Presidential Campaign Update

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Phoebe
Zimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week -- a progress report on the race
for the presidency.

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VOICE ONE:

Many Americans can remember when presidential campaigns lasted
two or three months. The campaign this year will be one of the
longest in American history.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts already has gained enough
delegates to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party.
Elections at the state level decide how many delegates will support
a candidate at the party nominating convention. A candidate needed
two-thousand-one-hundred-sixty-two delegates to secure the
nomination.

Democrats began to vote in January for a candidate to compete
against President George W. Bush. The biggest day of voting was on
March second. It was called Super Tuesday. Citizens voted in ten
states. Senator Kerry won nine of them. Senator John Edwards of
North Carolina won the tenth. But he left the race after that.

VOICE TWO:

So Democrats have chosen their candidate early. This did not
happen by chance. Some states held their nominating elections
earlier than before. Not everyone thinks this was such a good idea.
They say voters may lose interest in the campaign. Election Day is
not until November second.

Democrats will meet in Boston, Massachusetts, in July to nominate
John Kerry. Republicans will hold their nominating convention in New
York City in August. President Bush ran unopposed for delegates. The
Constitution permits presidents to serve two four-year terms.

Early March was important for President Bush as well as for
Senator Kerry. The Bush re-election campaign began television
messages in seventeen states. And the president made some campaign
trips to seek votes and raise money.

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VOICE ONE:

John Kerry has served almost twenty years as a United States
senator from Massachusetts. As a young man, he fought in the Vietnam
War. He was honored for bravery. When he came home, however, he
protested that war. Yet a lot of people thought the Democratic
nominee this year would not be John Kerry, but Howard Dean. As of
October there were ten candidates. They took part in debates and
campaigned around the country.

Howard Dean, a medical doctor, was popular as governor of the
small northeastern state of Vermont. He resigned in two-thousand-two
to begin his campaign to become America's forty-fourth president.

VOICE TWO:

Some Democrats liked Doctor Dean because he opposed the war in
Iraq. They liked the energetic way he expressed anger at the Bush
administration. His supporters noted that other major Democratic
candidates had voted in Congress for the United States to invade
Iraq. Senator Kerry supported the American-led action when Congress
considered it. He says he voted for war because the administration
had warned that weapons of mass destruction threatened America. He
criticizes the war, now that searchers have not found any such
weapons.

VOICE ONE:

Political observers also praised Howard Dean for the way he
raised money for his campaign. He received millions of dollars in
small gifts through the Internet. Some experts thought he had a good
chance to defeat the president. But people in the state of Iowa
thought differently. The Iowa caucuses took place on January
nineteenth. Local citizens held meetings to choose delegates who
would support the candidates. John Kerry received thirty-eight
percent of the delegates. John Edwards finished second. And Howard
Dean finished third, with eighteen percent.

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VOICE TWO:

What happened? Commentators said
many people in Iowa thought Howard Dean sounded too angry. They also
thought some of his television messages were too critical of his
opponents. And then there was the "Dean Scream." The night he lost
the Iowa caucuses, Howard Dean made a short statement to his
supporters. Many were young people who had worked hard for him.
Clearly he wanted to say something to give them energy to campaign
in the other states. Howard Dean shouted over the noise. He waved
his arms around and ended his speech with a yell.

Television showed this moment hundreds of times in the days to
follow. The Dean campaign protested that this was unfair. But the
media were not alone. Many Americans said Howard Dean did not appear
presidential.

VOICE ONE:

The next nominating election was the primary in New Hampshire.
Again, John Kerry won. He received thirty-eight percent of the vote.
But this time Howard Dean finished second, with twenty-six percent.
Wesley Clark was third, with John Edwards close behind. Mister Clark
is a retired Army general and former NATO commander.

Then came voting in seven states on February third. Senator
Edwards won South Carolina, which is next to his home state. General
Clark won Oklahoma. That proved to be the only state he won. Senator
Kerry won the other five states.

VOICE TWO:

Some campaigns did not last long. Former Senator Carol Moseley
Braun of Illinois withdrew just before the Iowa caucuses in January.
Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri quit afterward. Senator
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut stayed in the race until early
February. So did Wesley Clark.

On February eighteenth, Howard Dean also left the race. His
campaign collected a lot of money. But campaign officials say they
did not spend it well. As a result, there was not much left to spend
this year. John Edwards left the campaign after he won only South
Carolina on March second.

Senator Bob Graham of Florida was also in the race for a time.
And there were two other candidates: the Reverend Al Sharpton of New
York and Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

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VOICE ONE:

Senator Kerry must still choose someone for vice president. Many
people would like him to choose John Edwards of North Carolina. They
say he is the best speaker of all the candidates. He was a trial
lawyer before he ran for the Senate. He is in his first term as a
senator.

Some people say John Edwards would bring balance to the Democrats
in the election. Senator Kerry is from a rich family in New England,
in the northeastern part of the United States. Senator Edwards,
though now wealthy, is from a family in the South that did not have
much money. Many people call John Kerry a liberal. John Edwards is
known more as a moderate.

VOICE TWO:

President Bush says he wants Dick
Cheney to remain his vice president. Public opinion research shows
that the vice president has lost popularity in recent months.

One issue involves the company that Mister Cheney once led,
Halliburton. Halliburton provides services for oil fields. Currently
it is also serving food to American troops and doing other work
related to the Iraq war.

There has been criticism about overcharging and a lack of
competition for projects. Halliburton defends its pricing and the
way it has received work. Still, some people say the company in
Texas has too much influence in Washington.

VOICE ONE:

There are different issues in this election year. Iraq.
Terrorism. Taxes. Education. Health care. But the economy plays a
big part. The economy is better since the last recession. But the
recovery has not created many new jobs yet. Another issue is the
loss of information technology jobs to India and other countries.

John Kerry leads President Bush in some public opinion studies.
The president is just beginning his own campaign. Estimates of the
amount of money that his supporters have already given are as high
as two-hundred-million dollars. That is a lot more than the Kerry
campaign has received.

VOICE TWO:

The two candidates have already begun to attack each other
through paid announcements on television and radio. At some point
President Bush and Senator Kerry will probably debate each other.
And there will be lots of travel. Some states are considered easy
for one or the other candidate to win. But other states could go
either way. These are called battleground states.

One thing is sure. Americans have eight months until Election Day
to hear all about it.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Caty
Weaver. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA,
in Special English on the Voice of America.