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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues
IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
Wednesday,
July 23, 2003 Quotable I:
“Kerry's
defense allows him to retain his now seemingly
antiwar campaign message while defending his
middle-of-the-road and politically safe
actions earlier this year. Other Democrats,
including Rep. Dick Gephardt, D- Mo., have
similarly talked out of both sides of their
mouth to fault the Bush administration while
defending their own actions.”
– Excerpt from today’s “must read” item –
an editorial from the Daily Iowan (University
of Iowa) Quotable II: ”If
Senator Kerry regrets his vote to remove
Saddam Hussein, he should just say so. If
Senator Kerry would change his vote to remove
Saddam Hussein, he should just say so. If
Senator Kerry is embarrassed by his vote
because it's unpopular with the antiwar base
of his party, he should just say so,”
– Christine Iverson, spokeswoman for the
Republican National Committee, responding to
Kerry’s latest charge that the president
“circumvented” the procedure outlined in the
Iraq congressional resolution.
Among the offerings in today’s update:
Daily Iowan
editorial blisters Kerry – “Either Kerry
needs to clarify his campaign message, or he
owes his constituents an apology for voting
before thinking.” Says his defense would be
“laughable” on less serious issues
CA Poll:
Three – Dean, Kerry, Lieberman –
bunched together at the top, Gephardt
struggles, Edwards “hasn’t broken
through at all,” and Bush has started
to “sag”
Gephardt’s woes continue – Chicago Trib
report says his candidacy is “chugging this
summer” and he “hasn’t delivered the returns
expected” after 27 years in DC
Boston
Herald report: Pundits expect noise created
by Dem attacks on GWB’s war policies to
fizzle over the long haul
Kucinich
drills on Cheney, calls for withdrawal of U.
S. troops from Iraq
Kerry –
probably unaware of Daily Iowan editorial or
unable to read – hits Bush again, charges
that the president “circumvented” the
process laid out in congressional Iraq
resolution
In New
Hampshire, Lieberman launches petition
drive to push Bush on child tax credit
GOP
Goal: Dominance. LA Times reports
that the 2004 campaign goal “extends far
beyond the election. They want to establish
political dominion for years to come.”
OpinionJournal.com (Wall Street Journal)
says IA GOP Rep./House Budget Chair
Nussle, despite being “quickly shouted
down” and Dem opposition, has “already
uncovered plenty of waste”
Gephardt,
taking a page from other wannabes’
playbooks, calls for involvement of other
nations in Iraq, says “we can’t win the
peace alone.”
In Iowa,
energy assistance officials report needy
“already swimming in unpaid bills” face a
tough winter ahead. Utilities, still owed
$3 million from last winter, sent out 13,189
disconnect warnings last month
DC newspaper
The Hill reports that Graham failing
in fundraising derby in “early states.”
Florida wannabe raised only $1,750 in IA, NH
and SC
Iowaism:
Amish summer produce auction, in initial
season, first of its kind in the state
Sports: Iowa
State’s alcohol-related woes continue.
Cris Love – ISU’s QB of the future – won’t
play in football season opener vs. Northern
Iowa due to drunk driving arrest
All these stories below and more.
New Cartoons:
Pay attention
Lieberman Dumb2x
John Kerry...
Morning report:
… National
reports say GWB is getting support from an
“unlikely source” – Bill Clinton – on the Iraq
intelligence situation. Clinton
said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” last night
that the president’s erroneous reference to
the Iraq-Africa uranium link was
understandable, partly because Saddam’s regime
had not accounted for some weapons when
Clinton left office in 2001
… Morning
newscasts say 2,000 to 3,000 still without
electrical power in the Cedar Rapids
area as result of severe storms, tornadoes
that caused more than $1 million in damage.
Report says crews are now “literally going
yard-to-yard” to reconnect electricity
… Des Moines Register reports this morning
that the DSM mayor’s race could set a
spending record. With 2.5 months until
10/7 primary, Christine Hensley has raised
$96,206 and Mark McCormick has $44,775 (before
officially announcing his candidacy) – with
both planning to spend $200,000 each. At least
four more candidates are expected to seek the
mayoral post.
… “Dean
leads Democrats in California Field
Poll…President’s numbers ‘have begun to sag’”
– Headline from yesterday’s San Francisco
Chronicle. The top numbers: Dean 16%, Kerry
15%, Lieberman 14%, Gephardt 7%, Edwards 4%.
Excerpts from coverage by the Chronicle’s
Carla Marinucci: “Presidential candidate
Howard Dean -- buoyed by Internet
campaigning and strong word-of-mouth among
grassroots voters -- has rocketed to the top
of the Democratic pack in crucial California,
a new Field Poll released Monday showed…North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards posted the
lowest showing of any of the major candidates,
with just 4 percent of the party's support.
