DES MOINES — As a die-hard Democrat who's been managing presidential caucuses in Iowa since the Kennedy administration, Donald Rowen loathes the idea of even quoting a Republican.
But the 74-year-old retired lobbyist draws the line when it comes to the rumors about how this young army of Howard Dean supporters who have stormed into the state may try to invade his caucus meeting Monday night, hoping to steal the contest for their candidate from right under his nose.
That's when Rowen parrots the ultimate Republican, George W. Bush: "Bring 'em on."
"I don't think any of these kids are foolish enough to try such a thing," said Rowen, who runs the proceedings at Precinct 54 in central Des Moines.
"But even if they did, it's not going to happen -- not on my watch."
The campaign to carry Howard Dean to the White House this fall has turned into a full-fledged crusade in Iowa, as an estimated 3,500 volunteers have converged here from all across America. They're canvassing in communities statewide, appealing to the state's 530,000 registered Democrats in counties with names such as Pocahontas, Winnebago, Pottawattamie and Cherokee.
But recently, the campaigns for Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts have pointed to some potential weeds in such grass-roots politicking -- accusing the Dean camp of using "dirty tricks" to win supporters.
Volunteers for the former Vermont governor have been accused of using aliases to try to infiltrate Kerry and Gephardt campaign offices.
And there are suggestions that overzealous Dean supporters, armed with cellphones and hand-held computers, could sneak into caucuses and cast votes for their candidate.
Joe Trippi, Dean's national campaign manager, thinks somebody has been watching too many made-for-TV spy thrillers. This kind of gossip, he said, is often circulated in the final days before a vote in the hopes of swaying public opinion.
"You can throw these rumors in the same garbage bin with all the others," he said.
Gephardt's national campaign manager, Steve Murphy, insists there's still "a real possibility" of mischief: "These caucuses are for Iowans and Iowans only."
In an era where candidates can use sophisticated technology to track caucus-night voting in a way never before possible, Iowa Democratic Party officials are confident they have taken effective measures to prevent wrongdoing.
