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and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues IOWA
MORNING REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever. 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 most especially, to defend
the Bush Administration and set the record
straight when the Democrats make false
or misleading statements about the
Bush-Republican record. GENERAL
NEWS:
Wednesday,
May 7, 2003 Among
the offerings in this morning’s
update: Under
the headline – “The Ungaggable Teresa
Heinz” – Lloyd Grove writes in
yesterday’s Washington Post about an
interview with the aspiring First Lady,
discusses “prenup” she and Kerry signed Overnight:
Omaha World-Herald top online headline this
morning: “Bush will woo Nelson with a
visit” GWB scheduled in Omaha next
Monday Morning
report: CHENEY SAYS HE’LL BE ON ’04 TICKET CNN:
Purported Saddam audiotape urges resistance,
promises victory HART
OUT. One sentence from Hart – “I’ve
concluded that I do not have sufficient
enthusiasm for the mechanical side of
campaigning, the money, the media and the
polling and so forth to go forward with a
campaign.” On WHO-TV last night, anchor
John Bachman reported the Hart decision, noting
that nine wannabes remain “with one of
them coming to a street corner near you.” The
battling bad boys in the Dem wannabes stable
– Dean and Kerry – have more to feud
about this morning: New poll shows them
deadlocked in NH. BUT, the Franklin Pierce
poll also shows GWB tied with the
“generic” Dem candidate in New Hampshire Good
morning, Bob Graham
– welcome to the traveling road show and Dem
circus. Graham
formally announced candidacy yesterday, but a
Miami media report said he “bombed” in
South Carolina U.
S. News & World Report’s “Washington
Whispers” column says Dean probing IA Dem
caucusgoers to find opponents – Edwards,
Kerry, Gephardt -- weaknesses… Kucinich,
during IA visit, calls for opening trade to
Cuba, but would kill or reform NAFTA
and the WTO – and visits the “Peace
Camp” on University of Iowa campus Grassley
proposes – and will fight for – his
revised tax cut plan. Register reports
that his $415 billion package “pleases the
White House.” Edwards’
parents make first campaign trip to IA Mullings.com’s
Rich Galen says Kerry and Dean are
getting tiresome Dem
candidates expected to be no-shows at
tonight’s annual Sioux City steak dinner in
Washington Spirit
Lake school officials reverse earlier decision
– call off track-and-field events after threats
made against female student-athletes Republicans
fail to end Estrada filibuster again with Edwards
voting against ending it – and Graham,
Kerry and Lieberman absent All
these stories below and more.
Morning
report:
...
They
haven’t exactly been acting like buddies
over recent weeks – or during last Saturday
night’s debate – but Dean and Kerry
probably have more motivation this morning to
escalate the two-wannabe exchange of charges
and countercharges: A new New Hampshire
poll shows them in a 23%-all deadlock.
The Franklin Pierce College poll (conducted
4/27-5/1) indicates they have left the rest of
the field in the political dust with Lieberman
a distant third (9%) and Gephardt in fourth
(8%). An indication of the overall
situation – Dean and Kerry have 23% each
and 31% are undecided, leaving the other nine
wannabes (and potential wannabes) included
in the poll to divide up the remaining 23%.
Making the poll even stranger, two
non-candidates – Hart and General Wesley
Clark – are next, registering 2% each.
Then, at 1% -- Edwards, Graham, Kucinich
and Moseley Braun. Sharpton,
as in most NH polls, registered a solid 0%.
Two more notes: The number of undecideds
dropped 7% -- from 38% a Franklin Pierce poll
early last month.
Although
most of the Dem candidates are not well-known
in New Hampshire, six of the wannabes have
higher unfavorable ratings than favorable
impressions – Clark,
Graham, Hart, Kucinich, Moseley-Braun and
Sharpton.
The worst
unfavorable
rating
– Sharpton (60%) to a 5% favorable showing, followed by Hart (52%
unfavorable, 23% favorable). ...
But
Kerry
and Dean aren’t the only ones tied in the
Franklin Pierce poll.
It also indicates that President Bush and the
infamous generic “Democrat Candidate”
would be tied at 42% each in a head-to-head
matchup if the general election were held now
– with 1% voting for other candidates and 15
% undecided. On GWB’s job approval rating
in NH, the president enjoys positive ratings
across gender lines.
