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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
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:
Friday,
May 9, 2003 Overnight:
Among
the offerings in this morning’s
update: ...
In
New Hampshire, Dean indicates he’s
not surprised by Halliburton deal, says Bush
administration has “sold this country
down the river.” …BUT – in a very
busy day yesterday -- Dean also urged Dems to
take back their party from moderates and
called on FL Guv Jeb Bush to veto an
Everglades restoration bill ...
Harkin
NOT among Dems criticizing GWB landing on
aircraft carrier ...
Washington
Post headline – “Lieberman Unveils a
‘Big Idea’ ...
Kerry
scheduled into IA today, first of five due
in over weekend – including Lieberman,
who’s mother is joining him on the campaign
trail for Mother’s Day ...
But,
Graham is planning to do a ‘workday’ on
Sunday – waiting on tables at a DSM
restaurant, if he can find one open ...
NY
Post columnist writes about The Republican
Dream – a 50-state Bush sweep in 2004 ...
Graham:
Bush out to “settle old scores” against
Saddam instead of focusing on
international terrorism ...
Former
IA GOP Gov. Ray and traditional Republican
allies – farm, business groups – join
together to back Vilsack’s Iowa Values Fund
push, but IA GOP Chairman (and State Sen.)
Larson launches e-mail campaign against it …Wisconsin
-- next to move up presidential primary date...
...
Des
Moines Register’s Beaumont: New IA poll
“shed little light on the caucus race.” ...
Daily
Iowan: Secret Service questions student who
allegedly made threats against Bush ...
New
York Times reports NRA, gunowners “angry
and dumbfounded”
over Bush position on semiautomatic assault
weapons ban … Also on the NRA front: The
gunowners group seeks federal court action on
campaign finance law restrictions ...
Sharpton
goal: Register 1.3M voters before next
January, focusing on hip-hoppers ...
Gephardt
misses vote on anti-terrorism funding bill,
but picks up support of a top congressional
Hispanic ...
Sports
– Hawkeyes football coach Ferentz says team,
ready to “compete against the best
in the country.” ...
All
these stories below and more. Morning
report: ...
Kerry
has appearances scheduled in Des Moines, Perry
and Nevada today. Also expected during the
weekend – Dean, Kucinich, Graham and
Lieberman. ...
Headline
from yesterday’s The Union Leader, “Dean
not surprised by Halliburton deal on Iraq oil
contract.” Associated Press coverage of Dean
visit to Concord, NH reported that Dem
wannabe “said yesterday he is not
surprised Vice President Dick Cheney’s
former company has a more lucrative role in
managing Iraq’s oil than originally believed.
His statement was in response to an Army
admission that Houston-based Halliburton Co.
not only has a contract to fight oil fires in
Iraq, but also to operate the oil field for a
time and distribute petroleum. ‘This
coziness with Halliburton doesn’t surprise
me a bit,’ Dean said while
meeting with state union leaders. ‘It’s an
emblem of an administration that has sold
this country down the river.’ The former
Vermont governor was critical of the Bush
administration’s relationships with certain
corporations, including some he said treat
their employees poorly, ‘This
administration has been devious about their
relationship with corporations all along,’
he said.” ...
BUT
that was just the start of Dean’s latest
media rampage: In Kansas yesterday, AP
reported Dean “told fellow Democrats
Thursday that they needed to take back their
party from moderates who Dean says have not
stood up to President Bush.” Dean quote:
“Everywhere I go, Democrats around the
country are just as mad at the Democrats as the Republicans.”
In Miami, FL yesterday, AP reported “Dean
called on Gov. Jeb Bush to veto a bill dealing
with the restoration of the Everglades
Thursday joining others in his party in
opposition to the plan.”
...
The
Washington Post – headline, “Lieberman
Unveils a ‘Big Idea’ – reported:
“As the nine Democrats who are seeking their
party’s 2004 presidential nomination jockey
for position, the ‘big ideas’ designed
to address some of the country’s major
problems are beginning to flow out of the
campaign policy operations. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt
(Mo.) has a plan to provide health insurance
for every American, and now Sen. Joseph I.
Lieberman (Conn.) has a plan for ‘energy
independence.’” The Post’s Edward
Walsh wrote that Lieberman unveiled the
plan “in a speech to Resources for the
Future, an environmental think tank, in what
his campaign described as the first in a
series of ‘major policy speeches.’ His
goal, Lieberman said, is to reduce U.S.
dependence on foreign oil imports by almost
two-thirds within 10 years. And to eliminate
foreign oil dependence within 20 years.”
