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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues
IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 1
Sunday,
Aug. 3, 2003
Quotable:
“People are really
open to look for someone else to get into the
race.”
– Rich Killion, director of the Franklin
Pierce College poll, commenting in
DiStaso’s report.
Notable Quotable:
From
CNN transcript of Friday’s “Crossfire”
with co-hosts Robert Novak and James
Carville interviewing prospective – but,
obviously, unprepared – wannabe Gen.
Wesley Clark –
NOVAK:
OK.
General Clark, how would you vote
-- if you were president of the United
States -- I'm sorry -- would you pass --
would you sign the partial-birth abortion
bill, which is about to be passed by
Congress?
CLARK:
I
don't know whether I'd sign that bill or
not. I'm not into that detail on
partial-birth abortion. In general, I'm
pro-life -- excuse me, I'm pro-abortion
rights.
CARVILLE:
General,
are you a Democrat?
CLARK:
I've
not declared that I'm a Democrat yet.
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
NEW IOWA
POLL -- Dean moves into slim lead over
Gephardt – 23%-21% -- with Kerry (14%),
Lieberman (10%) still viable in Iowa Poll on
front page of Des Moines Sunday Register.
One in five remain undecided
After
battling with Dean and attacking GWB
throughout the campaign, Kerry tackles
another target – the Pope. Catholic
wannabe says Pope John Paul II has “crossed
the line” and tells Vatican to stay out of
American politics
While GWB
vacations in Texas, unpredictable Dean
launches anti-Bush TV spot in Austin –
beginning tomorrow
SC poll
reveals interesting developments –
Lieberman has slim lead, Sharpton tied with
Gephardt, Edwards’ Southern strength nearly
invisible
Miami Herald
report: Jeb Bush “took the unusual step”
of criticizing his brother’s administration
on Cuban repatriation issue. Jeb said
decision to send 12 boaters to Cuba “just
not right.”
Concord
Monitor staffer unearths Edwards’ “three
strikes” tort reform initiative to
discourage frivolous malpractice suits
In Iowa,
Graham continues beating the Iraq intel
drum, wants at least one head to roll &
blasts Bush tax cuts
New
Hampshire poll analysis shows Gore and/or
Hillary would become immediate Dem
favorites, NH voters open to another –
presumable better wannabe – in the
nominating derby
Hillary
blasts Supreme Court –
says recent
rulings do not make up for other “legally
dubious” decisions such as the Bush v. Gore
outcome
In New
Hampshire, Lieberman blames Bush for job
losses
The Great
New England Sparkler Dispute continues:
Dean – apparently feeling some political
heat – moves to snuff out criticism from his
home state firefighters
Protecting
his options? Edwards’s surrogates –
claiming to be drumming up support for his
prez run – to hold NC town-hall meetings
Weekend
report: Probe suggests 9/11 hijackers linked
to Saudi government
“I think
I am the Democratic candidate to make [a Sun
Belt] breakthrough” – Graham contending he
can beat Bush, but conceding it is “unlikely
that we will win” in IA or NH
Follow the
Leader – or the Wannabe? First it was
Edwards who hadn’t paid his property
taxes and now Kerry misses tax
payment on one of five homes
Kucinich,
Moseley Braun advocate “throwing out”
private health insurance system
Iowaism:
Grassley’s Ambassadors Tour to attract
representatives from at least 62 countries
to Iowa
All these stories below and more.
More
weekend coverage tomorrow:
Due to the extensive political news during the
weekend – not to mention a series of events
today – Iowa Pres Watch will carry additional
weekend coverage in Monday’s Daily Report.
…
People-powered Howard Dean moves into lead
over Gephardt. Kerry and Lieberman only other
wannabes in double digits. Edwards at 5% with
Kucinich at 4% -- and Graham, Moseley Braun
and Sharpton all at 1%. Excerpt from
coverage of the copyrighted poll in this
morning’s Sunday Register by Jonathan Roos: “Former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean narrowly leads U.S.