Among Democrats considered to be second-tier
candidates, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich
is tied with Florida Sen. Bob Graham
and the Rev. Al Sharpton with 3
percent, and former U.S. Sen. Carol Mosley
Braun posted 2 percent. But the
latest poll numbers for President Bush
suggested he too may have work ahead in the
nation's most populous state. Just 46 percent
of the voters of California were inclined to
re-elect the president, the poll showed --
numbers that appear to mirror those of his
father in the months leading up to the 1992
election. ‘After six months of
campaigning, the Democratic race is more
unsettled than it has ever been,’ said Field
Poll Director Mark DiCamillo. But the numbers
are ‘not a good news poll for those who are
not in the top tier,’ particularly Edwards,
who ‘hasn't broken through at all,’ said
DiCamillo. Dean's rise to the top of the
Democratic pack here is due to his position as
‘the anti-Bush candidate…at least in the top
tier,’ said DiCamillo. ‘Dean has caught on
in a way that is more appealing to people…but
the big tipoff is where his support is coming
-- the liberal wing, what he calls the
Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. He
has pretty much staked out the left side of
the party…and it's not a bad play to start out
from.’ Lieberman's decline -- from 22
percent in April to 14 percent in July --
is due to ‘the function of higher name
recognition he brought to the race,’ said
DiCamillo. ‘Voters were familiar and fairly
comfortable with him early on. But as the
other candidates get better known, it becomes
a more competitive arena.’ On the GOP
side, Bush's approval ratings ‘have begun to
sag,’ and his re-election figures are
stagnating, said DiCamillo. He said
the current numbers show that voters'
preferences are ‘much more wide open’ than
just three months ago. Then, ‘Bush looked
so strong, and looked like he would carry
California,’ he said. Now ‘it's a more wide
open field on the Democratic side, and the
president looks to be more vulnerable here.’”
The Field Poll was conducted July 1-13
statewide by telephone, of 1, 040 California
registered voters. The margin of error is plus
or minus 3.8 percentage points.
… Chicago
Tribune says Gephardt “often stung by his
close connection to the party establishment”
and past voting record, but he argues the New
England wannabes – Kerry and Dean – won’t
appeal to voters in industrial battleground
states. Headline from yesterday’s Trib: “Gephardt
fights to keep pace…27 years’ experience
failing to deliver expected results.” Excerpts
from New Hampshire coverage by Tribune
national correspondent Jeff Zeleny: “Here in
the White Mountains, green road signs refer to
Route 2 as the Presidential Highway, an apt
name for a lonely stretch of pavement where
ambitious politicians travel every four years
to secure support in the home of the nation's
first presidential primary. A passenger on a
recent day was Dick Gephardt, a man who
has been on this journey longer than any of
the nine Democrats in the 2004 presidential
race. His white, six-wheeled mobile home, is
chugging to climb the winding two-lane road.
The candidacy of Gephardt, a Missouri
congressman, is chugging this summer, too. The
fundraising prowess he built during his 27
years in Washington hasn't delivered the
returns he expected. His support for the
Iraq war offended many Democratic loyalists
and remains a threat to his appeal. And
fresher-faced rivals are aggressively trying
to pick away at his support from labor unions,
the lifeblood of his constituency…In the
last three months, Gephardt raised
$3.87 million, falling $1 million shy of his
goal and reaching only half the amount
collected by former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean, an insurgent Democrat. The
disappointment prompted aides to devise a new
fundraising plan and reassess some points of
Gephardt's campaign before the race picks up
intensity after Labor Day. On a trip
across New Hampshire this weekend, where he
campaigned in front yards and back yards,
flipped blueberry pancakes at a diner and
threw out an opening pitch at a minor league
baseball game, Gephardt exuded an
unwavering perseverance. His patience, he
says, comes from his previous turn as a
presidential candidate and nearly three
decades of Washington experience that he's not
shying away from. But just as Dean
capitalizes on anti-war sentiment and taps
into the frustration among Democrats,
Gephardt is often stung by his close
connection to the party establishment and the
votes he has cast. His support for the war
resolution, the president's ‘Leave No Child
Behind’ school reform act and the Patriot Act,
haunts him as he speaks to liberal Democratic
activists who have a loud voice in the
primary…Because of his previous tenure as the
Democratic leader in the House, Gephardt
said, he is more prepared to credibly
challenge Bush in an election where national
security is a chief concern. ‘In the world
we are in, people want experience more than
freshness,’ Gephardt said in an
interview. ‘You can't have long experience and
be the fresh face. It doesn't work that way.’
In addition to his seasoning on foreign and
domestic policy, Gephardt argues that he
also holds a geographic advantage over the
other Democrats. Without mentioning rivals by
name, he suggests candidates from the
Northeast (Dean, Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of
Connecticut) will not easily appeal to voters
in the battleground states in the industrial
core of the country. ‘The battleground is
in the Midwest. That's where we have to beat
Bush,’ Gephardt said, delivering a pitch
seldom heard in a New England state. ‘They
[the Republicans] know if they can win those
states, it will make it impossible for us to
win.’”
