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

Quotable: “I don't get the feeling that the electorate is very happy with the field right now.” -- Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, commenting in report that Dem hopefuls are losing popularity among voters

Quotable: “Now the Kerry campaign's disaster scenario is to have Dean win in Iowa and then catapult from that to victory in New Hampshire, which will be the nation's first primary.” – Boston Globe’s Glen Johnson, in update on Kerry’s campaign from Des Moines

Quotable: “Howard Dean doesn’t have an economic plan so much as he has a short list of notions that vaguely relate to money. It’s as if he were getting his economic counseling from a college freshman who hasn’t decided on a major yet but is strongly leaning toward social work.” – Editorial from yesterday’s The Union Leader

Quotable: “Already six of the nine Democratic candidates seem headed for no-hope-ville. Iowa appears to be doing its traditional job of winnowing the field -- perhaps with a vengeance this time around.” – Houston Chronicle’s Cragg Hines, commenting on the current state of Wannabe affairs in Iowa

Quotable: “Unfortunately, James Madison is not around anymore to correct the logical fallacies of the misguided men who seek his former office.” – New Hampshire Sunday News editorial, disagreeing with the contentions by Dem hopefuls that health care is an American “right”

Quotable: “Look at America, for God’s sake. If we all didn’t do something, we’ll go farther down the sewer than we already have.” – Actor/activist Ed Asner, campaigning with Kucinich at a Davenport union picnic.

It’s a good thing the Dem wannabes – already battling the CA recall election and NE power blackout for media attention – have left the state because Iowa now has a dominant story too: The Heat. Morning newscasts report big storms – large hail, high winds – swept through western and north-central IA overnight, but provided little relief. The report said that heat indexes across most of IA yesterday topped out over 100 degrees – and it’s not expected to get much better today. E-mail weather update from WHO-TV’s Ed Wilson: “Be careful and cool.”

WHO Radio (Des Moines) reports a growing grasshopper invasion is moving west-to-east across the state, saying they eat anything that’s green this time of year. If they can’t find vegetation, the report noted, grasshoppers will “try to eat the green paint off your house.” This year’s grasshopper population is result of ideal breeding conditions – hot and dry – last summer.

… Morning newscasts across Iowa and today’s Des Moines Register: IA Dem Congressman Boswell denies Kerry endorsement. Report from this morning’s Register: “The office of U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell on Monday denied a report by the Boston Globe that the Iowa congressman had endorsed U.S. Sen. John Kerry for president. Globe reporter Glen Johnson wrote the article from Des Moines, saying the Massachusetts senator ‘plans to tout a stable of political endorsements, which in Iowa already include Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Vietnam veteran like Kerry.’ But Eric Witte, a spokesman for Boswell, said Boswell is listening to the viewpoints of all nine Democratic presidential candidates and has ‘no definite timetable’ on endorsing any of them. Monday's article came three days after Boswell, a Democrat who represents Des Moines, appeared at the Iowa State Fair with U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.” (Note: Original Boston Globe report excerpted below.)

… “Democratic presidential candidates lose popularity” – headline from yesterday’s Washington Times. The Times’ Charles Hunt reports that the wannabes are less popular among Dem voters than when they launched their campaigns. Excerpt: “Most of the Democrats running for their party's presidential nomination have lost overall popularity among Democratic voters in key states since starting their campaigns this year. ‘I don't get the feeling that the electorate is very happy with the field right now,’ said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which has been polling the state's Democrats since the start of the year. Top candidates have lost overall popularity in Iowa and South Carolina, according to several polls. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina will be the first three states to conduct nominating contests for the Democratic primary. Unlike poll questions that ask which candidate voters would pick in an election, ‘net favorability ratings’ determine whether voters have a positive or negative impression of each candidate. Mr. Smith arrived at the ‘net favorability ratings’ for each candidate by taking the percentage of respondents with a ‘favorable’ opinion and subtracting the percentage with an ‘unfavorable’ opinion. The polls registered the opinions of only Democrats. In New Hampshire, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is the only candidate whose popularity has grown. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut have slipped among New Hampshire Democrats but remain comfortably popular. Democrats' impressions of Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and John Edwards of North Carolina have dropped by nearly half, into dangerously low territory, Mr. Smith said. Mr. Graham faces similarly low popularity in South Carolina, where his rating has dropped 15 percentage points since he began campaigning. According to surveys conducted by American Research Group, the number of respondents with an unfavorable opinion of Mr. Graham surpasses the number of those with a favorable opinion by nine percentage points. Graham spokesman Jamal Simmons said the campaign is aware of the problem…Democratic voters seem to have no confusion about Al Sharpton of New York. He is by far the most consistently disliked candidate in each state. Don Fowler, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who lives in South Carolina, said it is too early to take any accurate measures. ‘Nobody in South Carolina knows who Al Sharpton is,’ he said…Among the leading candidates, only Mr. Dean has shown any gains in popularity among Iowa Democrats.”

