Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news">

Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns and issues

Iowa Presidential Watch's

IOWA MORNING REPORT

Holding the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.

General News

Candidates & Caucuses

Iowa Politics

Morning Summary

War & Terrorism

Federal Issues

Iowa Issues

Opinions 

Iowa Sports

Iowa Weather 

Iowaisms

 

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:                                                                                    Monday, May 12,  2003

Among the offerings in this morning’s update: 

... GWB scheduled today in Omaha as another stop on his current tax cut promotion tour. He should at least find a friendly, receptive audience that apparently supports his aircraft carrier decision. Preliminary numbers from Omaha World-Herald online survey – The question: “Did you think it was too risky for President Bush last week to fly in a fixed-wing jet in order to give his speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln?” The responses: No – 251, Yes – 29, I don’t know/I don’t care – 31, I’m not sure – 5 …Bush will be in Omaha to encourage/pressure Dem Sen. Ben Nelson to support the tax cut plan, but he may get lobbied by Nelson for a nickname change. The Washington Post reported that Nelson plans to visit with the president about including increased aid to the states in the tax cut package, but he also has another agenda: Bush refers to Nelson as “Nellie” and the senator said he plans to renegotiate his nickname – “I’d like something a little more macho. Maybe ‘Rocky’ or ‘Hunter.’” …But, workers who see Bush may not be real happy, could lose a day’s pay. Read on. 

... Expanded coverage this morning . Morning report did not publish yesterday due to Mother’s Day. Some of Sunday’s coverage, etc., included in this report . Also see “Sunday Summary” below. 

... Report from three-wannabe (Dean, Graham, Kucinich) Dem event in Des Moines over weekend: Des Moines Register headline – “Democrats agree: Bush is vulnerable …But in a fund-raising visit to D.M., candidates differ on reasons”

... Posted on OpinionJournal.com Saturday: Fred Barnes commentary on “Hillary the Hawk”

... Gephardt’s mother dies

... Boston Globe reports “thaw” in Kennedy-Kerry relationship, posing possible threat to Gephardt’s union support

... Quad-Cities report: Rock Island Arsenal may be vulnerable in next round of military base closings

... Dean to unveil details of his health-care plan today

... Columnist Novak writes that Gephardt campaign has an Achilles’ heel – the Gephardt universal health care plan raises taxes. More Novak – on CNN he says the Dems generating most excitement, specifically Dean and Sharpton, “can’t possibly” be elected

... Edwards first Dem candidate to make a high-profile visit to Georgia, says Southerners have a “special responsibility” to protect civil rights

... Kerry in Detroit tells Michigan voters, especially union members, to unseat GWB to, for all practical purposes, seek political revenge for lost jobs – and becomes first Dem wannabe to make campaign appearance in Michigan

... Grassley says Senate to consider tax cut legislation this week, possible as early as today – but controversy continues over legislation. House leader suggests checking to see what’s in the water they’re drinking over in the Senate

... Is Dean really a political  “pipsqueak”? See below

... Officials at controversial Bob Jones University: Invitation for Kerry to speak unlikely

... Lieberman misses latest votes to end filibusters against two controversial judicial nominations

... IA Dem legislative leader says Gephardt and Kerry have best chance of beating GWB

... Busing tables during a “work day” in Des Moines on Mother’s Day, Graham unearths Republican who wants Bush “fired” – and he plans to work on a farm next week

... Final settlement: Iowa State to former basketball coach Eustachy – never again

... From Lieberman’s Top Ten: “Look at me. Do you honestly think there’ll be a sex scandal?”

... Sports: Former Iowa State running back Ennis Haywood, trying to get on NFL’s Dallas Cowboys roster this year, died last evening

... Iowa City institution –Mill Restaurant – to close next month after more than four decades

  THE WEEK AHEAD: 

... Seven – possibly eight – of the nine Dem Derby runners may be in Iowa this week. All candidates – except Kerry and Lieberman – scheduled in for AFSCME cattle show in Des Moines Saturday. Kerry will miss the event due to commencement speech in New Hampshire and is supposed to address the AFSCME event by satellite – but has he told IA reporters he will return Thursday to present his version of a national health care plan. Lieberman, who’s leaving state after he and his mother had Mother’s Day dinner in IA, doesn’t campaign on the Jewish Sabbath. Next Sunday: Dean is scheduled to participate in Harkin’s second “Hear if from the Heartland” forum – and GWB attack fest – in Davenport. Edwards kicked off the series of statewide ‘Heartland’ events in Des Moines last month. 

