You're as corrupt as Bush, Dean tells Kerry:

Howard Dean has reacted angrily to "a report that one of Senator Kerry's campaign fund-raisers, former senator Robert Torricelli, donated $US50,000 ($64,000) to a secretive group that aired anti-Dean ads before the Iowa caucuses. The former Vermont governor ended up finishing third, behind Senator Kerry and John Edwards.

'Senator Kerry apparently . . . supports the kind of corrupt fund-raising, politically corrupt fund-raising mechanism that George Bush has also employed," Dr Dean said.

"Senator Kerry is clearly not the best person to carry the banner of the Democrats in this race. . . . I intend to support the Democratic nominee under any circumstances. I'm just deeply disappointed that once again, we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils."