Campaign Notebook
Voters have clear choice, Bush says

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Bush also attended a luncheon that raised $1.2 million for his re-election campaign — only to be greeted by about 100 protesters waving signs lettered with a single word: "Jobs."

Bush took on his detractors. Speaking before 1,000 contributors, the president said voters will have a "very clear choice."

Democratic leadership, he said, would bring higher taxes and oppose "every idea that gives Americans more authority and more choices and more control over our own lives." Bush added that a Democratic leader would create a nation "uncertain in the face of danger."

"The man who sits in the Oval Office will set the course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy," he said. "The security and prosperity of America are at stake."

Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., blasted Bush for proposing the same economic solutions he did nearly four years ago when the country was experiencing a budget surplus instead of today's soaring deficits.

"The country needs something different from an economic standpoint," Ford said in a conference call arranged by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Dean urges supporters to stand behind party

WASHINGTON — Howard Dean says the only way the Democratic Party can win the White House is to stand strong for its principles and paint the Bush administration as "the most radical administration in our lifetime."

Dean rally in Seattle Washington state backers of Howard Dean have scheduled a rally at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Westlake Center, the site of Dean's biggest crowd of his campaign. Congressman Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, a Dean backer, is billed as the headliner for the event. The rally is designed in part to remind voters in Super Tuesday states that they can vote for Dean even though he has suspended his campaign. — Seattle Times staff

In an address to supporters yesterday in New Haven, Conn., the former Vermont governor said, "In order to win, the Democratic Party must aggressively expose the ways in which George W. Bush's policies benefit the privileged and the most extreme ideologues."

Dean said he plans to announce details March 18 on a political organization that will promote grass-roots democracy and support candidates who favor progressive policies such as universal health care.

He urged supporters to stay with the Democratic Party and warned them not to be tempted by independent or third-party candidates, a reference to Ralph Nader's independent run for president.

McAuliffe will step down next year as head of DNC

WASHINGTON — Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe yesterday said he plans to step down as head of the national party when his term ends early next year.

"I said from day one I will not do it (more than one term)," McAuliffe said yesterday from Arkansas. "I've done this for four years, I've got five little kids at home."

Also ...

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said yesterday he plans to seek re-election to his Senate seat in 2006 and ruled out any role as a vice presidential candidate or in the Cabinet, if his party wins back the White House. ... The Supreme Court handed a victory to Georgia Republicans yesterday when it refused to delay a decision that requires lawmakers to redraw Democratic-authored legislative maps before this year's elections.

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