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

THE CLINTON COMEDIES:

… “Clinton rallies young Democrats” – headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader. Excerpt of coverage by AP’s Marc Humbert from the Young Dem convention in Buffalo, NY: “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, leading in the polls for a presidential nomination she says she doesn't want, roused young Democrats on Friday with her attacks on the Bush White House. ‘This is the most radical, reactionary administration we've ever had in Washington,’ Clinton, D-N.Y., told more than 500 young Democrats at a lunch in Buffalo. Clinton was the star attraction on the third day of the Young Democrats of America biennial convention. The 43,000-member organization is open to party members under age 36. ‘President Bush may not be on our list of America's best presidents, but he should be on anyone's list of America's best magicians,’ Clinton said. ‘The budget surplus - then you saw it, now you won't. Good jobs - then we had them, now we don't ... George Bush's disappearing act is getting a little old to me.’ Clinton also took issue with the California recall election aimed at removing Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. ‘I think we have to ask ourselves, do we want an angry minority to reverse the result of a legitimate election?’ she said. ‘It sounds less like power to the people than a plain old power grab,’ Clinton added. Clinton has said she will not seek the 2004 Democratic nomination. She has said she has "no intention of running" in 2008. A nationwide poll conducted in June by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had the New York senator leading all the active contenders to challenge Bush in 2004, favored by 40 percent of the Democratic voters surveyed. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was in second place at 16 percent.”

… Is this supposed to be bad news or good news for Gray Davis? Report: Clintons may take a political pass on trying to save the beleaguered CA gov. Reports surfacing that the Clintons could be reducing their profile in the CA recall. Under the subhead “Cold feet,” Greg Pierce reported in Friday’s “Inside Politics” column in the Washington Times: “’As Arnie mania explodes, there are hints that Bill and Hillary Clinton are getting cold feet and don't want to risk putting their personal prestige on the line to try to rescue Democrats by fending off Conan the Republican,’ the New York Post's Deborah Orin writes. ‘Just a few days ago, Bill Clinton was getting touted as chief strategist for California's Democratic Gov. Gray Davis as he tries to beat back the Oct. 7 recall vote that could bounce him from office and put Ah-nold in his place,’ Miss Orin said. ‘But as of now, Clinton has no campaign events on the schedule when he goes to California to fulfill prior commitments mostly in connection with his foundation,’ says spokesman Jim Kennedy. And he's not planning to go until September. ‘The former president also must take time to travel to Bosnia and is working on his book and his foundation, including a new partnership with South Africa on AIDS treatments. Which sure doesn't make Davis sound like a top priority.’ A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton told the columnist that the New York senator currently has no plans to visit California.”

… Or, meanwhile, maybe Bill’s just too busy celebrating his birthday – and raising DNC bucks – to waste time on Guv Davis. In his “Inside the Beltway” column in Friday’s Washington Times – under the subhead “Birthday boy Bill” – John McCaslin reported: “Bill Clinton celebrates his 57th birthday Tuesday and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee wants us to let the former president know ‘he remains in your hearts and minds.’ I'm not so sure about Bubba being in my heart, but he remains on my mind, given that he's effectively replaced Jesse Jackson as the nation's chief ambulance chaser. DNC leader Terry McAuliffe says despite the boiling pot on the stove, ‘America enjoyed eight years of peace and prosperity under President Clinton,’ and Americans should now show their ‘appreciation’ by sending Mr. Clinton a birthday check — made out to the DNC, of course.”