… Wasn’t it
just a couple days ago that Smokin’ Joe
Lieberman promised a tougher, more aggressive
campaign? He’s sure terrorizing a lot of folks
– especially other wannabes – with his latest
campaign gimmick: a mean petition drive that
generated over 100 signers on the first day.
Report from yesterday’s The Union Leader
on Lieberman’s New Hampshire stop.
Excerpts from Concord coverage by AP’s Holly
Ramer: “Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe
Lieberman launched a petition drive yesterday
urging President Bush to break the gridlock
over extending the child tax credit to more
low-income families. More than 25 million
middle-income families are expected to begin
receiving $12 billion in rebate checks later
this week, thanks to the tax cut Bush signed
in May, which increased the child tax credit
from $600 to $1,000 per child. But Congress
has yet to agree on how to make the credit
more generous for the roughly 6.5 million
families who do not pay enough income tax to
take advantage of the bigger credits. ‘Twelve
million kids whose working families need those
checks most are not going to get them because
of a failure of leadership by the President
and just bad, upside-down priorities by the
Republican leadership in Congress,’
Lieberman said in a phone interview. The
House and Senate have passed bills allowing
minimum-wage families to take advantage of the
credit, but lawmakers have been unable to
reach a compromise. With the first batch of
checks to be mailed Friday — the same day
House members start their summer recess — time
is running out. Bush has urged House leaders
to support the Senate version, which would
expand the credit for families making less
than $26,000… House Republicans argue that the
Senate bill discriminates against the wealthy.
But Democrats argue that Republicans pushed
legislation designed to fail. ‘It was a
gesture so transparently insincere that no one
thinks anything is going to come of it,’
Lieberman, a Connecticut senator, said
of the House bill. ‘It will take the
President stepping in.’ Julie Teer,
spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Republican
Party, said Bush already has called for
Congress to send him the bill as soon as
possible. ‘As a result of the President’s
leadership, over 120,000 parents in New
Hampshire alone will receive much needed tax
relief from the increased child tax credit
included in the President’s jobs and growth
package —something Joe Lieberman didn’t
believe was necessary,’ she said. Lieberman
said he plans to continue the petition drive
this week, possibly longer, and then send the
results to the White House. In addition to
collecting names through e-mails to supporters
and a form on his Web site, www.joe2004.com,
Lieberman also has organized petition drives
in New Hampshire, Iowa, Arizona, South
Carolina, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Lieberman did not have an estimate of how
many signatures he gathered yesterday, but in
their first two hours of canvassing, campaign
interns in Concord collected more than 100
names.”
… He’s
never going to be president, but Dennis
Kucinich has to be recognized for a)
determination, 2) political insanity, or 3)
wasting his contributors’ money. Kucinich
demanded Cheney explain his “role” in Iraq
intelligence issue – and called on GWB to
immediately withdraw American troops.
Headline from this morning’s The Union Leader:
“Kucinich wants Cheney to explain his role
in flap” Excerpts from report by
AP’s Milia Rulon: “Democratic presidential
aspirant Dennis Kucinich is calling on Vice
President Dick Cheney to explain his role in
how the now-disavowed claim that Iraq was
seeking uranium in Africa ended up in
President Bush's State of the Union address.
In a letter sent to the vice president, the
Ohio congressman and two members of the House
Government Reform subcommittee on national
security, emerging threats and international
relations asked Cheney to explain his multiple
visits to CIA headquarters. ‘These visits
were unprecedented. Normally, vice presidents,
yourself included, receive regular briefings
from CIA in your office ... there is no reason
for the vice president to make personal visits
to CIA analysts," said the letter, which was
sent late Monday. Kucinich and Reps.
Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Bernie Sanders,
I-Vt., posed 10 questions that they want the
vice president to answer, such as: ‘Did you
or a member of your staff at any time direct
or encourage CIA analysts to disseminate
unreliable intelligence?’…’This
administration, whose entry strategy was based
on falsehood, with no exit strategy, has
trapped our troops in Iraq and exposed them to
greater harm,’ Kucinich said in a
speech on the House floor.”
…Capital Hill
newspaper The Hill undercuts Graham’s Don
Quixote fantasy – notes that he has “stumbled
badly” in early-state fundraising battle, says
he has raised only $1,750 which puts him
eighth (behind Moseley Braun) in the dollar
derby. Headline from The Hill: “Graham
flops in key states…Money race shows
Dean bests Kerry in early
primaries” Excerpt from coverage by The Hill’s
Sam Dealey: “In key presidential primary
states, Democratic contender Sen. Bob Graham
(Fla.) has stumbled badly in the fundraising
political derby while Howard Dean’s insurgent
candidacy outpaced that of Sen. John Kerry
(Mass.), an establishment favorite. The
figures for Dean, a former Vermont
governor, and the others reflect campaign
finance filings for the three-month period
ended June 30. Fundraising is an important
indicator of a candidate’s strength, and the
Democratic aspirants continued to rake in the
big cash from donors in perennial cash cows
such as California, Florida and New York.
crucial But an equally important vital sign
for a presidential campaign is the candidate’s
ability to raise funds in early-voting and
caucus states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and
South Carolina …A poor showing in these
states — and in some instances an inability to
win — could severely damage a candidate’s
viability and even force him to withdraw.
Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) maintained a
healthy lead in early primary states, pulling
in over $93,000. Dean followed with
$75,000, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
with $51,000. Kerry and Rep. Dick Gephardt
(Mo.) were near even, with $41,000 and
$36,000 respectively. Graham fared the
worst in these states, with just $1,750.
While Graham’s fundraising in Iowa and New
Hampshire was never expected to be strong, his
continued poor performance in South Carolina
is likely to raise eyebrows. As with his
first filing, the Floridian — one of just two
Southerners vying for the Democratic
nomination — reported raising no money in
the Palmetto State last quarter. What’s
more, Graham’s financial support in
North Carolina also plummeted, from just
$10,000 in the first quarter to $800, better
only than former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun
(Ill.). The Graham campaign said these
anemic fundraising totals reflected a nascent
campaign organization rather than lack of
support in these states. ‘Primarily we’ve been
focused on meeting with political leaders and
trying to build a political organization in
those states,’ said Jamal Simmons, the
campaign’s spokesman. Campaign finance reports
show Graham’s financial support comes
overwhelmingly from home-state donors. Almost
75 percent, or $1.23 million, of Graham
donors were Floridians.”
…
Apparently Kerry – despite the above Daily
Iowan editorial – hasn’t spotted the error of
his ways and launches another volley at the
President. The Union Leader, in a
headline, offers a reason why Kerry is
intensifying his anti-Bush rhetoric: “Pressured
by anti-war wing, Kerry escalates Bush attacks”
Another headline from yesterday’s Washington
Times: “Bush sidestepped process on war in
Iraq, Kerry says” Excerpt from the Times
coverage by Amy Fagan: “Democratic
presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry yesterday
said President Bush ‘circumvented’ the process
laid out in the congressional resolution
authorizing action against Iraq, which Mr.
Kerry supported in the Senate last year. Mr.
Kerry, of Massachusetts, said the
president promised to build the international
coalition, work through the United Nations and
go to war as a last resort. ‘It is clear
now that he didn't do that sufficiently,’
Mr. Kerry told reporters in a telephone
conference call yesterday. He said the Iraq
war resolution supported Mr. Bush exhausting
diplomatic efforts before going to war, and
working through the United Nations. ‘The
president circumvented that process,’ he
said…Mr. Kerry defended his Senate
vote in favor of the Iraq resolution, however,
saying it was the right vote, ‘based on the
information that we were given.’ He
said he voted for it with the expectation that
the United States would build an international
coalition and exhaust other remedies before
attacking. He said he was not voting to
give Mr. Bush permission ‘to make an end run
around the United Nations.’ White House
spokeswoman Claire Buchan said all efforts
were exhausted and the administration did
indeed work through the United Nations.
Though the U.N. Security Council did not pass
a resolution authorizing the war in Iraq, Miss
Buchan pointed to the U.N. resolution passed
by the Security Council in November of last
year, which gave Iraq a final opportunity to
comply with its disarmament obligations. ‘After
12 years of Saddam Hussein's defiance of the
world and 17 U.N. resolutions, the president
determined it was imperative to act,’ she
said. Miss Buchan also said there was an
international coalition of countries involved
in the war. Christine Iverson, spokeswoman for
the Republican National Committee, said Mr.
Kerry should be more direct on the
issue. ‘If Senator Kerry regrets his vote
to remove Saddam Hussein, he should just say
so. If Senator Kerry would change his vote to
remove Saddam Hussein, he should just say so.
If Senator Kerry is embarrassed by his vote
because it's unpopular with the antiwar base
of his party, he should just say so,’ she said. Mr.
Kerry again called for an investigation
into the intelligence surrounding the decision
to go to war with Iraq. But he said his
primary concern at this point is ensuring that
we "win the peace" there. To do this, Mr.
Kerry said, the administration needs to build
an international force in Iraq, which it has
not done. He said there are 147,000
American troops in Iraq right now and only
13,000 troops from other countries. ‘We need
to internationalize this. We need to do it
now. We need to do it openly,’ he said. He
said some countries would like to help, but
want to do so under a U.N. mandate. ‘I know
for a fact that there are countries prepared
to be helpful’ if they were acting under the
United Nations, he said.”