… Just another challenge – and potential setback – for the wannabes: Candidates named Arnold and Cruz dominate political news. Headline from Sunday’s Boston Herald -- “Hasta La Vista, ’04: Presidential race eclipsed by Calif. spectacle” Excerpt from report by the Herald’s Noelle Straub: “Arnold, Gray, Arianna, Cruz - even the candidates' names in the California recall election sound more intriguing than the Howard, Joe and Johns running for president. And so, with the nation's attention pulled away by Arnold Schwarzenegger and his competitors in the Golden State political spectacle, the nine Democratic White House wannabes have fallen off the radar screen. ‘There's been almost no 2004 coverage since the California race was declared,’ said Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the Tyndall Report, which monitors television network news. The three major network's weeknight newscasts devoted a total of 59 minutes to the California recall campaign between July 31 and August 13, the day before the power blackout, Tyndall said. By contrast, the White House contest received ‘virtually no’ coverage, Tyndall added. And the print media have followed suit. Last week, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek - this week's covers featured a grinning Arnold. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political expert at the University of Southern California, said the California campaign won't hurt President Bush's 2004 chances because he automatically receives media coverage. But she said it has ‘sucked the oxygen out of the air’ for the gang of nine hoping to defeat Bush. It basically has frozen out the entire Democratic campaign,’ Jeffe said. ‘That's the worst news for Howard Dean, who had just begun to get some momentum. You don't even know where he is any more.’ California will continue to be the biggest political story until the Oct. 7 election, robbing Democrats of five key campaigning weeks after Labor Day three months before the New Hampshire primary. Charles Jones, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., said the election also hurts the Democrats' fund-raising appeals to wealthy donors in the state…Jones predicted the recall will continue to affect the presidential race after Oct. 7, especially if a Republican wins and the state's economy and budget situation improve. ‘It's moved California into a question mark rather than a presumed Democratic state next year,’ he said. ‘It had been close to a write-off state for the Republicans.’

… Dean takes first hit of the week from The Union Leader editorialists. Headline from yesterday’s editorial in The Union Leader: “Dean’s pipe dream: Redistributing America’s wealth” Editorial excerpt: “Howard Dean doesn’t have an economic plan so much as he has a short list of notions that vaguely relate to money. It’s as if he were getting his economic counseling from a college freshman who hasn’t decided on a major yet but is strongly leaning toward social work. Here is the meat, if one can call it that, of Dean’s ‘plan’: Raise the minimum wage…Expand unemployment insurance…Give more federal money to the states…Give more federal money to schools…Have the federal government bring broadband Internet access to rural areas…Have the federal government subsidize health insurance for young people…Make it impossible for developing countries to develop by making them meet the highest Western labor standards…Take money from agricultural businesses and give it to farmers. Of those bullet points, seven consist of taking money from one group of Americans and giving it to another. The eighth involves taking money from non-Americans, specifically the world’s poorest and neediest. This isn’t an economic plan. It’s a redistributionist pipe dream. Where will all the money come from? How will having the federal government shift money from more productive areas of the economy to less productive ones improve the economy? Nothing in this proposal will stimulate business investment, productivity or job growth. The entire plan is designed to make some people’s slices of the economic pie smaller while making other people’s slices bigger. It does nothing, in fact it doesn’t even attempt, to enlarge the size of the pie so that more people can partake of it. We didn’t expect much from a man who has repeatedly said that tax cuts do not create jobs. But this plan doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense. It never even addresses the issue of economic growth. It simply throws money, which is supposed to magically appear from somewhere, at various special interest groups. The implementation of Dean’s plan would be the realization of French economist Frederic Bastiat’s quip that ‘the state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.’”