Headline on report about the Lieberman
energy proposal in yesterday’s Washington
Times: “Lieberman lays out tough energy
plan” For an even more biased view,
check out www.joe2004.com
-- Lieberman’s campaign website –
with the headline: “Lieberman Offers
‘Declaration of Energy Independence’ From
Foreign Oil Habit Within 20 Years” ...
John
McCaslin’s “Inside the Beltway” column
in yesterday’s Washington Times included the
following item: “It’s not as splashy as
landing atop an aircraft carrier, but Democratic
presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman will
fly his mother, Marcia Lieberman, to be with
him in Des Moines, Iowa, for Mother’s Day.
‘The senator wanted to spend Mother’s Day
with her, so she’s flying in that day,’ a Lieberman
spokeswoman tells us. The Connecticut lawmaker
will campaign in Iowa all day Sunday, visiting
Des Moines and Ames, but
will take time out to share a Mother’s Day
lunch with Mrs. Lieberman, who lives in
Connecticut.” ...
McCaslin,
in yesterday’s column, also wrote that “in
a head-to-head November 2004 general election
matchup [polling New Hampshire voters],
President Bush ends up ‘tied’ with an
unnamed, or so called ‘generic’ Democratic
nominee. Is this good or bad for Mr. Bush? ‘Generic
party nominees provide the hardest test of the
incumbent’s support,’ says Fitzwater
Center [the Marlin Fitzwater Center of
Communications] director Rich Killion, ‘for
it provides voters with their own option of
defining the positive and negative
characteristics of the unnamed nominee.
Normally, voters do so without affixing any
negative characteristics to their generic
candidate. Under those terms, the
president’s numbers are somewhat impressive.”
(For more on the Franklin Pierce College poll
– which shows Kerry and Dean tied in
the Dem race -- see last Wednesday’s Morning
Report.) ...
Gephardt
missed another vote – which is hardly news
anymore – but for the record he was
absent Wednesday when the House passed a bill
that would authorize $200 million in grants
for wastewater treatment plants to improve
security against terrorist attacks. The
legislation, passed 413-2, provides funding
for the nation’s 16,000 water treatment
plants to assess terrorist vulnerabilities. Kucinich
and all five IA congressmen supported the
measure. ...
Item
from caucus column by the Des Moines
Register’s Thomas Beaumont: Subhead – “A
Grand Old Poll” Beaumont wrote: “A
poll conducted by a Republican firm out of
Davenport and released last week shed little
light on the caucus race, with former caucus
winner Gephardt of Missouri leading. Lieberman,
Kerry, Dean and Edwards followed Gephardt,
according to a poll released by Victory
Enterprises, the political consulting firm run
by former Republican Party Chairman Steve
Grubbs. Gephardt has almost 30
percent, Lieberman had about 12 percent
and Kerry had 10.6. But the results
were based on responses from only 150
Democrats contacted for the poll, in which
400 people were asked to rate their approval
of President Bush. It provides a look at
the race so far, but from a sample hardly
large enough to get an accurate picture of the
candidates’ real support.” ...
Wisconsin
considers moving pres primary to a February
Tuesday next year. CNSNews.com reported
yesterday: “Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is mulling
over a bill passed by the state legislature
that would move the state’s presidential
primary election to February from April,
compounding concerns in some quarters about
‘front loading’ the primary process and
creating a new expense for municipalities. The
legislature this week completed work on the
measure, which supporters contend will put
Wisconsin’s issues higher on the priority
list for presidential candidates.
Opponents blast it as just another unfounded
mandate for already stressed local
governments. Rep. Steve Freeze (R-Dodgeville),
the lead Assembly author, said moving up the
primary will keep races from being decided
before Wisconsin voters cast their ballots…The
bill, passed by the Assembly 83-13, would move
the presidential preference primary from the
first Tuesday in April to the third Tuesday
in February, meaning change would force
all 1,850 municipalities in the state to hold
a February election in presidential years.”
(Iowa Pres Watch Note: Finally – a state
surfaces where it might make sense to move up
the primary date since it would be a
convenient stopover for the wannabes
traveling to and from IA, unlike Arizona
and Oklahoma that disrupt the basic
IA-NH-SC-IA-NH-IA-SC-NH-IA campaign travel
schedules.) ...
