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IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
Tuesday,
July 22, 2003
Quotable I:
“I haven’t seen
anything like it since Robert Kennedy…Those
trying to trivialize and marginalize Kucinich
do the Democrats no favor.”
–
Veteran IA liberal (and former FCC
Commissioner) Nicholas Johnson, in an “Iowa
View” column in yesterday’s Des Moines
Register commenting on Kucinich’s
campaign success and appeal
Quotable II:
”He is almost an
asterisk in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
– GOP pollster Robert Moran, commenting in
the Washington Times about Lieberman’s
situation in the first nominating states
Quotable III:
”We have replaced
tax-and-spend Democrats with tax-cut-and-spend
Republicans.”
– Stephen Moore, president of the Club for
Growth, in report in yesterday’s Chicago
Tribune.
Among the offerings in this morning’s update:
Media vultures
begin gathering over faltering wannabes. An
example from the Boston Herald – which said
Lieberman, Gephardt and Edwards last
week had to “endure the first speculation they
might drop their bids”
But before
erecting Gephardt’s political tombstone, check
out Lambro’s report from yesterday’s
Washington Times – which lists Gephardt (along
with Dean and Kerry) as the top tier Dem
competitors. Pollster Zogby says he can
“certainly rule out anybody else.”
Washington
Whispers: The “Joe Factor” – possibility
Biden will join the certifiable wannabes – is
“starting to scare” other Washington-based
hopefuls. Report says Kerry
“haranguing” Biden on Senate floor
about possible candidacy
The real
“Sleeping Giant” in the Wannabe Race? Could
it be Kucinich – although he denies sleeping
through Tony Blair’s congressional speech?
Headline on
“Iowa View” op-ed in yesterday’s DSM Register:
“Kucinich backers aren’t kidding”
Iowa City liberal Nick Johnson adds that on
“some issues [Dean] acknowledges he’s to the
right of Bush.”
Progress on
partial-birth abortion bill slows, primarily
over a Harkin amendment adopted by the
Senate endorsing Roe V. Wade. Harkin
keeping all options open – including
filibuster – if his amendment gets dumped
On the
Conservative Front I:
A preview of
Chicago Tribune report – “While Democrats
pound President Bush over the war in Iraq,
conservatives are growing restless over Bush’s
support of costly programs…”
Kerry
claims he’s accomplished “a lot of things” in
Senate, but – even if true – it’s not an
indicator of presidential electability.
Besides, former colleague said: “I don’t think
John Kerry would ever be characterized as a
member of any club.”
Iowa
Wannabe Tourism Update:
First it was Graham announcing plans to
bring his family to IA for an August
‘vacation,’ and now Edwards, his wife and
their three kids are planning a six-day bus
tour next month through two dozen stops over
six days
Kerry
– in Iowa – says Bush administration is the
“single most say-one-thing-do-another
administration in the 19 years I’ve been in
the Senate.”
Gephardt,
in New Hampshire, says loss of U. S. jobs and
health care coverage are moral – not just
economic – problems
On the
Conservative Front II:
Novak column
says GOP freshman Sen. Graham – not to be
confused with Wannabe Graham –
“displeased” White House with call for a
“cease-fire declaration” on Social Security
Iowaism:
Register reports that in Adair – believed
to be site of the West’s first robbery of a
moving train – Jesse James is still remembered All
these stories below and more.
New Cartoons:
Pay attention
Smokin' Joe
Lieberman Dumb2x
Morning reports:
… Morning
newscasts say that it could be tonight before
electrical power is restored to more than
15,000 customers in the Cedar Rapids
area. They have been without electricity since
a storm caused extensive damage Sunday night
in eastern IA
… Omaha
World-Herald reported this morning that
about 300 attended Omaha reception with VP
Cheney that generated $400,000 for the
Bush-Cheney re-election campaign…Radio Iowa
reports the investigation continues into the
death of a Waterloo woman – Janice
Alderman, 53 -- who died when her van veered
off I-380 yesterday and plunged into Eagle
Lake near Evansdale. Alderman was
trapped in about 15 feet of water for about 45
minutes before rescuers could get to her.
… Boston
Herald report: Three Dem hopefuls – Lieberman,
Gephardt & Edwards – have “suffered steady
setbacks” and produced “early talk of
winnowing the crowded field.” Headline – “’Top
tier’ Dems face squeeze in prez bids”
Excerpts from report by the Herald’s David R.
Guarino: “High-profile slip-ups, money
trouble and a fickle electorate are forcing
major shake-ups among several ‘top tier’
Democratic presidential hopefuls and early
talk of winnowing the crowded race. Sen.