… Kerry to formally announce candidacy right after Labor Day, but that’s not the really bad news: Four of the nine – Edwards, Moseley Braun, Kucinich and Sharpton – still haven’t made formal candidacy announcements. It’s going to be a long – and interesting – few weeks. Excerpts from AP report in this morning’s The Union Leader “He's been campaigning for president for months, but Democratic Sen. John Kerry will finally make it official in a two-day campaign swing after Labor Day. The Massachusetts senator will begin his announcement on Sept. 2 with appearances in Charleston, S.C., and Des Moines, Iowa, where he plans to focus on his record as a decorated Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War. Both stops will feature crew members who served on the small gunboat Kerry commanded during the war. On Sept. 3, Kerry will shift his focus to jobs and the economy, first in a swing through New Hampshire and culminating in a rally at Boston's Faneuil Hall. Besides Kerry, four of the nine Democrats seeking the nomination have yet to make official announcements. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards will formally launch his bid on Sept. 16 and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun also is expected to announce in mid-September. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has said he will make his announcement in mid-October, while Rev. Al Sharpton has not scheduled a formal announcement. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who says he is seriously considering a run, said on CNN's ‘Late Edition’ Sunday that he would make his intentions known ‘in the next two or three weeks.’” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: For Kerry, this apparently is a new approach. Just a few weeks ago, the announcement plan was to do a major announcement on “Old Ironsides” in Boston Harbor. Maybe his campaign advisers decided it wasn’t the best idea to draw attention to his Massachusetts roots – not to mention the failed prez aspirations of Ted Kennedy and Michael Dukakis.)

… Three for the road – or, in this case, union picnic: Kucinich, “Lou Grant” and Edwards, but Edwards skips before Kucinich and Ed Asner arrived. Report – an excerpt – from coverage in yesterday’s Quad-City Times by Linda Cook: “Although two Democratic presidential candidates appeared Sunday afternoon, a veteran actor and political activist shared their spotlight. Edward Asner, who is most recognized for his portrayal of journalist Lou Grant on the ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and the spin-off series ‘Lou Grant,’ spoke Sunday to about 200 people. The third annual Democrats with Labor Picnic and Folkfest was held outdoors at the Carpenters Local Union No. 4 on West Kimberly Road in Davenport. Asner urged those attending to become politically active — ‘Look at America, for God’s sake,’ he said after Kucinich’s address. ‘If we all didn’t do something, we’ll go farther down the sewer than we already have.’ Asner said that Americans are losing their freedoms…Many of those attending came up to shake Asner’s hand and to have their photos taken with him. Lots of cameras were trained on the candidates, too, of course. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, whom Asner endorsed, drew a standing ovation with his energetic support for labor. Asner and Kucinich earlier attended a River Bandits game, where Kucinich threw out the first pitch. ‘There are certain benefits to running for president,’ he said. Kucinich emphasized jobs throughout his speech…’When I’m elected president, NAFTA is history,’ he said. Kucinich discussed his plan for a new WPA, or Works Progress Administration, program ‘to put America back to work.’ He added that he plans to announce a new program to expand NASA. ‘America must be the country that keeps the new technologies moving forward,’ he said. U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., also was on hand earlier in the day. He talked about his plan to create jobs and help working Americans. ‘Every time President Bush steps up to announce another economic plan, what happens? We lose jobs,’ Edwards said. ‘Every time the president says that a recovery is just around the corner, millions of Americans start collecting unemployment checks instead of paychecks.’ Edwards said he plans to help workers who have been hit hard by the Bush economy, companies moving jobs overseas and foreign trade. Edwards proposes giving a 10 percent tax cut to corporations that produce goods in the United States.”