Rep. Dick Gephardt as the Democratic
presidential frontrunner in a new Des Moines
Register poll of Iowans likely to participate
in the Democratic caucuses. The Iowa
Poll shows Dean, who has emerged nationally as
a major contender for the Democratic
nomination, is the first choice of 23 percent
of those who say they definitely or probably
will attend the January precinct caucuses,
which kick off the nominating season for the
nation. ‘I like his stand on the war in
Iraq,’ said poll respondent Wendy Parker, 39,
an assistant principal from Newton.
‘He's thoughtful and willing to take risks,
willing to speak out for what he thinks is
right.’ Gephardt, a Missouri congressman
who won the Iowa caucuses in 1988 but went on
to lose the Democratic nomination to Michael
Dukakis, is favored by 21 percent in the poll.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was third with
14 percent. Although the race for the
Democratic nomination is a long way from the
finish line, Dean's vote-getting power
in Iowa and his strong poll numbers in other
key states show he has created momentum during
the summer. He has helped himself in Iowa by
spending more time campaigning in the state
than any other candidate so far. Candidates
generally aim to finish third or better in
Iowa to strengthen their bids in New Hampshire
and other states with early primaries. The
bar is set high for Gephardt because of his
1988 victory and familiarity to Iowans.
Gephardt is Parker's second choice. ‘He's
got experience and has certainly gone down
this road before,’ she said. ‘I don't think
that he's a risk-taker. He's probably more
willing to say what people want to hear.’
The only other candidate in double digits in
the nine-member field is Joe Lieberman. The
Connecticut senator and running mate of Al
Gore in 2000 garners the support of 10 percent
of likely caucus participants. Those
further back in the pack are U.S. Sen. John
Edwards of North Carolina at 5 percent and
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio at 4
percent. The poll shows Edwards has
failed to get much traction in Iowa so far
despite making a concerted campaign effort. He
built up good will with the Iowa Democratic
Party last year by visiting four times and by
contributing significant resources to the
party's 2002 election efforts. Bringing up
the rear at 1 percent each are U.S. Sen Bob
Graham of Florida, former U.S. Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun of Illinois and the Rev. Al
Sharpton of New York. The Iowa Poll, taken
July 22-29, has a margin of error of 4.9
percentage points.”
… No sign
of Ted & Alice, but wannabes Bob & Carol
weekending in Iowa. Moseley-Braun will be
the guest Bush-basher this afternoon at a
Harkin-sponsored forum in Waterloo.
The fun begins at 2 p.m. – available live on
C-SPAN…Meanwhile, Graham – wrapping up
three-day northern/northwest IA swing –
scheduled in Mason City and Fort
Dodge after visiting the Kossuth County (Algona)
Fair yesterday. Kerry in state tomorrow
– visit includes an evening rally in
Council Bluffs to support Dem candidate
Paul Shomshor in Tuesday’s legislative special
election.
…
Dean drills in Bush
Country – TV spot (produced in Council Bluffs
last week) set to begin airing tomorrow in
Austin. U. S. News & World Report’s Roger
Simon says the ad, taped in Iowa last
Wednesday, has Dean facing the camera
saying: “I want to change George Bush’s
reckless foreign policy, stand up for
affordable healthcare, and create new jobs…Has
anybody really stood up against George Bush
and his policies? Don’t you think it’s time
somebody did?” Additional coverage by AP’s
Nedra Pickler: “Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean has chosen Bush country
as the site for a second television
advertisement that will begin broadcasting
before any other candidate has gone on the
air. The ad will begin airing Monday in
Austin, Texas. The goal is to show that
Dean won't back down from President Bush,
even in the city were he served as governor
before moving to the White House. The
commercial will broadcast while Bush is
vacationing at his ranch in western Texas and
before any other presidential candidates have
gone on the air. The Dean campaign
revealed few details of the ad, which was
announced Friday on his Web site. ‘The people
of Texas know George W. Bush better than
anyone,’ said the announcement. ‘Throughout
this campaign, Howard Dean has been
standing up to George W. Bush, and what better
place to stand up against what George W. Bush
has done to the economy and our nation than in
Bush's home state of Texas.’ The ad is
being paid for with donations raised last week
in a challenge to the Bush-Cheney re-election
team, the posting said. Dean raised $508,640
in mostly small donations over the Internet in
a four-day push to raise more than Vice
President Dick Cheney could at a private
$2,000 per plate event Monday in Columbia,
S.C. The ad will cost a fraction of that,
well under $200,000, according to the
campaign. Dean's growing support
largely has been organized on the Internet.