Joseph I. Lieberman, Rep. Richard
Gephardt and Sen. John Edwards each
has suffered steady setbacks after beginning
their campaigns at the top of the field.
Last week the trio had to endure the first
speculation that they might drop their bids -
bowing to the burgeoning campaigns of Sen.
John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. ‘They were the
most promising candidates before and now,
Lieberman has just sort of dropped off the
board, Gephardt has obvious money
problems and Edwards just hasn't gained
any traction,’ said Peverill Squire, a
science professor at the University of Iowa,
home of the first key presidential face-off in
six months. Republicans are saying it's a bad
sign for Democrats if they can't even woo
party regulars. ‘If they are having trouble
convincing registered Democrats of their
ability to lead, it's going to be virtually
impossible for them to do that with
independents and moderate voters in the
general election,’ said Republican National
Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson.
Lieberman and Gephardt suffered significant
public setbacks last week. Gephardt
fell about $1 million short of his quarterly
fund-raising goals, prompting broad concerns
about his ability to draw support…Lieberman
was likewise forced to jettison top
fund-raisers in a staff shake-up that raised
new questions about his viability. On
Thursday, the Connecticut senator - and former
running mate of Vice President Al Gore -
turned more forcefully on his rivals. ‘I'm the
only Democrat who can win in November of '04,’
Lieberman said. Edwards, who
rushed into the campaign as a top contender as
a rich Southerner with gravitas, just hasn't
caught on in any
state, polls show.”
…
During the same
weekend Gephardt contends GWB is “worst
president” during his 25 years in Congress,
Kerry plays political catch-up – says the
current administration is the “single
most say-one-thing-do another administration”
during his 19 years in Congress. Headline
from yesterday’s Daily Iowan (University of
Iowa), which published for the first time
since Kerry’s weekend campaign swing.
Excerpts from report the DI’s Annie Shuppy
filed from Anamosa: “A Democratic
presidential hopeful made his case for greater
accountability in American leadership
[Saturday] to a group of supporters.
Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., told a crowd of 75 at the
National Motorcycle Museum that the U.S.
economy, education system, and foreign policy
are in need of remedy. The 59-year-old
former prosecutor contended that President
Bush's leadership has left millions jobless
and has compromised security both at home and
abroad. ‘This
administration is the single most
say-one-thing-do-another administration in the
19 years I've been in the Senate,’ said
Kerry, who was first elected in 1984. ‘We
are six months away [from the caucuses] at a
moment when Iowa has the opportunity to set
this country on a different course.’
Kerry
defended his congressional vote authorizing
the use of force against Iraq, but he
criticized the way Bush has carried out his
responsibility. Like Rep. Dick Gephardt,
D-Mo., Kerry, who has served 18 years
on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and
six years on the Senate Intelligence
Committee, said he advocated securing support
from the United Nations before invading Iraq.
‘My vote was
100-percent correct based on the information
we were given and intelligence reports,’
Kerry said…The decorated Vietnam
veteran touted his ability to create jobs,
make the United States less dependent on
foreign oil, and formulate a health-care
system that will ensure coverage for everyone.
He also said he will strive to bring security
back to America and reform a ‘separate but
unequal’ school system that depends on a
property-tax base.”
… While
some media outlets consider Gephardt’s
possible demise (see Boston Herald report
above), others report that he’s still a
top-tier runner. Headline from yesterday’s
Washington Times: “Dean, Kerry, Gephardt
lead pack of Democrats” The Times’ veteran
political watcher Donald Lambro reported. An
excerpt: “The crowded field of nine in the
Democratic presidential primary race appears
to be narrowing to three leading candidates:
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. Less
than six months before the start of the 2004
election season, these men are at the front of
the Democratic pack in Iowa and New Hampshire,
the first two delegate-selection contests and
often pivotal springboards in the party's
nominating process. The other Democratic
candidates have poll numbers in the low single
digits or barely register any support. ‘It's
either Dean, Kerry or Gephardt,’ said
pollster John Zogby, who has been conducting a
series of early polls in Iowa and New
Hampshire. ‘I can certainly rule out
anybody else.’ Of the three leading
candidates, Mr. Dean is in a tie for first
place in both states and seems to be
generating the most energy and momentum from
the party's liberal, activist wing, which has
been drawn to his antiwar message on Iraq. For
several months, Sen. Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut, the party's 2000
vice-presidential nominee, has led all
Democratic candidates in national polls, but
he lost that lead last week to Mr. Gephardt,
Newsweek reported. Mr. Gephardt, with
14 percent according to the Newsweek survey,
was in a statistical tie with Mr. Lieberman,
who polled 13 percent. Mr. Dean was
third with 12 percent and Mr. Kerry
came in fourth with 10 percent. But pollsters
say that Mr. Lieberman's strong
standing in national surveys was largely a
result of his broader name recognition and
that it did not reflect his weak showing in
most state-by-state contests. ‘He is almost
an asterisk in Iowa and New Hampshire,’
said Republican pollster Robert Moran. Mr.