… Under the subhead “Gephardt's Fail-Safe,” Paul Bedard wrote him his “Washington Whispers” column in U. S. News & World Report: “Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt may not top the voter polls, but, boy, is he the buzz in political circles. Democrats talk that he'd be a great veep choice for Sen. John Kerry. His strengths: Labor loves him and he has Midwest roots. In GOP circles, there's chatter that he's still eyeing a Senate bid if his presidential hopes die on Super Tuesday. Republicans are calling Sen. Kit Bond's Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Nancy Farmer, a ‘place holder’ for Gephardt. Ain't happening, promise his aides.”

… Kerry’s Optimism I: Kerry and staff expect to collect “bounty” during coming weeks, highlight signs of progress and success on IA campaign trail – but will he convince Moseley Braun to drop out of the field and endorse his candidacy? In fact, the report says Team Kerry is pushing for Vilsack nod too. IA Dem Congressman Boswell denies Kerry endorsement which surfaced in the following article. Headline from yesterday’s Boston Globe: “Kerry, late to Iowa, sees chance to stand out” Excerpt – datelined Des Moines – from coverage by the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “Senator John F. Kerry and his local campaign staff believe their work in Iowa's political fields -- like the corn in farm fields that stands ready for harvest -- is about to generate a bounty in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It would be an achievement, given that at the start of the year, he had yet to visit the nation's first voting state as an official candidate. And some of his rivals have perceived advantages. Among labor leaders once thought to be sure backers of Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, some key players are throwing their support Kerry's way, in part because they believe the Massachusetts senator would be a stronger candidate in a race against President Bush. Those labor leaders include the heads of the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Building Trades, who supported Gephardt in his 1988 presidential campaign, and the Hawkeye Labor Council. State political leaders, some of whom were given boosts in their own election campaigns last year by the financial largesse of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, are steadily signing up with the Kerry team. Last week they included a state senator from the Central Iowa district that covers a coveted group of labor union members at the main Maytag appliance manufacturing plant. And likely voters, some of whom have been wowed by the some 60 days that Howard Dean has spent campaigning in Iowa this year, remain open-minded about Kerry and Dean's other rivals…Kerry was gratified on Friday, as he wrapped up his 27th day of campaigning this year in the state that kicks off the presidential election with its Jan. 19 caucuses. ‘I haven't been here as much as these other guys -- God, almost 50 percent less,’ the senator said in Iowa City, before he got into his van to head to Cedar Rapids for the final appearance in his four-day, 1,000-mile tour of Iowa. ‘A lot of people are only still coming to the table. There's a lot of time here. I think it's early still and we're where we want to be.’ Dean's first-place poll standing has surpassed early concern about Gephardt as the Kerry campaign's main worry in Iowa. Gephardt had been expected to win the state, given that he lives next door. Now the Kerry campaign's disaster scenario is to have Dean win in Iowa and then catapult from that to victory in New Hampshire, which will be the nation's first primary, on Jan. 27…A week's worth of conversations with Kerry and his aides makes it clear they believe they have answers for these concerns, especially Dean. In their eyes, he may have peaked too early. They also believe he remains vulnerable to scrutiny. Just last week, Dean acknowledged he was considering opting out of the public financing system for the presidential election, as Bush did for the 2000 campaign, even though he had said emphatically earlier this year that he would campaign within the confines of the system. Dean has also drawn applause by accusing his rivals of being duped by administration claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, even though he said earlier this year that he, too, believed Iraq probably had the weapons. Kerry's plan in the coming weeks, both locally and nationally, is to draw attention to his candidacy with his announcement tour, strong showings in five upcoming debates for the Democratic field, a series of policy speeches, and his first television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. Both Dean and Edwards have advertised in Iowa. On the stump, Kerry is also honing his message against Bush, trying to streamline his criticism and reach out to coveted independent voters and disaffected Republicans by urging them to drop their focus on party labels…In addition, the senator plans to tout a stable of political endorsements, which in Iowa already include Representative Leonard Boswell, a Vietnam veteran like Kerry. Kerry is also hoping for support from Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, whose former chief of staff serves as Kerry's state campaign manager, and last week he met privately with one of his nomination rivals, Carol Moseley Braun, a former Illinois senator, when their stays overlapped at a Des Moines hotel. Moseley Braun, a black and the only woman in the race, has shown poorly in recent state and national public opinion polls, and she is expected to announce a decision about continuing her candidacy in the coming weeks. An endorsement of Kerry could help him among blacks nationally, a group he has targeted during his early campaigning. ‘I really feel good about this right now,’ said John Norris, Kerry's Iowa campaign manager. ‘We're picking up some really key organizational figures around the state, tried and true people who understand how to organize for the caucuses.’”