The numbers: A 52% Bush approval rating while
37% don’t approve of the job the president
is doing -- 85%-9% among GOPs, 21%-68% among Dems – but Independents
give
a
40%
“yes”
rating
while
44%
recorded
a
“no”
on
the
job
approval
question.
(The Franklin Pierce poll registered the
attitudes of 600 likely NH presidential
primary voters. Margin of error +/- 4%.)
...
When
Senate Republicans attempted – and failed --
for a fifth time to try to break the
Democratic filibuster against judicial nominee
Miguel A. Estrada, only one Dem wannabe voted
against it: Edwards. That’s
because the other three senator-wannabes – Graham,
Kerry and Lieberman – were AWOL from
the Senate on Monday. The vote was 52-39
on the Estrada filibuster this time, but 60
are required to proceed with the nomination.
The Senate also confirmed – on a 66-25 vote
– Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook
for the U. S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati. Same lineup – Edwards voted
no with Graham, Kerry and Lieberman absent. ...
Testing,
probing IA Democrats? In his “Washington
Whispers” column in U. S. News & World
Report, Paul Bedard – under the subhead, “First
phone attack” – wrote:
“Straight-talking Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean is testing his attack
message in Iowa. Political operatives say Dean’s
phone polling is probing for weaknesses in
support for Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry
and Rep. Dick Gephardt.
For rookie pol Edwards, it’s
about experience. For Gephardt, it’s
his alliance with Bush on key issues.
Questions about Kerry test Iowans’
reaction to his vote backing the war in
Iraq.” ...
The
Sioux City Journal reported that none of
the six Dem wannabes serving in Congress has
made reservations to attend tonight’s annual
Sioux City dinner in Washington. Journal
business editor Dave Dreeszen reported from DC
that the dinner has “always been a big draw
on Capitol Hill,” attracting upwards of 60
members of Congress. He added, “With just
eight months to go before Iowa’s
first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, the
social hour and meal Wednesday night could
give White House contenders a valuable
opportunity to rub shoulders with dozens of
prominent business leaders and local
governmental officers from metro Sioux City.”
– but none of the Dem candidates has
responded to invitations to attend. Dreeszen
reported that Woodbury County Dem chairman Al
Sturgeon said the candidates would “like to
attend,” but have other Washington and
campaign responsibilities – “it’s probably
just not something in the order of things they
can attend.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note:
Another explanation – the Dem wannabes are probably
as likely to attend the Sioux City steak
dinner as they are to campaign much in the
Sioux City area. They know where most
Iowans – and most Democrats – live in
the state, which explains why the Dem
aspirants are wearing out the interstates and
highways on the Des Moines-Iowa City-Cedar
Rapids-Dubuque-Davenport circuit.) ...
Leftovers
from Kucinich’s eastern Iowa visit:
The Quad-City Times reported yesterday that Kucinich
said in Davenport he “would work to open up
trade with Cuba and kill or greatly reform
NAFTA and the World Trade Organization if he
were elected. ‘We need to open up new
markets for farmers,’ he said Monday in Davenport.
‘We need to open up Cuba.’ …Kucinich said
the North American Free Trade Agreement, or
NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization must
either be cancelled or dramatically changed to
protect workers’ rights.” Kucinich
also visited Iowa City – where the Daily
Iowan (University of Iowa) reported that
he “visited the UI Peace Camp Monday
night, displaying the liberal rhetoric that
has helped him garner a loyal leftist
following but has failed thus far to attract
mainstream support. Kucinich shook
hands with each of the 60 people in attendance
before praising the peace campers’
efforts and denouncing the war with Iraq.
‘In this little plot of land, you’ve help
to provide consistency in the belief that
peace is inevitable,’ he said, vowing to
nullify the doctrine of pre-emptive war.”
The DI’s Calvin Hennick reported that
“several peace campers” indicated they
were leaning toward Kucinich – but
some said they are registered with the Green
Party and would have to switch parties to vote
in the Dem caucuses. ...
Also
in Davenport yesterday – along with Kucinich
at the Iowa convention of the National
Assn. of Letter Carriers – were Edwards’
parents, making their first trip to support
their son’s presidential candidacy. Edwards’
mother, Bobbie, had been a postal worker
for a decade in her hometown of Robbins, N.C.
The Quad-City Times reported that Wallace
Edwards, who worked in textile mills for 36
years, said “their son has a strong work
ethic and wants to provide young people with
more opportunities and a better world …The
Edwards said the Davenport trip was
their first, although a number of reporters
have visited their North Carolina home.” ...