Gephardt, with 21 percent, and Mr. Dean,
with 20 percent, are neck and neck in Iowa,
with Mr. Kerry registering 18 percent,
said a Harstad Research poll of Democrats who
voted in the 2000 Iowa caucuses. ‘In New
Hampshire, Kerry and Dean are
close and Gephardt is a distant third,’
Mr. Zogby said. ‘It's hard for me to see
Lieberman in all of this.’ Registering in
the middle to low single digits were all of
the other Democratic candidates: Sen. John
Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. Bob
Graham of Florida, New York civil rights
activist Al Sharpton, former Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun of Illinois and Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Even though
the number of viable Democrats apparently has
shrunk, no clear front-runner has emerged.
Many Democrats say they are dissatisfied with
the remaining choices, according to the
University of New Hampshire Survey Center,
which conducts the Granite State Poll.”
… Under the
subhead “The Joe Factor,” Paul Bedard
wrote in his “Washington Whispers” column in
this week’s U. S. News & World Report: “The
likelihood that longtime Sen. Joe Biden might
join the Democratic presidential primary race
is starting to scare his fellow
Washington-based candidates. The reason:
He's an expert on foreign and military
affairs, key to running in the post-9/11
world. Biden's toying with a candidacy
has irked Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts. We hear that Kerry recently
harangued Biden on the Senate floor about his
plans, repeatedly asking, ‘Why are you
doing this?’ At one point, Kerry even
asked if Biden didn't think Kerry
was good enough to run.”
… A real –
and longtime – Iowa City liberal draws
comparison between Kucinich and RFK. Former
FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson says that
Kucinich supporters “aren’t kidding” in an
“Iowa View” commentary in yesterday’s Des
Moines Register. Excerpt from Johnson’s
column: “Unlike the others, Kucinich's
positions are a stark contrast to Bush. He
is the only one advocating defense-spending
cuts, single-payer health care for all, public
education pre-K through college, public
funding of campaigns, signing Kyoto and other
treaties, and repeal of the death penalty,
NAFTA and the Patriot Act. He organized the
two-thirds House Democratic opposition to the
Iraq war resolution Congressman Dick Gephardt
drafted and most of his Senate competitors
supported. The media think former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is ‘liberal.’ But on
some issues he acknowledges he's to the right
of Bush. Both support the death penalty and
defense-spending increases. Both like
profit-driven health-care systems. Dean's
‘opposition’ to the Iraq war was his proposed
60-day delay before attacking. Will a majority
support all of Kucinich's positions? Of
course not. The majority of Iowans didn't
support all of Gov. Harold Hughes’ positions,
either. So why was he so popular? Iowans knew
he spoke from the heart and admired his
honesty. If Democrats would unambiguously
serve their natural constituency - those
earning under $200,000 - they could win in a
walk, say Kucinich backers. They say
Democrats need to energize the non-voters. Is
it possible? In 1984 and 1988, Jesse Jackson
registered 3 million and Democrats won back
the Senate. The Kucinich supporters’ secret
weapon, they claim, is their candidate. They
say, ‘A Dean supporter is a Democrat who
hasn't yet heard Dennis speak.’ Those who
are often moved emotionally. They comment
about his courage, compassion and commitment -
and their hunger for his vision of hope and
inspiration. I haven't seen anything like
it since Robert Kennedy. What if they're
right, and thinking outside the box is the
only way to get inside the White House?
Those trying to trivialize and marginalize
Kucinich do the Democrats no favor.”
… Even
Iowans try to get out of the state during the
mid-August heat and humidity, but for Edwards
it’s apparently the ideal time – and location
– for a six-day bus trip. Graham’s also
scheduled to vacation in IA next month, but
will he – like Edwards – also go to New
Hampshire for a bus tour? Report by News &
Observer’s John Wagner: “U.S. Sen. John
Edwards plans a pair of August bus trips to
boost the visibility of his presidential
campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire.
With
his wife and three children in tow, Edwards'
bus will travel around Iowa starting Aug. 13,
the campaign announced over the weekend.
Nearly two dozen stops are planned over the
course of six days.