… Smokin’ Joe Lieberman has a sensitive moment – apparently feeling the pain of gas-starved AZ motorists (and AZ Dem voters). Excerpt from AP political roundup by Sam Hananel: “Presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Lieberman was all set to fire up his ‘WinnebaJoe’ for a 21-city RV tour across Arizona this month. But last month, a critical gas pipeline in the state ruptured and was forced to shut down, creating fuel shortages in Phoenix and raising prices at some gas stations. So the Connecticut Democrat decided to postpone his gas-guzzling trip until the state's fuel crunch is over. ‘Even though I'm confident this is a temporary challenge with a solution in sight, we want to do our part in the meantime to help conserve,’ Lieberman said in a statement.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: In this case, Lieberman’s not as concerned – or as sensitive – as he appears. If he really cared about saving fuel – or the time of Arizona Dems – he’d skip tour. By the time he gets around to actually touring, Lieberman might consider renaming it: “The Joe to Nowhere Tour.”)

… Graham, lone wannabe at New Hampshire pig roast, says Bush as “fractured national unity.” Excerpt from report by Joe Cox – headlined, “Graham turns up heat on Bush at pig roast” – in the New Hampshire Sunday News: “The country is on the wrong track. That’s what Sen. Bob Graham said he believes strongly enough to use as the basis for his Presidential campaign. ‘If we reelect George W. Bush to another four-year term, America will be a different place than the America in which we have been privileged to grow up and live,’ the U.S. senator from Florida told about 100 people attending the Merrimack County Democrats’ Pig Roast yesterday. He said President Bush has ‘fractured national unity’ with his proposals. Graham said Bush administration economic policies have lost millions of jobs and created a large federal budget deficit. He said it is ‘immoral to be offloading’ economic responsibilities to young Americans that should be handled now. The Florida Democrat also accused the administration of being less than truthful. He said when President Bush announced his tax cut plan he did it in front of a banner that read ‘Jobs and Growth.’ Graham said, ‘That was a falsehood.’ Graham also criticized Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ public education policy. ‘We are leaving behind not only millions of children, but almost every state and local school district in America with a program that is prescriptive and unpaid for.’ Graham touted his support for restoration of the Florida Everglades and questioned the Bush administration’s commitment to caring for the environment. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Graham said he has seen how the administration has wrongly kept information from the public in the name of national security. ‘This is a Pinocchio President,’ Graham claimed, criticizing Bush about last week’s major power failure. He said the President opposed federal legislation two years ago that would have provided $350 million to assist states and utilities in increasing the reliability of the electrical grid. Graham was the only Democratic Presidential candidate to attend yesterday’s event.”

… Black churches become popular destinations for the Dem wannabes in South Carolina with as many as 1.2 million votes at stake in the first-in-the-South primary. Headline from the New Hampshire Sunday News: “Democrats court south’s critical black voters” Excerpt – datelined Denmark, SC – by AP’s Amy Geier Edgar: “U.S. Sen. John Edwards visited the site of the nation's first school for freed slaves on St. Helena Island. U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt has campaigned at the predominantly black Longshoreman's union near the Charleston docks. And almost all nine of the Democrats looking to win their party's nomination for president have visited a black church in South Carolina. South Carolina's 1.2 million blacks are an irresistible Democratic block that could make up half the voters in the state's first-in-the-South presidential primary Feb. 3…For now, the Democratic candidates are taking the tried-and-true path to black voters - the church. The Rev. Joe Darby, pastor of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, said he's had contact with all the candidates. ‘We've got candidates coming out our ears,’ he said. U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida all have spoken to congregations at predominantly black churches. Gephardt has spoken with health workers at a predominantly black church. The Rev. Al Sharpton has been a regular visitor to black churches, most recently at the Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Santee… Other candidates have taken different tacks to reach black voters. Edwards went to the Penn Center, which runs a number of community outreach programs for island residents and began in 1862 as a school for freed slaves after Union forces captured the area early in the Civil War. Graham and Lieberman both have visited Allen University, South Carolina's oldest historically black college. Former ambassador and Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the other black candidate, has met with the state branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other black community leaders. Most of the campaigns have hired black staffers. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has the backing of black New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, who visited supporters throughout South Carolina on Kerry's behalf. He plans to begin a grass-roots campaign in South Carolina next month, Meeks said. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich is one of the few candidates who has not had a real presence in South Carolina. The Ohio Democrat has been focusing more of his efforts in Iowa, said campaign spokesman Jeff Cohen.”

