In a recent interview published (and I think sponsored partially) by Salon.com, Dennis Kucinich took on Dean this way:
Q: Howard Dean, you're referring to.
Frankly. And I think that it's time to get a second opinion. Now, Governor Dean has said that he wants everyone to have health insurance. We must look at that description. Health insurance. That means you can have health insurance, but you're still going to be stuck with an insurance company that's going to raise your premiums, increase your co-pays, increase your deductibles and shrink you area of coverage. Because insurance companies make money not providing healthcare. My plan is to take it out of the hands of the private insurers and out of the hands of the pharmaceutical companies, and create a not-for-profit public healthcare system where everyone is cared for. That's a major difference between Governor Dean and me, and I think it's going to be one of those defining issues in this election.
While Dennis didn't answer the part of the original question that said how he would get his plan by a likely Republican Congress, and he didn't mention that Dean has said he would sign Single Payer if it made it to his desk, this is the level on which the debate among the Democrats should be going. This is a perfectly fair attack. Dennis is issues. Dean is issues. Edwards is issues. Clark is issues. Even Lieberman is issues, really. But Kerry is about Dean. And Gephardt is too.