"Top Dem: Prez race is about values"

Cincinnati Enquirer:

It won’t be complex and detailed positions on the issues that win back the White House for Democrats in 2008, Democratic National Committee Howard Dean said in Cincinnati today.

Instead, Dean told about 400 union members at the Duke Energy Center, voters will make up their minds based on the values of the candidates for president.

“Nobody has made up his or her mind to support a candidate because of a 26-page health care plan,’’ said the former Vermont governor, a contender for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. “I don’t even remember all the details of my own plan.”

Instead, Dean said, the Democratic presidential candidate will win because he or she is “on the right side of three core values – fairness, “strength and toughness,” and fiscal responsibility.

Dean, who made a quick trip to Cincinnati this morning to speak at a Utility Workers Union of America convention, said national polling shows the “vast majority” of Americas “believe the Democratic party is fair and the Republican party is not” on issues like health care, education, and worker rights.

The Democratic party needs to show American voters that its leaders “have the strength and toughness to lead this country. Americans won’t vote for a president they don’t believe is tough enough to defend us.”

But a Democratic president, Dean said, would not use American military might “to inject this country into a civil war like what is happening in Iraq.” When the Democrats retake the White House, Dean vowed, “we will bring our troops home.”

The 2008 presidential and congressional elections, Dean said, won’t be won by trying to “be like Republicans,” quoting a line from Harry Truman – “when a Democrat tries to be just like the Republican he is running against, the real Republican wins every time.”

“We have to stand up for our values and not try to win election by pretending we are Republicans,’’ Dean said.

Responded Republican National Committee spokesman Chris Taylor:

“Howard Dean continues to scream about his liberal agenda. What he should be addressing is the fact that his party has the lowest congressional approval numbers in the history of polling. It’s easy to see why, Democrats have voted in favor of one of the largest tax hikes in history, Democrats continue to retreat from the fight against terrorism and Democrats are unable to accomplish the goals they campaigned on last year due to weak leadership.”

Howie P.S.: This speech sounds like the one he delivered in Seattle earlier this week.