E-Mail This Article to a Friend Kerry Left Undented in Debate BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004 -- One of Howard Dean’s strengths has been his emotional, vituperative criticism of George W. Bush. And last night, in order to salvage his fading candidacy, Dean needed to turn some of that venom on Senator John Kerry in the debate in Greenville, South Carolina – possibly the only chance he’ll have to share the stage with Kerry before the critical February 3 votes in seven states. (A last-minute effort is underway to arrange an additional debate in Missouri on Sunday.) Dean knew that. He tried it. He failed.

(A brief aside: unlike the debate itself, this article will not waste precious time and space on candidates who have proven they cannot win the Democratic Party’s nomination. Thanks to them – and commercial breaks, and Tom Brokaw’s interminably long questions – each candidate got less than 10 minutes to speak.)

Dean fired his campaign manager this week and then announced that lack of funding will prevent him from running television ads in any of the February 3 states. He also, apparently, is still trying to appear Presidential – i.e., sane – in the wake of his infamous Iowa scream. But when you criticize someone, you’ve got to do it with some bitterness – like you really take offense at the actions you are describing.

Attacking Kerry Thursday night, Dean sounded more like he was reading in class out of a textbook he didn’t particularly understand. First, he apologized in advance: "Just to make things a little less mellow," he said, smiling. In Kerry’s years in the Senate, Dean then said while looking down at his notes, "Kerry sponsored 11 -- no, nine -- bills having to do with health care and not one of them passed."

"One of the things you need to know as President is how things work in Congress," Kerry responded, explaining how he had, in fact, gotten legislation through on children’s health, AIDS, Agent Orange, mental health, and more – in large part by riding them onto other pieces of legislation.

Kerry also neatly parried Dean’s follow-up attack on his Senatorial ineffectiveness. "That’s precisely why I’m running for President," Kerry responded. He then segued nicely into a South Carolina-friendly example: "Senator Fritz Hollings and I passed three different textile bills – they were all vetoed by Republican Presidents."

Dean’s meek attempts at piercing Kerry’s armor may also have hurt Senator John Edwards, who is desperate to win the South Carolina primary. Edwards might benefit most from a Kerry fade, but can’t front an attack without sacrificing his carefully cultivated nice-guy image.

Edwards took one shot at Kerry during the debate. After Kerry suggested that the Bush Administration exaggerated the terrorist threat in order to sell its plans for war in Iraq, Edwards took him to task: "It’s hard for me to see how you can say there’s an exaggeration when thousands of people lost their lives on September the 11th."

General Wesley Clark also refrained from attacking Kerry directly, and gave a fair performance. Clark and Edwards will both need to decide quickly whether to turn up the heat on John Kerry before it’s too late -- now that they’ve seen that Howard Dean isn’t getting the job done for them.