The ad will include a toll-free number so
people who do not have Internet access can
call to get more information about his
candidacy. Austin is one of the more
liberal areas in the Republican stronghold of
Texas…Dean is the only candidate who is
advertising on television so early in the
race. His first ad ran in Iowa this summer and
cost the campaign more than $300,000. ‘When
we've said we're building a grassroots
campaign in all 50 states, we've meant all 50
states,’ the Dean posting said.
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards plans to air
his first ads later this month to boost his
stagnating campaign. Other candidates are
waiting until closer to primary season that
begins in January to launch ads.”
… Edwards
and Kerry discover common bond: Tax
delinquencies. Kerry’s tax problem surfaces a
day after the political world discovers
Edwards’ haphazard record in DC and NC.
Headline from Friday’s Boston Globe: “Bank
error blamed for late tax payment on Kerrys’
vacation home” Excerpt from coverage by
the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “A bank's lapse
left more than $10,000 in property taxes owed
on a vacation home overlooking Nantucket Sound
shared by Senator John F. Kerry and his wife,
Teresa Heinz Kerry. Mellon Financial
Corp., the Pittsburgh bank that manages the
trust owning the property, issued a statement
yesterday saying it had failed to pay the
fourth and final installment on the couple's
2003 tax assessment. That amount, $9,978.49,
was due to the town's tax collector on May 2.
When it went unpaid, the couple were
assessed interest, leaving the Kerrys
$10,326.79 in arrears…’It was our
responsibility to make the payment and we are
researching this matter to determine why the
fourth installment was not paid in a timely
way,’ said company spokesman Ron Gruendl. ''We
have sent the payment in the overnight mail.’
The amount of delinquent taxes owed could
be considered personally inconsequential to
the couple, with Heinz Kerry as the heiress to
a Heinz ketchup fortune assessed at more than
$550 million. The senator is also a
millionaire, according to his Senate financial
disclosure form. The Nantucket home is one
of five the couple share, although Heinz
Kerry is considered the sole owner of all
but one of them…Politically, the error
could prove something of an embarrassment,
coming at a time when Kerry, a candidate for
the Democratic presidential nomination, is
hammering President Bush over the fairness of
his tax-cut policy. The news of Kerry's
delinquency came the same day one of his
rivals for the nomination, Senator John
Edwards of North Carolina, conceded tax
problems. Confirming a report in The
Washington Times, the senator said he was
delinquent on more than $11,000 in property
taxes due on a house in Washington's
Georgetown section. He also said he had
been delinquent on several occasions on both
property and automobile tax payments in his
home state of North Carolina.”
… The Great
New England Sparkler Dispute: “Dean
under fire from Vermont firefighters” –
Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader.
Excerpt from report by Union Leader senior
political reporter John DiStaso: “Facing
criticism by the top firefighters union
official in his home state, former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean agreed yesterday to clear the
air in a meeting with officials of the New
Hampshire firefighters union. In a letter
inviting Dean to the meeting, David
Lang, president of the Professional
Firefighters of New Hampshire, wrote:
‘While I appreciate your willingness to
protect the public from the potential dangers
of sparklers, we are more interested in what
you did as governor to secure adequate fire
protection resources for your state, Pre and
Post September 11.’ A Dean
spokesman this week called the Presidential
hopeful ‘a national advocate against
sparklers’ in response to criticism of
Dean’s record by Steven Locke, president
of the Professional Fire Fighters of Vermont.
