that he is the right man to lead this country. TERRY LAKE Hayward, Calif.