All these stories below and more. 

 CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES: 

Morning report:

... The Boston Globe online – under the headline, “For Kerry and Kennedy, chill is gone …Campaign puts thaw in relations” – reported: “A few years ago, Senator John F. Kerry parked his car in a Capitol Hill space some thought was reserved for the handicapped and an aide to his home-state colleague, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, called the newspapers to alert them. Snickers echoed through Kennedy’s suite in the Russell Senate Office Building. Curses filled Kerry’s quarters across the hall. There was tension between the two offices, and at times, Kennedy and Kerry themselves. Kennedy had a reputation as the liberal lion of the Senate and the embodiment of Massachusetts politics. Kerry, in the eyes of some of Kennedy’s staff, was a like-minded opportunist who rode Kennedy’s coattails in Washington and Boston while pursuing his personal political agenda. So when Kerry announced his intentions to run for president – the office Kennedy tried to win in 1980 – many who knew the two men expected backbiting. Sure enough, rivals whispered that Kennedy secretly supported another candidate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, and that any public endorsement of Kerry – as Kennedy delivered at the National Press Club in January – was a sham …This week, Kennedy took the rare step of opening his Washington home to Kerry and inviting friends in the labor community for dinner with the candidate. It is a constituency with which Kennedy has close ties and which otherwise might be expected to support Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, a candidate for the Democratic nomination.” 

... Best headline of the Mother’s Day weekend honors go to OpinionJournal.com for “Hillary the Hawk …Sen. Clinton goes to war.” Fred Barnes writes, an excerpt: “A week after the start of the war in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld gave a briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee. At the time, the advance of American troops toward Baghdad supposedly was bogged down – it turned out it really wasn’t – and the Bush administration was facing stiff criticism. But the defense secretary got strong support from an unexpected source, the newest member of the committee, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Alluding to her own experience in an administration under fire, she indicated she understood Secretary Rumsfeld’s situation. Then Sen. Clinton assured him the committee was behind him 100% and would provide anything needed. The key is to win the war, she said. The war effort should not be shortchanged in any way. This new side to Sen. Clinton – the national-security side – may surprise both fans and foes as she emerges in greater public view this spring. She attracted attention last week when she stridently attacked President Bush’s domestic policies. Next month, she’ll draw a lot more when her memoir of her White House years, ‘Living History,’ is published. The book is lucrative (advance: $8 million) but it may be unhelpful politically, raising new questions about Sen. Clinton’s truthfulness, ethics and relationship with her husband …[Political consultant Dick] Morris argues she’s electable in 2008. That sounds farfetched, but then it struck many as preposterous when she was first mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in New York. She proceeded to conduct a flawless campaign in 2000, shed her image as a carpetbagger, emerge from her husband’s shadow, and won in a landslide. At the moment, the idea of Sen. Clinton as the 21st-century equivalent of a Cold War liberal seems contrived and unconvincing. But in 2008, who knows?” 

... Des Moines Register sidebar reported yesterday that Gephardt’s mother – 95-year-old Loreen E. Gephardt – died of natural causes in St. Louis, according an announcement by his campaign. The Register coverage noted that during the 1988 presidential campaign – when Gephardt finished first in the IA caucus – his mother “briefly lived in Iowa with Gephardt’s wife and children, who rented apartments in West Des Moines to be near the candidate.” Headline on Register sidebar: “A somber Mother’s Day”  

... Washington Post online headline yesterday: “Bush Visit Could Cost Some Workers a Day’s Pay …Stop on President’s Tax Cut Tour Aimed at Neb. Senator Would Close Plant for Most of Two Shifts.”  The Post’s Mike Allen reported: “About 340 workers at an Omaha plastics factory will lose pay or have to work next Saturday to make up for time lost during a visit by President Bush on Monday to promote his ‘jobs and growth,’ their boss said [Saturday]. Brad Crosby, president of Airlite Plastics Co. said about 170 workers will lose a full day’s pay and another 170 will be docked for part of their pay on Monday unless they make up the time they spend attending Bush’s speech. Airlite, which will shut down for its first shift and part of the second shift to provide a photogenic backdrop for Bush’s visit, will be the Monday afternoon stop on a two-day swing by Bush to pressure senators to support a large tax cut as the measure heads to the Senate floor. Bush will stand near a production line that makes polystyrene containers for shipping steak, vaccines and other goods.”