From
the New Hampshire beat, The Union Leader’s
John DiStaso reported Graham was being
endorsed by longtime activist-lobbyist Jim
Monahan and retired Manchester firefighter and
activist Skip Hebert. He also reported that Graham
was scheduled in New Hampshire May 7-9 (today
thru Friday) – with one stop that would
include a “work day” as a teacher. ...
From
Rich Galen’s “Mullings” column on the
South Carolina Dem debate: “John Kerry and
Howard Dean really don’t like each
other. Dean is trying to climb down
from the Leader-of-the-Anti-War-Faction cliff
on which he placed himself. Kerry can’t
let more that seven minutes go by without
reminding everyone of his service in Vietnam. Both
are tiresome …Dick Gephardt bothers
everyone else because – even though his
health care plan is wrong in its conception
– Gephardt is the ONLY candidate who
has come up with an original idea.” ...
And
finally, more Graham. Under the subhead
“Graham’s big day,” Greg Pierce
reported in the “Inside Politics” column
in yesterday’s Washington Times:
“Democratic Sen. Bob Graham comes
home to Miami Lakes, Fla., today [yesterday]
to formally initiate a presidential
campaign that has earned him an unfamiliar tag
– underdog. On the main street of the
planned Florida community where his father’s
dairy farm once stood, Mr. Graham will
begin the task of introducing himself to the
nation and trying to convince skeptical
Democrats that he has the passion and ideas to
challenge President Bush next year,
Reuters news agency reports. It promises to
be an uphill battle for the 66-year-old
two-time governor and three-term U. S. Senator
who has not lost an election in Florida
since running for the state Legislature in
1966. But it is one he is convinced he can
win, the report said. Turning his immense
popularity in the state into a national
groundswell could be tough, given his
sometimes charisma-challenged public
appearances.”
This
morning’s headlines: ...
Top
front-page headline, Des
Moines Register: Local – Officers
to return to D.M. schools …An apology
from school superintendent leads the police
chief to reverse his decision.” Des
Moines police chief McCarthy had
threatened to pull officers assigned to
schools after criticism from superintendent,
but reconsiders after apology. ...
Headline,
Omaha World-Herald
online: Top headline devoted to GWB’s
scheduled Monday visit. Main world headline
– “Top man in Iraq will be a civilian”
Report that Bush names L. Paul Bremer to
oversee Iraq transition. ...
Sioux
City Journal online, top head: “White
House aide briefs Siouxlanders”
Group of Sioux
City
leaders – on DC lobbying excursion – gets
White House briefing yesterday. Journal
report: Aide tells Iowans that Grassley’s tax cut proposal contains much of what the president has
been seeking, including a phase out of the
taxation of dividends.
...
Quad-City
Times online, main world headline:
“Saddam’s son took $1B from bank” ...
Daily
Iowan (University of Iowa),
national headline: “U. S. says it seized
Iraqi biolab” ...
Chicago
Tribune online headline: “27
Hurt as CTA buses crash” Injuries occur
when two Chicago Transit buses collide on
city’s far northwest side, possibly caused
when one driver suffered a medical
problem. ...
WHO
Radio reported yesterday afternoon
that Spirit Lake school officials decided
to cancel the Sheryl Maahs Relays in the wake
of threats against female members of the
school’s track-and-field team. The
threats were contained in a letter sent to the
school last week – and officials originally
made a decision to tighten security and
proceed with the Relays, which was scheduled
for last evening. Last week’s letter was the
latest in a series the school has received
over the past year threatening female
athletes, but this was the first to include a
specific date and threat – that a Spirit
Lake female athlete would be attacked during
the Sheryl Maahs Relays. ...
Headline
from this morning’s Des
Moines Register: “State enters
Meskwaki dispute …Control of the casino
must be returned to the tribal government by
June 5, inspectors say.” State officials say
they have determined that the tribe has
violated a 1995 gaming compact.
...
Another
Saddam tape surfaces overnight. Morning
newscasts say tape allegedly was recorded two
days ago with Saddam urging Iraqis to wage a
secret war on U.S. troops and reject the
“invaders.” CNN reports that Saddam is “promising
that victory is coming.” ...
