GENERAL NEWS:                                                                            Sunday, April 27, 2003

… Among the offerings in this morning’s update: Graham’s entry into the Dem pres derby disrupts Lieberman’s Florida strategy. Graham’s also scheduled to arrive for first IA visit tomorrow …Kerry says decreasing Middle East oil dependence is the great challenge facing U.S. …House Committee to investigate “Big Labor’s Enron scandal” – ULLICO …In Clinton County, Dean continues criticism of GWB, opponents …Lieberman – the “campaign clarinet” …Analysis: Has Gephardt health care plan redefined his candidacy? ...All signs indicate IA Dem Congressman Boswell going to Cuba, despite Pope John II condemning crackdowns and executions …Don’t miss item: Iowaism on “yogic flying competition” in Fairfield. All these stories below and more. 

… From yesterday’s Los Angeles Times – headline, “Bush tour to Swing West …The president is set to make campaign-style appearances in California after a stop in Michigan to visit with Arab Americans.” Report by Times Staff Writer Edwin Chen: “Officially, the Iraq war isn’t over, and President Bush’s campaign for reelection hasn’t begun. But neither detail is deterring Bush from making two California appearances next week that look suspiciously like a victory lap in San Diego and a campaign-style speech in Santa Clara.” Another excerpt: “As the president heads into what the White House expects to be a hotly contested reelection bid, Bush is likely to continue focusing on the economy and the war on terrorism.” 

… Guv Vilsack took some time – 2 hours, 26 minutes, 16 seconds to be exact – away from his state duties yesterday to participate in the Drake Relays half-marathon event.

The PA announcer welcomed Vilsack as he approached the finish line: “Here comes the Gov.” 

CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES: 

… Graham due in IA tomorrow for first pre-caucus visit. Dean scheduled for “meet and greet” sessions today in Decorah, New Hampton and Charles City. Edwards wraps up NH swing in Hampton and Dover.

… The Clinton Herald yesterday reported that Dean “brought a strong message” and “a powerful keynote address” to the Clinton County Democrats Hall of Fame dinner Friday night. Based on the Herald’s coverage, it appeared to be Dean’s standard stump speech with some current themes mingled into the rhetoric. Some excerpts from Scott T. Holland’s coverage: “He also discussed failures of the current presidential administration and outlined a plan for successful reform in education, health care and economic development …Dean also criticized his fellow Democratic candidates. Presidential candidates serving in the United States Senate, Dean said, have moved too far to the right and are supporting the president with Capitol Hill votes …Invoking President Bill Clinton’s observation that Americans are inclined to vote for a candidate that is strong but wrong more than a weak but right entry, Dean began talking about a different kind of America, one that provides health care for its citizens and has integrity in its international economic policies.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: Is this the start of Dean’s efforts to test out a new slogan? – “Howard Dean: Strong but Wrong.”) 

… Analysis – under the headline, “Health Care Plan Could Help Redefine Gephardt” – by Dan Balz of the Washington Post: “Until this week, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt’s candidacy for president was defined largely by his failure to lead House Democrats back to the majority in recent elections and his decision to stand unswervingly with President Bush on the war with Iraq. Now, with the unveiling of a large and costly plan to provide near-universal health care coverage, Gephardt (Mo.) is betting he can redefine himself and trigger a debate with his rivals over the party’s direction that will enhance his appeal to the liberal activists who were offended by his support of Bush’s war policies …Gephardt’s rivals, however, are preparing to come at him from several directions. It was probably no surprise that the first to attack was Dean, since his candidacy has cut into Gephardt’s support in the Democratic base. Gephardt’s proposal threatens Dean’s claim to be the one candidate with a plan to expand health care to almost all Americans. Dean ridiculed Gephardt’s record on health care and called the former House Democratic leader’s proposal ‘pie in the sky.’”   

… Headline from yesterday’s Washington Times: “Candidate Dean leads in gay rights credentials” AP coverage of Dean’s appeals to gay supporters. (Same coverage as summarized in yesterday’s Iowa Pres Watch morning update.)

