Dean says he never called Iowa Caucus-goers "extremists"

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean spent part of his weekend explaining anti-Iowa Caucus comments he made on Canadian t-v four years ago. Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson talked with Dean by telephone on Friday, and asked him if he was tired of telling everybody how much he loved Iowa. “It’s good for me,” Dean replied. “What I said four years ago has very little to do with what I now know about Iowa. I wouldn’t be in this race if it weren’t for Iowa because Iowa and New Hampshire are a places you can go, voters can look you in the eye and have some idea of whether you should be president or not.” Polls last spring showed a majority of Americans supported the war in Iraq, yet Dean’s campaign started picking up steam here last spring because many Democratic party activists in Iowa oppose the war, and Dean made opposition to the war in Iraq his major talking point. So, during that phone conversation, Henderson asked Dean is he hadn’t benefitted from the fact that extremists do dominate the Iowa Caucuses. “I don’t believe I used the word extremist,” Dean said. “I don’t think Iowans are extremist to go to the Caucus.” What Dean said four years ago was broadcast on NBC News. “The caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests on both sides on both parties,” Dean said. “The special interests don’t represent the centrist tendencies of the American people. They tend to represent the extremes.” Now, Dean says this: “Again, I hate to hear the word extremist applied to the Iowa Caucuses. I don’t think we really have any extremists that are doing anything in the Iowa Caucuses. Our people want their country back. Our people are new people. Many of them have not been in the Caucuses before. Those are just the kind of people we want in the Caucuses.”