Kerry mulls declining public campaign fund

Washington ? Look for a decision this week from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on whether he will reject public campaign financing now that rival Howard Dean has decided to turn aside taxpayer money and the spending limits that come with it.”We’re going to make our decision over the course of the next day or so,” Kerry told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The Massachusetts senator railed against Dean’s announcement on Saturday, saying that the former Vermont governor “has taken a very different road than Democrats have stood for as a matter of principle.”

Throughout the campaign, Kerry said, he has been consistent, making clear that if Dean opted out, he would be prepared to do the same.

Dean is the first Democratic presidential candidate ever to reject taxpayer money. Bush did the same thing in the 2000 GOP primaries and raised a record $100-plus million.

Edwards says Dean’s flag talk ‘dangerous’

North Carolina Senator John Edwards said the recent Confederate flag flap ignited by presidential rival Howard Dean was “dangerous” to the Democratic Party.

Edwards told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Dean’s comments were not just about the South or about a divisive symbol.

“I think it’s even bigger than that,” Edwards said.

“What voters in this country want is, they want us to treat them with respect, wherever they live, whatever part of the country, whatever their financial condition, who their family is,” he said.

Dean has since apologized for recently telling a reporter he wanted to be the candidate of southerners who display the Confederate flag on their pickup trucks.