... Quad-City Times this morning reports Dean will outline details of a national health-care proposal tomorrow. His aides say the Dean plan would cost less than half of the one offered by Gephardt and bring more Americans into the system. The Dean approach would expand programs that provide health coverage to children of the working poor, offer a new private insurance benefit with a refundable tax credit for the uninsured who can’t afford the premiums and give tax incentives for businesses to offer coverage. Associated Press quoted Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi” “We’re going to do it side-by-side with Gephardt’s plan. It will provide coverage for more Americans than the Gephardt plan and cost under half of what the Gephardt plan would cost.” Copyright story in today’s DSM Register says Dean will propose an $88 billion approach in speech tomorrow at Columbia University.

... In Des Moines, three Dems say GWB vulnerable in 2004. Register’s Thomas Beaumont yesterday reported on Saturday night event at state fairgrounds: “Three Democratic presidential candidates said in Iowa that President Bush can be defeated in 2004 despite his postwar popularity, but they differ on why they think the president is vulnerable. ‘The outcome of the 1992 election indicates that the association with the troops and the prominence gained are not guarantees of re-election,’ said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., referring to Bush’s father, former President Bush, who saw his postwar popularity evaporate by Election Day …Graham said President Bush is vulnerable because his approval rating today is 10 to 15 points lower than his father’s was at the end of the Persian Gulf War …Dean accused Bush of failing to buy stockpiles of plutonium used in building nuclear weapons to keep the radioactive material out of terrorist hands …Kucinich said he believes Bush can be beaten mainly because he believes the president misrepresented the purpose of the war …Kucinich was the most outraged of the three by Bush’s aircraft carrier landing on May 2 ….’The president, by that stunt, sends a message that the military is in control of our government,’ Kucinich said. ‘It’s against every tradition and principle of a democracy.’”

... More tomorrow: Because of the length of this morning’s report, there will be more coverage of the weekend visits by Dean, Graham and Kucinich – along with Lieberman’s visit – in tomorrow’s morning update.

... But first, more Graham – AP’s designated IA caucus watcher Mike Glover reported in this morning’s print editions it “didn’t take Florida Sen. Bob Graham long to find a nugget as he bustled around a crowded diner, polishing tables and carting away tubs of dirty glasses and dishes in a classic campaign endeavor, ‘We’d like Bush fired and I’m a Republican,’ said Louis Smith, a retired college professor taking out his wife, Joyce, for a Mother’s Day brunch …After a minute, Graham was off to the Drake Diner’s next table that needed busing …Graham spent five hours busing tables at the diner, the 388th “work day” of his political career ….Since entering the race for the Democratic nomination, Graham has pledged to continue his work days in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. He arrived in Iowa after spending a day teaching school in New Hampshire, and plans to work as the hired help on an Iowa farm next week.” 

... Kerry -- at Dem statewide event in Michigan – caters to and reinforces labor union rhetoric and (mis)perceptions. Headline from yesterday’s Detroit News online: “Kerry targets state’s lost jobs” The News said Kerry – who spoke at Saturday night’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising event in Detroit – told the audience “they should help him unseat President Bush in 2004. That way, he said, he can do something about the 2.5 million lost jobs across the country, 200,000 of them in Michigan …Kerry is the first presidential hopeful to appear in Michigan. His stop underscored Michigan’s more visible role in selecting the party’s nominee …He [Kerry] said Bush needs to shift his focus from the war to the economy. ‘It’s time to remind Americans that landing on an aircraft carrier doesn’t make up for a failed economic policy,’ Kerry said. Noting President Bush’s emphasis on fuel-cell vehicles, Kerry said: “I know who I want to build that car. I want it built in America. I want it built in Michigan. And I want it built by the UAW. Nearly 350,000 union members live in the Detroit area, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Many are United Auto Workers members.”

