This is the letter from the Kerry Campaign to the Dean Campaign:
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Dear Jeanni,
I'm distressed to learn that staffers from the Dean campaign are misrepresenting themselves as Iowa caucus-goers to gain advantage against our campaign. You should know this is not how we campaign in Iowa, and I demand that you take action to remove these staffers from the Dean campaign immediately.
Today, your National Campaign Manager, Joe Trippi was on CNN stating that people from outside Iowa were coming to the state to help Dean, and they never would lie in order impact the outcome of the caucus. If your hired staff are already misrepresenting themselves today in communities like Creston, how can any Iowa voter trust that your campaign will prevent volunteers from engaging in the same illegitimate activity on January 19th.
The Iowa Democratic Party has fought for decades to preserve the honesty and purity of the grassroots caucus system. Today's revelations jeopardize that hard work, and no Iowa Democrat should stand for it.
On Tuesday, a young man came into our Creston office and said he was a resident of Red Oak, Iowa. He claimed he was in town for business, working at a local farm. He asked numerous questions about what our staff did, the territory they covered, and what type of folks we were calling in Creston. Our staff was immediately suspicious.
The next day, a different young man came into the office and identified himself as Mark Evans. He said that he was the new manager at the local HYVEE, and that he and his wife just moved from Georgia. He started Asking questions about our operation and began snooping around the office. Our staffers were confident they had seen him wearing a Dean sticker around town, so they asked him why he had come into the office. He said that he was an undecided Iowa caucus-goer, and was interested in politics.
Today, this second man, "Mark Evans," returned to the Creston office and admitted that he and his friend had lied, and that they were employed by your campaign. He identified himself as Mitch Lawson, who moved here from Georgia to work for Dean. According to Mitch, "We came into your office to find out information and get your calling scripts from you."
In order for Iowans to trust that the caucuses will be free of further Dirty tricks, these two men should be asked to leave your campaign immediately. The sanctity of the Iowa Caucus depends on it. If your folks are lying today, what's to stop them from stealing the caucus from Iowa voters for Howard Dean on January 19th.
Sincerely,
John Norris
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These are some serious allegations, and I looked around, but havn't found a response from the Dean campaign on this. I heard there response on the caucuses, but if this is true, I completley agree with the Kerry campaign that these individuals should be fired or there is no way to trust the Dean campaign for pulling stunts during caucusing.
Now I'm not going to accuse the Dean campaign of this, although it seems very odd and the fact that the Kerry campaign is naming names means they must either be confident in what there saying or they will look like huge fools.
Can someone please point me to the Dean campaigns response to the Kerry campaigns allegations. If nothing has happened yet, please inform me of that as well.
Other than that, I don't want to comment or gossip on the issue, till I hear from both sides of the fence.
