Gail Morrison

To the editor,

Above all else, vote and be counted. Before marking your ballot, consider that it is Howard Dean who early on defined the issues of this campaign and has kept them in the fore thus far.

Think of the climate in government about one year ago and you will remember there was no forceful challenge on the issues to Bush and the Republicans in Congress. The "war" proclaimed by President G.W. Bush justified everything and to question was unpatriotic.

The phrase "Bush-lite" (not Bush-like) was early used by Dr. Howard Dean to challenge complacency and capitulation among Democrats in Washington. Since that time, most candidates have tried to use the phrase themselves.

The early Dean hammered on civil liberties issues following 9-11; opposition to a policy of pre-emptive strikes; opposition to the war in Iraq and the killing of Iraqi innocents. While others were silent, Dean talked about our national thirst for oil and making changes in our fuels.

Health care for all was the Doctor's first issue because he'd delivered on the promise in Vermont. Now health care is a huge issue. Only Dean vows immediate relief.

Who better than a doctor to advance a hands off, medical ethics perspective on a woman's right to choose as Dean has done from the beginning. We know access to abortion will be an issue in November.

In education, who voted for No Child Left Behind and who opposed it and made it an issue? Dean first protested the rise in college tuitions tied to our poor economy and spoke against elitist college funding policies and vowed to fund the Pell Grants so every student capable of going to college is able to attend college.

Who first talked about increased federal funding for special education so that public schools can thrive and all kids have a chance? It was Dean.

Civil marriage vs. civil unions, the cutting edge of today's civil rights movement, became an issue because of Dean. Would the question be asked but for Dean?

Dean enlivened the debate around campaign finance reform. What could be more convincing than actually funding a campaign through myriad small contributions.

Tying together revitalization of the infrastructure and the economy to revitalization of the business community. Who had heard that as an campaign issue before Dean?

Dean has demonstrated that he can run a government and has made balancing our national budget a priority, as under Clinton, so we do not mortgage our children's future. That will be a winning issue against a spending-happy incumbent president and Dean raised the issue.

Dean has promised a foreign policy based on cooperation rather than confrontation and better relations with our allies. Dean knows that we are tired of a foreign policy based on fear rather than cooperation and so has spoken most forcefully against the go-it-alone, red/orange/yellow alert, defensive policy created by this administration.

Dean does not test the wind and then declare a position. The above issues are the issues today because Dean arrived early and spoke forcefully on them to gatherings in homes, in front of town meetings and to the media throughout the state.

Dean has led the way and leadership is presidential. As Democrats and Independent voters, I urge that we recognize that Dean has led the way in this primary. Dean has led in defining the issues that will be debated this autumn and Dean should be the candidate to debate those issues and lead us altogether back into the White House.

Gail Morrison

Tilton