Nation

Dean and Gephardt turn attack ads on fast-gaining Kerry

GUTTENBERG, Iowa - Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt on Friday withdrew harsh television ads attacking each other, switching instead to sharp but indirect new assaults accusing their Iowa caucus rival John Kerry of failing to support some federal subsidies for agriculture. The shift in direction came as the Democratic contenders headed into the final weekend of campaigning before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses on Monday, the first big test of whether Dean, who has dominated his rivals for months, can transform his formidable Internet-fueled campaign operation into electoral success. Even as he and Dean declared a truce in the air war, Gephardt's campaign disclosed that it had sent mailings criticizing Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, for voting against a measure to require use of ethanol fuel, made from corn, in 1994. And Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, campaigning with Dean, went after Kerry, without naming him, for proposing in 1996 to eliminate or greatly reduce the size of the Agriculture Department as a means of reducing bureaucratic waste. Dean aides later sought out reporters to make sure they knew that Harkin was referring to Kerry, whom they also faulted for voting with Republicans in favor of an amendment to the 1996 farm bill that would have phased out federal farm supports over seven years. The major candidates' public messages on the stump, by contrast, were upbeat and optimistic, adhering to Iowa tradition that rewards candidates who take the high road. But in a contest that has long been as much about expectations as about actual results, the attacks on Kerry by the Dean and Gephardt campaigns were the surest sign yet that the expectations were changing, and that both now felt threatened by Kerry. "There's no doubt about it, that they're trying to slow our momentum," said Kerry's spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter. "The real deal is that John Kerry was trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse at the Agriculture Department." She said that Kerry had opposed requiring ethanol use in 1994, "when there wasn't enough ethanol produced to use," and he ultimately voted with most Democrats against the 1996 "Freedom to Farm" bill that phased out subsidies. The fourth major candidate in the race, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who has waged a doggedly upbeat campaign here, took credit for the decision by Gephardt and Dean to pull their negative ads, and called on them to halt the mailing of flyers Edwards has deemed negative as well. All week, public and private surveys have shown Kerry moving up, and he has drawn overflow crowds and sympathetic audiences of undecided voters as he spent 20 hours a day crisscrossing the state. "It's focus time," Kerry said as his bus zoomed across northeastern Iowa, and he displayed a lucky four-leaf clover that a farmer had given him on Thursday.