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

Our Mission: to hold the Democrat presidential candidates accountable for their comments and allegations against President George W. Bush, to make citizens aware of false statements or claims by the Democrat candidates, and to defend the Bush Administration and set the record straight when the Democrats make false or misleading statements about the Bush-Republican record.

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THE CLINTON COMEDIES:

Today is Bill Clinton’s birthday. However, his birthday wish well could be that the Nigel Hamilton’s first of two volume biography of him was not scheduled for release October 7, 2003. The New York Daily News has reported that a new two-volume Clinton biography, titled "Bill Clinton: An American Journey" is being published by Random House. Hamilton drew fame and Kennedy-clan fire for his best-selling book "JFK: Reckless Youth." Excerpts from the New York Daily News article state, "The former president, who's writing his own memoir for sister imprint Knopf, was not involved in Hamilton's research, Random House spokesman Tom Perry said. On the book's Web site, Hamilton, based at the University of Massachusetts, said a look at Clinton's early life is key to exploring the impeachment, the Monica Lewinsky affair and other White House scandals. The author added that, "you can't begin to understand that kind of risk-taking in the highest office unless you look deep into the childhood and psychology of the human being."

… “For Bush, Loss of Jobs May Erode Support in South Carolina” – headline from yesterday’s nytimes.com (New York Times). Excerpt from coverage by the Times’ Michael Janofsky: “Lynn Mayson is an unemployed machine operator here. Roger Chastain is president of a textile company. While they travel in distinctively different circles, they have quite a bit in common. Both are Republicans. Both were part of the Solid South vote that helped George W. Bush win the White House in 2000. And, now, both say they are angry enough about job losses in the region to vote for someone else in 2004. ‘Something's got to give,’ said Ms. Mayson, a mother of three, as she left a state-run jobs center the other day. ‘I'm not going to vote for Bush unless things change. The economy has got to get better, and it's only going to do that if someone makes something happen.’ Mr. Chastain, whose company, Mount Vernon Mills, has laid off 1,000 workers in recent years, is part of a coalition of textile executives who have formally complained to the White House about trade practices they contend are driving Americans out of jobs and manufacturers out of business, while giving huge advantages to China and other countries. ‘Bush can forget about the Solid South,’ Mr. Chastain said. ‘There's no Solid South anymore.’ The frustrations of Ms. Mayson and Mr. Chastain over the slow pace of economic recovery, shared by a growing number of Republicans in upstate South Carolina, have not reached such a critical mass that anyone is predicting that President Bush could lose the state next year. But the Republican wall of support here is indeed showing cracks, reflecting economic trends that Democrats say make Mr. Bush vulnerable. Since the president took office, more than 2.5 million jobs have been lost across the country, a downturn that administration officials contend is now turning around. Mr. Chastain said problems had reached such a point that he would consider voting for a Democrat, perhaps Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who is a persistent critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA. Ms. Mayson said she would vote for anyone with a plan to create more jobs. Does such talk signal a new South in the making? Probably not yet. But Bush-bashing among Republicans is almost unheard of in this part of South Carolina, one of the most conservative areas in the United States. In winning the region, Mr. Bush outpolled Al Gore by a ratio of almost two to one.”