… Most
political outlets reporting this morning about
Gephardt’s call – in San Francisco yesterday
-- for increased use of international troops
in Iraq, basically the same as reported in
yesterday’s Des Moines Register. Headline
from yesterday’s Register: “Gephardt says
U. S. needs other nations to serve in Iraq”
Excerpts from report by Jane Norman of the
Register’s Washington Bureau: “Democratic
presidential candidate Dick Gephardt on
Monday called for wider use of international
troops in Iraq. ‘It's increasingly clear we
can win the war alone, but we can't win the
peace alone,’ he said. The Missouri
congressman said U.S. troops in a lengthening
and costly engagement in Iraq must be aided by
soldiers from other nations. Gephardt,
who [was] expected to deliver a major foreign
policy speech in San Francisco [Tuesday], said
President Bush must engage foreign leaders
rather than repeat a ‘clear pattern’ of
walking away from international problems.
Gephardt spoke Monday with reporters and
editors from Gannett Company Inc., which owns
The Des Moines Register. He continued to
raise questions about events leading up to the
war, including assertions on Iraq's weapons
capabilities in the president's State of the
Union Address that turned out to be based on
information considered dubious by the State
Department. Bush should assume
responsibility for his remarks, Gephardt
said. ‘This was not some garden-variety
speech,’ he said…’Credibility is vital,’
Gephardt said. He added that a full and
independent inquiry should be made into
intelligence available before the war, ‘not as
a witch hunt, but as a way to handle it better
in the future.’ Gephardt backed last
October's congressional resolution authorizing
war in Iraq, and said he still believes
there was an ‘impressive body of evidence’
indicating that former Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein had access to weapons of mass
destruction. Despite intense criticism
from anti-war Democrats, including some in
Iowa, Gephardt said he has no regrets
about his vote. ‘It was what I believed was
the right thing to do, and I still believe
it,’ he said. However, he said he would have
worked longer and harder than Bush did to
obtain the United Nations' approval…As for
the politics of the Democratic contest,
Gephardt said he is satisfied with his
progress in fund raising although he came in
fifth among the candidates in the most recent
quarter. He said he is encouraged by union
support, not just in the leadership but in the
rank-and-file. Labor interests are very
influential in the race for the nomination.
Gephardt traditionally has done well with
unions, but he is facing competition from
former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John
Kerry of Massachusetts. Gephardt
said he was unconcerned about a perceived lack
of excitement around a candidacy. ‘I don't
think anybody's ahead,’ he said of the field
of nine Democrats. ‘I'm doing well in Iowa,
but it's close.’ The picture, he said,
won't become clear until the caucuses and
primaries begin.”
IOWA/NATIONAL
POLITICS:
… “Intelligence
flap may be short-run hit for Bush” –
Boston Herald headline on account that says it
could become a “non-story” if Saddam and WMD
issues resolved. Coverage by the
Herald’s Noelle Straub: “The Democratic
assault on President Bush's Iraq war policies
is making a lot of noise now but may fizzle
over the long run, pundits agree. ‘If all
of a sudden we capture Saddam and the
scientists say now we can tell you what
happened to the weapons of mass destruction,
and we start to see the violence tone down, it
becomes a non-story,’ said Norman Ornstein, a
resident scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute. Bush has been on the defensive as
political debate rages over his disputed State
of the Union claim that Iraq recently sought
to buy uranium, which can be used for making
nuclear weapons, from Africa. Democrats
also have criticized Bush's postwar planning
as almost daily U.S. troop casualties continue.
Stuart Rothenberg, a veteran political
analyst, said Bush has taken a short-term
political hit. ‘Even though the American
public in polls still support the war and
still think we should be over there,’ he said,
‘this is the kind of drip, drip, drip of
bad news that takes its toll on a president.’
The Democrats probably will get some
traction from the dispute over accurate
intelligence, he said, but ‘the question is
really how much and how bad it is for the
president.’ Former Clinton staffer Paul
Begala said the controversy has the potential
to severely damage Bush because it contradicts
his ‘principal claims on the affection’ of
voters: that he is an honest man and a strong
leader on foreign policy and national defense.
But he warned the facts may yet clear Bush
and, rather than rush to condemn the
president, Democrats should push for an
independent investigation into the matter.”
… “GOP
Seeks Lasting Majority…The party dreams of
a political dominion. To do that, they’re
claiming Democratic ideals, raising millions
and targeting lobbyists.” – Los Angeles Times
headline. Excerpts from report by Janet Hook:
“Emboldened by a popular president, key
fund-raising advantages and an opposition
party plagued by divisions, Republicans are
heading into the 2004 campaign eyeing a goal
that extends far beyond the election: They
want to establish political dominion for years
to come. With the GOP now controlling the
White House and Congress, next year's vote
looms as a test of whether this Republican
reign is an interlude or the start of an
enduring period of political supremacy on par
with Democrats' hegemony for much of the 20th
century. ‘The president has said he does
not want a lonely victory,’ said Christine
Iverson, spokeswoman for the Republican
National Committee. ‘We really have an
opportunity here to make this a permanent
majority.’ Toward that end, Republicans
have pressed their cause with bold — some say
hardball — tactics. They launched an effort to
redraw state political maps to favor GOP
candidates. They are laying claim to issues —
such as improving education and health
benefits — traditionally associated with
Democrats. They are trying to turn
Washington's lobbying establishment into an
army of GOP loyalists. And they are building
up campaign treasuries that dwarf the
Democrats'.