Leftover
from the Graham candidacy announcement
earlier this week: From the Los Angeles
Times coverage by Nick Anderson – “Graham
is the only Democratic senator seeking the
presidential nomination who opposed the
congressional resolution in October that
authorized Bush to use military force against
Hussein’s regime. ‘Instead of pursuing
the most imminent and real threats –
international terrorism – this Bush
administration chose to settle old scores,’
Graham said. ‘We all agree that Saddam
Hussein is an evil man, but he is not our
biggest threat.’ He said the
administration’s foreign policy had needlessly
ignited hostility to the United States around
the world, ‘not only by those who hate and
threaten us but also by those who share our
values.’” The report added that “Graham’s
position on the war separates him from the
rest of the Democratic pack” – joining
anti-war wannabes Kucinich, Dean, Moseley
Braun and Sharpton.
(Iowa Pres Watch Note: Another
difference – only two, Graham and
Kucinich, actually voted against the
congressional resolution since the other three
aren’t in Congress. On the other hand, they
have something in common – the five definite
losers in the Dem presidential derby.) ...
At
least there’s some indication what Gephardt
has been doing while he’s missing all
those House votes – the Arizona Daily Star
reported yesterday that Rep. Ed Pastor, a
top Hispanic in the House Dem ranks, has
endorsed Gephardt’s presidential candidacy.
Pastor, one of two AZ Dems in Congress, also
will serve as Gephardt’s Arizona
campaign chairman, leading up to the state’s
2/3 presidential primary. The Daily Star
report indicated that Gephardt had visited
AZ once since entering the race. ...
From
Lloyd Grove’s “The Reliable Source”
column in yesterday’s Washington Post:
“Razor-tongued Sen. Fritz Hollings, who memorably
noted that Bill Clinton was ‘as popular as
AIDS in South Carolina’ and once referred to
a Jewish colleague as ‘the senator from
B’nai B’rith,’ is not known for his
gentle quips. So folks took notice when the
81-year-old South Carolina Democrat, greeting
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) before last
Saturday’s televised debate in Columbia, sharply
needled the presidential candidate and his
liberal media consultant, Bob Shrum. ‘John,
do you want to win or do you want to lose?’
Hollings asked pointedly as he indicated Shrum,
whose class-warfare rhetoric was blamed by
some for contributing to Al Gore’s defeat in
2000. Yesterday Shrum told us: “I’ve known
Hollings since I met him at the 1960
Democratic convention when I was 16 years old,
and whenever I see him he usually teases me. I
love the guy.”
...
More:
Quad-City Times reports this morning that
“two of the most
liberal Democrats in Congress”
– Harkin and Illinois Dem. Rep Lane
Evans, who represents the IL side of the
Quad-Cities, don’t agree with all the
controversy about the president’s flight. Harkin:
“It doesn’t give me any heartburn at all.”
Evans, an ex-marine: “I don’t know what
the big hubbub is about.” ...
Headline from Sioux City Journal reports: “Siouxlanders
serve 160 at steak dinner.” Report by
Journal business editor Dave Dreeszen said “dozens
of members of Congress” attended the
annual steak dinner in
DC that’s sponsored by the Siouxland
Chamber of Commerce. The report said that
“counting the 77 local officials, more than
160 people were served” at Wednesday
night’s dinner.
This
morning’s headlines: ...
Des
Moines Register, top front-page headline:
Local – “Rasmussen may forfeit license”
In copyright story, Register reports IA horse
owner – and president of Prairie Meadows
racetrack casino oversight board – Jim
Rasmussen is discussing settlement that may
include forfeiting his racing license. State
governing board earlier found probable cause
that Rasmussen may have illegally places bets
with a bookie. ...
National
online headline, Daily Iowan (University of
Iowa): “U. S. floats proposal to life
Iraq sanctions” ...
Main
headline, Quad-City Times: Local – “Charges
dropped in shooting at officer” Report
says attempted murder charges against three
men accused at shooting at a Davenport
police officer last December dropped due to
lack of evidence. ...
Sioux
City Journal, top online headline: “GOP
chair fights Values Fund plan with e-mail
drive” Republican state chairman Larson
sends 14,000 e-mails opposing the Vilsack-backed
economic development plan. (More coverage
below.) ...
Omaha
World Herald, national/world head: “D is
for drought – or deluge” Report says
that while some areas of Nebraska have
received near normal spring rainfall, a state
climatologist says “you’re going to hear
the word ‘drought’ a lot if a three-year
pattern continues this summer. ...