… Dean – the only wannabe to show up at Young Dems convention in person (besides Hillary) – says he’s not just different from GWB, but from other wannabes. He plays the anti-Iraq card to enthusiastic applause. Headline from Sunday’s Buffalo (N. Y.) News: “Dean, in Buffalo, courts Young Democrats” Coverage – an excerpt – by News political reporter Robert J. McCarthy: “If Howard Dean really is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, he showed the Young Democrats of America national convention, held in Buffalo on Saturday, what all the fuss is about. The former Vermont governor, whom Time magazine last week called the ‘most watched and feared candidate of the moment,’ told more than 800 delegates meeting in the Buffalo Convention Center that he is different not only from President Bush but from the eight other Democratic contenders as well. And he was not shy about emphasizing the biggest difference of all. ‘Most of you know that among the leading Democratic candidates, I am the only one who did not support the Iraq war,’ he said to wildly enthusiastic applause. Dean, who has by far raised more money ($7.6 million) than any other Democratic contender at this early stage, worked hard Saturday to convey his message to Democrats younger than 36, who are expected to form the backbone of the 2004 presidential campaign. Although Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, as well as Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, aired videotaped messages at various times during the three-day convention, Dean boasted to even more applause that he was the only one to attend personally - and that he had attended two others. But Dean appears to be shouldering the anti-war mantel most successfully, expanding that theme into a message advocating wiser use of American military power and working to rejuvenate a tarnished reputation around the globe. He was careful to note that he supported the first Persian Gulf War as well as the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden.” (Note: In keeping with policy, Iowa Pres Watch does not correct reports, but will call attention to errors. In the above article, it is incorrect that Dean has raised more money than some of his Dem rivals.)

… The Kings of Political Plagiarism: Dean, Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman, etc., etc. Headline from Sunday’s Boston Globe: “Democrats recognize a good line…Candidates recycle campaign material” Excerpt – datelined Mason City – from report by the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “Senator Joseph I. Lieberman was so angry that the White House had blocked union protection for members of the new Homeland Security Department that he let President Bush have it last week as he sat beside his rivals for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. ‘Did anybody ask the firefighters and the police officers, all of whom were union members, whether they thought once about that before they went into those burning buildings on Sept. 11 and risked their lives, whether they were going to choose between the unions and security? No way!’ the Connecticut senator said in Philadelphia, during a candidate forum arranged by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. A few minutes later, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts expressed similar outrage. ‘This president is so quick to give speeches about the heroes of New York City,’ Kerry said. ‘Well, I look forward to reminding him that every single one of those heroes that went up those stairs and gave their lives so that someone else might live was a member of organized labor.’ To the audience, it may have sounded like Kerry was lifting from Lieberman, but in reality, it was Lieberman who was clipping from Kerry. In a comical game of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination are stealing one another's best lines. Most often, the crime takes place with little notice, as the candidates stump separately around the country. At other times, as in Philadelphia, it occurs in full view of the victim. No one's hands are completely clean. Lieberman is not the only offender, and Kerry is not the only victim. So far, everyone is laughing about it, for the most part, with no candidate suffering serious repercussions. On Tuesday in Mason City, Kerry ripped off Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as he blasted Bush for not supporting family farmers. Kerry accused the president of being an urban cowboy out of touch with average Americans. ‘We need a president who understands that connection to the land, for whom it's not just a question of sashaying around a ranch, recently bought, with a big belt buckle,’ Kerry said. Edwards lifted an eyebrow when told of the comment, recalling what he said June 22 as he and Kerry attended a candidate forum in Newton. ‘This president is a complete, unadulterated phony,’ Edwards said at the time. ‘He believes that because he walks around on that ranch down in Crawford with that big belt buckle that he's standing for working people.’ In an interview, Edwards chuckled and said: ‘It's politics. Those kinds of things happen.’ Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri deadpanned, ‘We have filed copyright on 10 phrases.’ He protested that the administration seems to have claimed ownership of the phrase ‘shock and awe’ after the bombing of Iraq, so ‘I'm trying to come up with phrases I can copyright.’ The candidates say the byplay is the product of their frequent joint appearances, already nearing a dozen for the year, with five debates still on the way. They also say it is natural to gravitate toward similar types of criticism, given their philosophical differences with Bush and the Republican Party. In addition, many of the candidates are seeking advice from the same people, including former president Bill Clinton. But the candidates also plead guilty to a bit of political plagiarism. Sometimes the loot is an effective turn of phrase. Other times, it is political policy, triggering protests from the candidates' advisers and e-mail exchanges with charges and countercharges of thievery. Both the Kerry and Gephardt teams, for example, have sniped as the candidates have talked about achieving energy independence by ‘going to the moon here on Earth,’ in Kerry's words, or through an ‘Apollo Project’ in the United States, in Gephardt's phrasing.”