The drill will be repeated starting Aug. 20 in
New Hampshire, the campaign said. Over six
days, Edwards will travel by bus between sites
of previously announced town-hall-style
meetings in the Granite State. Edwards has
lagged in the single digits in recent polls
from the two early nominating steps. In recent
weeks, he has devoted more of his time to
retail campaigning in both places.”
… Gephardt,
pushing for better New Hampshire numbers, says
his health care plan can cure many of nation’s
ills. Says Bush proposes a “survival of the
fittest” approach. Headline from
yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Gephardt
says health can spur economy” Excerpt from
Manchester-Deery coverage: “U.S. Rep.
Richard Gephardt said yesterday the loss of
American jobs overseas and the lack of health
insurance coverage for millions of Americans
are moral problems, not just economic ones.
The former House minority leader and
Democratic Presidential hopeful from Missouri
said he would eliminate President Bush’s tax
cuts and spend the money instead on his plan
to guarantee health coverage to all Americans.
That would boost the economy and create
more health care jobs — jobs that could not be
exported to China, he told several dozen
people attending house parties in Manchester
and Derry yesterday. ‘It is immoral to
have people without health insurance,’ he
said. Gephardt has proposed a sweeping,
$240-billion plan that would enable every
company to provide health insurance for its
employees, with 60 percent of the cost paid by
a refundable tax credit. He said his plan
would lower total health care costs by 5 to 7
percent. He said Bush’s policies, on the
other hand, reflect a ‘survival of the
fittest’ philosophy. ‘It’s not real. It’s
not moral. We go forward together,’ he said.
Gephardt, who opposed the North
American Free Trade Agreement, said existing
trade agreements with developing countries
such as Mexico and China have no teeth and the
restrictions they do contain are not enforced.
Such trade agreements invite corporations to
operate wherever labor is cheapest, no matter
the cost to American jobs or human rights, he
said. He called for an international
minimum wage, no slave labor, and strong
environmental standards. If they are violated,
the United States should have the power to
enact tariffs, he said.”
… Kerry –
lead sponsor on eight bills that have become
law – says he’s accomplished “a lot of things”
during nearly two decades in the Senate.
Excerpt from report on Los Angeles Times
online by Associated Press’ Nedra Pickler: “Asked
recently what he has accomplished that
wouldn't have happened had he not served in
the Senate, Kerry replied: ‘There are actually
a lot of things.’…’Can I say that it
wouldn't be done, that somebody else might not
have picked up the cudgel?’ he said in an
Associated Press interview. ‘I don't know. But
I know I led a lot of fights in the Senate
that nobody else was doing and that made a
difference.’ His response prompted an
examination of his record. Kerry has been
the lead sponsor of eight bills that have
become law. Two are related to his work on
the Senate panel on oceans and fisheries -- a
1994 law to protect marine mammals from being
taken during commercial fishing and a 1991
measure for the National Sea Grant College
Program Act, which finances marine research…The
rest of the laws he saw passed were ceremonial
-- renaming a federal building, designating
Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary
Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and
World Population Awareness Week in two
separate years. ‘There isn't a bill where
you say ah-ha, this bill has John Kerry's name
written all over it,’ said David King of
Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government. ‘His strength isn't as much in
legislation than in pointing the klieg lights
on a problem and going from there, and he'll
be able to do that a fair amount in the
presidential race.’… Former Sen. Robert
Torricelli, D-N.J., who served with Kerry
on the Finance and Foreign Relations
committees, said Kerry was steadfast in
the positions he took and not always willing
to cut deals with Republicans. He said it was
an effective strategy that he admired,
although it could rub others the wrong way. ‘The
hallmark of John Kerry has always been his
independence,’ Torricelli said. ‘That
independence has always irritated his
colleagues. I don't think John Kerry would
ever be characterized as a member of any club.’
Aides point out that while many of Kerry's
initiatives have not passed Congress intact,
they have been included as amendments to bills
that made it into law…But if recent
political history is any indication, other
academics said, legislative accomplishments
don't mean much in a presidential race. ‘Most
voters only have a vague idea of what senators
do,’ said John Pitney, government
professor at California's Claremont McKenna
College. ‘If you look at the senators who've
run for president, most don't have a
legislative record.’ Former Senate Majority
Leader Lyndon Johnson was an exception, Pitney
noted, although he became president after the
assassination of John Kennedy, another former
Massachusetts senator with political talents
but few legislative accomplishments. Former
Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., was a highly regarded
congressional leader, but that didn't serve
him well enough as the 1996 GOP challenger to
Clinton. ‘Bob Dole is one of the great
legislative craftsman of the last 50 years,
but there's not much you can say on the
campaign trail about how bold you are in
compromise,’ Harvard's King said.”
