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
DAILY 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.
Thursday,
May 22, 2003 Headline
of the morning: Quote
of the morning: GENERAL
NEWS: Among
the offerings in this morning’s
update: ...
In
the Washington Times, reporter Lambro tells it
like it is – cites IOWA poll numbers,
says Dem field down to three or four top
contenders, others “off the radar.” ...
Edwards
visits IA yesterday to outline rural
initiative. Register’s Beaumont reports the Edwards
proposal received “mixed reviews” from
farm economy experts ...
Morning
item: Moseley-Braun says she may have to
“fold” campaign, forecasts “lonely
effort” without improved fundraising ...
Dean
& Lieberman scheduled into Iowa
over Memorial Day weekend ...
Massachusetts
poll: Kerry would lose to GWB in his home
state ...
Grassley
gets top Des Moines Register headline for
making tax-cut deal ...
Dean
stops in Utah en route to CA ...
Here’s
a surprise: Harkin says he’s
“disappointed” with the tax-cut
bill ...
In
Tama today, Meskwaki tribe conducting
special election in effort to resolve dispute
that could result in closing casino ...
Guess
which wannabe voted on the nuclear weapons ban
in the Senate this week – and which three
were AWOL? ...
Edwards
charges Bush Administration with
conducting “confused and chaotic” policy
in post-war Iraq ...
Rain
removed from Memorial Day weekend forecasts
for most Iowans – except for sections of
western IA ...
Iowaism:
Blue Bunny meets Mickey Mouse -- IA ice
cream maker cuts deal with Disney ...
Washington
Times reports that conservative activists
fear waning influence on Bush White House ...
Quotes
from the EMILY’s List forum in DC ...
Headline
from this morning’s Quad-City Times online:
“Special session faces possible delay”
With legislative session scheduled a week from
today, IA lawmakers unable to resolve
differences ...
Waterloo
company lands NCAA travel contract All
these stories below and more. EMILY’s
List Forum Revisited: Reports
and headlines from the coverage of the
EMILY’s List forum – which attracted seven
of the nine Dem candidates – were included
in yesterday’s Morning Report, but some of
the comments and accusations against the Bush
Administration should be noted and remembered: Edwards
– “Every month this president is in
the White House, a woman’s right to choose
is in jeopardy.” Kerry
– “I can’t wait to remind this
country that landing on an aircraft carrier
with a Navy pilot doesn’t make up for the
lack of an economic plan or a security plan
for the United States…The Supreme Court
is at stake in this race as never before in
modern history…We don’t need a second
Republican Party.” Dean
–
“I don’t think we can win this race
without standing up to the president...We
are paying for what we did in Iraq because
when you see al-Qaida come back that is the
price we pay for taking our eye off the ball.” Edwards
– “These judges, some of these judges,
that come out of the White House, they will
take your rights away…If
we as Democrats don’t show the backbone to
stand up to that [the judges allegedly taking
rights away] we don’t stand for anything.” Lieberman:
“I have been pro-choice my entire career”
[a subtle reference to rivals Gephardt
and
Kucinich,
who have supported some abortion limits] Moseley
Braun:
“If George Bush gets reelected, you can be
certain that in six years, Roe versus Wade
will be gone. Affirmative action will be gone
and the extreme political agenda that this
group has advocated will be ensconced in civil
society.” Kucinich:
“Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction,
but when the government lies to the American
people that is a weapon of mass
destruction.” Gephardt
was there too, but must not have been quotable
enough to rate coverage. Two
of the Dem candidates – Graham and Sharpton
– did not attend the EMILY’s list
forum. Morning
report: ...
Dean,
as noted, was in Utah yesterday heading to
California – but he’ll be back in his
second “home” again tomorrow with
campaign appearances scheduled in Des
Moines and Mason City, with an Ames
visit set for Saturday. Lieberman also
is expected in over the Memorial Day weekend
– visits to Bettendorf and Dubuque
set for Sunday, and his Monday schedule
includes stops in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and
Cedar Rapids. ...