Online
headlines, Chicago Tribune: “Hazing: Did
parents provide alcohol?” School board
member says authorities are trying to
determine if parents provided alcohol for
Glenbrook North girls involved in
nationally-covered hazing incident. & “U.S.,
Britain Push Postwar Iraq Setup” ...
The
Daily Iowan – the University of Iowa campus
newspaper – reported yesterday that an
English class was cancelled twice during the
past week after a student was accused of
“making threats against President Bush
serious enough that the Secret Service is
investigating.” The DI report said:
“Joe Versgrove was questioned Monday by
Secret Service agent Chuck Hall of Des Moines
for alleged behavior that has alarmed some
professors for more than two years. Agents
have also questioned his former English
professors, officials say. He has not been
charged with a crime and denied wrongdoing in
an interview. But his English instructor,
Assistant Professor Lori Branch, admitted
that she was afraid and feared for the safety
of the students in her class. She called
the situation ‘bizarre’ in a May 7
(Wednesday) e-mail to 30 students in her
Literature and Culture of 18th Century English
class. The statements in question
apparently came in Versgrove’s English
papers …Versgrove, a native of
Barrington, Ill., said Hall told him he was
accused of making verbal threats, which he
could not elaborate on, while Versgrove’s
mother reports she was told the alleged
threats were made in English papers.”
Versgrove, a UI junior majoring in English and
business-management, said he was notified on
5/2 that “he was under suspicion for threats
that he says are ‘100 percent’ false.” UPDATE:
Daily Iowan reports this morning that
Versgrove was “just on his way out”
yesterday to consult with a lawyer in
Illinois, but would not comment further. ...
Iowa
Briefs/Updates: A Waterloo man –
Alonzo Brown, 35 – has been charged with two
counts of arson in connection with two fires
in the building where he lived. The fires, one
late last month and another earlier this week,
caused heavy smoke and water damage and
displaced several other residents of the
Russell Lamson building ...
Morning
newscasts indicate Des Moines police
are continuing the search for the driver of a
black sports car involved in a fatal
accident on the city’s north side Wednesday
night. KCCI-TV reported yesterday authorities
believe the cars were drag racing on Second
Avenue when one vehicle went out of control,
rolled several times and landed upside down
against a utility pole. ...
From
the Korean peninsula:
VOANews (Voice of America) headline: “S.
Korean Military on Heightened Alert” The
report by Steve Herman said: “South Korean
Defense Minister Cho Young-kil has put the
military on heightened alert as a precaution
against what he called ‘possible provocative
action.’ The alert comes amid reports
that North Korea may be moving ahead with
reprocessing its spent nuclear fuel rods”
…Mr. Cho informed top military officers
there is a growing possibility North
Korea may launch various provocations to
enhance its bargaining position in the nuclear
dispute.” In a related story, the New
York Times reported yesterday: “After
assuring the White House for months that North
Korea had not begun producing plutonium for
nuclear weapons, American intelligence
officials changed their assessment last month,
concluding that the country may have produced
relatively small amounts, according to senior
administration and intelligence
officials.” ...
Under
the headline “Irking N.R.A., Bush
Supports Ban on Assault Weapons” – the
New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau reported
yesterday: “President Bush and the
National Rifle Association, long regarded as
staunch allies, find themselves unlikely
adversaries over one of the most significant
pieces of gun-control legislation in the last
decade, a ban on semiautomatic assault
weapons.” The Lichtblau coverage added
that Senate Democrats yesterday were
introducing legislation to continue the ban:
“Groundbreaking 1994 legislation outlawing
the sale and possession of such firearms will expire
next year unless Congress extends it, and many
gun-rights groups made it their top priority
to fight it. Even some advocates of gun
control say the prohibition has been largely
ineffective because of loopholes. Despite
those concerns, the White House says Mr. Bush
supports the extension of the current law –
a position that put him in opposition to the
N.R.A. and left gun owners angry and
dumbfounded.” Related: Chicago Tribune
online headline: “Bush, NRA at odds on
weapon ban” ...
Related
NRA coverage: The Los Angeles Times
yesterday carried coverage that the “NRA
wants a stay of a federal court’s decision
to uphold broad restrictions of interest group
political ads in a new campaign finance law. ‘We
are injured every day this is not overturned
and deprived of our constitutional freedoms as
citizens and as an association,’ NRA
executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said
of the part of the court’s ruling on the law
he wants blocked. Associated Press reported
that the NRA told the court in its request
Wednesday that without a stay, it would be
a violation of the law for it to run an ad it
wants to aid in Arizona urging Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., to vote for legislation
blocking lawsuits against gun dealers whose
products are used in crimes. The ad also
criticizes Sen. Charles Schumer of New York
for opposing the legislation.” ...