IOWA/NATIONAL
POLITICS:
… “Right
raises Thunder over Bush spending”
– Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune.
Excerpt from report from Washington by Tribune
senior correspondent William Neikirk:
“While Democrats pound President Bush over the
war in Iraq, conservatives are growing
restless over Bush's support of costly
programs such as a Medicare prescription drug
plan, farm subsidy legislation and an
AIDS-prevention package. The thunder
from the right is not loud enough yet to
qualify as a revolt against the president, but
conservatives are becoming sharper in
criticizing Bush for failing to keep federal
spending under control even as he pleases them
with tax cuts. Democrats have launched a
major attack on Bush for the record federal
deficits the White House announced last week,
and criticism over higher spending from the
Republicans' conservative base could magnify
their points. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a
conservative who voted against the proposal to
add a $400 billion drug benefit to Medicare,
said bluntly that Bush's inability to hold
the line on spending could hurt him
politically as the federal deficit soars into
record territory over the next two years.
‘I've always felt that sooner or later voters,
if they want big government, will return to
the genuine article, and that's the
Democrats,’ Flake said. ‘If [Democrats] were
in charge, we wouldn't be allowing this kind
of spending. We'd throw up roadblocks
everywhere we could. I just can't imagine that
we wouldn't be wreaking havoc.’ Stephen Moore,
an economist and president of Club for Growth,
a political action committee seeking to elect
conservative candidates, agreed. ‘This is
one of the biggest-spending White Houses we
have had since Lyndon B. Johnson was president,’
Moore said. Moore praised Bush for his tax
cuts, saying they should help the economy, but
criticized the president's support of the
Medicare bill, his signing of a huge farm
subsidy package last year and his support of a
$15 billion AIDS program. ‘We have replaced
tax-and-spend Democrats with tax-cut-and-spend
Republicans,’ Moore said. With such
actions, he added, ‘I don't think he [Bush]
has a lot of credibility left on the budget.’
Christine Iverson, spokeswoman for the
Republican National Committee, disputed this.
‘It is important to keep in mind that
without President Bush and a Republican
Congress, there would be no tax relief and
there would be $2 trillion in new spending
which the Democrats have proposed since he
took office,’ Iverson said. She said Bush
and the GOP Congress have ‘done an excellent
job of addressing the many priorities, and are
doing it in a fiscally responsible way.’ On
the Medicare drug plan, she said that while
Democrats ‘played politics’ on the issue,
Republicans delivered. But researchers at the
Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank that
is often aligned with conservatives, noted
that federal spending--excluding military
and entitlement programs such as Social
Security--has risen 20.8 percent in Bush's
years in office. That rate far exceeds the
growth in spending during the first three
years of the presidencies of Ronald Reagan,
Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush or Jimmy Carter,
according to Cato analysts Veronique de Rugy
and Tad DeHaven. Much of the higher spending
stems from non-military support for the war in
Iraq, as well as security requirements
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But
Bush also has increased spending in other
areas, such as the farm bill and education,
that conservatives believe went too far.”
…
Democrats launch anti-Bush ad campaign.
The content may be questionable – and
objectionable – but at least Dems know where
to find a receptive audience. They’re airing
the spot in one Wisconsin market – Madtown
(otherwise known as Madison), where most
liberal crazies believe Star Trek reruns are
real-life documentaries.
Excerpt from Greg Pierce’s “Inside Politics”
column in yesterday’s Washington Times: “Democrats
said yesterday they will launch a new
television ad in Wisconsin accusing President
Bush of misleading Americans on the threat
from Iraq. Republicans warned broadcasters
not to air the ad, scheduled to start today,
calling it ‘deliberately false and
misleading.’ The Democratic National Committee
has been raising money through an e-mail
campaign that started July 10 to help pay for
an ad that sharply questions President Bush's
veracity on Iraq's weapons, the Associated
Press reports. The ad says: ‘In his State
of the Union address, George W. Bush told us
of an imminent threat. ... America took him at
his word.’ The video shows Mr. Bush
saying, ‘Saddam Hussein recently sought
significant quantities of uranium from
Africa.’ The ad continues: ‘But now we find
out it wasn't true. A year earlier, that claim
was proven false. The CIA knew it. The State
Department knew it. The White House knew it.