IOWA
DEM WANNABE POLL CITED. Under the
headline, “Field of 9 down to leaders,
longshots” – Donald Lambro reported in
yesterday’s Washington Times: “The
nine-member field of Democratic presidential
candidates has been effectively whittled down
to about three or four top contenders in the
early nominating contests, with everyone else
nearly off the radar screen. Democratic
strategists say it will be difficult for
anyone to catch up to Missouri Rep. Richard A.
Gephardt in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses,
where the former House Democratic leader has widened
his lead to 25 percent or more. His
closest rival, Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, trails behind in second place
with 13 points, according to pollster John
Zogby. None of the other candidates is
running even close to the two front-runners in
the state. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean,
who was catapulted into contention earlier
this year as a result of his opposition to the
war in Iraq, has fallen back in the caucus
state, drawing around five points. Sen. Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut doesn’t fare much
better than that. Freshman Sen. John R.
Edwards of North Carolina is ‘barely on
the radar screen’ in Iowa, Mr. Zogby
said.” Lambro wrote the rest of the field
– Moseley Braun, Sharpton,
Kucinich and Graham – are “at 1
percent or 2 percent or register no support at
all.” In making his case that the field is
narrowing down, Lambro also noted that Kerry
and Dean lead the Dems in New Hampshire
with Gephardt and Lieberman following –
and “the rest of the field registering 1
percent or less.” He noted, however, that Lieberman
has been leading in national polls at 19
percent, followed by Gephardt (14%) and
Kerry (12%). ...
Kerry
has joined other wannabes – including
Graham, Edwards and Hillary (if she
chooses to run) – among the Dem
candidates who would lose to the president in
their home states. TheBostonChannel.com (KCVB-TV)
reports that Kerry “received some
startling news Wednesday from his own back
yard” – a poll by the research
institute Mass Insight indicating that he
trails President Bush by 6 percentage points.
KCVB said the exact numbers for the poll,
which surveyed 500 Massachusetts voters at the
end of April, were not released. The report
said the latest results are “in stark
contract to a similar poll taken by the group
in January. Back then, Kerry had a
commanding 16-point lead in Massachusetts in a
theoretical matchup with the president.” ...
From
Greg Pierce’s “Inside Politics” column
in today’s Washington Times: Subhead
– “Moseley-Braun’s plea”
Pierce writes: “Democratic presidential
candidate Carol Moseley-Braun says she
might have to ‘fold my tent’ unless she
can raise more money. ‘We need your
help, we need your checks, we need your
networking, we need your support,’ the
former senator from Illinois told delegates of
EMILY’s List in Washington on Tuesday. ‘Without
it, it really will be a lonely effort to try
to carry the burden of empowering women
totally on the backs of a little campaign,’
she said. During the first quarter of this
year, Mrs. Moseley-Braun
reported collecting $72,000, putting her last
among the nine Democratic hopefuls. In her
speech to the members of EMILY’s List, which
was formed to raise money for female
candidates who favor abortion rights, Mrs. Moseley-Braun
suggested her campaign had implications
for other female politicians with presidential
aspirations, Agence France-Presse reports. “I
can make a showing and help advance the cause
of women in higher office, paving the way for
a woman president. Or I can fold my tent, go
away and, of course, then it will be my fault.” ...
The
Sioux City Journal – under the headline “Edwards
unveils rural economic revitalization plans”
– reported yesterday that Edwards “unveiled
his plans Wednesday for revitalizing the
nation’s rural economy, including a $1
billion, five-year effort aimed at drawing
venture capital dollars into the rural
areas.” The coverage by Todd Dorman said Edwards
“would seek to expand the use of
renewable fuels, such as ethanol, help rural
schools pay teachers more and cut off federal
subsidies to farms that earn more than $1
million annually. He also vowed to
aggressively enforce federal laws designed to
protect farmers from corporate misdeeds. That
drew charges of hypocrisy from Republicans,
who pointed to Edwards’ votes against a ban
on packer ownership of livestock. ‘We
have a crisis in rural and small-town America.