... The Union Leader – under the headline, “University official says Kerry invitation unlikely” – carried an Associated Press report from Columbia, S.C. about the status of Kerry’s invitation to speak at Bob Jones University. AP’s Jim Davenport reported: “Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has said he would speak at Bob Jones University and would ‘challenge the university on some of its views,” according to his campaign. A school spokesman made it clear Friday that an invitation would not be forthcoming. ‘Is he crazy?’ Jonathan Pait asked. Any politician, Republican or Democrat, ‘would be inviting media scrutiny’ similar to what happened to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential race, the spokesman said. Last weekend, as the Democrats gathered in South Carolina for the first debate, Kerry was asked if he would be willing to speak at the university. Kerry said he would, a response his campaign described as a ‘spontaneous but a serious answer.’ Questioned Friday, school officials said no invitations have been made to the nine Democratic candidates although President Bob Jones III said he would consider inviting Democrats.” 

... Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak – headline, “Surging Gephardt campaign has an Achilles’ heel” -- opens his commentary by noting that during the first Dem wannabe debate Edwards jumped on Gephardt’s proposed universal health care plan by saying Gephardt “is taking almost a trillion dollars out of the pocket of working families making $30,000 or $40,000 a year.” Novak writes: “None of the other candidates likes the Gephardt plan, mainly because the incipient campaign’s first new idea came from somebody else. Only Edwards, however, admitted there was an elephant on the stage at the University of South Carolina: a tax increase for the $40,000-a-year family of four that eventually would cost it at least $1,600 a year. That admission would undermine the Democratic line of President Bush’s tax cuts benefiting only the rich. The dilemma for Gephardt is intense. Freed from the eight-year burden of leading the minority House Democrats, he looks more like the fresh-faced St. Louis alderman elected to Congress in 1976. At this very early stage, he is becoming a front-runner for the presidential nomination. Yet, the plan that has propelled him to the head of the pack would be a heavy burden to carry against Bush …Neutral Democratic strategists, while admiring Gephardt’s candidacy, privately suggest he must amend his proposal so it does not increase tax rates now in effect. That is patently impossible, without wrecking the whole scheme. The candidate surging toward the Democratic presidential nomination is advocating higher taxes on ordinary Americans, and no campaign spin can alter that reality.”

... More from Novak: On CNN’s “Capital Gang” Saturday, Novak (from the CNN rush transcript) gave the following assessment of the Dem campaign – “The only candidates who have any excitement are those who can’t possibly be elected president. My friend Al Sharpton is not going to be elected president. Governor Dean is not going to be elected president. And what you have is that there was some hope that John Kerry was Mr. Excitement and boy, he looked more dreary in that debate than anybody. They said he had some – people said he has laryngitis, or hay fever, that he didn’t look good. The thing about Joe Lieberman, who has the name ID, I really can’t find any Democrat who thinks he’d going to be the nominee.”  

... The Des Moines Register reported on Saturday that Iowa House Dem Leader Dick Myers of Iowa City said that Gephardt and Kerry “stand the best chance of beating President Bush.” Myers, who has not endorsed a candidate, said: “Gephardt has got to do well here. If he doesn’t, why, he probably will not survive.”   

... Headline from the weekend, Atlanta Journal Constitution online – “Edwards visits Georgia early for votes later” The report by Matthew C. Quinn said that Edwards “got an early start on Georgia’s presidential primary Friday by doing what he does best: talking to small groups. The veteran trial lawyer, who made his fortune convincing juries, is seeking the Democratic nomination. He swept through town in a series of appearances, meeting with students at a Midtown Atlanta high school, courting political bigwigs and potential donors and addressing fellow trial lawyers, his chief source of donations …Edwards, one of nine declared candidates, for the Democratic nomination, was the first to make high-profile campaign appearances in Georgia. The state doesn’t hold its primary until March 2, weeks after the first votes in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But Edwards is putting down his marker now in hopes of locking up support for at least one victory on the first Tuesday in March, when nine states hold primaries.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: There’s a line to savor – and remember – in the months ahead: That Edwards is hoping to win at least one of nine contested states on the first Tuesday next March, which by then should provide him with the needed breakthrough and momentum to secure the Dem nomination.) 