From
South America: BBC News reported – “President
Alvaro Uribe of Columbia has accepted
responsibility for the death of 10 hostages
– including two senior politicians – in a
failed attempt to rescue them from rebels. However
he vowed to continue his fight against
terrorism. The guerillas said the hostages
died in crossfire, but the army says they
were executed by rebels in a jungle camp,
north-west of Medellin, the capital of
Antioquia province …The BBC’s Jeremy
McDermott in Medellin says the government
will now be under increased pressure to exact
revenge.”
...
In
the Quad-City Times, DSM-based Kathie
Obradovich reported – under the headline,
“Gambling tax debate going nowhere”
– that, according to Senate Majority Leader
Iverson, the upper chamber Republicans would
“rather take their chances with the U.S.
Supreme Court than act in special session to
cut taxes for racetrack casinos.”
Obradovich coverage: “The Senate’s
reluctance to deal with gaming taxes sets
up another disagreement with Republicans in
the Iowa House to be worked out in advance of
a special legislative session…’Right
now, we’re in a position we would like to
see what the U.S. Supreme Court has to say,’
he [Iverson] said. Iverson said lawmakers don’t
know how the court might respond to news of a
proposed settlement, and they can’t predict
what the Iowa Supreme Court justices might do
if the case is returned to them.” The
case, which involves different tax rates for
the state’s racetrack and riverboat casinos,
was argued before the U. S. Supreme Court last
week ...
Deans
and department heads at Iowa’s three state
universities are expected to spend the
next few weeks attempting to chop nearly $48
million from next year’s budgets. KCCI-TV (Des
Moines) reported that the presidents of
the University of Iowa, Iowa State University
and the University of Northern Iowa will
address budget questions with the Board of
Regents later this month. The first $18
million was cut from the budgets as part of
the state’s overall $128 million
budget-reduction package. At present, the
universities would lose another $30 million
for salaries – unless Guv Vilsack can
convince lawmakers to restore the funding
during the upcoming special session.
...
This
morning’s Des Moines Register editorials:
Local – “Great job …so he’s fired? …Polk
conservation board members need to explain why
the director’s job is in jeopardy.”
Excerpt: “Ben Van Gundy
shouldn’t be fired. The
Polk County conservation director is an
outstanding advocate of the outdoors, and for
the public enjoying it.” & “Let
immigrants work …Des Moines student’s
troubles illustrate inconsistencies in
immigration policies.” Excerpt: “Because
the United States has a free-trade agreement
with Mexico, it would be logical to allow a
relatively free flow of labor across the
border.” ...
Former
Iowa assistant men’s basketball coach Gary
Close is returning to the NCAA Division 1
level. Close, who served as Coach Tom Davis’
assistant for 13 seasons at Iowa, said he will
accept a position as an assistant coach at
Wisconsin. For the past three years,
he’d been coach at Iowa City Regina
– where he compiled a 46-31 record and took
two teams to the state tournament. Ironically,
“Dr. Tom” also returned to college
coaching last month when he filled the men’s
head coaching job at Drake in Des Moines ...
DSM
5 a.m. 50, fair. Wide temperature range this
morning across Iowa – 37 in Sheldon
to 59 in Burlington. Today’s high 70,
partly sunny. Tonight’s low 48, partly
cloudy. Thursday’s high 68, showers,
T-storms. ...
Although
South Sioux City isn’t in Iowa, it
shares a name with Sioux City
– and that’s good enough for this item to
qualify as an Iowaism. The Sioux City Journal
reports that South Sioux City – which is
located in Nebraska – has been named as
one of 30 finalists for the All-America City
Award, which is presented annually by the
National League of Cities. The Journal report
said a dozen local residents worked on South
Sioux City’s application – which presented
its Youth Commission, its technology-based
economic development and long-established
intergovernmental program involving the city,
schools, Dakota County and neighboring Sioux
City. Only one Nebraska community had ever
received All-America recognition – Norfolk
in the mid-1970s – but Sioux City (the
real Sioux City) has received the honor
twice, 1962 and 1990.
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Dallas
Morning News this morning reports that VP
Cheney says he’ll be on the GOP ticket –
doctors and GWB have given him the thumbs-up
to be running-make in ’04 re-election
campaign. Cheney: “I’ve got a doc with me
24 hours a day who watches me very carefully.
If I ran into problems where I felt I
couldn’t serve, I’d be the first to say
so and step down.” 
...
