The Massachusetts senator’s campaign for months lacked message and passion, but has suddenly gained momentum and appeal, making clear headway among undecided voters.Already Mr Dean has had to confront a growing challenge from the retired general Wesley Clark. A Kerry resurgence would only add to Mr Dean’s problems and further dent the aura of inevitability that surrounded his candidacy.. The race for votes in Iowa is tightening by the day – and so is the chase by the Democratic candidates for celebrity endorsements. They may not change many minds but the battle for them oddly mirrors the real thing on the campaign trail. Apart from heavyweight politicians such as Al Gore and Iowa’s home senator Tom Harkin, a clutch of Hollywood luminaries have rallied to the former Vermont governor’s banner.
Among them are Martin Sheen (player of the fictional President Josiah Bartlet in NBC’s The West Wing), Michael Douglas, Paul Newman, Robin Williams and Susan Sarandon.But, in recent days, Wesley Clark and John Kerry have been closing the gap, just as they have been narrowing Dean’s poll leads in New Hampshire and Iowa respectively.General Clark has attracted backers as different as Madonna and Sherron Watkins, the whistleblower in the Enron scandal. Other “Clarkies” include Alan Alda and Christopher Guest.John Kerry, too, has both political and Hollywood types lining up behind him – among them his fellow Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy, former ambassador Joe Wilson (the whistleblower on Iraq’s non-existent nuclear programme), as well as the actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Uma Thurman.Even the stodgy and pizazz-free Richard Gephardt has raked in some of the glitterati, such as Barry Manilow and Chevy Chase. But the dark horse is Dennis Kucinich, the elfin-like Congressman from Ohio. His ultra liberal, get-the-troops-home platform has the support of the likes of Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and Danny Glover among others.. Michael Jackson today pleaded not guilty to child abuse charges and was admonished by the judge for arriving late to his arraignment amid a swarm of fans and international media outside the court in California. Jackson, you have started out on the wrong foot here,” Superior Court Judge Rodney S Melville told the singer “.. I want to advise you that I will not put up with that. It’s an insult to the court.”Minutes earlier, fans cheered and chanted as Jackson arrived pop-star style in a caravan of vehicles in the smalll town of Santa Maria.
Wearing a dark suit, glittery shoes and big sunglasses, he shook hands with fans and waved as he slowly made his way into the courthouse.The arraignment was his first court appearance since being charged last month. It drew a horde of media and fans to the usually quiet Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County, where the pop star is alleged to have committed the crimes at his Neverland Ranch.Fans drove in from Los Angeles and Las Vegas in a “Caravan of Love,” using cars and chartered buses. Jackson later invited them back to the ranch.”There’s strength in numbers,” said supporter Amber McCrary, 26, who boarded a bus in suburban Los Angeles with her two little children.Melanie Dowland, a 28-year-old Jackson fan, said she travelled from London for the arraignment.”I campaign for everything I believe in,” Ms Dowland said “And I believe in Michael. He stands for so much – all the goodness in the world and innocence.”Jackson, who has maintained he is innocent, was charged last month with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent, reportedly wine. He was freed on $3 million bail.The alleged victim was a cancer patient Jackson had befriended and who had overnight stays at Neverland Ranch. The boy appeared in the same TV documentary in which Jackson defended letting children sleep in his bed as “sweet” and non-sexual.Among Jackson’s strongest supporters have been his family members, who have publicly denounced the charges and supported the pop star.
His father, Joe Jackson, arrived at the courthouse for the hearing at about the same time Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon entered the courtroom. Jackson’s mother and brothers arrived shortly afterward with his attorney, Mark Geragos.With news crews from around the globe arrayed among more than 18 trucks, mini TV studios and satellite dishes, the scene outside the courthouse was reminiscent of the murder trial of American football star O.J. Simpson which became a blueprint for the celebrity trial.Although small compared to Simpson’s “dream team,” Jackson’s defence team was expanded yesterday with the addition of New York attorney Benjamin Brafman, a principal of the firm that won acquittal for rap star Sean “P. The “troublemakers” and “terrorists” had come from other parts of Iraq.Behind him on the wall was a picture by a local artist showing a snake, representing Saddam, sitting on a pile of skulls and bones, being strangled by a hand with the US and Iraqi flags draped over itsforearm.Kut is a Shia town but the ex-soldiers were less interested in religion than a desperate desire for employment. Most of those waiting had been soldiers in the Iraqi army before it was disbanded in May by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.