They
will never – emphasis on the word “never”
– vote for the same presidential candidate,
but former GOP Gov. Bob Ray is going to be
the front man in an effort to promote passage
of Dem Guv Vilsack’s economic development
fund during the upcoming legislative special
session. In fact, the Ray-Vilsack effort
is part of an unusual alliance that includes traditionally
Republican groups, including the Iowa Farm
Bureau, the Iowa Association of Business and
Industry and Deere & Co. – and others.
Their efforts – under the banner of the
newly-created Iowa Economic Growth
Coalition – are focused on securing
passage of Vilsack’s proposed
multi-million dollar Iowa Values Fund
initiative during the special session. UPDATE:
In the Sioux City Journal this morning,
Todd Dorman reports that the “chairman of
the Iowa Republican Party is firing off
thousands of e-mails to fire up opposition to
an Iowa Values Fund ahead of a special
legislative session. Chuck Larson, a
Republican state senator from Cedar Rapids,
‘vehemently’ opposes the creation of a
values fund – a massive pool of dollars
intended to pay for development incentives.”
Report says Larson has sent out 14,000
e-mails urging Iowans to contact Vilsack and
state legislators. ...
This
morning’s Des Moines Register editorials:
“Iowa’s future up in the air …The
state has a choice: Clean air or an abandoned
countryside.” & “Help states, help
the economy …Grassley’s plan is
a start, but it doesn’t go far enough …Aid
to states is far more effective than tax
cuts.” & “Break up the brokerages …Stock
analysts and investment bankers shouldn’t
live under the same roof.” ...
Letter
to editor in Des Moines Register – under the
headline, “Bush deceived us” –
said: “President Bush’s claim of urgency
that required us to short-circuit U.N.
weapons’ inspections has proved to be a
soldier-killing, civilian-killing lie. The
U.S. Army conceded what has been reported as
its only significant weapon of mass
destruction showed no positive hits for
chemical weapons. The president deliberately
deceived the American people and their elected
representatives in Congress on the imminent
threat Iraq posed to our security. Despots can
force the blind allegiance of their people to
falsehoods. But it is frightening when lying
matters not at all to free people.” –
Frank P. Belcastro, Dubuque
...
WHO-TV
reports the latest name added to Iowa
State’s Great Basketball Coach Search is Ray
Lopes of Fresno State. He was an instant
success during his first year at the school,
but it’s even more important to note that he
has experience in the Big 12 as a former
assistant coach at Oklahoma. ...
More
– Des Moines Register reports this
morning that three coaches – Lopes, ISU
assistant Wayne Morgan and Wyoming basketball
coach Steve McClain – will be interviewed
this weekend for the coaching job. ...
Hawkeyes
football update: Sioux City
Journal report yesterday – “Purdue has its
quarterbacks and Penn State its linebackers. At
the University of Iowa, the secret ingredient
is the offensive line. And, that isn’t
likely to change even though six of 10
interior lineman on the two-deep for the
Hawkeyes’ 2002 Big Ten co-champions were
seniors …’ Having Robert Gallery back
to anchor things really helps a lot,’ said
Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, the featured speaker
at Wednesday’s Siouxland Officials
Association dinner …Ferentz said Iowa faces
a challenging 2003 schedule that includes
eight teams that went to bowl games after the
2002 campaign. ‘But we also think
we’re at the point now as a team and as a
program where we ought to be able to compete
with a tough schedule. How it’s going to
turn out, you never know. You get down to
injuries, breaks of the ball, that type of
thing. The bottom line is I think, unlike
maybe four years ago, we’re ready to go
out and compete against the best in the
country.” ...
Former
Davenport running back Marques Simmons
– called by some “the human vapor trail”
– has listed Iowa, Iowa State and
Wisconsin as his top choices after leaving
Nebraska football team earlier this week.
Simmons was a football and track standout
during his high school career. ...
DSM
5 a.m. 57, mostly cloudy.
Temperatures in IA this morning range
from 53 in Spencer and Estherville
to 65 in Burlington. Today’s high 78,
partly sunny.
Tonight’s lows 55, chance T-storms.
Saturday’s high 72, showers and
T-storms.