Report
on Graham, who formally announced his
candidacy in Florida yesterday – Slogan:
“Proven Leadership Working for
America.” The Miami Herald’s Tyler Bridges
reviews Graham’s weekend adventure in
South Carolina where he joined the other
candidates for the debate and other Dem party
activities. Excerpt from Bridges’ coverage:
“If ever Bob Graham needed to wow a crowd,
it was Saturday afternoon when he – along
with the other Democratic presidential
aspirants – competed for the affections of
more than 1,000 party activists in a state
that could decide who will challenge President
Bush next year, with the nation’s top
political reporters watching. Graham bombed.
Each of the other seven presidential
candidates who appeared in person roused the
crowd with stirring lines, attacking Bush for
the country’s economic problems and his
favored prescription: tax cuts tilted toward
the wealthy…Graham only received tepid
applause when he said, ‘We remain
unprepared to deal with terrorist attacks at
home’ and ‘I know that the economy is
running at one of the slowest rates in
American history,’ Graham also suffered
the indignity of being gonged not once but
twice – a signal to the candidate and the
audience that he ran over the allotted six
minutes.” 
...
An
aspiring First Lady – recognized in a
Washington Post headline as “The
Ungaggable Teresa Heinz” – speaks.
Lloyd Grove in his “The Reliable Source”
column in yesterday’s Washington Post wrote:
“Fabulously wealthy Teresa Heinz, wife of
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry,
dishes an earful to writer Lisa DePaulo in the
upcoming issue of Elle magazine – such as
her ambivalence about taking her second
husband’s surname and her requirement of a
prenuptial agreement with the 59-year-old
Massachusetts senator, whom she wed in
1995. ‘Now, politically, it’s going to be
Teresa Heinz Kerry, but I don’t give a
[bleep], you know?’ explains the
64-year-old Heinz, who generally uses the
surname of the late senator John Heinz
(R-Pa.), who was killed in a 1991 plane crash.
‘There are other things to worry
about.’” Among other tidbits from Heinz Kerry
– “Everybody has a prenup. You have
to have a prenup …You can be as generous or
as sensitive as you want. But you have to have
a prenup.” …”Her views on marital
fidelity: ‘I don’t think I could have
coped as well’ with a mate’s philandering
as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N. Y.)
has.” Update: While CNN anchor Judy
Woodruff was reading one of the Heinz/Kerry
quotes during a like report yesterday
afternoon she started coughing, choked up
–and the network cut to a commercial.
(Iowa Pre Watch Note: Woodruff probably is not
the first – or last – to choke up while
reading the comments. She returned to host her
daily “Inside Politics” show.) 
...
Hart
– obviously unaware that he’s tied for
fifth in the latest NH poll – dropped out of
the race yesterday.
The Rocky Mountain News reports: “Ending
months of speculation, former U. S. Senator
Gary Hart
announced he would not
be a candidate for U.S. president Tuesday.
‘After weeks of traveling the country and
speaking and listening and enjoying
every minute of it, I have made a conclusion
that I do not have sufficient enthusiasm for
the process side of politics to undertake
another national campaign at this time.
And
therefore will not be announcing a candidacy
this year,”
he told the Rocky Mountain News. Enough
said!!! 
...
GOP
State Rep. Ralph Klemme of LeMars has
announced he won’t seek reelection in 2004.
The Register reported that Klemme, assistant
House majority leader, said that 12 years in
the legislature is enough. During his tenure,
he has been chairman of both the House Natural
Resources Committee and the House Agriculture
Committee. A Klemme quote: In his
weekly newsletter, Klemme expressed
frustration with financial legislation
considered during this year’s session –
“Again I say, I believe Iowans are safer
if we are not in session.”
...
If
things go as planned (which is never certain
in the DC environment), tomorrow will be G-Day
– as in Grassley-Day – in efforts to
achieve a passable Senate compromise on tax
cut legislation. The veteran IA senator, who
just happens to be chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, told congressional
reporters yesterday he will propose a $415
billion tax cut package that includes a
$91 billion plan to phase out taxes on
dividends by 2005. But, under Grassley’s
plan, dividends would be taxed as ordinary
income again, beginning 1/1/06. The Grassley
proposal includes $65 billion in
offsetting revenue increases – intended to
keep the net cost at $350 billion, which
presumably would be satisfactory to all
involved. If the legislation is approved by
the Senate Finance Committee, the bill could
be considered on the
Senate floor as early
as next week. Front-page
headline from today’s Register: “Grassley
tax cuts draw yeas, nays …The $415
program pleases the White House, while
Democrats see it as much too costly.” 
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