… Kerry’s Optimism II: Under the subhead “Waiting For Kerry,” Paul Bedard reported in his “Washington Whispers” column that the Bush Team expects Kerry to move past Dean and take the Dem nomination. Excerpt from report in Bedard’s U. S. News & World Report item: “President Bush and his political staff don't buy the hype on Democratic presidential primary front-runner Howard Dean. ‘I'd be surprised if [Sen. John] Kerry doesn't surge soon,’ says an insider. In fact, many Bush aides expect Dean to fade and Kerry to take the nomination. There's another faction that doesn't think a Washington insider can get it, leaving Dean as the likely victor. But there is something both sides agree on. ‘They all sound like jerks,’ says a Bushie.”

… Graham gets his biggest New Hampshire audience of the campaign, makes Sunday appearance at A Prairie Home Companion performance. Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Graham tries his hand at being comedian” Excerpt from report from Gilford by AP’s David Tirrell-Wysocki: “The first line of his script wasn't a tough one for presidential hopeful Bob Graham, who worked Sunday as a stagehand and a radio comedian. ‘Hi. I'm Bob Graham and I'm running for president,’ said the Democratic senator from Florida. But the setting was not your typical New Hampshire street corner or Rotary Club meeting. Graham helped out backstage and was the featured guest in a stage performance of A Prairie Home Companion, the popular public radio program that brought him a ready made audience that was used to hearing jokes about Republicans. Host Garrison Keillor opened the program noting he was in New Hampshire, home of the earliest presidential primary, where voters ‘pay attention before other people in the country are ready to.’ For Keillor and the weekly radio cast, it was a chance to bring their folksy Minnesota-based show on the road. For Graham, it was another chance to continue his ‘workdays’ program, in which he works everyday jobs to stay in touch with voters. Not that standing next to author, singer and humorist Keillor is an everyday job. ‘There are a lot of similarities between show business and politics,’ Graham said afterward. ‘You have to appreciate the fact that your job is very precarious.’ In his skit, Graham played, well, Bob Graham, the candidate. Keillor played Guy Noir, private eye, who persuades Graham to go fishing, even though he is busy on the New Hampshire campaign trail. ‘For some reason, I do well with fishermen,’ Graham, the actor, says, reading from his script while standing at a microphone like the rest of the cast. Fishermen, reads Keillor – ‘people who live on hope.’ As Keillor tries to concentrate on fishing, Graham makes conversation by rattling off his positions on various issues, until Keillor cuts him off – ‘not that I'm not interested.’…’You fish?’ he asks…’Some,’ replies Graham…That was good, Keillor said. ‘A one-word answer.’…Graham's timing was off a couple of times in the script he had rehearsed for just a few minutes before the program. But overall, his timing was pretty good. And he was able to share Keillor's audience of 4,500 people, Graham's largest crowd so far in New Hampshire, his campaign said.”

