Iowa Presidential Watch
Aug. 30, 2004...
The Republican National Convention opens in New York
with Bush gaining serious ground against rival John Kerry
in the polls ...
"His [Sen. John Kerry]critics are saying, 'Look, you made it fair game [Kerry’s military service],' " Sen. John McCain said. "I mean, that's very legitimate, and I think there's a risk that he took when he made it such a centerpiece. He may be paying a very heavy price."
Aug. 31, 2004
Kerry’s a crook
Talon News is reporting that Sen. John Kerry is guilty of taking foreign contributions:
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates government corruption, has released declassified documents which they say shows that Democrat presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry accepted improper campaign contributions during his 1996 reelection bid. In exchange, Judicial Watch says Kerry helped arrange meetings between Chinese aerospace executives and U.S. Government officials.
The heavily redacted FBI documents show that Johnny Chung, who plead guilty to two violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act and other charges, funneled approximately $20,000 to the Clinton/Gore '96 reelection campaign and an undisclosed, smaller amount to Sen. John Kerry.
According to Newsweek Magazine, Kerry received $10,000 at the Beverly Hills fundraiser held less than one month before the election. In return, according to Newsweek, Kerry helped Hong Kong businesswoman Liu Chaohying by arraigning a meeting between Chaohying and a senior Securities and Exchange (SEC) official in order to get Chaohying's company listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange.
It was later disclosed that Chaohying was also a lieutenant colonel in the Communist China's Peoples Liberation Army. It was Chaohying who controlled a Hong Kong bank account through which the money was routed.
During the same time period, Kerry traveled to Beijing on a "U.S. trade mission organized and sponsored by a private corporation." Paul Marcus, the head of Boston Capital & Technology, traveled with Kerry on the trip.
Sept. 2, 2003...
After a fiery 'tell it like it is' speech at the
Republican National Convention,
Democrat Sen. Zell Miller (Ga.) appears on "Hardball" with
Chris Matthews ...
“They can call me names and ridicule my angry demeanor all day long. But facts are facts. And the fact is, John Kerry has a long record of proposals to weaken our national security in a time of war. And I would never put my family's safety in those hands.” – writes Zell Miller.
Sept. 6, 2004
Kerry Campaign shake-up
Kerry’s campaign is now divided into two camps and most are betting on the former staff of President Clinton. The Clinton camp includes Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary; Joel Johnson, a former senior White House aide; and Doug Sosnik, a former Clinton political director. And Howard Wolfson, a former chief of staff to Hillary Rodham Clinton,
James Carville said that Kerry "is not satisfied with the state of his campaign." Carville promised that Kerry would reshape his campaign. Carville’s stated that he had talked with former President Clinton in his hospital bed and the knowledge that Sen. John Kerry spent an hour and half on the phone with Clinton last night combined with the new former Clinton staff demonstrates the changes.
"It's true," Kerry strategist Tad Devine told "Fox News Sunday." "Our message could not get through the way we wanted it to in August," because of the Swift Boat ads.
The Mary Beth Cahill ace in the hole is John Sasso -- best known as campaign manager for Michael S. Dukakis's failed presidential bid in 1988 -- to begin traveling with him full time and become his on-site political counselor. Cahill worked with Sasso before. Sasso is a 22-year friend of Kerry’s.
It’s the economy stupid:
Expect the Clinton strategy to come into play. No matter what the question, expect the Kerry people to answer that America can’t be respected unless we have a strong economy and President Bush is the only President since Herbert Hoover to have lost jobs during his Presidency. Then, there will be the fact that 43 million uninsured Americans contributes to America’s weakness. Of course, rising higher education costs and not adequately funding No Child Left Behind makes America vulnerable. An additional, economic factor in making America weak and vulnerable to attack will be the lack of importation of drugs from other countries.
This will be the way that the Kerry’s campaign will try to move the subject from Vietnam to the economy. They will make it a two for one operation. In order to have a secure nation we have to be strong economically.
Of course, the problem is that the economy is coming back strong.
Then there is this historical fact. "There's never been a challenger that has come back after being down double digits after the convention, after their incumbent's convention. That's never happened," Bush strategist Matthew Dowd told "Fox News Sunday
Sept. 8, 2004... VP candidate John Edwards insists Democrats
aren't weak on national defense
but polls show the American public isn't convinced...
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