Nation & World News
Last chance to derail Kerry
comes today in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin primary
is a likely last stand for
struggling Howard Dean
By Mark Silva
The Orlando Sentinel (KRT)
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The last
chance to stall Sen. John Kerry's
swift drive for the Democratic presi
dential nomination comes Tuesday
when voters in this reform-minded
but economically troubled state
head to the polls in what is expected
to be record numbers.
This is also likely to be a final battle
ground for either Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina or Howard Dean of
Vermont, who have snuggled to emerge
as alternatives to the Massachusetts sen
ator before Super Tuesday — the March
2 slate of 10 primaries from New York
to California.
Edwards vows a "one-on-one
race" with Kerry in the early March
contests. But in Wisconsin, where
any registered voter is eligible to par
ticipate, Tuesday likely will mark the
end of a tortuous road for Dean.
"It's probably headed for another big
Kerry victory," said Tom Holbrook, pro
fessor of political science at the Univer
sity ofWisconsin-Milwaukee.
After Tuesday, he said: "It will be
a two-man race in the sense that Ed
wards is the viable alternative to Ker
ry." But "it could be that this is the
nail in the Dean coffin."
Indeed, on the eve of what Dean
has termed his most critical primary,
his national campaign chairman,
Steve Grossman, has thrown his
support to Kerry.
Both Edwards and Dean are
counting on the independence of an
immigrant-built state with a legacy
for far-reaching reform to spur their
last-gasp campaigns.
Yet if polling is any indicator, Ker
ry is likely to overwhelm his last two
serious rivals in this state — the last
in a string of early primaries where
candidates could concentrate on a
single state.
Kerry, who campaigned in
snowbound Green Bay on Monday
with fellow Massachusetts Sen. Ted
Kennedy, is favored among 47 percent
of likely Wisconsin voters, a Zogby In
ternational poll Monday showed, fol
lowed by Dean at 23 percent and Ed
wards at 20.
Yet Edwards is the one who drew
attention in the closing days, win
ning endorsements of leading news
papers including the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel on Monday and
spending more on TV ads here than
either Kerry or Dean.
However, a strong showing by ei
ther Kerry rival won't carry anyone
very far. The campaign to win the 10
Super Tuesday contests will be
fought with television ads — and
Kerry the only candidate with big
money to air them.
"You fight against the calendar,
no question," Edwards said. "My re
sponsibility is to make Democratic
primary voters understand there is
a choice."
In this state long known for
cheese and for big-time football
played on snow — but lately known
more for shipping valuable jobs
overseas — voters have played piv
otal roles in presidential politics.
The success of peace activist Eugene
McCarthy in courting Wisconsin's
primary voters forced a Vietnam
War-besieged President Lyndon
Johnson to abandon his bid for re
election in 1968.
Larry Smith, a state worker in Madi
son weighing a choice between Kerry
and Edwards, suggests that many of
the 1.6 million voters expected Tues
day will go with a "winner."
"I'm wondering how many people
will be voting their personal choices
and how many people will be voting
a strategic choice," he said. "I'm won
dering how many people are voting
for Kerry because 'he's the guy.'"
The impression that Kerry is the
guy to beat is enhanced by a poll
portraying the decorated Vietnam
War veteran-turned-war protester as
a potent rival for Bush.
The latest ABC News/Washington
Post poll, showing declining public
confidence in the president's
handling of the economy at home
and war in Iraq, shows Kerry favored
among 52 percent of Americans,
Bush 43 percent.
All of this has intensified scrutiny
of Kerry and Republican attacks as
well, while Kerry welcomes full-bore
examination: "The more chances for
you to get inside my heart and look
at my character, the better," Kerry
tells a crowd in Madison.
But none of this has dissuaded
Edwards from insisting he can con
test Kerry in the March 2 votes that
hold fully one half of the delegates
needed for nomination.
Edwards, a mill-worker's son, car
ries his message of compassion for
working people to the union hall of
a Milwaukee factory that once em
ployed more than 10,000 and of
fered black workers in particular en
tree to the middle class.
"I take very personally what is
happening to you," Edwards quietly
tells workers circled around him. "I
feel that crowd in Washington does
n't have any idea what it means in
people's lives. They think of it as
a statistic."
In a more boisterous room, Dean
campaigns among diners at Mil
waukee's American Serb Memorial
Hall, where 2,000 pounds of Wall
eye and Icelandic Cod are fried up
on Friday nights — 5,000 pounds
on Good Friday.
Dean, once the party's presump
tive front-runner, hasn't won a pri
mary or caucus in 16 contests. Still,
he hasn't lost all his support. Don
and Mary Thiede, retirees in subur
ban Greendale, turn out for fried
fish and a nearly finished candidate.
"The Democratic Party can't af
ford to lose him. He's a breath of
fresh air," said Mary Thiede, holding
little hope for Dean in what could
become his last stand.
"The Democrats, the old boys' club
..." she said, '"Ehey did him in."
(c) 2004, The Ortando Sentinel (Fla.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
India, Pakistan continue talks
to cease ongoing turbulence
Of high priority for the
countries is deciding
the status of Kashmir,
divided between countries
By Liz Sly
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — India
and Pakistan formally resumed
peace talks Monday amid hopes that
this time their dialogue will result in
a lasting solution to nearly six
decades of hostility.
Spokesmen for both sides de
scribed the first day of talks in more
than two years as "constructive" and
"cordial," and said the meeting fo
cused on a setting a timetable and
agenda for future sessions that would
touch on all aspects of the nuclear
powers' hostility.
"There is a realization in India and
Pakistan that war is not an option,"
said Pakistani Foreign Ministry
spokesman Masood Khan.
High on the agenda will be the dis
puted status of the territory of Kash
mir, claimed by both countries and
divided between them. The talks also
will broach a range of other issues, in
cluding trade, transportation links,
water disputes and the dangers of nu
clear confrontation.
Khan said Pakistan will press for a
nuclear "restraint regime" to curb the
arms race between the two nations, an
issue given new urgency in light of the
recent revelations that Pakistan's chief
nuclear scientist peddled bomb de
signs and parts to Iran, Libya and
North Korea.
The resumption of formal dialogue
follows the groundbreaking meeting
in January between Pakistani Presi
dent Pervez Musharraf and Indian
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee,
at which the two leaders shook hands
and promised to talk peace.
Two years ago, the nations massed
more than a million men along their
border, threatening full-blown war, af
ter gunmen launched a December
2001 attack on India's parliament that
New Delhi blamed on Pakistan.
That crisis had a salutary effect on
both countries, and many observers
detect a readiness to try to find a ne
gotiated solution to their longstand
ing differences.
"There's a new resonance, a new
dimension, a new resolve, leading to
raised hopes that both sides are pre
pared to move away from their en
trenched positions to find a real
solution," said Tanvir Ahmad Khan,
a former Pakistani foreign secretary
who participated in past failed peace
attempts.
Pakistan has realized that its poli
cy of "bleeding" India by sponsoring
militant groups challenging India's
rule in a portion of Kashmir isn't
working and can't coexist with its
support for the war against terror
ism, he said.
India also has realized that it can't
hope to achieve the global recogni
tion it craves, as the world's second
most populous nation with a rapid
ly expanding economy, as long as it
remains on the brink of conflict
with its neighbor.
There is still much that could go
wrong. Musharraf and Vajpayee are
pushing ahead over the suspicions of
hardliners within their own countries
who don't want to make concessions.
Musharraf s life is in danger, as was
illustrated by the two failed assassina
tion attempts in December, reported
ly by groups linked both to extremist
Kashmiri organizations and al-Qaida.
Vajpayee, at 79, is seeking re-election
this spring.
(cj 2004, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/
Tribune Information Services.
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