… “Bush’s spending: Do as I say, not as I do” – headline from editorial in Friday’s The Union Leader. Editorial excerpt: “President Bush yesterday said no new tax cuts were needed, and he called on Congress to restrain federal spending. Then everyone in Congress had a good laugh and got on with their vacations. ‘…there needs to be a strong message to Congress not to overspend, set priorities and hold the line on the priorities,’ Bush said after meeting with his economic advisors at his Crawford, Texas ranch. He is absolutely right. If only he believed it. In the past two and a half years, President Bush has shown no interest whatsoever — nada, zip, zilch — in reducing the rate of growth of federal spending even the tiniest little bit. Forget cutting spending. Bush doesn’t even want to slow the rate at which spending increases. Coming from this President, there is not the remotest possibility that Congress will get the message that it needs to control spending. The President cannot throw money around like a mobster in Vegas then expect Congress to take him seriously when he says to control spending. Without a strong President who is firmly resolved to shrink the federal government, Congressional Republicans will spend like Democrats, which is just what they have done since Bush has been in office. President Bush is hanging onto the Reagan wing of the Republican Party — and the Reagan Democrats and independents — by a thin thread called ‘national security.’ Unless he is willing to dramatically change his high-roller approach to spending other people’s money, he’d better pray that thread holds. If it breaks and he has done nothing to curb spending, he will have very little to differentiate himself from the more serious of the Democrats applying for his job.”

… From the Florida Front: Disappointed Cuban voters continue to pose potential ’04 challenges for Bush. Coverage – an excerpt – from Miami by Associated Press’ John Pain: “For the first time since he became a U.S. citizen decades ago, 62-year-old Santiago Portal won't vote for a Republican for president. The Cuban American says he's fed up with President Bush's policy on Cuba and is urging other exiles to choose someone else in next year's election. ‘He can't ask Cubans for votes if he hasn't helped Cubans get freedom,’ said Portal, holding a sign saying ‘President Bush push freedom for Cuba now! Why only Irak?’ This kind of change of heart among Cuban-Americans - who overwhelmingly supported Bush in 2000 and helped ensure he won Florida's 25 electoral votes - has GOP officials in Florida concerned heading into an election year. Some Florida Republicans are now telling Bush they don't think his administration is doing enough to help the Cuban people and opponents of Fidel Castro's communist government. The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, publicly questioned the administration's decision in July to return 12 alleged Cuban hijackers to face trial at home. An increasing number of Florida's elected Republicans have urged the president to review or change his Cuba policy. ‘If our concerns are ignored, there's a real possibility that the Cuban community could’ stay away from the polls, said state Rep. David Rivera of Miami, one of 13 Hispanic GOP state lawmakers who warned the president that he could lose support in Florida if he fails to revamp his Cuba policy. Bush took Florida from Al Gore by only 537 votes in the 2000 presidential election. He received about 80 percent of the state's estimated 444,000 Cuban-American votes, said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. Any loss of votes in Florida could make the difference between re-election and becoming a one-term president, Moreno said. Florida now holds 27 electoral votes, fourth largest of all states and a tenth of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency…The Florida Republicans have urged Bush to focus on several key issues: a review or change of the U.S. ‘wet foot, dry foot’ migration policy for Cubans; an increase in aid to Cuban dissidents and more attempts to evade Cuban jamming of pro-democracy radio and TV broadcasts beamed to the island. They say recent events require the president to deal with these issues urgently: Castro's crackdown on dissidents and the summary execution of three alleged hijackers who tried to bring a ferry to Florida. Castro's harsh actions also seem to have put off talk in Congress of ending the embargo. In Miami's Little Havana, Portal questioned why Bush spent billions of dollars to send U.S. troops half way around the world to liberate Iraq while letting Castro remain in power just 90 miles from Florida. ‘He should ask Iraqis for votes, not Cubans, because he freed them,’ Portal said.”