And it’s time we do something about it,’
said Edwards, who repeatedly referred
to his rural North Carolina roots while
speaking to about three-dozen supporters.”
(Iowa Pres Watch Note: Some accused Edwards
of political grandstanding – which
probably isn’t anything new for Edwards –
since he went to the Biomass Energy Conversion
Center near Nevada to outline his rural
package. It’s the same facility GWB visited
during the 2000 campaign – with Edwards
standing in the same spot where Bush stood.)
...
More
Edwards. In this morning’s Des Moines
Register, the story – headlined “Edwards’
plan stops short of ban on packer ownership”
– was buried below the fold in the Business
section. Reporting from Nevada,
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards
proposed a rural development plan in Iowa
Wednesday, prompting mixed reviews from some
of the state’s leading farm economy experts.
Edwards called for stepped-up
enforcement of existing laws to promote fair
competition in the farm sector of the economy
but did not call for a ban on packers owning
livestock. Edwards voted against a ban
against meatpacking companies owning livestock
last year.” ...
Headline
from The Union Leader online this morning –
“Dean meets with his Utah supporters”
Associated Press coverage from Salt Lake City:
“No, Democratic presidential candidate
Howard Dean didn’t take a wrong turn in
Albuquerque. Utah, a bastion for
conservative Republicans, hasn’t drawn many
Democrats for the 2004 presidential election,
but Dean made a quick stop here anyway
on his way to California. ‘There’s a
caucus here,’ the Vermont governor said,
‘that means Utah matters.’…Dean spent
about 15 minutes speaking to the crowd
focusing on his campaign message of balanced
budgets, creating jobs and a nationwide health
care package…’You have the power to
take this party back, the White House back and
the country back.’” (Iowa Pres Watch
Note: The story referred to Dean as the
“Vermont governor” – and, although all
Iowans know he’s actually a “former
Vermont governor” it’s probably an
academic consideration. By the time the Dem
presidential caravan rolls into Utah, Dean will
be just another failed presidential wannabe
and back in Vermont as just another common
citizen.” ...
The
News & Observer of Raleigh yesterday
reported that Edwards accused the Bush
Administration of conducting a “confused and
chaotic” policy in post-war Iraq, In a
statement entered in the Senate record, Edwards
said: “The
American-led civil administration is
understaffed, under-equipped and unprepared.
Continuing on this path not only hurts the
Iraqi people, who have suffered enough and
deserve better, but
it squanders all that our military achieved in
Iraq, threatens our security and undermine our
standing in the world.”
He urged a NATO-led peacekeeping force to
provide security and added “we have to do
better at ensuring the Iraqi people, not
some puppet government,
will shape Iraq’s future.” The News &
Observer’s John Wagner noted that Edwards
supported
the U. S. attack on Iraq “but has questioned
the administration’s commitment to
rebuilding the country.” ...
From
Congressional Quarterly’s midday update
yesterday: “TODAY’S TRIVIA: Sen. Bob Graham,
D-Fla., has saved nearly 4,000 spiral
notebooks in which he has recorded
every daily detail of his life,
a practice he has called ‘my greatest
attempt at staying disciplined.’” ...
When
the Senate voted Tuesday night (7:24 p.m. EDT)
– by a 51-43 margin – to end
a 10-year ban on research and development of
low-yield nuclear weapons,
only one of the Dem presidential candidates
was present and voting: Lieberman.
The other three Senate wannabes – Edwards,
Graham and
Kerry – were
among six senators recorded as not voting. Lieberman (along
with Harkin
and Hillary)
voted for a Democratic amendment to keep the
ban. Grassley
joined
with Republicans and a couple Dems to end the
10-year restriction on nuclear arms R&D.
Quote worth quoting: Ted Kennedy – “This issue is as clear as any issue ever gets.