... More Edwards: The AP reported that Edwards addressed a dinner sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian organization in Atlanta on Saturday night – quotes Edwards as saying: “Discrimination goes against everything I believe in. We as Southerners have a special responsibility when it comes to protecting the civil rights, the human rights of every individual in America” & “I support gays and lesbians adopting children and same-sex adoption laws. The suitability of straight and gay parents should be decided on a case-by-case basis – not by politicians and the government.” 

... Leftover from last week – commentary on the first Dem debate in James Taranto’s “Best of the Web Today” column on OpinionJournal.com. An excerpt: “No doubt Kerry doesn’t need any lectures in courage from a pipsqueak like Dean, but why is he even dignifying Dean’s comments with a response? Unfortunately, this is par for the course for Kerry. He’s constantly whining that people are questioning his patriotism, lecturing him on courage, etc. For a man who served with valor and distinction in Vietnam, he sure is a big baby. As for Dean, he backed away from some of his recent statements for which Kerry and others had rightly criticized him. He proclaimed himself ‘delighted to see Saddam gone’ (last month he said he didn’t know if Saddam’s ouster was good or not), and he said he wouldn’t allow America to lose its military superiority (last week he suggested that such a decline was inevitable).” 

   ... Lieberman was one of three senators to miss the latest cloture votes to end the filibusters against the judicial nominations of Miguel A. Estrada and Priscilla Richman Owen. The other three Dem senator-wannabes – Edwards, Graham and Kerry – were present and voted against ending the filibusters. Lieberman also was the only Dem presidential candidates missing when the Senate voted 96-0 to add seven eastern European nations to NATO – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. 

... For the record: Although Lieberman delivered the “Top Ten Reasons I, Joe Lieberman, Would make a Great President” on the Letterman show last Wednesday and they were published in Greg Pierce’s “Inside Politics” column in Friday’s Washington Times, it is imperative they be preserved in the Iowa Pres Watch Lieberman File – and made available to those still waiting for the weekly Pony Express delivery: “10. Not only will my vice president be in an undisclosed location, I won’t even reveal who he is. 9. I know Microsoft Excel and can type 65 words a minute. 8. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice from Martin Sheen. 7. Instead of taking Air Force One, I can use all my accumulated frequent-flier miles. 6. Saddam’s a president and I’m way less nuts that he is. 5. I will change the Constitution to guarantee every American a free DVD player. 4. I am comfortable in oval-shaped rooms. 3. It just so happens Spider-Man is a close, personal friend of mine. 2. I won’t take any [guff] from France. 1. Look at me. Do you honestly think there’ll be a sex scandal?”  

 IOWA POLITICS: 

... The Quad-City Times reports that Sarah Resnick, the field director for Ann Hutchinson’s 2002 congressional campaign in Iowa’s 1st District, has gone to work for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, the U.S. senator from North Carolina. Resnick will be stationed in New Hampshire. (Iowa Pres Watch Note: This sounds like the kind of logical campaign move that’s become standard fare for the Edwards campaign. What’s next – moving a New Hampshire congressional campaign staffer to Iowa, or getting some more low-level law firm clerks to send more $2,000 checks to his campaign?)

MORNING SUMMARY:    

This morning’s headlines:

... Des Moines Register, top front-page headline: “HIGH STAKES …Tensions tear at fabric of Meskwaki Settlement …Casino’s possible closure stirs county’s concern” Register reports about the tribal dispute between factions – especially over control of casino and hotel – on the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama. 

... Omaha World-Herald, main online headline: Today’s Bush visit – “2nd verse of tax cut song comes to Omaha” Excerpt: “As Yogi Berra, or perhaps George W. Bush would say, this is déjà vu all over again: the president coming to promote a tax plan. In the second month of his presidency, Bush was in town promising to give the federal budget surplus back to the people in tax cuts.”

... Quad-City Times online, top head: State issue – “Weaknesses show in sex offender law” Excerpt: “Constitutional challenges in the courts. Sex offenders concealing their whereabouts. A restriction virtually impossible for police to enforce.” 

... Sioux City Journal, top national/world online story: “Top Iraqi Shiite leader returns from exile, calls for Islamic state”

... Daily Iowan (University of Iowa), national news headline: Local story – “Tired of fighting City Hall, local icon the Mill to close” Excerpt: “After 41 years of providing downtown Iowa City with dining, drinks and music, the owner of the Mill Restaurant said the establishment many call a local landmark will call it quits in mid- to late June.”

