Daily Report: 2004 Presidential Watch: Republican conservative news on the Democrat caucus, primary candidates national campaigns.

THE CLINTON COMEDIES:

“Hillary Clinton Maligns Supreme Court” – Headline from yesterday on FOXNews.com. Excerpts: “Sen. Hillary Clinton said Friday that Supreme Court victories this year for gay couples, minorities and women do not erase the distrust created by other ‘legally dubious’ rulings, including the Bush v. Gore presidential election case. The court ruled this summer that colleges may continue to use race as a factor in picking students, that gay men and women cannot be prosecuted for having sex and that state government workers are protected under a federal law intended to ease work and family conflicts. The rulings angered conservatives and were opposed by some of the court's most conservative members. ‘These favorable decisions in recent months should not obscure the torrent of aggressively activist and legally dubious decisions of times past," Clinton, D-N.Y., told the American Constitution Society. She said this is ‘the same court that gave us Bush v. Gore, which made a mockery of one of our most cherished constitutional rights, the right to vote,’ a reference to the 2000 ruling that ended Democrat Al Gore's chances of winning the White House. Clinton also mentioned past court rulings on guns, worker rights and age discrimination. Clinton made the comments at the first convention of the American Constitution Society, a liberal lawyers' group which intends to challenge the older and more influential Federalist Society, a conservative law association. Clinton had also complained about the Supreme Court in a speech last year to society members. ‘In addition to installing an American president, the current Supreme Court has invalidated federal laws at the most astounding rate in our nation's history,’ she said then. On Friday, Clinton defended Senate Democrats' filibuster of three of President Bush's most conservative federal appeals court nominees: Texas judge Priscilla Owen, District of Columbia lawyer Miguel Estrada and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor. Clinton said the White House was playing politics with the choices.”

… The Fight for Florida: Amid increasing anger in Florida’s Cuban community, Jeb Bush says Bush administration’s decision to return 12 to Cuba is “just not right.” Headline from Friday’s Miami Herald: “Cubans return ‘just not right,’ Gov. Bush says…Rebuke of brother’s administration adds to tension over U. S. policy” Excerpt from report by the Herald’s Peter Wallsten: “With political tension building over the U.S. government's decision to ship 12 boat hijacking suspects back to face prison in Cuba, Gov. Jeb Bush took the unusual step Thursday of criticizing his own brother's administration for the negotiations that led to the repatriation. The governor's rebuke, delivered during an interview with The Herald, comes as President Bush and the Republican Party face a rising tide of anger among Cuban-American exile leaders, who say last week's repatriation of the boaters is the latest offense by a GOP president who has failed to fulfill campaign promises to toughen policies targeting Fidel Castro's government. ‘Despite the good intentions of the administration to negotiate the safety of these folks, that is an oppressive regime, and given the environment in Cuba, it's just not right’ to have sent the Cubans back, Gov. Bush said in an interview aboard his plane from Tampa to Miami. ‘There's an expectation that I'm going to be in lock step with the administration, and that tends to happen,’ the governor added. ‘But from time to time I have to disagree, and this is one of them.’ While such a public critique of his brother's administration is striking, the governor was also quick to defend the president's overall record on Cuba -- an indication his remarks are intended to diminish any political fallout that could hurt the president's reelection bid and other Republicans next year. The governor said that he has asked several high-level officials in the administration to review what happened and why, although he said he has not spoken directly to his brother. He said that neither he nor his brother knew of the decision to send the 12 back to Cuba until it was too late. ‘Early on, I was under the impression they would be sent to a third country,’ the governor said.”

Des Moines Sunday Register, top front-page headline: “Dean leads Democrats, but many undecided” (See item on Register poll above.)

Nation/world heads, Omaha World-Herald: “Pro-Saddam rally ignites at funeral for his sons” & “Bush rests at ranch, a target for critics”

Featured reports, New York Times online: “U. S. Courts’ Role in Foreign Feuds Comes Under Fire” & “At Funeral for Hussein Sons, a Call for ‘Death to America’”

Sioux City Journal online, top stories: “Parts of report link Saudi royal family and 9-11 hijackers” & “Under pressure, Liberia’s Taylor agrees to cede power”

Main online stories, Chicago Tribune: “Verizon Talks to Resume Sunday” About 78,000 Verizon Communications workers remained on the job while contract negotiations continued. & “al-Qaida Boss Warns U. S. Over Detainees” Osama bin Laden’s top deputy warns the United States it will pay dearly if it harms detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and urges Muslims everywhere to avenge the prisoners.