As the Professional Firefighters of New
Hampshire considers its key endorsement for
the state’s leadoff Democratic Presidential
primary, the [Union Leader’s] ‘Granite
Status’ political column reported on Thursday
that Locke had written to Lang warning that
Dean “would not be a firefighter’s candidate
for President. Locke charged that Dean did not
help firefighters and public safety in general
during his 10 years as governor. Locke
said Dean did not include firefighter
training funds in his budgets, did not attend
firefighters’ legislative luncheons, did not
‘put the weight of the governor’s office
behind any piece of legislation firefighters,’
and seldom allowed firefighters to speak with
him personally. Dean spokesman Tricia
Enright responded with a lengthy statement she
said showed Dean’s ‘record of support’
for firefighters.”
… In Sioux
City: Graham wants somebody’s head for State
of Union intel flap, criticizes Bush tax cut
approach. Headline from yesterday’s Des
Moines Register: “Graham: Bush should
assign speech blame…’There should be some
heads rolled,’ he says” Excerpt from coverage
by the Register’s Lynn Okamoto: “President
Bush's taking responsibility this week for
incorrect information in his State of the
Union speech isn't good enough, Democratic
presidential candidate Bob Graham said
Friday. ‘If he's as mad as he says he is, he
ought to be determining who was responsible
for misleading the American people,’ Graham
said. ‘There should be some heads rolled.
If you are outraged, you need to impose
accountability.’ Graham, a U.S.
senator from Florida and former chairman of
the Senate Intelligence Committee, made his
comments in Sioux City during the first
of a three-day visit to Iowa. He joins
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean
in saying that someone should be fired over
Bush incorrectly saying in his January speech
that Iraq was seeking materials from Africa to
build nuclear weapons. The White House has
acknowledged that the information was wrong.
Also Friday, Graham promised that
millions of dollars more would be spent in
Iowa under his plan for the economy. The plan
includes $160 million more each year for Iowa
highways, $128 million more a year for Iowa
school buildings, and $31 million more a year
to expand high-speed Internet access.”…
Headline from yesterday’s Sioux City Journal:
“Democrat Graham blasts Bush tax cuts; says
consumers afraid to spend” Excerpt from
report by the Journal’s Bret Hayworth: “U.S.
Sen. Bob Graham said he believes tax cuts
can be a valuable tool, but not when used as
the Bush administration recently did.
The Democrat from
Florida was in Sioux City Friday,
speaking to folks at The Daily Grind downtown
about his plan to right the U.S. economy.
The 60-minute stop turned into something of a
status report on the Sioux City business
climate, as local Democrats were chagrined at
the loss of jobs.
Graham said
the economy is stagnant because Americans are
afraid to spend money for cars and furniture,
because when they consider the unemployment
rate, the highest in 11 years, they are
fearful of being laid off. ‘This is not a
supply-side problem, it is a demand-side
problem,’ the senator said. Saying ‘tax
cuts have a role to play,’ in laying out his
economic plan, Graham said the chief piece
would ‘eliminate all the tax cuts that Bush
has promoted, except for those that go to the
middle class.’ He specified a multi-year
stimulus package and middle class tax cuts
that would total $134 billion in 2005 alone,
amounting to $1 billion in Iowa. Graham
said tax cuts should go to the middle class,
since ‘they are the ones who will spend it.’”
… Poll from
South Carolina – supposedly a “breakthrough
state” for Lieberman and Edwards (after they
fail in IA and NH) – shows the wannabe who’s
really breaking through is Sharpton. Dean,
surging in early states, drops to sixth in SC
with 4%. Headline from yesterday’s The
Union Leader: “Lieberman’s margin narrows
in South Carolina survey” Excerpt
from AP report on latest SC Zogby survey:
“Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman
maintained a slim lead among likely
Democratic primary voters in South Carolina,
according to a survey released Friday. The
Connecticut senator had 13 percent support to
8 percent for Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri
and Al Sharpton, according to the poll
conducted by the Zogby Group. A larger
percentage of South Carolinians - 42
percent - remain undecided. John
Edwards, a senator from neighboring North
Carolina, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts
had 5 percent support. Former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean was at 4 percent, and Sen.
Bob Graham of Florida and former
Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun were
at 3 percent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
was at zero percent. An American Research
Group poll in April showed Lieberman
with a 10-point lead over his closest rivals.
A Zogby poll in March had showed Lieberman
and Gephardt sharing the lead, with both in
the low teens. The latest Zogby poll of
501 likely primary voters was conducted July
26-30 and has an error margin of plus or minus
4.5 percentage points.”
