Dean Vows Global Anti-Terror Alliance As His Lead Increases

As president, Howard Dean says, he would mold a global alliance that would hunt down and do away with ``sleeper cells'' of terrorists capable of wreaking widespread damage with weapons of mass destruction.

"Just as important as finding (Osama) bin Laden is finding and eliminating sleeper cells of nuclear, chemical and biological terror,'' the former Vermont governor says in a memo to reporters previewing a speech on foreign relations.

Dean Leads Democratic Primary Field With 24 Percent; Clark And Lieberman Tie For Second With 12 Percent

From the Newsweek Poll:

Half Of Voters (50%) Say They Would Not Like To See President Bush Re-Elected

Forty Percent Say Bush's Iraq Policy Will Make Them Less Likely To Vote For Him

Fifty-three percent of registered voters say they think that Dean has either a good chance (22%) or some chance (31%) of beating Bush in next year's election

Bush Leads In a Match-Up Now

49 percent would vote for or lean towards Bush, 42 percent for Dean

Narrowly behind Clark - 49 percent of registered voters would vote for or lean towards voting for Bush, while 43 percent would vote for or lean towards Clark.

On Dean's chances of winning the election, 31 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners say he's the Democrat most likely to defeat George Bush if he wins the nomination; 13 percent favor Clark.

27 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners think that Clark would do the best job leading the war against terrorism, (16 percent favor Dean and 12 percent favor Lieberman).

23 percent say Dean would do the best job managing the economy and creating jobs (15 percent favor Lieberman, 14 percent favor Gephardt).

36 percent say the Medicare bill recently passed by Congress and signed by the President will make them less likely to vote for him (27 percent say more likely).

More in Newsweek.