KCCI-TV (Des Moines) reported that a West Des Moines teenager – Kalen Joseph Lively, 18 – has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Melody Jeffrey, 42, in Leon. KCCI reported that Lively is Jeffrey’s nephew. He was being held in the Polk County jail on $300,000 bond

WHO Radio (Des Moines) reports that DeSoto – about 20 miles west of Des Moines – has passed an ordinance banning grass over six inches high. If residents don’t comply, the city will send out mowing crews – at about $20 an hour…KCCI also reported that residents of Greene County (Jefferson) are suspicious that a mountain lion may be in the area. Mark Davis, who lives north of Bagley, said he believes injuries to his horse were caused by a mountain lion. Davis said: “I’m going to be a little more careful where I go in the dark around the farm.”

…The Saudi-9/11 connection. Headline on FOXNews.com – “Sources: 9/11 Report Suggests Hijackers Linked to Saudi Government” Excerpt from report by AP’s Liza Porteus: “Classified sections of Congress' Sept. 11 report lay out a web of connections among Saudi businessmen, royal family, charities and banks that may have aided Al Qaeda or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the report. The report raises the possibility that one or more Saudi men who were connected to some of the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence. It also suggests a Muslim imam in the United States may have been a facilitator for some hijackers, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity. U.S. investigators are setting out anew to determine whether the connections are innocent coincidences in an Islamic culture that urges charitable support or a pattern of pro-terror money and patronage flowing from the wealthy kingdom that is a longtime U.S. ally, according to government officials familiar with those efforts. Some of the most sensitive information in a 28-page classified section of the report involves what U.S. agencies are doing currently to investigate Saudi business figures and organizations, the officials said. The congressional investigators, however, warn the leads they have dug up for the FBI and CIA to pursue are at times contradictory or circumstantial. U.S. intelligence and FBI investigators view the evidence of ties to Saudi intelligence as unclear, the officials said. ‘On the one hand, it is possible that these kinds of connections could suggest, as indicated in a CIA memorandum, 'incontrovertible evidence that there is support for these terrorists,’ one passage from the unclassified section of the report states. ‘On the other hand, it is also possible that further investigation of these allegations could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for these associations.’ Top Saudi officials call for the public release of the still-secret sections of the report that deal with possible Saudi terror connections and say it is ridiculous to suggest the royal family would deliberately fund an Al Qaeda movement dedicated to its overthrow.”

… In era of terrorism concerns, survey indicates that support increasing for First Amendment. Excerpts from FOXNews.com online: “Support for the First Amendment is on the rise and many Americans want more information about how the government is fighting the war on terrorism, a survey released Friday shows. The nationwide telephone poll of 1,000 adults found that 19 percent of respondents strongly agreed that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. That number was down sharply from the 41 percent found on last year's survey, conducted nine months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Nearly half of those questioned believed they had too little access to information about the government's war on terrorism, according to the annual survey commissioned by the Nashville-based First Amendment Center and American Journalism Review magazine. A majority of respondents said the consolidation of media ownership decreases both the range and quality of information they receive. Congress is in the process of repealing a Federal Communications Commission decision that would relax media ownership rules. Ken Paulson, the center's executive director, said he was surprised that only 4 percent of those surveyed thought corporate owners did ‘not at all’ influence news organizations' coverage. ‘Most journalists I know believe they are doing an objective and autonomous job of reporting, but by overwhelming numbers Americans view that content being tainted by corporate ownership,’ he said. ‘That's a real wake-up call for the news business.’ The survey also criticized the news media's performance in other areas. Nearly half of respondents said America has too much press freedom and more than a third said the media has been too aggressive in asking questions during the war on terrorism.”