… Graham
says if Dems fail to challenge Bush with
credible message on national security issues
“everything else in irrelevant.” Headline
from Friday’s Chicago Tribune -- “Graham:
Democrats must beat Bush on U. S. security”
Excerpts from report by the Tribune’s Jeff
Zeleny: “Democratic presidential hopeful
Bob Graham said Thursday his party would lose
the White House in 2004 if primary voters
selected a candidate who failed to credibly
challenge President Bush on national security.
‘If you can't meet that test,’ Graham
said, ‘then everything else is irrelevant.’
The Florida senator, fighting to improve his
standing in the presidential race, declined to
criticize his rivals directly. But during a
hourlong interview, he suggested that he
was the only candidate who combined security
credentials with Southern roots, a
historically winning factor for presidential
hopefuls. ‘The last three Democrats
elected president came from Texas, Georgia and
from Arkansas,’ Graham said, speaking
to reporters at the Tribune Media Center in
Washington. ‘To get to 270 electoral votes,
it's very difficult for a Democrat unless you
can make some breakthrough in the Sun Belt
states. I think I am the Democratic candidate
to make that breakthrough.’ In the last
two elections, Democrats have suffered
stinging losses in several Southern states.
Graham and Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina are the two Southern Democrats
in the race. Of the nine candidates in the
field, Graham has the most elected
experience but ranks near the bottom in
fundraising. This year, the senator has
raised $3 million compared to $16 million for
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, $12
million for Edwards and $11 million for former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Still,
Graham argues that he is ‘the kind of
Democrat the American people will be
comfortable with,’ moderate and
independent-minded. ‘The American people
have shown a preference to elect
non-ideologues,’ said Graham, 66.
‘I define myself as being a pragmatic
Democrat.’ In the wide-ranging interview on
Thursday, Graham conceded that it was
‘unlikely that we will win’ the Iowa caucuses
or the New Hampshire primary, the launching
points for the presidential nominating season.
Even so, Graham said he planned to
spend nearly two weeks of August campaigning
in Iowa with his family.”
… Edwards
touches tricky issue for him – tort reform.
His proposal was lost in coverage earlier in
the week, but Concord Monitor staffer revives
Edwards’ “broadside aimed at unethical
lawyers.” Monitor headline from Friday: “Edwards
adds tort reform to message…Subject tricky for
former trial lawyer” Excerpt from
report by Daniel Barrick: “Tucked
inside the health care speech Sen. John
Edwards delivered on Monday was a broadside
aimed at unethical lawyers. Edwards's
‘three-strikes-and-you're-out’ policy,
designed to discourage frivolous malpractice
lawsuits against doctors, didn't attract much
attention in coverage of the speech. But
the senator, a former trial lawyer himself,
included it for a reason. Republicans have
vowed to make medical malpractice reform a key
issue in the 2004 elections, linking large
jury payments to the rising costs of health
care. Edwards and other Democrats running
for president are trying to blunt charges that
they're in the pocket of trial attorneys,
significant contributors to many of their
campaigns. This is especially delicate
territory for Edwards. The first-term senator
from North Carolina made millions as a lawyer
- including many medical malpractice cases -
before jumping into politics in 1998. And more
than half of the $7.4 million he raised in the
first quarter of this year came from trial
attorneys. For months, Republican critics
have slammed Edwards for his ties to
that community and have tried to make him the
public face of the debate on malpractice
reform…Edwards, like most Democrats in
the presidential campaign, has tried to shift
the debate away from jury award limits. He
advocates a range of solutions for rising
malpractice premiums: tightening professional
standards for doctors, direct aid to doctors
driven out by high premiums, limiting
"price-gouging" by insurers. His ‘three
strikes’ policy would require lawyers to swear
that an expert doctor is ready to testify that
malpractice had actually occurred before a
case goes to court. Lawyers who file
frivolous cases would face sanctions; three
frivolous cases, and lawyers would be barred
from bringing another suit for 10 years…Sen.