You’re either for nuclear war or you’re
not. Either you want to make it easier to
start using nuclear weapons or you
don’t…If we build it, we’ll use
it.” ...
IA
Sen Harkin said this morning “there
are many things disappointing” about the
latest version of the tax-cut proposal. He
told WHO Radio (Des Moines) he was
especially disappointed “they stripped
away” the Medicare reimbursement provision
“that Senator Grassley and I worked out
to address the current disparity in payments
between rural and urban hospitals and
providers.” ...
The
Des Moines Register reports this morning that
IA Dem Congressman Leonard Boswell and
Polk County Supervisor Angela Connolly will be
the featured speakers at the Memorial Day
program in Des Moines. The event, which
is free and open to the public, will be at 11
a.m. Monday at Veterans Memorial
Auditorium. This
morning’s headlines: ...
Des
Moines Register, top front-page headline: “Grassley
makes tax deal…Change in Medicare
payments for Iowa will have to wait” Jane
Norman of Register’s Washington Bureau
reported this morning: “Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Charles Grassley reached
a deal with House negotiators Wednesday night
on a major tax-cut package but had to drop a
Medicare provision highly beneficial to
Iowa.” ...
Quad-City
Times online, top story headline: Local –
“Davenport passes dog law” Report
says that “after some especially gruesome
dog attacks and months of talk on how to
prevent them” the Davenport City
Council approved ordinance changes Wednesday
that carry stiffer fines and penalties. ...
Omaha
World-Herald online, world/national headlines:
“More than 500 killed in Algerian
earthquake” & “Congress strikes
deal to cut taxes $318 billion” ...
Top
story, Sioux City Journal online: “Iowa
lawmakers still at stalemate on Values Fund” ...
Chicago
Tribune online headlines: “Algerian
Earthquake Kills at Least 538” & “2
adults charged in hazing” Report says
two adults and a student were charged
yesterday with supplying alcohol to suburban
Chicago high school students involved in the
videotaped brutal hazing. ...
New
York Times online top stories: “$318
Billion Deal Is Set in Congress for Cutting
Taxes” & “U.
S. Wins Support to End Sanctions on Iraq” Iowa
Briefs/Updates: ...
A
traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial – which was in northwest IA
last week – will be in the northeast part
of the state through Memorial Day. The
“Moving Wall,” a half-sized reproduction
of the wall in DC, is now in Anamosa.
The public, especially those with family
members of veterans who died while serving the
country, has been invited to a special
Saturday service ...
KCCI-TV
(Des Moines) reported that Des Moines
Register home deliveries were delayed this
morning due to mechanical problems ...
The Register reported that bicycling legend
Greg LeMond will participate in the
Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across
Iowa this summer. The three-time Tour de
France winner will appear 7/19 in Glenwood,
the starting point for this year’s RAGBRAI.
...
Polls remain open until 8 p.m. today as
Meskwaki tribal members attempt to resolve a
conflict that could result in closing the
tribe’s casino near Tama. The election,
which was announced yesterday, is intended to
settle a dispute over the tribe’s leadership
– and control of the casino – between two
groups, an elected tribal council and a group
contending the tribe’s elders appointed it.
It was still uncertain this morning whether
federal oversight agencies will recognize the
results of today’s election. Meanwhile,
federal judge Linda Reade in Cedar Rapids has
yet to rule on an action by the National
Indian Gaming Commission – which has ordered
the casino closed because of the tribal
conflict – requesting she dispatch fed
marshals to close the casino.
...
VOANews
(Voice of America) – headline: “Japan
Expected to Pledge Crackdown on North Korea”
– reports, “When Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi meets Friday with President
Bush at his Texas ranch, he is expected to
pledge an intensified crackdown on the flow of
money and equipment from Japan to North Korea.
The steps come as the United States is looking
to Japan, South Korea and China to put more
pressure on North Korea to stop its nuclear
program.” ...