Chicago Tribune, online headline: “Disaster? No, this is only a test” A mock terror attack on Chicago will unfold beginning today. 

... Weekend newscasts indicate that hundreds – which probably translates into thousands statewide – of Iowans are contacting insurance agents to submit bills for water damage to basements. The bad news, however, is that most homeowners policies no longer cover problems caused by sump pump failure or sewer backup. Policies were altered a couple years ago, but as one insurance agent noted most policyholders probably didn’t read the notice – meaning they don’t have coverage to cover costs of damage. 

 Iowa Briefs/Updates: 

... The Sioux City Journal reported that, according to the Iowa Education Association, at least 350 IA teachers have received pick slips this spring due to state budget cuts and increasing educational costs. ISEA president John Hieronymus said most of those dismissed were in the areas of media specialists-librarians, guidance counselors, and art teachers and music teachers

... The Waterloo Courier reported that corn planting was progressing faster than normal last week, but that heavy rains “could reverse that trend without adequate drying weather.” Report says Iowa State University historical records indicate this if the final week to get corn planted before yield losses occur.  

 SUNDAY SUMMARY:

... Headlines and reports from a Mother’s Day weekend – Top front-page headline on The Des Moines Sunday Register: “Schools fight flight …Small districts fear segregation, loss of aid” Excerpt: “A growing number of white students are fleeing a handful of rural districts that are home to meat-processing plants employing large numbers of immigrants. The exodus alarms school officials, who worry their districts will face the daunting task of educating predominately non-English-speaking students with dwindling financial resources. Students transferring from districts in which they live take with them the state’s per-pupil financial aid, about $4,500 a student.”

... Sunday Register headline: “2 suicides a concern on campus at Grinnell” Report on two students at Grinnell College committing suicide in less than a week – which came just days before the start of final exams. 

WAR & TERRORISM: 

... VOANews (Voice of America) reported over the weekend: “A court in Yemen has sentenced a Muslim extremist to death for killing three U.S. missionaries in December. The court in the southern province of Ibb imposed the death penalty Saturday on Abed Abdul Razak Kamal, a militant believed to have ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. Kamal was convicted of killing three American missionaries and wounding a fourth at a Southern Baptist missionary hospital in the town of Jibla in December.”

FEDERAL ISSUES:  

... Grassley reports that the tax cut proposal will be considered by the full Senate this week, possibly as early as today. From the senior senator’s official website  -- “Acting to ease economic anxiety, Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, [Thursday] night won committee approval on a broad package of tax relief for individuals, families and small businesses. By putting more money in consumers’ pockets, and cutting costs for small businesses, the package would jumpstart the economy and create about one million jobs …The committee voted 12 to 9 to approve the package, with one Democrat joining the Republicans.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: We will now highlight two Finance Committee members who voted against it – Dem wannabes Graham and Kerry.) 

... And from Saturday’s Register coverage by the Washington Bureau’s Jane Norman: “House Republicans already are unhappy with Grassley for cutting a deal with Senate GOP moderates to keep a lid of $350 billion on the tax cut unless offsetting savings are found. They called the proposal [that essentially increases taxes] for Americans working overseas a tax increase. Grassley has about 30 other tax measures in the bill to raise money, although most are less controversial. ‘School teachers, students and missionaries [overseas] will be taxed twice if some Senate Republicans have their way,’ said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., a deputy majority whip and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. ‘I think the Capitol Police better check to see if someone’s slipped something into the water over there [in the Senate].’”

... The Quad-City Times reported over the weekend that Rock Island Arsenal might be a target in the next round of military base closings. The Times Ed Tibbetts wrote: “It’s just a brush fire right now, but a group of congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., [who represents the Illinois side of the Quad-Cities] are trying to head off the 2005 round of base closures. A subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee voted Friday to cancel the round, setting up what may be another flap between the House and Senate over the issue. Of course, this is a big deal in the Quad-Cities because the Rock Island Arsenal, which has been losing jobs for years has been seen as vulnerable.”” 