… A unique Iowa event – protestors gather at Grassley’s Waterloo office to protest his support for a federal drug-prescription proposal. Excerpt from coverage by Radio Iowa’s Stella Shaffer: “Members of an advocacy group held a rally Thursday in Waterloo, outside the local service office of Senator Chuck Grassley, protesting his support of a federal prescription-drug plan. A nonpartisan congressional study reported that more than 4.4 million retirees would be likely to lose employer-provided prescription coverage they have now if a bill proposed by the Republican leadership in Washington goes through. AFL-CIO executive Vice President Jan Laue said it's no help to American healthcare consumers to privatize Medicare. People who stay in a traditional plan will pay more, she said, because it will be carrying all the sickest clients that insurance companies don't want and turn down, and concentrating them in the Medicare plan. Laue said the president's prescription-drug plan will benefit only big pharmaceutical firms and insurance companies. She says many would have to switch, if it's possible to switch, and in Iowa there aren't a lot of HMOs to switch to. Members of the Iowa Citizen Action Network charged that the drug proposal being promoted in Congress would leave millions of seniors to pay high drug costs on their own and prevent the government from reining in prescription drug prices. About 100 protestors gathered in downtown Waterloo, many of them in town to attend the annual American Federation of Labor conference going on just across the street.”

Des Moines Sunday Register, top front-page headline: “Blackout search leads to Ohio, broken alarm” Register also had copyrighted front page story on “Violence at State Mental Homes”

Main online head, Quad-City Times: “Blackout blamed on lines in Ohio” & “Montana wildfires threaten electric lines in 4 cities”

Nation/World heads, Omaha World-Herald: “Ohio likely birthplace of blackout, official says” & “Arafat rejects offer to leave compound”

New York Times, featured online stories: “Power Restored to Midwest Cities; Problems Linger” & “Israelis Soften Amnesty Stance”

Sioux City Journal online, top reports: “Three bad lines in Ohio blamed for big blackout” & “Crowd rallies to support Alabama chief justice’s Ten Commandments monument”

Featured heads, Chicago Tribune online: “Power grid primed to fail” & “As Iraqis die, hate for U. S. spreads”

The Sioux City Journal reported that a Storm Lake woman – Dolores Ibarra, 35 – has been arrested on child endangerment charges after investigating a report her children weren’t being fed and her home was filthy. Storm Lake police said a 13-year-old girl found at Ibarra’s house had not eaten in two days and there was no food in the house. The four children were turned over to the Dept. of Human Services and Ibarra has been released on $6,500 cash bond

Radio Iowa reported that a 1992 Ford Taurus owned by Sen. Harkin was reported stolen Friday from in front of a staff member’s home on Capitol Hill in Washington. The report said the vehicle, with a broken air conditioner and about 55,000 miles, had sentimental value to Harkin since it belonged to his late brother Frank.

… On the North Korean Front: Headline from VOANews (Voice of America) – “North Korea Urged to Give Up Nuclear Weapons Program” Excerpt from report by VOA’s Steve Herman: “South Korea's president is promising massive aid to North Korea if the communist state gives up its nuclear weapons program. President Roh Moo-hyun made the promise in a speech in which he urged Pyongyang not to squander the latest opportunity to settle the crisis that has occupied world attention since last October. President Roh's appeal to North Korea came in a nationally-televised speech marking the 58th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The South Korean leader says North Korea should not miss the opportunity to settle the nuclear crisis at upcoming six-way talks in Beijing. The two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China, Russia are scheduled to take part in three days of talks scheduled to begin in the Chinese capital on August 27. President Roh said if North Korea abandons its nuclear ambitions, Seoul is prepared to take the lead in helping rebuild the North's devastated economy, and will help persuade other nations and international organizations to provide aid as well. Mr. Roh warned that if North Korea continues with its nuclear ambitions, the country would become more isolated, and the region would face prolonged crisis.”

… “Hambali Arrest Helps Authorities Gain Insight on Jemaah Islamiyah Terror Group” – VOANews headline. Excerpt: “The arrest in Thailand of an alleged terrorist ringleader and the bombing of a luxury hotel in Indonesia have shed new light on Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian affiliate of the al-Qaida terror network. With the arrest this week of Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, analysts say Jemaah Islamiyah has suffered a serious blow - but not a fatal one. Authorities say Mr. Hambali, an Indonesian, not only holds a ranking position in J.I., as the Southeast Asian terrorist organization is known, but is also regional operations chief and money master for al-Qaida. U.S. authorities say that at a meeting in Malaysia in January 2000, he hosted two of the men who would later be involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Al-Qaida is accused of carrying out those attacks. He has also been linked by regional governments to a series of attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the bombing of churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000.”