… Hartford Courant headline report: “Lieberman, Graham Fight for Same Turf” Coverage by Courant Washington Bureau Chief David Lightman – “Bob Graham is precisely the kind of person Joe Lieberman didn’t want to have to run against for president. Both are veteran 60-something U. S. senators. Their resumes are nearly identical – both were elected to their state Senates in 1970, then held statewide offices and got elected to the U. S. Senate in the 1980s. Their calm, even humble styles are the same. They both promote themselves as moderates. They’re both foreign policy wonks. And they both are counting on Florida, the nation’s fourth largest state, for big money and lots of votes. Lieberman was aiming to make Florida a critical part of his strategy. He looked to the state as a crucial source of money and a place where he could win with enthusiastic support. But with Graham in the race, the edge now goes to the Florida senator.”

… Comparing the search for renewable energy sources to JFK’s commitment to land a man on the moon – and probably wishing he could compare himself more favorably to JFK – Kerry told a crowd at the University of New Hampshire the U.S. should have a goal of providing 20% of the nation’s electricity from renewable resources by 2020. Headline from The Union Leader: “Kerry says U. S. must decrease oil dependence” Associated Press coverage: “U. S. Sen. John Kerry said decreasing dependence on oil from the Middle East is the great challenge facing the nation.” Kerry quote: “We spend $1.8 billion in subsidies for oil and gas …and only $24 million for alternative and renewable energy. We ought to flip-flop those numbers.” 

… Commentary by CNN political analyst Bill Schneider – who selected Gephardt’s health care proposal as the “Political Play of the Week.” Headline: “Gephardt displays some swagger in presidential race …Taking a stand on health care” Excerpt: “The rap on Gephardt is that he’s yesterday’s man. He tried to run for president once before. And failed. He tried to become speaker of the house. And failed. This week, we saw the new Dick Gephardt, charged with testosterone and saying, ‘I challenge every candidate to offer a health care plan that covers every American, stimulates the economy and creates jobs. And I challenge them to tell us exactly how they’d pay for it. As President Bush would say …’Hoo-ahh’ for the political Play of the Week. But what about the deficit? Gephardt’s answer: To hell with the deficit. If President Bush can ignore it, so can I.”    

… Leftover from last week, but still worth noting – Boston Globe headline: “He’s off to a slow start, so why is Lieberman smiling?” Excerpt from Wednesday report by the Globe’s Scot Lehigh: “If, on the stump, the other Democratic candidates tend to be truculent trumpets and thumping tubas, Lieberman is a campaign clarinet, lighter and gentler in tone, more supple and humorous – and capable of surprising notes. Unlike much of the rest of the field, he doesn’t make George W. Bush the principal villain for the divisions that paralyzed the UN before the war. Instead, he tells the Nashua Rotary Club, the Security Council passed a tough resolution, ‘then most of the people who voted for the resolution weren’t willing to enforce it.’ On the economy, Lieberman offers probusiness prescriptions of the sort that the Democrats haven’t had in full dose since Paul Tsongas campaigned for president in 1992. He even quotes a favorite line from his Yale Law School classmate: ‘You can’t be projobs and antibusiness.’ And, like Tsongas, he warns Democrats against indulging in class warfare.”    

IOWA POLITICS: 

… The Harkin-Boswell Cuba Watch becomes the Boswell Cuba Watch again – now that Harkin has returned from his Cuban holiday. Officials for the Greater Des Moines Partnership – which is sponsoring the May trade trip to Cuba – still expect Boswell and IA Ag Secretary Judge to participate. The comments were contained in a Des Moines Register story headlined, “Crackdown in Cuba stalls talk on trade” The report by Philip Brasher of the Register’s Washington Bureau said, “Cuba’s repression of dissidents and execution of men who tried to hijack a boat to the United States have stalled efforts in Congress to ease the U. S. trade embargo, a dream of American farmers. Cuba has become such a toxic issue on Capitol Hill that lawmakers might not even vote this year on ending certain restrictions on sales and travel to the island.” 