But he told us anyway.’ Republicans say the ad
improperly quotes Mr. Bush because his entire
statement was: ‘The British government has
learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought
significant quantities of uranium from Africa.’ Democratic
spokesman Tony Welch said: ‘With the British
in there, the president's information is still
false and misleading. It is exactly what the
president said.’…’You can say whatever you
want in a fund-raiser,’ Republican spokesman
Jim Dyke said, ‘but it steps over the line
when you knowingly mislead people in your
advertising.’” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: So
far – despite objections by the RNC – three of
four Madison stations have either started or
will begin airing the spot. The CBS affiliate
was scheduled to begin showing early today,
the ABC and NBC stations will start this week
and the Fox affiliate was still weighing its
decision.)
… Under the
headline “Seeking cease-fire on Social
Security,”
columnist Robert Novak reported on
“unhappiness by conservatives with Bush’s
political strategy.”
Excerpts from Novak column in yesterday’s
Chicago Sun-Times: “Sen. Lindsey Graham,
the aggressive freshman Republican from South
Carolina, had waited long enough, and last
week he acted on his own, without a green
light from a displeased White House. He
began circulating among senators and House
members of both parties a letter that is
intended to radically reduce violence in the
bitter Social Security wars. ‘This is a
cease-fire declaration,’ Graham told me.
Addressed to the chairmen of the Republican
and Democratic campaign committees in both
houses, the letter promises, ‘We will no
longer turn a blind eye to political attack
ads that accuse responsible reform advocates
of wanting to dismantle Social Security or
slash benefits of current retirees.’ …When
a copy of the letter arrived at the White
House last week, there was consternation
rather than jubilation--mainly because it
calls on President Bush to do something well
beyond present plans. ‘It is time for this
Congress and this president to solve the
problems plaguing Social Security,’ the letter
declares. ‘Inaction is no longer an option.’
That admonition does not fit George W.
Bush's timetable. In re-election plans being
delicately tuned by the president's team,
politically risky reforms--especially Social
Security--are postponed until after the 2004
election. Indeed, circulating the
cease-fire declaration without advance notice
to the White House or its approval reflects
unspoken frustration with Bush's domestic
policy by Graham and other conservatives…The
Graham letter quotes Bush's 2000 campaign
statement that ‘too many times, Social
Security has been demagogued to frighten the
elderly for political advantage.’ Immediately
after the 2002 election, a Bush policy aide
surprised a meeting of conservatives by giving
the impression that Social Security reform was
high on the president's agenda. In fact,
however, that issue has been postponed until
the second term, and Bush's political
agents are not pleased by what Graham is
doing. Behind Graham's initiative is
unhappiness by conservatives with Bush's
political strategy, most recently reflected by
signals of the president's willingness to sign
any prescription drug bill. While Bush
advisers are displeased with Graham's trying
by himself to change the political landscape,
his action reflected unwillingness to postpone
real reforms until a second term.”
This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: “Bloodied
Liberians wail: ‘America, do something!’”
Today’s RAGBRAI Headline: “Some
youngsters pedal their way across Iowa…RAGBRAI
riders make the cross-state trek a family
affair” Today’s route from Bedford to
Osceola, 75.5 miles. This also is
“century loop” day for the real bike-riding
wackos on RAGBRAI where riders can take an
extended 25-mile route to put in one 100-mile
run.
Quad-City
Times, main online stories: State – “Storm
damages Cedar Rapids houses” &
Nation/World -- “Annan warns U. S. that
‘democracy cannot be imposed’”
Nation/world
heads, Omaha World-Herald online: “4,500
sail closer to Liberia” Some 4,500 U. S.
sailors and Marines have been ordered to
position themselves closer to Liberia. & “Fire
rages across western U. S.”
New York Times
online, featured heads: “Bill to Ease
Imports of Less Expensive Drugs Gains in House”
& “U. S. Resists Entreaties to Send
Peacekeepers to Liberia”
Daily Iowan
(University of Iowa), nation/world online
head: “Mortar attack blasts Monrovia; 90
killed”
Featured
stories:
Sioux City
Journal online: “Ex-POW Jessica Lynch goes
home today as hero” & “Father of two
missing children charged with murder”
Search for bodies of two missing New Hampshire
children continues along Interstate 80 from
New Hampshire to California.
Chicago
Tribune online, top stories: “Israeli:
Militants refining rockets” & “Bush
tells Syria, Iran to stop backing terrorism”
No appeal by
Phyllis Nelson in conviction for husband’s
death.
The Daily
Iowan’s Inga Beyer reported yesterday on the
high-profile case that resulted in the death
of a high-profile UI med school administrator.
Excerpt: “Phyllis Nelson, who was convicted
of voluntary manslaughter in the death of her
husband, dropped her appeal in 6th District
Court [last week] to avoid ‘another rigorous
trial,’ said her attorney William Kutmus.