… It’s an unusual campaign ploy move for a draft movement, but DraftWesleyClark.com is airing TV spots in the early states – and Arkansas – beginning this week. From weekend report – an excerpt – by AP’s Sam Hananel: “Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is not officially running for president but his supporters have already planned to roll out the first television ads of the retired general's potential campaign. DraftWesleyClark.com, one of several groups urging the former NATO supreme commander to run for president, said the 60-second commercial outlining Clark's achievements will begin airing [this] week in Iowa, New Hampshire and Clark's home state of Arkansas. John Hlinko, co-founder of DraftWesleyClark.com, said he expects the ad to air ‘hundreds of times’ over a period of weeks, but the actual number depends on how many donations the group receives. Hlinko declined to reveal how much it cost to produce or air the ad, which was funded by private donations. ‘It's a world class ad for a world class candidate,’ Hlinko said. For months, Clark has been traveling the country making speeches and receiving pledges of support if he makes a run for the White House in 2004. He has remained coy about his future political plans, though he acknowledged in June he is seriously considering a bid…Launched in April, DraftWesleyClark.com has collected tens of thousands of letters urging Clark to run, raised half a million dollars in pledges and built a network of volunteers ready to serve the former general if he chooses to lead the way. Clark supporters, who have had no official contact with the former general, are anticipating a formal announcement around Labor Day, based on recent media reports that Clark is leaning toward a run, Hlinko said. If he does run, it would likely be as a Democrat, and he'd be the 10th candidate seeking the party's presidential nomination.”

… “Claims that recall madness in California has sucked all the oxygen out of national politics are hooey. Thankfully, folks in Iowa are more high-minded.” – Sentence from the following account indicating that Wannabe Madness continues in IA despite distractions. Headline from Houston Chronicle: “It’s Iowa, it’s almost time, get over it” Excerpt from Sunday commentary by the Chronicle’s Cragg Hines:

“While you've been fixating on the redistricting mess and checking out those naked pictures of ‘Governor’ Schwarzenegger on the Internet, I've been tramping through the tall corn in Iowa to bring you the latest on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Claims that recall madness in California has sucked all the oxygen out of national politics are hooey. Thankfully, folks in Iowa are more high-minded. The Democratic race is for real, and no matter if you insist on finishing a few more trashy novels before Labor Day, conscientious fellow-Americans in Iowa are hard at work sorting out the candidates. Just five months from Monday night, Iowa Democrats will shiver and/or slog their way to caucuses all over the state and start the nominating process. Don't blink or you'll miss the rest of it. Within six or seven weeks (probably by the time that Texas as well as California, New York and a bunch of other states hold primaries on March 2) it is likely to be all over. You have been warned. Already six of the nine Democratic candidates seem headed for no-hope-ville. Iowa appears to be doing its traditional job of winnowing the field -- perhaps with a vengeance this time around. Judging by a sampling of candidate outings last week, only former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts have a real shot. This is not wild speculation. It's what Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and other Democrats are saying, much to the chagrin of the remainder of the field, especially Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and John Edwards of North Carolina, whose aides have complained to Vilsack's office. On a too infrequent trip to Iowa, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, only the party's 2000 vice presidential candidate, greeted Vilsack with: ‘Hi. I'm a second-tier candidate.’ The protests availeth not. ‘It's three. The perception is correct,’ said David Nagle, former state Democratic chairman. ‘The one thing that separates the three is that Dean has passion.’ Nagle recalled that Theodore White said he knew John F. Kennedy was going to win in 1960 when he saw girls along JFK's motorcades jumping. ‘Dean's the only one with girls jumping,’ Nagle said (speaking in metaphor, you understand). The question is, can Dean keep the girls (and boys), many of whom are new to politics, jumping for five months? The test is most critical for Gephardt, who won the Iowa caucuses in 1988 (only to crater when contributions ran out not far down the campaign trail). He cannot survive a defeat in Iowa in January. Gephardt basically acknowledges the daunting scenario. ‘I'm going to win in Iowa,’ he said shortly after loading about 100 inch-thick locally bred pork chops on a medieval-looking grill at the State Fair in Des Moines last week. Iowa Democrats, even some who wish Gephardt all the best, wonder, however, about his dedication to what could be a political swan song.”