… FEC will review request by Dem women’s group targeting Bush with “savings account” fundraising approach. Wants checks written to the party’s “presumptive nominee.” Excerpt from Sunday’s Washington Times: “A new women's group raising money for the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee wants to take an unusual step to boost its fund raising: asking donors to give to a ‘savings account’ for the nominee-to-be months before that person is picked. The Women Engaged in Leadership, Education and Action in Democracy (WE LEAD) political action committee's plan is a new twist on a fund-raising technique known as bundling. Typically, contributions from multiple donors are gathered for a named candidate and given to the candidate in a bundle. In some cases, parties or others may form a special political committee to raise money for a particular general-election contest, and the committee is then merged into the campaign of the candidate who wins the primary. WE LEAD wants donors to write checks to it earmarked ‘presumptive nominee.’ It would hold onto the money, and when it becomes clear which of the nine declared Democratic presidential hopefuls has won enough primaries to become the party's nominee, the group would write a check to that campaign for the total amount accumulated. ‘It's one thing for people to make a pledge, but in order to know that you have that money, and for them to have it available, you have to get it out of their hands,’ said Patricia Brennan-Gac, one of the group's founders. ‘That's where we came up with having a fund that's like a savings account for the presidential nominee.’ The group has asked the Federal Election Commission to advise it whether the plan is legal. If the FEC gives the go-ahead, the group could hand over an unlimited total to the Democratic nominee — rather than being capped at the $5,000-per-candidate limit it faces when donating its own money. Each individual contributor earmarking a check ‘presumptive nominee’ could give up to $2,000. WE LEAD hopes to raise $100,000. The plan would let the group start raising money for the eventual nominee immediately, rather than waiting until a winner emerges from next year's primaries. The commission is expected to rule on the request within the next few months.”

Des Moines Register, top front-page headline: “Stick a fork in us…because we’re well done as summer bakes the state”

Quad-City Times, main online headline: “Return to work after blackout goes smoothly”

Nation/world online reports, Omaha World-Herald: “Findings muddy blackout probe” & “U. S. soldiers’ mistake deadly for journalist”

Featured heads, New York Times online: “Passage Unlikely for Separate Bill on Electrical Grid” Report says Congress is likely to keep plans to improve the power grid in the broader energy bill that has been stalled. & “Bush Administration Plans Defense of Terror Law” Report says Ashcroft plans more than a dozen speeches around the country in defense of the USA Patriot Act.

Sioux City Journal, top online stories: South Dakota – “Investigators talk of five witnesses in Janklow crash” & National – “Poll: Majority favors law against gay marriage”

Main online reports, Chicago Tribune: “Blast Hits Home of Afghan Leader’s Brother” & “Peace Pact Offers Hope of Liberian Voting”

The Quad-City Times noted that Iowans will see more low-flying cropduster planes over the state’s soybean fields over the next several weeks. The cropdusters – including a fleet of out-of-state planes – will be part of an army attacking aphids that are threatening to cut soybean yields. The report said the aphids can cut a crop by a third or more

The Great Missouri River Flow Feud: The Omaha World-Herald reported that the number of boaters on the Missouri River is expected to increase as water levels rise over the coming days. The W-H said the lower water, ordered by a federal judge early last week, kept boaters off the river over the weekend. Omaha officials will decide in a day or two when to reopen the city marina

KCCI-TV (Des Moines) reported that “some state officials” are not optimistic that Iowa’s state universities can avoid another round of tuition increases. The Board of Regents usually considers tuition matters at their September meeting. Last year, tuition was increased 17.6% for in-state students and out-of-state tuition went up 9.8%.

… On the Korean Front I: Headline from yesterday’s New York Times -- “U. S. to Send Signal to North Koreans in Naval Exercise” Excerpt from report by Steven R. Weisman: “The Bush administration, while preparing for talks soon with North Korea, is also stepping up military pressure with plans for a joint naval exercise next month to train for interdicting at sea arms and other materials being transported to and from the North. Administration officials and Asian diplomats said that the exercise would be carried out in the Coral Sea off northeastern Australia in September and that it was officially described as directed at no one country. A principal intention, however, was to send a sharp signal to North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, they said. The next round of talks with North Korea is planned for Aug. 27 in Beijing, with six nations taking part. The United States has been working with its allies to decide which items to present, from economic benefits to security guarantees, that would be provided if the North Korean government agreed to shut down its program verifiably and irreversibly…The United States has stepped up efforts with Japan, South Korea and nine other nations to interdict ships doing business with North Korea. Last December, Spanish warships stopped a North Korean ship carrying Scud missiles to Yemen, but released it after Yemen protested.”