John Kerry, another Democratic
presidential contender, has advocated a
similar panel system to screen out invalid
cases. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean,
a physician, has said he prefers leaving the
issue to state legislators.”
… Question
of the weekend: Are the Edwards henchmen
really drumming up support for his
presidential bid – or keeping the political
home fires burning until he drops out of the
wannabe parade? From News & Observer
online report: “U.S. Sen. John Edwards'
presidential campaign announced Thursday that
it will conduct a half-dozen town-hall
meetings across North Carolina this month to
drum up support for the Democrat's
presidential run.
The meetings
will be led by Ed Turlington, a Raleigh lawyer
who serves as general chairman of Edwards'
campaign. Edwards is not scheduled to appear
himself.
‘North Carolinians are the people that know
Senator Edwards the best, and we're going to
get them involved in the campaign,’ Turlington
said. ‘This is the best group to show voters
in other states where Senator Edwards
comes from and what his values are.’ The first
meeting takes places Monday in Wilmington.”
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Quotable:
“It seems like a
very odd political strategy to attack the
Catholic Church but Howard Dean is forcing
Sen. Kerry to take a number of odd positions
on a number of odd issues.”
– RNC spokeswoman Christine
Iverson, commenting on Kerry’s
criticism of the Vatican
Quotable:
“There's an
expectation that I'm going to be in lock step
with the administration, and that tends to
happen. But from time to time I have to
disagree, and this is one of them.”
– Jeb Bush, disagreeing with
administration’s decision to send 12 back to
Cuban prison
Quotable:
“Federal money, the
senator said, should be spent on better things
than tax cuts.”
– Excerpt from The Union Leader
coverage of Lieberman visit to New
Hampshire
Quotable:
"I'm recognizing
unless we get the private sector out of health
care, we will never have health care for
everybody in this country."
– Kucinich, one of five wannabes at San
Francisco health care forum
Quotable:
“If Al Gore or
Hillary Rodham Clinton sought the Democratic
Presidential nomination, either would
immediately become the front-runner in New
Hampshire, according to a new poll.”
– John DiStaso, The Union
Leader’s senior political reporter on details
of NH polling
…
“Catholics were stunned at the broadside
from Kerry, saying he's sure to draw the ire
of some 65 million voting Catholics.” –
sentence from the following except on Kerry’s
call for the Vatican to stay out of American
politics. Headline from yesterday’s Boston
Herald: “Kerry raps Pope: Senator fuming
over gay marriage order” Excerpt from
coverage by Herald’s David R. Guarino: “Bluntly
telling the Vatican to stay out of American
politics, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday
said Pope John Paul II ‘crossed the line’ by
instructing pols to block legalization of gay
marriage. A fuming Kerry, taking on
his own Catholic Church in the midst of a
campaign for president, said Rome should have
more respect for America's long-held
separation of church and state. ‘It is
important not to have the church instructing
politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing
of the line in this country,’ Kerry
said. ‘President Kennedy drew that line very
clearly in 1960 and I believe we need to stand
up for that line today.’ The Democrat said
political concerns are secondary to his moral
outrage over Thursday's Vatican statement on
gay marriage. ‘Our founding fathers
separated church and state in America. It is
an important separation,’ he said. ‘It is part
of what makes America different and special,
and we need to honor that as we go forward and
I'm going to fight to do that.’ Catholics were
stunned at the broadside from Kerry, saying
he's sure to draw the ire of some 65 million
voting Catholics. ‘What one often calls
separation of church and state guarantees the
religion the right to express its
convictions,’ said Monsignor Francis
Maniscalco of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops. ‘To object to religious people's deep
moral convictions . . . would also create a
problem because it would also (fail to)
recognize something the First Amendment
guarantees.’ Former Vatican Ambassador
Raymond Flynn said Kerry was just wrong.