… Boswell’s position (and intentions to go to Cuba) may have taken a hit yesterday when – according to BBC News – Pope John Paul II added his voice and name to the international condemnations of Castro’s crackdown, including execution of the three ferry boat hijackers. BBC News reported: “In a letter to Cuban President Fidel Castro, released by the Vatican, the pontiff expressed his ‘deep pain’ at the executions, and appealed for clemency for 75 imprisoned dissidents. On Friday, Mr. Castro said the death penalty had been intended to deter further hijackings.”   

MORNING SUMMARY:    

 … Morning headlines:

Top front-page headline, Des Moines Sunday Register: Main headline about state issue – copyrighted story tracing IA public money invested in private firms and ventures. Top national headline: “Baghdad munitions explosion kills 10 civilians …U.S. Army official blames blast on unidentified attackers, but many Iraqis say the U.S. is responsible.”  

Sunday Quad-City Times online head: Top headline on local topic – Davenport’s “new urbanism” plan. Main national headline: “Former senior Iraqi official captured”

Omaha World-Herald top online headline: “U. S. rejects blame in missile dump blast; Iraqis angry”

Main headline, Sioux City Journal online: “White firing paves way for top-level military shake-up” Report on Rumsfeld firing Army civilian chief White.

National headline from today’s Chicago Tribune: “China Closes Venues to Halt SARS spread”

… An Iowa State University graduate student has been charged with assault during the past week after allegedly making several anti-Semitic comments in a mathematics class earlier this month. The DSM Register reports Joe Keller, 46, a teaching assistant in the statistics department, directed slurs at a graduate student on April 2, according to ISU police reports. Keller is the Iowa contact for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which according to its website “defends white interests and rights.” 

… One beach in an Iowa state park (Backbone State Park, near Strawberry Point) has been closed and another at Lake Darling near Brighton has been posted with no-swimming notices after tests during the past week showed high levels of fecal bacteria. 

WAR & TERRORISM: 

 … From the Korean front: VOANews (Voice of America) reported “South Korea plans to go ahead with scheduled inter-Korean talks in the North Korean capital next week, just days after Pyongyang reportedly told a U. S. official that the North possesses nuclear weapons. The trip by a five-member delegation from South Korea’s Unification Ministry will be the first diplomatic approach to Pyongyang since the revelation about North Korea’s nuclear weapons earlier this week.” 

… Also from VOANews – “Russia and France have agreed to boost bilateral defense ties and increase joint efforts to develop military technology for export to other countries. The two nations’ defense ministers also discussed joint military missions, including peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and the Balkans, during talking in Moscow Friday.” 

FEDERAL ISSUES:  

 … FINALLY. Under the headline – “House panel to probe labor union stock deals” – the Washington Times reported the U. S. House will “hold hearings in the coming weeks to investigate a stock-selling scheme Republicans are calling Big Labor’s Enron scandal.” The Friday report by James G. Lakely said Ohio GOP Rep. Boehner, chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, will lead hearings on “accusations that members of ULLICO, a labor-owned insurance company and pension fund, took part in an illegal scheme in which shares in ULLICO were bought and sold based on inside information gleaned by the board’s chief executive officer, Robert A. Georgine.”  

Boehner told the Times: “It is clear the interests of rank-and-file union members have been little more than an afterthought to the ULLICO directors who profited from these stock deals.” (For more on the ULLICO investigation, click on the “Hot Issues” on the Iowa Pres Watch website.) 

IOWA ISSUES: 

… Opening sentence from Radio Iowa newscast yesterday: “A new state budget has managed to upset almost everyone” Notes complaints about cutbacks in municipal aid and university allocations – not to mention Vilsack still threatening budget veto if lawmakers don’t pass multimillion dollar economic development fund in closing days of the legislative session. This is supposed to be the final week of the legislative session. 

