CBS' The Early Show

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

HEADLINE: Dr. Howard Dean discusses his third place finish in the Iowa caucuses

ANCHORS: HANNAH STORM

BODY:
HANNAH STORM, co-host:

Despite a disappointing third place finish in the Iowa caucus, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean gave a very fiery speech last night telling supporters he would not give up.

Dr. HOWARD DEAN (Democratic Presidential Candidate): And you know something? You know something? Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico! We're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we're going to Washington, DC, to take back the White House! Yeah!

STORM: Howard Dean is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this morning. I see a smile on your face listening to that speech last night. Good morning.

Dr. DEAN: Well, you've got to have a little fun in this business.

STORM: Well, I'd like to talk...

Dr. DEAN: Well, I've got some great people-got some great people supporting me, and I just-it was great. I really enjoy-they're terrific people and they worked hard.

STORM: A lot of people described that speech as explosive, exuberant. Some people also said it was decidedly unpresidential. Why'd you take that tone after finishing third?

Dr. DEAN: There were 3,500 young people that came to Iowa to work for me, and they worked hard. We didn't get as many votes as I would have liked to, but they worked hard. I thought they deserved everything I could give them, and that's what they're going to get for the next eight days in-in New Hampshire as well. I'm determined to fight back. I'm determined to take this country away from special interests and do something about investing in kids and-and investing in education and balancing the budget, and that's why I ran and that's what I believe in and that's what we're going to do.

STORM: But this race in Iowa was yours to lose as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Weren't you disappointed in the outcome?

Dr. DEAN: Oh, sure, I would have loved to have been first or second, but if you'd asked me a year ago i-i-could we finish in the top three in Iowa, I would have been really, really happy for where we are. Look, this is a real struggle. I get out in front, every-they threw everything but the kitchen sink at me, and-or at us, rather. You know, folks don't like you l-i-lugging into the Washington club, and we're going to let New Hampshirites decide whether they want somebody from inside Washington or wa-want somebody from outside Washington to-to be the nominee and to change the country.

STORM: Your emphasis on the war in Iraq did not pay off in the end. Why didn't this issue resonate with voters?

Dr. DEAN: Oh, I think the other-some other candidates, John Kerry and John Edwards, just got a lot of momentum, and a lot of this is about momentum. They got a lot of momentum at the end, and that just carried them-carried them right through. You know, I had been out in front because I'd had a lot of support from folks both inside the Beltway and a huge corps of people around the country, and because I was out in front, I end up being the-the r-the target for a while. And that was-that was tough. But all you can do-you know, the voters always have the last say. They had the last say in Iowa, and they're going to have the last say in New Hampshire.

STORM: Polls showed that the voters in Iowa did not perceive you as able to beat President Bush. How do you convince the folks of New Hampshire that you are electable?

Dr. DEAN: Well, I think I may be the only one that's electable, because I'm the only one that's bringing significant numbers of new people into the party, and we need to do that. I've also-mostly the only one that's ever balanced a budget. I'm the only one that's ever delivered anybody health care. These folks from Washington are good people, but they've been on a com-on committees for 18 years, in some cases. I just think we need a new way of looking at things in Washington. We've got to balance the budget. Everybody in this race is promising everything to everybody. The truth is you've got to balance the budget, and this president's put us in an awful deep hole in terms of that. I've gotten us out of those kinds of holes before, and I can do it again.

STORM: In a word, do you have to win in New Hampshire to get the nomination?

Dr. DEAN: I don't have to. I'd like to win, and we'd like to add a whole lot of votes in New Hampshire.

STORM: OK.

CHEN: I'd like the voters of New Hampshire to send a pretty strong message to Washington that enough is enough.

STORM: Howard Dean, thank you.

Dr. DEAN: Thank you.

STORM: This is THE EARLY SHOW on CBS.

Copyright 2004 CBS Worldwide Inc.

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