‘I don't see it as crossing any line at all,’
Flynn said. ‘Too many Catholic politicians
want to have it both ways, they want the
Catholic vote but then they go ahead and
ignore Catholic teaching.’ The Vatican
injected itself into the simmering gay
marriage debate Thursday, firing off a letter
issuing instructions to Catholic politicians
to oppose any legalization efforts…The
statement followed by a day strong comments
from President Bush denouncing gay marriage
proposals. Kerry, who supports civil unions
but opposes the legalization of same-sex
marriage, took pains to say, ‘I believe in
the church’ and ‘care about it enormously’ but
said church leaders went too far. Alone
among Democrats in criticizing the church,
Kerry said he didn't weigh the political
impact of his statement. ‘This isn't a matter
of political calculation, it's simply a matter
of strong personal beliefs,’ Kerry said.
The Democratic senator also railed against
Republicans who this week said Democratic
efforts to block the judicial nomination of
Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor were
anti-Catholic. One group, the Ave Maria List,
ran print ads equating Democrats' opposition
to Pryor as saying ‘Catholics need not apply’
to the federal judiciary. ‘That couldn't be
further from the truth. This judge is not a
good judge,’ Kerry said. ‘He should not
be appointed to the court, and many of us who
are Catholic voted against him without regard
to Catholicism.’ Kerry also continued
his criticism of Bush's ‘faith-based’
programs, saying he would end government
funding to any religious group. The White
House and Kerry's opponents declined
comment. But the Republican National
Committee blamed the sudden attack on the
growing popularity of Kerry opponent, former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. ‘It seems like a
very odd political strategy to attack the
Catholic Church but Howard Dean is
forcing Sen. Kerry to take a number of
odd positions on a number of odd issues,’ said
RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson.”…
Lieberman –
ready to slug it out with any and all – takes
on Bush in New Hampshire, says GWB responsible
for job losses. Excerpt from report –
datelined Keene – by Union Leader
correspondent Stephen Seitz: “Creation of
manufacturing jobs is the key to economic
recover, says Sen. Joseph Lieberman. The
Democratic Presidential candidate brought his
‘Jobs Tour’ through Keene in his latest
campaign swing through the Granite State
yesterday. He stopped to talk with employees
at ES3, an arm of grocery giant C&S Wholesale
Grocers. ‘America has lost 3.1 million jobs
under the Bush administration, and 2.4 million
of them have been in manufacturing,’ Lieberman
said. ‘Neither the country nor the economy is
headed in the right direction, and that’s why
I’m running for President.’…Lieberman
said he wanted to make America prosperous
again and bring integrity back into the White
House. ‘President Bush’s tax cuts go to
the people who don’t need them,’ Lieberman
said. ‘I’m not against tax cuts, just the ones
that have helped the wrong people. But what’s
needed is fiscal discipline. We need to get
out of debt. We need to invest in education,
national security and the economy.’ Federal
money, the senator said, should be spent on
better things than tax cuts. ‘The fact is
that if you spend $3 trillion in tax cuts,
there’s no money left to invest in education.
Public schools are the way up for people.
Investing in education is the best investment
for our economic future.’” …
In San Francisco, five wannabes outline
health care plans with two – Kucinich and
Moseley Braun – favoring universal approach
over private insurance system. Excerpts
from coverage of forum – at the United Food
and Commercial Workers’ convention – by the
San Francisco Chronicle’s Victoria Colliver:
“While all promised to reduce the number of
uninsured, two of the 2004 candidates -- Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Sen.
Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois --
supported throwing out the private insurance
system in favor of a universal, single-payer
plan in the style of Medicare with a
prescription drug coverage. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, who joined the forum from
Washington, D.C., via satellite, proposed
expanding government programs to cover more
people. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri
offered a plan to extend tax credits to
businesses to subsidize coverage to all
employees. While it's estimated to cost
more than $200 billion its first year -- more
than any of the plans on the table --
Gephardt promises it will cover 97 percent
of Americans. Gephardt wants to repeal
the Bush tax cuts, which he called a joke, and
put that money into health care…While
Gephardt sees keeping the health coverage
for those who already have it as an advantage,
candidates with a more purist approach to
universal coverage criticized his plan for
retaining too much of what they considered a
broken system. ‘I'm recognizing unless we
get the private sector out of health care, we
will never have health care for everybody in
this country,’ Kucinich told about
4,500 UFCW delegates gathered at the Moscone
Center. The union is concerned about health
care benefits, especially in light of its
efforts to unionize Wal-Mart Stores Inc…Kucinich's
proposal to establish a single-payer system
would cover all Americans, but critics
question whether there is the political will
to pass such a sweeping change. Moseley
Braun, who also supports such a system, said
she wants to shift the cost burden from
payroll taxes to income taxes because that
would decouple health care from employment.