This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: “Saddam’s
Sons Killed…Tip leads to battle at
hideout; Baghdad rejoices with gunfire”…”Big
psychological gains seen for U. S., but will
attacks stop?” Today’s RAGBRAI headline: “Riders’
errors leave their mark…Bruises and scars
remind RAGBRAI riders of mistakes that they
could have avoided.” Longest leg of the ride
today – 78.3 miles from Osceola to
Oskaloosa, where cyclists can visit the
state’s only mule cemetery at Nelson Pioneer
Park.
Quad-City
Times, main online heads: “Raid kills
Saddam’s 2 sons” & “L. A. Times cartoon
prompts a visit by the Secret Service”
Featured
headlines, New York Times online: “With
Hussein’s Heirs Gone, Hopes Rise for End to
Attacks” & “Republicans Are Adding
Weight to Reversal of F. C. C. Media Rule”
Nation/world
stories, Omaha World-Herald: “Saddam heirs
gone, hopes rise in Iraq” & “Medicare
bills both exceed Bush’s spending limit”
Bills that earlier cleared both houses of
Congress exceeded the president’s budget
limits.
Sioux City
Journal, top online reports: “U. S. forces
kill Saddam’s two sons” & “Administration
touts record on corporate crime” Bush
administration says it has helped net more
than 250 white-collar crime convictions.
Daily Iowan
(University of Iowa), nation/world heads: “Saddam’s
sons slain” & “Official defends shuttle
decision”
Chicago
Tribune online, featured news headlines: “Ex-POW
gets ‘homecoming for all homecomings’” & “U.
S. says Hussein sons killed in Iraq firefight”
Iowa
Briefs/Updates:
The Sioux City Journal reported that the city
council, as expected, made cuts in transit and
library services and eliminated two more
positions as “a result of state-imposed
budget reductions.” The council also
increased parking fees to generate an
estimated $30,000 in revenue. The Journal
reported the “only remaining budget problem
to be resolved involves City Manager Paul
Eckert’s proposal to eliminate the Human
Rights Department.”
… “North
Korea Nuclear Talks Possible Within Weeks,
says Blair” – Headline from VOANews (Voice
of America). Excerpt from VOA report: “Chinese
leaders have indicated that a new round of
talks on North Korea's nuclear development
program might take place within weeks.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair relayed the
information to reporters on Tuesday, following
talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing. He did
not say what countries might take place in
those proposed talks. China has tried in
recent weeks to organize negotiations between
North Korea and the United States. The renewed
diplomatic activity comes amid continuing
indications that North Korea wants to restart
the nuclear weapons program it agreed to
freeze in 1994. Meanwhile, the White House
has denied a published report that the United
States is considering offering guarantees of
non-aggression to North Korea if it abandons
its nuclear ambitions. A White House
statement Tuesday said that the Bush
administration will not offer inducements to
North Korea to end its nuclear development
program. The statement says the
administration is committed to multi-lateral
talks to help end the nuclear standoff.
Pyongyang says it wants to hold one-on-one
talks with the United States and will only
give up nuclear weapons if Washington ends
what North Korea calls ‘hostile’ policies.”
… From The
Wall Street Journal editorial page: Nussle’s
efforts “paying off” in effort to eliminate
federal waste as 9/2 deadline approaches for
his comprehensive effort to trim federal
costs. Headline on the “Review & Outlook”
commentary on OpinionJournal.com yesterday: “Waste
Not, Deficit Not…A key congressman wants
the government to stop throwing money away.”
Excerpts: “You might expect a congressional
hearing that uncovers an Indiana doctor
injecting live cow and pig cells into Medicare
patients and then billing the government for
‘chemotherapy’ to make news in Washington. But
somehow the Beltway media missed Jim
Nussle's hearings earlier this month. Perhaps
it's because the chairman of the House Budget
Committee is looking for waste, fraud and
abuse in government spending while the
reporters were busy covering Democrats who are
blaming all the federal red ink on President
Bush's tax cuts. No one believes that
eliminating waste will by itself bring the
federal government back to fiscal solvency.
Only a strong economy can do that. But any
politician worried about deficits might also
want to limit fraud and abuse in the system.
Running deficits to pay for a war and to shore
up the economy is justifiable. Pouring money
down the drain while increasing the federal
debt is not. That, at least, is what Mr.
Nussle was thinking a few months ago when he
proposed a 1% across-the-board spending cut.
