Promises from Camp Gephardt that we will hear a “special” speech from Dick in Iowa at noon Friday. This is not his usual stump speech, they say, but one where “the goal is to affect the race.” No more details are available at this time, and the staff is promising they’re not giving any extra information to the press, saying watch and see.

In 1965, Republicans advocated a privatized Medicare program and voted against the Medicare program that eventually passed that year.

"Thirty years later, in the midst of the so-called Republican Revolution, Howard Dean actually agreed with the Gingrich Republicans. His home state newspaper reported time and again how Howard Dean supported turning Medicare into a managed care program.

"I don't know about the other candidates, but I think making Medicare a wholly managed care program, whether it's run by the government or private companies, is the wrong thing to do and I'd never agree to that as President of the United States.

"But in 1995, the Republicans were looking to do even more. That same year, the Gingrich Republicans confronted President Clinton and the Democrats and demanded a $270 billion dollar cut in Medicare. In fact, Gingrich shut the government down in an attempt to force President Clinton to accept those Medicare cuts which they needed to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Sound familiar? It was in this period when Gingrich said Republicans wouldn't immediately kill Medicare, instead, they'd let it ‘wither on the vine.'

"And it was also during this time that Howard Dean, as Chairman of the National Governor's Association, was supporting Republican efforts to scale back Medicare. Howard Dean told a gathering of reporters that the way to balance the budget was to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, and cut defense, Medicare, and veterans' pensions. Well, I couldn't disagree more with Howard Dean. This is not what we stand for as Democrats.

"I consider Dick Gephardt -- a man I campaigned for 16 years ago -- a friend of mine. But I am deeply saddened that he has chosen to resort to the politics of the past by engaging in name-calling, guilt by association and scare tactics.

"It is a sad day for Dick Gephardt when he compares any Democratic candidate running for President to Newt Gingrich and his divisive policies. No Democrat in the presidential race bears any resemblance to Newt Gingrich on any major issue. And for Dick Gephardt to suggest otherwise is simply beyond the pale.

"It is the politics of the past, and attacks like these, that have caused so many people to opt out of the political process. My campaign is about bringing those people back in, by offering a positive vision of the future, real solutions to America's problems, and by restoring a politics of meaning and a sense of community in political discourse."