VOANews
also reported that the “French, Russian and
German foreign ministers said Wednesday they
would back a U. S. sponsored resolution to
lift United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
The announcement was made after a meeting
between the three in the French
capital.” ... Conservative
dissatisfaction growing? Under the
headline “Activists on right fear waning
influence” – the Washington Times
yesterday reported, “Conservative
activists fear that they are not exercising as
much influence on the Bush White House as they
did in previous Republican presidencies.
In a memo to hundreds of fellow conservatives,
a former Reagan administration official says traditional
views are being edged out by a neoconservative
‘national greatness’ ideology that
accepts big government and advocates
interventionist foreign policy. ‘Today, most
conservative pressure ends up as simple
cheerleading for the White House,’ Donald J.
Devine, who was President Reagan’s director
of the Office of Personnel Management, wrote
in the memo. ‘That can be helpful, but
there is nothing that pushes politics further
to the right, leaving conservatism and the
Republican Party to draft.” The Times’
Ralph Z. Hallow wrote: “For nearly half a
century, conservatives nudged American
politics, Republican ideology and government
policy toward modern conservatism’s founding
principles. Chief among those principles is
limited government.”
...
Legislative
special session to be delayed? In this
morning’s Quad-City Times, Todd Dorman
reports: “Statehouse leaders remain at a
stalemate over the creation of an Iowa Values
Fund and tax reform issues with just a week
remaining before a special legislative session.
Scant progress in talks between Republicans
who run the House and Senate and Gov. Tom Vilsack,
a Democrat, raises the possibility that no
deal will be reached before lawmakers are
scheduled to return on May 29. ‘It’s
possible we may not have a package all wrapped
up and tied with a bow come next Thursday,’
said House Speaker Christopher Rants, R-Sioux
City. Rants and other GOP leaders met with
Vilsack by phone Wednesday. ‘You
know, that’s why we have a legislative
process. Eventually, these things get
worked out,’ Rants said. But Vilsack,
who wants a values fund of up to $610 million
to pay for his economic development
dreams, is urging leaders to keep
working toward an accord. Without progress
soon, Vilsack said he would be forced to
re-evaluate his options. That includes
potentially pushing back the date of the
special session.” The governor has
scheduled a meeting with the GOP legislative
leaders tomorrow afternoon. ...
Radio
Iowa’s Darwin Danielson reports that a
“new survey by the Iowa Utilities Board
shows the so-called digital divide between
rural and urban communities has gone from the
Grand Canyon to a thin line.” The report
said the state’s rural areas now have 68%
accessibility to some sort of high-speed
Internet access – the same percentage as
those who live in more heavily populated urban
areas. Three years ago, a board survey
found that 28% of rural communities had
high-speed access compared to 42% in urban
communities. Utilities Board spokesman Rob
Hillesland said the eventual goal is to reach
100% saturation covering all Iowans. The board
doesn’t have requirements for providing
service, but submits reports to the
legislature. Hillesland said lawmakers might
take action if progress in providing
high-speed access statewide slows, but that
Iowa’s “done better than many other states
thus far.” OPINIONS: ...
This
morning’s editorials, Des Moines Register:
“Back to the original war…After
victory in Iraq, there’s still the matter of
al-Qaida …Did the U. S. preoccupation with
Iraq give the al-Qaida time to reorganize?”
& Local – “Windsor Heights has it
right…It’s a refreshing change to
drive in a city that enforces speed
limits…It is widely known that Windsor
Heights cops will ticket speeders –
even bicycle riders!” For non-Iowans, Windsor
Heights is a DSM suburb
currently engaged in a controversy about
whether to increase the speed limit on its
main thoroughfare – University Ave. – from
25 mph to 30 mph. ...
Citizen
commentary from Sioux City Journal online:
“I’ll gladly take stock picking advice
from Warren Buffet any day. However, I don't
think being one of the world’s richest men
necessarily makes him an expert at determining
who needs a tax cut.” – Gene Nitzschke, Sioux
City ...