… Will budget woes – at state and local levels – cause hike in Davenport garbage fees? Headline from Ed Tibbetts’ commentary in the Quad-City Times: “Garbage issue won’t go away” Except from Tibbetts report: “The garbage fee in Davenport may be headed for the trash heap. But even if it isn’t approved now, it’s not going away. The reason is simple — math. The city’s budget problems aren’t going away, and they could get worse after the next state legislative session. And nobody, aldermen and the public alike, has shown any appetite for service cuts. So, what’s the answer? My guess is it’s going to end up being a garbage fee. But politics is as much about timing as anything, and with an election year coming, the City Council is loathe to go ahead and pass a new fee…The city administration can point to some pretty strong indicators that it has room to raise revenue, whether it’s through a garbage fee or in some other way. A survey I conducted of the five largest cities in Iowa shows that Davenport has the second-lowest per-capita levy when property taxes and fees for services are combined. Davenport charges its citizens $777 per head on average, with only Waterloo lower at $689. Cedar Rapids is at $1,009, Sioux City $965 and Des Moines $1,037. That said, a lot of Davenporters are going to think any garbage fee stinks so long as city workers continue to get health insurance essentially for free. The people who pay the salaries and health benefits of city workers see their own health insurance costs going up every year and wonder why the pain isn’t shared.”

… Today’s editorial, Des Moines Sunday Register: “America needs jobs – so create them” Excerpt: “The tax cuts haven’t worked…Switch the emphasis from cutting taxes to creating jobs.”

… Saturday’s editorials, Des Moines Register: “Don’t abandon Amtrak…With upgrades, trains can be an alternative to autos – but not if states have to carry the burden…Rail has a place in Iowa, too, for short hauls to Chicago or Omaha.” & “25 million overdrafts…Your tax-credit check is in the mail. Spend it wisely.” Excerpt: “Spend your check wisely, because eventually you (or your children) will have to return the borrowed money to Washington – with interest.”

… Backfield for Iowa State’s football game – vs. Northern Iowa on 8/30 – becomes less populated with another drunk driving arrest. Sportscasts report that 10 days after quarterback Cris Love was suspended for a 7/3 arrest near Storm Lake, running back Hiawatha Rutland was dropped from the roster after arrest early Friday in Ames. Both players have been suspended for the season opener against UNI and Rutland has been stripped of his team co-captain status. The DSM Register reports the Rutland incident was the sixth alcohol- or drug-related arrest this year involving “a high-profile Cyclone athlete.”

… DSM 7 a. m. 64, fair. Temperatures at 7 a.m. fairly cool across state – from 52 in Harlan and 55 in LeMars, Atlantic and Audubon to 63 in several locations -- including Ankeny, Chariton and Iowa City -- to 64 in Oelwein, Des Moines, Muscatine and Keokuk. Today’s high 82, mostly sunny. Tonight’s low 62, mostly clear. Monday’s high 81, mostly sunny. Monday night’s low 66, chance T-storms. From WHO-TV’s Mark Ferree: “The week will be mostly dry with a slight chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms Tuesday and again on Thursday afternoon. Highs will be around 90 by week’s end.”

… This year’s Grassley tour will take foreign diplomats to central, northwest Iowa. Among the stops – Winnebago Industries plant tour, visits to ethanol plant in Lakota and John Deere facility in Ankeny, and a chance to eat corn dogs at the Iowa State Fair. Sen. Chuck Grassley will once again bring foreign diplomats to Iowa during his biennial "Ambassadors Tour" from Aug. 11-15. Already, representatives from 62 countries are signed up for the tour. Grassley's Ambassadors Tour is designed to showcase Iowa's resources, facilitate greater economic collaboration between Iowa and other countries. The first tour was held in 1986. “The Ambassadors Tour gives us a chance to show off the many treasures we have in our state," Grassley said. "Our guests have the opportunity to get to know Iowa's people, land and businesses so they can share with the world the good things Iowa has to offer." The weeklong tour will travel through the communities of Urbandale, Ankeny, Mason City, Forest City, Algona, Lakota, Spirit Lake, Arnolds Park, Hull, Sioux Center, Orange City, Le Mars, Sioux City, Aurelia, Storm Lake, Dayton, Ames and Des Moines. Every other year, Grassley invites each country with an embassy located in Washington, D.C. to send their ambassador and spouse. If the ambassador is unable to participate, the embassy has the option of sending another designee. Grassley said during the week the diplomats will stay in the houses of Iowans at the over-night stops in Mason City, the Iowa Great Lakes and Sioux City. "Our friends see first-hand the generosity of hundreds of Iowans. They're immersed in Iowa values and friendship," he said.