“House GOP rejected bill on improving grid in ‘01” – weekend headline from the Chicago Tribune. Excerpt: “Soon after the power failure began, the political sparks started to fly. Democrats, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, criticized the federal government for not improving the nation's power grid. President Bush said Thursday that ‘we'll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our grid needs to be modernized. I happen to think it does, and have said so all along.’ But a Democratic proposal in June 2001 to offer $350 million in federal loans and loan guarantees to improve power transmission systems was defeated by Bush's allies in the House. The legislation was offered during the California energy crisis, and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) said at the time, ‘It's pure demagoguery. If Democrats had an energy policy, they'd have had one in the last eight years" under President Bill Clinton.”

Des Moines Sunday Register: “Help new Iowans master English” Excerpt: “Surely state leaders – who passed a law declaring English the official language of Iowa – understand the danger of doing too little to teach it.”

Des Moines Register: “Keep Iowa blackout proof…There’s little chance of regional outrage here, but aging transmission lines are a worry…It seems as yet another reminder of the miserable job this nation is doing in maintaining its basic infrastructure.”

Just a few minutes before midnight last night, Danny “The Dude” Lasoski won the Knoxville Nationals for the third time to pick up the $125,000 winner’s check. His car owner, defending Winston Cup champ Tony Stewart – scheduled to drive 400 miles today in Michigan – was in the winner’s circle with his driver…Iowa entry – North Scott of Eldridge – loses in Little League World Series. In yesterday’s game, the Southwest division team from Texas defeated the Iowans, who represented the Midwest, by a 7-2 margin…Hundreds of auto racing fans – estimated at many as 1,000 – turned out Friday for a memorial service for sprint car driver Keith Hutton, who was killed when his car cartwheeled down the straightaway Tuesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. The service for Hutton, a native Australian who moved to Knoxville to be with other sprint car drivers, was held track-side at the Knoxville Raceway. Headline from yesterday’s Des Moines Register sports section – “Racing with Angels…Sprint car followers mourn one of their own”

DSM 7 a. m. 76, partly cloudy. Temperatures across Iowa at 7 a.m. ranged from 61 in Decorah and 63 in Harlan to 72 in Orange City, Algona, Oelwein and Keokuk to 76 in Des Moines. Today’s high 96, mostly sunny. Tonight’s low 73, clear. Monday’s high 97, hot & mostly sunny. Monday night’s low 71, mostly clear.

“Iowa farmers develop new use for soy wax” – Sioux City Journal headline. Excerpts from coverage by Journal correspondent Marge Harmelink -- The Lee Seed Co. in Inwood has started a new venture and found yet another use for the versatile soybean. “Candles My Way,” microwavable kits that use soy wax, join the other product lines, which include edible soybeans, called "Super Soynuts,'' and enamelware in blue and white, some containing candles. The Lee family launched "Candles My Way'' a few months ago. The kits, which sell for $8 plus shipping, are available now at Lee Seed Co. and will soon be on select store shelves. The kits make candle making simple. Each contains 16 ounces of soy wax. Melted in a microwave, the wax does not get as hot as paraffin. "You simply melt the soy wax in the microwave in the container in which it comes. After melting you pour the soy wax into your own crystal bowls, glass dishes, mugs or other containers,'' Lee says. "Six cotton wicks and full instructions are included with each kit. The larger the container you use, the more wicks you would use. Twenty-one colors and scents are available.'' It is not necessary to use all the wax at one time. Leftover wax can be left in the container and allowed to harden, then used later.