The
NCAA has tapped a Waterloo firm –
Short’s Travel Service – as its exclusive
travel agency. Short’s was among eight
agencies that submitted bids in January for
the contract, which includes handling team
travel arrangements for all NCAA championship
events. Radio Iowa reported that Short’s
president David Lecompte would not disclose
details of the contract, but said it was a
multi-year, multi-million dollar contract that
will require adding 25 additional employees to
handle the workload. ...
Central
College (Pella) – and Iowans –
prevailed big time at the NCAA Division III
national softball tournament. As reported
in yesterday’s Iowa Pres Watch update, Central
won its fourth national championship since
1988 (and participated it its 18th
consecutive playoffs) – but that’s only
part of the story. The Central championship
roster (with the exception of from Illinois)
was composed of players from Iowa communities
with four of them earning all-tournament
honors during the national championship run --
senior right-fielder Kris Hughes of Charles
City, senior pitcher Libby Hysell of Colfax,
junior third baseman Katy Lein from Urbandale
and sophomore first baseman Annie Legg from Ames. ...
The University of Northern Iowa Panthers
yesterday lost the opening game – 10-6 to
Southern Illinois -- in the Missouri Valley
Conference baseball tournament. The Panthers
will face top-seeded Southwest Missouri State
at 7 p.m. in the double-elimination
tournament.
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“President
Thomas …Republicans leave some dividend
money on the table.”
Headline
on OpinionJournal.com (Wall Street Journal)
this morning:
Excerpt from “Review & Outlook”
commentary:
“At
least in the civics books, the U.S. Treasury
Secretary and Federal Reserve Chairman are the
nation’s two most prominent economic policy
makers. Well, they and President Bush can
now move aside for Bill Thomas, the House Ways
and Means Chairman who is about to impose his
will on American tax policy. House and
Senate conferees announced an
‘understanding’ yesterday on the final
shape of a $382 billion tax-cut bill, and there
hasn’t been an outcome this
one-sided since, well, the Iraq war. The
outline of the final bill is more or less
entirely the House version that Mr. Thomas
wrote, meaning that President Bush will
have failed to meet his laudable goal of
eliminating the double taxation of dividends.”
“Based
on my record in Vermont, you won’t find a
better feminist running for president.”
Leftover
from Tuesday’s EMILY’s List forum
featuring seven of nine Dem candidates in DC,
– Howard Dean (more forum
quotes below.)
...
DSM
7 a.m. 48, a few clouds. Temps at 7 a. m.
ranged from 44 in Dubuque and Ottumwa
up to 50 in Lamoni and Fort Dodge
and 51 in Sioux City.
Today’s high 68, partly sunny.
Tonight’s low 52, partly cloudy. Friday’s
high 70, partly sunny. Friday night’s low
48, partly cloudy. WHO-TV’s Brandon Thomas
reports:
“Partly sunny Friday afternoon, with
highs around seventy. Partly sunny on
Saturday, highs in the upper sixties to low
seventies. Partly sunny on Sunday, with highs
in the low seventies. Memorial Day looks
great, with plenty of sunshine and highs
in the low/mid seventies. 
... This
seems to be one of those only-in-Iowa-stories:
“The ice cream brand inspired by a
floppy-eared rabbit has forged a relationship
with the creator of the world’s most famous
mouse.” That’s the opening sentence on
a Sioux City Journal story about a 15-year
agreement between Wells’ Dairy, makers of
Blue Bunny, and Disney Consumer Products to
develop and market a line of Disney-branded
ice cream, frozen novelties
and yogurts. The Journal report
by Journal business editor Dave Dreeszen
wrote: “Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and
Buzz Lightyear are among the many Disney
characters featured in the kid-friendly
products.” Dreeszen noted that the
Disney-brand products will be manufactured at
the Wells’ ice cream plant in downtown LeMars
and “offers Blue Bunny an opportunity to
position itself in areas of the country
outside its normal 32-state market.”
to read past Iowa Morning Reports