IOWA ISSUES:

... Reaction already coming in to Guv Vilsack’s decision to call IA legislators back for a special session on 5/29 – From Your Two-Cents Worth column in the DSM Register: “Why should taxpayers pay legislators for a special session when they couldn’t finish their job in the regular session? Seems like a reward for poor performance.” – Des Moines woman

... Budget cut impact: The Daily Iowan (University of Iowa) reported that Iowa City Manager Steve Atkins released “a litany of cost-saving measures” that cuts city services across the board while eliminating more than a dozen municipal employees. Excerpt: “The proposed reductions in library materials, bus service and neighborhood improvements, among others, come in the wake of an approximately $1 million reduction in state aid to Iowa City that, Atkins said, will have permanent ramifications.”

OPINIONS: 

... This morning’s Des Moines Register editorials: “Winter’s gone; heat bills aren’t… Iowa should have a fund to help pay utility bills for low-income households.” & “Take SARS seriously …Everyone’s cooperation will be needed to beat it.” 

... Headline from Des Moines Sunday Register editorial: “Want to grow Iowa? Nurture its cities” Excerpt: “The Iowa General Assembly not only failed to enact an economic development program this year, it turned its back on the state’s greatest potential engines of growth: Iowa’s 950 cities and towns …It’s still not too late for this Legislature to do something positive. A special session is coming up. If the governor and lawmakers come to terms on an Iowa Values Fund to stimulate the state’s moribund economy, they should focus the fund on those commercial and industrial centers, corridors and regions where growth has occurred in the past and is likely to occur in the future: Iowa’s cities and towns. They are not the problem. They could be the solution.”

IOWA SPORTS: 

... The notice on Dallas Morning News online last night: “Cowboys running back Ennis Haywood, hospitalized since Saturday morning, has died.” Haywood, 23, a former Iowa State standout (1998-2001), had been on life support since he was taken to the hospital at 4 a.m. Saturday after he started vomiting in his sleep. He topped the Big 12 in rushing and touchdowns during his senior season – finishing 10th in the nation in average yards per game – and made the Dallas Cowboys practice squad last year. 

... Several reports – morning newscasts and DSM Register – report Iowa State close to signing Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Jeff Lebo as new men’s basketball coach, possibly as early as today.  

... Register sports reporter (and former political reporter) Tom Witosky, who ignited the Larry Eustachy saga by writing the story accompanying photos of the – now former -- Iowa State basketball coach partying at the University of Missouri, details conditions of the final $960,000 settlement. Headline: “Document shows ISU, Eustachy are history …School, coach agree to permanent separation after five years together.” Basics: Eustachy will be listed as employee of the ISU athletic department for the rest of the calendar year, he will receive the remaining amount of his base pay ($110,000) and benefits, and a lump sum payment of $850,000 will be made on 1/1/04. “After that,” Witosky reports, “the settlement makes clear Eustachy only will be part of Cyclone history. ‘Employee acknowledges that employee’s employment with the university will, effective Dec. 31, 2003, terminate and cease irrevocably and forever, and will not be resumed again at any time in the future,’ the agreement reads.”  

IOWA WEATHER: 

... DSM 5 a.m. 47, fair. Temperatures range from 37 in Harlan and 39 in Orange City and Sheldon to 50 in Fort Madison, Muscatine and the Quad-Cities. Today’s high 68, mostly sunny. Tonight’s low 45, partly cloudy. Tuesday’s high 72, partly sunny. From WHO-TV’s Brandon Thomas: “Plenty of sunshine on Monday, with highs in the mid sixties to low seventies. Partly sunny on Tuesday, with a chance of t-storms late. Highs will be in the low seventies. Showers and t-storms are likely on Wednesday, with highs in the mid sixties. Partly sunny on Thursday, with highs in the mid/upper sixties. Mostly sunny on Friday, with highs in the low seventies.” 

IOWAISMS: 

... The Sioux City Journal reports that a B-17 “Flying Fortress” will be at the Sioux Gateway Airport/Col. Bud Day Field tomorrow and Wednesday as part of its 2003 “Road to Kitty Hawk Tour.” The plane is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning and will be at the airport until departing for Omaha on Thursday morning. The B-17 will participate in “flight missions” -- allowing the public to ride on the plane -- on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and ground tours will be from about 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. each day.

 

                                                                                                              click here  to read past Iowa Morning Reports

Paid for by the Iowa Presidential Watch PAC

P.O. Box 171, Webster City, IA 50595

privacy  /  agreement  /    /  homepage / search engine