‘Part of the problem is we have an
employment-based system,’ she said, adding
that the high cost of health care puts
American businesses at a competitive
disadvantage with businesses from other
countries that do not have to pay for health
care. Dean, also a physician, touted
the fact he has passed a state budget that
included extended health care coverage to
Vermont residents. ‘The advantage I have is
I have done it,’ he said…Kerry said
his plan lowers the cost of premiums by having
the government cover ‘catastrophic’ or
high-risk cases instead of allowing them to
remain in the employee risk pool. He said his
plan, which he says would cover 27 million
people immediately, would also help people pay
for 75 percent of the cost of COBRA, or
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act, which allows employees who leave or who
were laid off to pay for their group coverage
for a limited time. Kerry said the
country needs to stop considering health care
to be a privilege. ‘Health care is a right
for every single American. We have to cover
it.’” …
Fickle New Hampshire
voters indicate they could abandon their
current favorite for Al or
Hillary.
One-third of those committed to Kerry might go
with Gore – if he’d run. Poll director says
there’s an opening for another – presumably
better and electable wannabe, not another
Kucinich. Headline from Friday’s The Union
Leader: “NH poll: Clinton or Gore could
grab primary lead” Excerpt from
report/analysis by John DiStaso, the UL’s
senior political reporter: “If Al Gore or
Hillary Rodham Clinton sought the Democratic
Presidential nomination, either would
immediately become the front-runner in New
Hampshire, according to a new poll. The
Presidential race is so ‘soft,’ said Franklin
Pierce College poll director Rich Killion,
that many people who had told the survey
they were ‘committed’ to one of the announced
candidates jumped to the former vice president
or the New York senator when their names were
brought into the mix. The college had
released a poll on Tuesday showing former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in a
virtual tie. The poll had a high undecided
rate of 37 percent. Yesterday, FPC released
more information from the same poll, showing,
according to Killion, ‘more likely primary
voters would make Al Gore or Hillary
Clinton their first choice in this primary
than the current leaders.’ FPC asked 500
likely Democratic primary voters the
hypothetical question, ‘If Al Gore were to
become a candidate, would he be your first
choice?’ According to the poll, 26 percent
answered yes, 59 percent said no and 15
percent were undecided. That is enough to put
Gore in the lead, Killion said. Gore’s
support was primarily drawn from backers of
the existing candidates. One-third of
those who had said they were committed to
Kerry then turned around a few minutes
later and said they would support Gore. The
same can be said of 22 percent of Dean’s
supporters, 39 percent of Missouri Rep. Dick
Gephardt’s supporters and 34 percent of
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s backers,
according to the poll. Gore would get
the vote of 23 percent of the likely voters
who said they were undecided on the current
crop of candidates, the poll said. Twenty-four
percent of men and 28 percent of women
surveyed would back Gore. If,
instead, the former first lady were to run, 25
percent of those surveyed told FPC that Sen.
Clinton would be their first choice, 59
percent said she would not and 16 percent were
undecided. Among women, 26 percent would
make her their first choice, while Clinton
would be the first choice of 23 percent of the
men surveyed. Clinton’s support is drawn
mainly from supporters of the two
front-runners, with 28 percent of Dean’s vote
and 27 percent of Kerry’s support going to her,
along with 29 percent of Gephardt’s
vote and 22 percent of Lieberman’s
vote. Clinton would receive the vote of
20 percent of the undecided. ‘This result
directly relates to the high number of
undecided voters and the fact that no one is a
front-runner and the pack is either not known
or not catching on,’ said Killion. ‘People
are really open to look for someone else to
get into the race.’ Killion said that a
‘nationally known leader would assume the
lead.’ He said Gore and Clinton
were the only two major national Democratic
leaders with wide name recognition he could
think of to put in the poll.”
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