He was quickly shouted down. So instead,
he asked other House chairmen to look into
wasteful spending in the agencies and
departments they oversee. He figures they'll
find at least 1% and maybe more that can be
cut without interfering with any government
services. To the consternation of
Democrats, Mr. Nussle is also looking into the
two-thirds of the budget considered
‘mandatory’ spending—mostly entitlements such
as Medicare. He's asked the chairmen to
get back to him with their findings by
September 2 so he can issue a comprehensive
report that will likely include suggested
policy fixes. But he's already uncovered
plenty of waste. In addition to the
Indiana doctor, Dara Corrigan of the inspector
general's office at Health and Human Services
has found billions in improper Medicare
spending. Other wasteful spending uncovered by
Mr. Nussle includes $401 million paid
out improperly last year in student financial
aid--a figure Education Department Inspector
General John Higgins calls ‘conservative.’
Then there's the sloppiness at the Agriculture
Department, which its inspector general told
Mr. Nussle has a 10% error rate in its food
stamps program. Each year about $1 billion is
lost in overpayments and $340 million doesn't
make it into the hands of qualified
recipients. The Highway Trust Fund--paid
for by your gasoline taxes--likely loses $1
billion a year to fraud…And Americans are
starting to report the waste they find to the
Committee's Web site:
www.budget.house.gov. It's important to
note that this isn't a policy debate about
which programs should be funded. It's an
effort to bring accountability to the money
that is spent. But for their part the
Democrats--such as Budget's ranking member
John Spratt of South Carolina--have resisted
cleaning up waste, preferring to blame Defense
for the run up in spending while calculating
how much smaller the deficit might be without
tax cuts. Once again they've proved that
deficit talk is cheap and a good soundbite is
priceless.”
… Higher
fuel bills expected to make next winter
harsher for state’s needy. Headline from
yesterday’s Sioux City Journal: “Officials
bracing for tough winter as fuel prices soar”
Excerpts from report by the Journal’s Todd
Dorman: “Faced
with a looming fuel price jump and a possible
slice in federal funding, the chief of Iowa's
low-income heating assistance program is
bracing for a tough winter.
Jerry McKim
said scores of needy families are already
swimming in a sea of unpaid bills.
According to a June report issued by the
state's private, rate-regulated utilities,
households eligible for heating help last
winter still owe $3 million in past-due
payments. That's a 53 percent increase over
the same month in 2002.
Utilities also
sent out disconnect warnings to 13,189 of
those households last month, a 153 percent
increase. Last winter, the federally funded
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or
LIHEAP, served more than 77,000 households in
Iowa.
‘It's going to be a hard, hard winter for a
lot of vulnerable Iowa families,’ said
McKim, who oversees the program. Households
with income below 150 percent of the federal
poverty threshold -- about $27,600 for a
family of four -- are eligible for assistance.
Last year, households received an average of
$310. And nearly two-thirds reported incomes
below the poverty line, or $18,400 for a
family of four. Higher fuel prices are
expected to make this winter harsher for those
families, regardless of what Mother Nature
unleashes, McKim said. Analysts blame low
natural gas and propane inventories for an
expected spike in wintertime prices.” Today’s
editorials:
… Today’s
editorials, Des Moines Register: Register
begins editorial series – “Beyond RAGBRAI…An
Iowa Opportunity” -- in conjunction with the
current cross-state bike ride to encourage
expansion of bike trails. Today’s headline: “Make
Iowa’s trails the best in America”
Editorial says the state has 1,000 miles of
bike trails, but they are “disconnected and
scattered in short stretches across Iowa.”
… ISU
quarterback of the future – maybe a more
distant future than originally thought --
arrested on OWI charges. Excerpts from
coverage by WOI-TV (Des Moines) sports:
“Another
Iowa State athlete is in trouble with the law,
and alcohol is involved again. Cris Love
had a slight edge in the race to be Iowa
State's starting quarterback for the season
opener against Northern Iowa. Now he won't
play in that game at all. Love was suspended
[Tuesday] by Cyclone Coach Dan McCarney. He
was arrested July 3rd just south of Storm
Lake and charged with operating while
intoxicated. Love was originally pulled over
for speeding, but police found an open
container. He was subsequently charged with
Operating While Intoxicated.”
… DSM 7 a.m.
60, clear. All but three IA reporting stations
in 50s at 7 a.m. – from 51 in Spencer
and 52 in seven locations, including
Audubon and Decorah, to 60 in
Des Moines and Iowa City and 61 in
Davenport. Today’s high 79, mostly
sunny. Tonight’s low 57, mostly clear.
Thursday’s high 85, mostly sunny. Thursday
night’s low 65, mostly clear.
