Des Moines, Iowa ? For one day, at least, Howard Dean had company in the political cross-hairs.

Amid signs that the presidential race is tightening in Iowa, prompting campaigns to adjust their strategies, two Dean rivals expanded their focus beyond the national front-runner and turned against the two presumptive leaders in Iowa: Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

They accused both of backing higher taxes on the middle class, calling it a surefire prescription for defeat in November against President Bush.

“I don’t know of a case where a Democratic candidate for president has been elected who called for a massive increase in taxes on the middle class,” Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. “These are our people,” he said, referring to millions of middle-class taxpayers.

“Howard Dean’s and Dick Gephardt’s proposal to get rid of the (Bush) tax cut raises taxes in several different ways,” said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts in the second campaign debate in three days.

Dean called the charge “hogwash.”

Dean nearly missed the gathering, rushing to the studio after a downtown appearance with former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey. Al Gore’s rival in 2000 endorsed Dean, calling him “one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades.”

On taxes, both Dean and Gephardt seek to repeal Bush’s initiatives, including provisions that cut taxes to the middle class.

Perhaps sensing that Kerry could be nipping at his heels, Gephardt took a rare slap at the Massachusetts lawmaker. He said Kerry’s push for a Social Security tax holiday for workers and their employers is a “risky proposal.”

The attack-Gephardt-too strategy has the added benefit of forcing Dean to share the spotlight a bit.

Kerry advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the front-runner stands to benefit from all the attention heaped upon him when he is the sole target of attacks.