Dean hits GOP on 'honest living'

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Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday said many Republicans don't make an "honest living" -- the sharpest barb in a campaign-style speech to a conference of liberal activists.

Speaking to the Campaign for America's Future, Mr. Dean called for easier rules for voting, saying it is difficult for working parents to make it to the polls on time and wait to vote.

"Well, Republicans, I guess, can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives," Mr. Dean said. "But for ordinary working people, who have to work eight hours a day, they have kids, they got to get home to those kids, the idea of making them stand for eight hours to cast their ballot for democracy is wrong."

The Democratic National Committee later defended the former Vermont governor's remarks as a comment on the state of the economy.

"Governor Dean was simply pointing out what everyone already knows: People are working harder for less money thanks to the Bush economy. Republicans clearly don't understand that," said DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney.

Mr. Dean's remarks stand in contrast to a report released Tuesday by Third Way, a centrist Democratic advocacy group, that said Democrats are facing a crisis among middle-class voters and found that Republicans -- at both the presidential and congressional levels -- have a commanding lead among white middle-class households.

Mr. Dean's comment was reminiscent of when Teresa Heinz Kerry, during the 2004 presidential campaign, questioned whether first lady Laura Bush had ever worked.

"I don't know that she's ever had a real job -- I mean, since she's been grown up," Mrs. Kerry said of the former school librarian.

Mrs. Kerry, wife of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, apologized after her remarks appeared in USA Today.

Mr. Dean, a candidate for his party's 2004 presidential nomination, reprised his campaign theme of reaching out to all voters and said his party must make more of an effort in all 50 states.