… On the Korean Front II: Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune – “North Korea seeks change in U. S. policy” Excerpt: “North Korea said Monday unless the United States changed its policy toward Pyongyang it would use six-way talks in Beijing later this month to declare it could not dismantle its nuclear weapons. The country's official KCNA news agency said North Korea would consider Washington had altered its stance only if it agreed to sign a non-aggression pact, establish diplomatic ties and make clear it would not hinder Pyongyang's foreign trade. ‘If the U.S. does not express its will to make a switchover in its policy towards [North Korea], it will have no option but to declare that it cannot dismantle its nuclear deterrent force at the talks,’ KCNA said. Pyongyang agreed to the six-way talks, which will involve China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, despite insisting for months that it would only meet with the United States.”

“Health care: Where is James Madison when you need him?” – headline on editorial in the New Hampshire Sunday News. Editorial excerpt: “Where is James Madison when you need him? On the Presidential campaign trail in Iowa last week, Sen. John Kerry proclaimed, ‘We must stop being the only industrial nation in the world that does not understand that health care is not a privilege, it is a right.’ This is a popular saying on the left. It is the concept upon which most Democratic health care proposals are built. And it is 100 percent wrong. One cannot have a right to anything that must be provided by another. It is a logical impossibility. James Madison wrote in 1792, ‘This term (property) in its particular application means that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual. In its larger and juster meaning, it embraces everything to which a man may attach value and have a right, and which leaves to everyone else the like advantage. In the former sense, a man’s land, or merchandise, or money, is called his property. In the latter sense, a man has property in his opinions and the free communication of them. . . . In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.’ This is how the Founders understood natural rights. They were things one owned and to which one could establish a proprietary claim. In this sense, a person can be said to have a right to his health, in that he has ownership of it and others cannot legally take it. However, a person could never be said to have a right to health care, that being a service provided by others and not a possession to which one has exclusive title. Unfortunately, James Madison is not around anymore to correct the logical fallacies of the misguided men who seek his former office.”

Des Moines Register: “Protect Iowa’s most vulnerable…Although at Woodward and Glenwood raise questions about whether residents are safe.” Editorial follows report in Sunday Register about treatment of those in the state facilities for mentally retarded. & “The rule of law must prevail…An Alabama judge loves the Ten Commandments, but shows nothing but contempt for the U. S. Constitution…Sad to say, all five Iowa House delegates voted with the majority to strip the federal courts of authority.”

Des Moines Register: “’No Child’ Act is bureaucratic absurdity…The government could be more helpful by simply funding its mandates…The problem is real. The solution, however, does not lie in far-away bureaucrats breathing down the necks of educators.”

Pre-tournament activities continue today for the Allianz Championship – a stop on the Senior PGA Tour – at the Glen Oaks course in West Des Moines. Today’s schedule includes practice rounds, a Junior Pro-Am and a celebrity shootout. The first round of the Allianz Championship will be Friday…Radio Iowa reported that the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team has been ranked eight nationally in the coaches pre-season poll. Last year, the Panthers posted a 34-3 record and made their third appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16 over the past four years.

DSM 7 a. m. 75, mostly cloudy. Temperatures at 7 a.m. ranged from 64 in Mount Pleasant and Clinton and 66 at seven reporting stations – including Decorah, Sheldon and Clarinda to 73 in Newton and Pella to 75 in Des Moines. Today’s high 95, chance T-storms. Tonight’s low 74, chance T-storms. Wednesday’s high 93, chance T-storms. Wednesday night’s low 68, chance T-storms.

The main question – how many attended this year’s Iowa State Fair? – won’t be answered for a few days, but KCCI-TV (Des Moines) reported that other records were set: Ninety-nine county fair queens competed for State Fair queen. The sale of champions livestock auction brought a record $157,000. The Iowa Pork Foundation reported that more than 60,000 pork chops on a stick were sold. (That’s in addition to 1,600 pork chops and 2,400 pork sandwiches sold each day.) And, to top things off, the fattest pigeon ever – 2 pounds, 4 ounces – won the heaviest pigeon contest.