Nelson had been
charged with the first-degree murder of her
husband, former UI medical-school Executive
Dean Richard Nelson, after she stabbed him in
the chest with a black-handled Oxo paring
knife during an argument on Dec. 12, 2001, at
his Cedar Rapids apartment.
‘I visited her
in Mitchellville [Iowa Correctional
Institution for Women] not too long ago, and
she informed me she didn't want to appeal,’
Kutmus said. ‘It would take a year,
year-and-a-half, and she said if they were
successful, she would have to face another
trial, and she just wasn't up to that.’
Kutmus said
Nelson also shied away from the ‘enormous’
costs of another trial.”
Iowa
Briefs/Updates:
… The
Quad-City Times reported yesterday that a
Davenport man, Brian Carstens, died Saturday –
his 34th birthday – eleven weeks
after he was struck by a lightening bolt.
Carstens and his brother Tim were both hit by
lightening while setting up a tent during an
annual hunting trip near Keosauqua in
southeast Iowa. Tim Carstens was released from
University Hospitals in Iowa City
shortly after the incident
… KCCI-TV (Des
Moines) reports that jury selection is
scheduled to begin today for the first of two
former Iowa State football players – Royce
Hooks, 21 – accused of raping a woman more
than 18 months ago. Hooks pleaded not
guilty after a grand jury indicted him and
former teammate, Brent Nash, 21, on a
second-degree sexual abuse charge. Nash, who
also has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for
trial on 9/9.
… Blair, in
China, finds discussions about North Korean
nuclear threat sidelined by inquires about
Iraq intelligence issue and apparent suicide
by former weapons inspector Kelly. Excerpt
from VOANews (Voice of America) coverage by
Jim Randle in Beijing: “British Prime
Minister Tony Blair is in China for talks on
trade and how to solve the North Korean
nuclear crisis. But his Asian tour continues
to be dogged by the apparent suicide of a
former British weapons inspector in a scandal
over whether Mr. Blair's government overstated
the threat from Iraqi weapons to justify the
invasion. Military bands played, as
China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao, greeted
his visiting British counterpart, Tony Blair,
Monday in Beijing…Mr. Blair has already been
to Japan and South Korea to discuss the
dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons
program. All the leaders agreed
multilateral negotiations were the best way to
find a solution. Mr. Blair has said he is
particularly worried that North Korea might
export nuclear weapons or technology. The
Blair visit comes during an intense Chinese
diplomatic push to get North Korea and the
United States to resume some kind of dialogue
on the nuclear issue…The current round of
diplomacy comes amid new reports North Korea
may have a secret second nuclear facility
capable of making weapons-grade plutonium.
The North Korean issue has been somewhat
eclipsed by media questions over the apparent
suicide of former weapons inspector David
Kelly last week. The biological warfare expert
was named as the source for a controversial
story accusing the British government of
distorting intelligence information in an
effort to justify attacking Iraq. Mr. Blair
has ordered an inquiry into the tragedy, and
is refusing to discuss any details now.”
…
Partial-birth abortion. Harkin amendment cited
as causing a major division – and delay -- in
reaching a final version to send to GWB.
Headline from yesterday’s Washington Times: “Abortion
bill faces conference setbacks” Excerpts
from report by the Times’ Amy Fagan:
“Senate Democrats are slowing the progress of
legislation banning partial-birth abortion as
Senate Republicans try to bring the measure to
conference with the House, Republican
officials say. Both chambers
overwhelmingly passed bills that would ban the
procedure, and now they must be reconciled in
conference. The House appointed its conferees,
but a Senate Republican leadership aide
said Republicans have tried twice in
behind-the-scenes talks to appoint conferees,
and Democrats have said ‘no’ because they
first want to offer procedural motions. ‘They're
not letting us appoint. They've objected,’ the
aide said on the condition of anonymity.
‘Democrats are throwing up roadblocks.’ Sen.
Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican and
sponsor of the Senate bill, said California
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to
offer a nonbinding procedural motion insisting
that the final bill contain language
supporting the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court
decision that struck down abortion laws as
violating a right to privacy. The
Senate added the language, sponsored by Sen.
Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, to its bill before
passing the measure 64-33 on March 13. The
House bill, which passed 282-139 on June 4,
does not contain the Harkin language,
and when the House moved to go to conference
it essentially stripped the language from the
Senate bill. Mrs. Boxer wants the language
included in the final bill and so does Mr.