… When Iowans weren’t worrying (or frustrated) by the state budget cuts, they could focus their concerns on the other story dominating headlines and newscasts this weekend – a report that 56 Iowa schools could face sanctions next fall for failing to achieve No Child Left Behind academic standards. The next problem: The DSM Register reported the list of so-called failing schools won’t be made public until next August, leaving little time for administrators to make adjustments before the new academic year. (For more on this issue, see Thursday’s morning report for Daily Iowan coverage of comments by IA education chief Ted Stillwell.) 

OPINIONS:  

… Today’s Des Moines Sunday Register editorial: State issue – “This legislature is different? Prove it…Success will be measured on one bill – The Iowa Values Fund”

… Register political columnist David Yepsen, headline – “State to cities: ‘Drop dead’ Yepsen writes that state funding cutbacks to IA cities is “providing a rude awakening to courthouse and city hall politicians …It’s long overdue. Iowa doesn’t need 99 counties, 950 cities and 371 school districts.”  

… Citizen commentary from Sioux City Journal online: “If the French people of today were only capable of displaying the character, bravery and intestinal fortitude that their underground heroes showed during World War II, maybe they would again be the great nation that they would like to think they are.” – Robert F. Renfro, Sioux City

IOWA SPORTS:  

… Unexpected NFL draft selections for two former Hawkeyes. Tight end Dallas Clark, expected to be a second-round pick, went in first round yesterday to Indianapolis Colts as the 24th pick – the first Iowa player taken in the first round since ‘97. Offensive Lineman Eric Steinbach, projected on pre-draft charts as a Top 20 pick, dropped to 33rd – early in second round to the Cincinnati Bengals. Also drafted yesterday – former Iowa Center Bruce Nelson went to the Carolina Panthers as the 50th draft selection. And as many as five more Iowa and Iowa State players could be selected as the NFL draft continues today.   

… Two of the state’s top women’s basketball players were selected in the third round of the WNBA draft. Drake center Carla Bennett – an all-Missouri Valley Conference first-team choice the past four years – was chosen by Minnesota as the 29th selection. Lindsey Wilson, an Iowa State guard who was a three-time all-Big 12 Conference performer, went to Connecticut as the 34th played picked. 

… Danny Lasoski notched his 80th Knoxville Raceway win last night to wrap up the two-day stay by the World of Outlaws at the legendary track. Lasoski completed a rare double – winning both the Friday and Saturday night events. 

IOWA WEATHER: 

DSM 5 a.m. 50 fair.  Temps across IA in a 12-degree range this morning – 43 in Muscatine to 55 in Sioux City.  High today 75, chance T-storms. Low tonight 55, Chance T-storms. High Monday 72, chance T-storms. From WHO-TV meteorologist Brandon Thomas: “A weak cold front will push through the state Sunday evening, bringing a slight chance of showers/t’storms. A better chance of showers/t’storms on Monday, as the cold front stalls out and becomes stationary along the Missouri/Iowa border. Highs will be in the low/mid seventies. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a good chance of showers/t’storms each day. Highs will be in the sixties.”

IOWAISMS: 

… Although most of the week’s jumping and hurdling competition in Iowa occurred on the Drake track in DSM, the Des Moines Register yesterday reported on the “high drama of the yogic flying competition” on the campus of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield. The headline: “Meditators let fly in contest …Yogic fliers in Fairfield jump, hurdle, race in full-lotus position.” From Amanda Pierre’s Register coverage: “The ability to ‘fly,” which looks a lot like bouncing around, is the expression of a blissful state achieved through meditation, practitioners say. Transcendental meditators believe their practice can increase creativity and intelligence in an individual, and lead to world peace.” 

… Engineering students at Iowa State University in Ames have unveiled the new solar car they will use to compete in this summer’s cross-country American Solar Challenge. The car – which has been named “Spectrum” – is ISU’s seventh solar car. Radio Iowa reports the three-foot-high car is coated with 2,500 solar cells that collect sunlight to charge the batteries that power the vehicle. The Solar Challenge runs from Chicago to Los Angeles in mid-July. 

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