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Flooding
conditions continue in several sections of the
state, especially in eastern IA, this morning
after heavy rains – including some
downpours that dropped an inch of rain every
30 minutes – saturated IA over the past
24 hours. One of the main problems last night:
Storms “training” through the state one
right after another. Ankeny, just north
of DSM, got an inch of rain in very brief
period. Reports that Oskaloosa area received
4” hail while other sections of state
reported 2” or larger hail. 
...
A
50-state Bush sweep? NY Post headline says
Republicans “believe they can take nifty
50 states” Columnist Deborah Orin
writes: “Anyone who watched the dreary
first 2004 Democratic debate Saturday can see
why some Republicans are dreaming and plotting
how President Bush can do what even Ronald
Reagan couldn’t do: win all 50 states in
2004. After all, polls now show Bush could
win California, beat Sen. Hillary Clinton
in New York, and whip 2004 wannabes Joe Lieberman
(Conn.), John Edwards (N. C.) and Bob Graham
(Fla.) in their home states. There’s no
post-war poll yet in John Kerry’s home state
of Massachusetts. Republicans note Ronald
Reagan won New York twice as they talk up the
50-state dream – and even if it’s only a
dream, it has strategic use because fat
cats are more likely to cough up bucks if they
think Bush will stump their home states and it
also helps recruit House and Senate
candidates.” 
...
Sharpton
– due in IA next weekend – says he
will register 1.3 voters during the summer and
fall. AP’s Nedra Pickler reports:
“Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton
said he will travel across the country
this summer with musicians and religious
leaders in an effort to register 1.3
million new voters by next January.
Determined to play a major and credible
role in national politics, Sharpton said
he will try to persuade the hip-hop
generation, the elderly and poor that
participating in elections can improve their
lot in life. His rivals, Sharpton argues,
are focused on winning over existing voters.
‘If I can’t do it, name me who can do
it?’ he said.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note:
OK, that’s a challenge – Sharpton wants
to know who else could register 1.3 million new
voters by next January. Here’s just an
initial – although partial – list: Hillary
Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Jay-Z, Bill Clinton,
Daffy Duck, Maxine Waters, Mike Tyson, Bugs
Bunny, John Kerry, Ralph Nader, Jane
Fonda, Dick Gephardt, and, as they
have proven in past
election successes, Saddam
Hussein and Fidel Castro.) 
...
Hi,
my name is Bob and I’ll be your waiter
today. In his “Inside Politics” column
in yesterday’s Washington Times, Greg Pierce
reported – under the subhead, “Waiting
tables” – that Graham plans to
do a “work day” in Des Moines on
Mother’s Day. Pierce’s commentary:
“Giving Mom a break from the kitchen on
Mother’s Day? If you are in Iowa, the
person clearing your family’s dirty plates
at a local restaurant may be one of the
Democratic presidential candidates, the
Associated Press reports. Bob Graham,
who formally began his campaign Tuesday, plans
to wait tables at a Des Moines eatery
as part of his traditional ‘workdays,’ in
which the Florida senator labors in a regular
job such as teacher or firefighter …The
only hitch for the campaign is finding a
restaurant. The initial choice, a popular
family owned Italian restaurant, Tumea and
Sons, isn’t open on Sundays.” 
...
Don’t
include IA Sen Harkin among Dems criticizing
the president for his aircraft landing
last week to greet returning sailors and
troops. WHO Radio reported yesterday that Harkin
said “quite frankly I see nothing wrong with
taking a plane” to visit the USS Abe
Lincoln, and it might give the president a
“better understanding” of Naval aviation. Harkin,
who was a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War,
said he believes it would be “wrong” for
the images from the Lincoln visit to be used
in campaign commercials, but added that flying
out by plane probably didn’t cost any more
than if the president had taken a helicopter
to the carrier. 
...
Residents of two northern IA counties will be hosting
dairy farmers from the Netherlands next month
in an effort to encourage some of them to move
to the state. Radio Iowa reported that
Harlan Bisbee – a member of the Stacyville
Economic Development Group – said there are
too many dairy farmers in the Netherlands, so
those looking for a place to go will be
invited to relocate in Iowa. A group
of about 20 Dutch farmers is scheduled to be
in the state during the first week of June.
In fact, Radio Iowa says statistics from the
Dutch National Extension Service indicates
dairy farmers are leaving the Netherlands at a
rate of five a day. The visitors from the
Netherlands are expected to visit Mitchell
County (Osage) and Butler County (Allison)
– the home county of IA GOP Sen Grassley.
to read past Iowa Morning Reports