… KCCI-TV (Des
Moines) reports from southern Iowa --
“Everyday busy drivers zip through
Bloomfield along Highway 63, not knowing
just how different life is just around the
corner. There are no TVs, no cars and no
electricity. It's a life LaVern Graber
loves. The Amish man is proud of his wife,
his six kids and his green garden…Graber
said working in the garden teaches his kids
responsibility. ‘I think it draws the family
together to be able to work that way,’ Graber
said. And every vine of the family tree is
involved from the kids, to parents, to even
in-laws. LaVern's mother-in-law, Nancy Yoder,
takes care of more than 700 juicy red
tomato plants. ‘Planted them all by hand.
Down on my hands and knees,’ Yoder said. But
even a family as big as the Yoders can only
eat so many tomatoes. So, they're making a
business of it. They now sell their
vegetables, including corn, cucumbers, lettuce
and potatoes, at an auction that brings the
Amish world together with the rest of Iowa.
It's the auction's first season and it's the
first of its kind in the state. Folks travel
from miles around for a taste of some of the
homegrown produce.”
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Artificial Intelligence
…
“Kerry’s defense would be outright
laughable if offered for, say, a budgetary
issue.” – sentence from Daily Iowa
(University of Iowa) editorial. Headline from
the DI editorial: “Kerry, Dems passing the
buck like Bush” Editorial excerpts: “It
seems everyone is eager to cut bait from the
exaggerated and manufactured evidence
concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
As more evidence surfaced destroying the
veracity of the Bush administration's
fear-inspiring intelligence on the Iraqi
threat, President Bush and his staff began
passing the blame to the British intelligence
and CIA Director George Tenet. And during
last weekend's Eastern Iowa campaign stop,
Democratic candidate John Kerry told members
of the DI editorial board that he stood ‘100
percent’ by his vote in support of military
action in Iraq earlier this year but qualified
it with his own passed blame by saying his
vote was ‘based on the information I had at
the time.’ Kerry's defense allows him to
retain his now seemingly antiwar campaign
message while defending his middle-of-the-road
and politically safe actions earlier this
year. Other Democrats, including Rep. Dick
Gephardt, D- Mo., have similarly talked out of
both sides of their mouth to fault the Bush
administration while defending their own
actions. The Bush administration's
haphazard acceptance of questionable
information is understandable, because the
faulty information forwarded its agenda. Even
if all members of the upper echelon in the
Bush administration knew the intelligence
information regarding Iraq's attempts to
purchase uranium was questionable at best,
they had reason to stand behind it and hope
real evidence surfaced before the faulty was
revealed. While that kind of manipulation and
deception is inexcusable, it is
understandable. If the motivation behind
Kerry's vote lies squarely on the same bad
information for which Bush is bucking all
responsibility, he has actually done a greater
disservice than those who deliberately
deceive. Kerry is a four-term
senator and a member of the opposition party
that lacked cohesion and credibility leading
up to the war. He owed it to his colleagues
and constituents to examine the credibility of
the information before giving the go-ahead for
military force. By passing off
responsibility for that to ‘the information I
had at the time,’ he fails in his duty to his
party and his constituents. In electing
our leaders, we put a great deal of
responsibility as well as faith in the people
sent to public office. Kerry and his staff
should have done more research and proceeded
more thoughtfully before casting such a
crucial vote. Kerry's defense would be
outright laughable if offered for, say, a
budgetary issue. It is difficult to
imagine him saying, ‘I voted for tax relief
for the wealthy because the president said it
was a good idea, and I trusted him. He misled
me and the American people.’ It seems to be a
contagious political plague lately for our
leaders to want their cake and eat it, too.
Kerry abandoned his party during a crucial
turning point and later jumped on the
anti-Bush and antiwar bandwagon. Either Kerry
needs to clarify his campaign message, or he
owes his constituents an apology for voting
before thinking.”
’It is breathtaking,’ said Thomas Mann,
an expert on politics at the Brookings
Institution think tank. ‘It's the most
hard-nosed effort I've seen to use one's
current majority [to try] to enlarge and
maintain that majority.’ The effort may
not succeed, but the sheer exuberance of the
GOP drive stands in stark contrast to the
pessimism that pervades Democratic circles.
‘This is a tough year,’ said a senior official
of the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee. ‘We had a depressing election in
2002. It would be foolish not to admit that
recruiting candidates and raising money is
twice as hard.’ Republicans appear in
especially good position to increase their
narrow congressional majorities. Contested
Senate races will be fought largely on terrain
favorable to the GOP. And analysts surveying
House races give Democrats little chance, as
of now, of winning a majority. Still,
gains in Congress would be of limited solace
to the GOP, should President Bush fail to win
reelection. And Democrats have been
heartened in recent weeks by the freshly cut
chinks in Bush's armor: the economy's stubborn
refusal to rebound, persistent questions about
his credibility in making the case for the
attack on Iraq, and the rising costs and
casualties of postwar operations there.
Indeed, Republicans acknowledge that their
high-flying ambitions could be deflated if
these problems persist.”
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