Harkin, said his spokeswoman, Allison
Dobson. ‘We believe that the Harkin
amendment is extremely important in affirming
Congress's belief that the court was right in
Roe and that women have a basic right to
reproductive health services,’ she
said. But Republican aides and a pro-life
lobbyist said the Republican-led conferees
would never agree to keep the language in the
final bill. If it is removed, Mr. Harkin,
who does not want the bill to become law, is
leaving all of his options open, including
blocking the final bill by filibuster, Miss
Dobson said. Most Republicans do not like
the Harkin language and do not want it
in the final bill. ‘Apparently they're trying
to pull a maneuver to keep the Roe language in
the final bill — something that divides us,’
said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Republican. ‘What unites Congress and the
public is banning partial-birth abortion. ...
My hope is that we won't stop a good bill to
play abortion politics.’ Mrs. Boxer would
not answer questions on the issue, and calls
to her office were not immediately returned.” Today’s
editorials:
… Today’s
editorials, Des Moines Register: “Respect
students’ right to privacy…Young people
will learn a sorry lesson in citizenship if
schools follow Iowa Supreme Courts’ lead.”
Editorial reaction to Iowa Supreme Court
decision last week allowing school officials
to search school lockers. Register says it
strips students of their Fourth Amendment
rights. & “Leave Education to Iowa”
Reaction to Bush comments about the federal
government’s “historic investment in public
education.”
… Just
another $17,000 and Iowa’s Ferentz will join
the ranks of the Million-dollar football
coaches. KCCI-TV (Des Moines)
reported that Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz has
received a 14% pay increase – bringing his
base salary to $583,000 and overall income
(with shoe contracts, etc.) to $983,000. The
next biggest raise in the UI athletic
department (7%) went to women’s track and
field coach Jim Grant – with most Hawkeye
coaches getting raises of about 1%.
… DSM 7 a.m.
63, fair. Temperatures across Iowa at 7 a.m. –
from 52 in Sheldon and Decorah
to 64 in Keokuk and Davenport.
Today’s high 76, partly cloudy. Tonight’s low
56, mostly clear. Tomorrow’s high 80, mostly
sunny. Tomorrow nights low 60, mostly clear.
… As part of a
continuing summer-long series featuring Iowa
events and celebrations, the Register
yesterday recalled the days of Jesse James
and the Adair train robbery. Excerpt from
report by Register photographer David
Peterson: “Jesse James and Adair will be
forever linked. James and his gang of
notorious outlaws derailed and robbed a Rock
Island Railroad train a mile and a half from
Adair 130 years ago. It was believed to be
the West's first robbery of a moving train.
The train was supposed to contain $75,000 in
gold from the Cheyenne region, but instead the
bandits found only $2,000 in currency and
another $1,000 from the passengers they robbed
- the gold shipment had been delayed. ‘We
don't idolize Jesse James around here because
there was a death involved,’ said Bill
Littler, publisher of the Adair News and a
local historian. The train's engineer, John
Rafferty of Des Moines, was
killed in the wreck, and fireman Dennis Foley
died later from injuries. That still hasn't
stopped the town from naming its annual
festival after the famous scoundrel: the
Jesse James Chuck Wagon Days.”
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…
Kucinich may
be the real “Mister
Sandman”
in the race for the Dem nomination, but denies
he fell asleep during Tony Blair’s
congressional appearance. Ohio Wannabe says he
could be the next notebook-obsessed Bob
Graham.
Headline from
the DRUDGE REPORT – “Kucinich
Denies Sleeping Through Blair’s Speech To
Congress”
Excerpt from Drudge’s report: “During
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech to
a joint session of Congress, a television
camera appeared to catch Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio), the anti-war presidential candidate,
snoozing away!
But
Kucinich
called Roll Call's Ed Henry to ‘insist he
wasn't sleeping and stressed that there's
another side to the story.’
It turns out that
Sen. Bob Graham (D- Fla.) isn't the only White
House candidate who carries around a notebook.
'Let me just tell you, it's stupid,'
Kucinich
said Friday of the speculation that he had
slept through the speech. 'I heard this same
thing on the floor today from a Republican
Member.'
The
Congressman insisted that he was buried in his
notebook.
'When
I take notes my head is down, just like
reporters,' he said. 'In fact, during every
State of the Union I've taken close notes.'
Then he added slyly, 'I actually have notes
from the last State of the Union -- they're
annotated about a lack of proof [on WMDs].
Anyone who cares to can come read the
notebook. It's pretty interesting.'
Kucinich stressed
that his jottings are different from the
Graham notebooks, which chronicle the
Senator's daily life, including such minutiae
as what he had for breakfast.’”
to read past Iowa Daily Reports
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