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Iowa 2004 presidential primary precinct caucus and caucuses news">
Iowa 2004 presidential primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues Iowa
Presidential Watch's
IOWA DAILY REPORT
... QUOTABLE: "Iowa Democrats
appreciate candidates with some fire in the
belly," Riggs
said in announcing her support for the former
Vermont governor. "Dean has proven he will
stand up to Bush on the tough issues,"
said Dr. Sheila
McGuire Riggs, former Iowa Democrat Party
Chairwoman, endorsing Howard Dean. "The people of Iowa put
together and sent to New York 1,500 quilts in the
days and weeks after Sept. 11,"
Pataki said. "The people of New York will
never forget that,"
said New York
Gov. George Pataki in a Des Moines speech to Iowa
Republican Ronald Reagan Dinner fund-raiser. "There are a whole lot of
things we can do to make Medicare better. It's
something we should focus this nation on,"
said John
Edwards. “… President George W.
Bush is going to North Carolina to lecture its
citizens about how his tax cuts for the wealthy
have helped them. That's hard to swallow,”
said Wesley
Clark in a press release. "There is a direct
correlation between the president's tax cuts and
the stronger economy,"
Speaker of the
House J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois said.
"Strong economic growth means more jobs. Democrats
say they want to raise taxes to pay for more
Washington spending. But that is the worst thing
we can do to keep this economy strong and create
more jobs." "It's now clear,
we are in the middle of a major job-creating
economic recovery, or as the Democrats might call
it, 'a risky prosperity scheme,'"
said Rep. Tom Delay. "We should be working to
eventually eliminate draft registration for men,
not contemplating requiring it of women in the
name of fair treatment,”
said Dennis
Kucinich. "This is a bigger blow to
Wes Clark than it is for Dick Gephardt,"
said Steve
Murphy Gephardt’s campaign manager about the two
service industry unions going with Howard Dean. "Everybody is starved. If
you have a garden and if it rains, you're not
excited, but if you're in the desert and it rains,
you're delirious. But you know what rain in the
desert produces? A mirage."
Repeating an old
refrain, he [Nader] says it doesn't even matter if
Dean is for real: "He can't deliver--he can
be George McGovern on steroids, but when he gets
into the corporate prison called the White House,
he can't deliver,"
said Ralph Nader.
"It's a gutless move,"
said D.C.
Councilman Jack Evans, the author of the
legislation moving up the district's primary.
"I hope none of them ever wins anything."
Evans made the
remarks in response to five candidates withdrawing
from D.C.’s primary Jan. 13.
… TODAY’S OFFERINGS:
Dean:
No Limits! -- IPW special
report Dr. for Dr. Health check War images Down in the Mud Don’t get it Gephardt opening in N.
Dakota How much? MTBE shenanigans Job creation Something frightening Dean not electable D.C. no more UAW: no endorsement Trippi the organizer Stopping the
shenanigans The Economy Hate her or love her Sleepless in D.C.
* CANDIDATES &
CAUCUSES: It was
no surprise to anyone when Howard Dean announced
that his campaign had voted to forego campaign
finance. The former Vermont governor said 85
percent of those who weighed in with approximately
105,000 voters, according to campaign officials
urging him to opt out. The Dean
webpage took the theme of the “Declaration of
Revolution” in keeping with his angry revolt theme
of his campaign. At the conclusion of the
mimicking of the American revolutionary statement,
the campaign invites viewers to add their name to
the declaration in the continuing grass roots
efforts of the campaign. Dean
becomes the first candidate in Democratic Party
history to take such a step. The news is not good
for Dick Gephardt who will most probably stay with
the campaign finance system and will probably be
the most critical of fellow democrats opting out
of the system developed after Watergate to bring
fairness, openness and honesty to America’s
political fund-raising. The problem for Gephardt
is that a candidate that opts out of the finance
system does not have to live with spending limits
set for individual states. The Gephardt campaign
already took precautions before today’s Dean
opt-out decision -- trimming its overhead by
asking campaign staff to take pay cuts. Dean
could overpower candidates in Iowa, New Hampshire
and S. Carolina with direct mail and television
advertising. Overwhelming victory in those states
that show key regional support would leave Dean as
the lone candidate for the nomination. It would be
one of the most sweeping early victories of such a
large field of contenders in Democrat Presidential
history. Dean’s
decision to forego public finance is causing
consternation among the good government types.
Dennis Kucinich expressed their feelings in
response to Dean’s decision: “His
attempt to kill public financing will take back
America -- for special interests," However, some
like the N.Y. Times recognize the need to forego
the public finance system.” “While
his retreat is understandable, Dr. Dean should
show his commitment to principle by pledging right
now that he will voluntarily spend no more than
the $45 million limit in campaigning against other
Democrats, and save the rest of his private funds
for challenging Mr. Bush. We have never had a
political candidate in recent times who coupled
the ability to raise large sums with a willingness
to show restraint to support the concept of public
financing. Dr. Dean could and should be that man.” Other
candidates who may opt out of the finance system
are Sen. John Kerry and Wesley Clark. Kerry is the
only candidate who might be able to match Dean
with his wife’s Republican money from the Heinz
fortune. That assumes she would be willing to part
with $10s of millions of her own money. WHEN
IN THE Course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one People to dissolve the Political
Bands which have connected them with another, a
decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires
that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the Separation.
Woo hoo!
Where's my wallet?
Wahoo! The Tea is in the Harbor! Dump King George!
I think we have our theme for the general
election, don't we?
Very cool, the declaration.
This year, it ain't the economy, stupid. It's
about getting the government to work more for us
and less (much less, I hope) for the fat-cats! Dr. Sheila McGuire Riggs, former
Iowa Democrat Party Chairwoman, endorsed Dr.
Howard Dean’s candidacy for President. The Dean
campaign statements were very pleased with the
endorsement in the tight race between Gephardt,
according to a Cedar Rapids
Gazette story: The
endorsement "was a big one for us," Dean
spokeswoman Sarah Leonard said. Riggs, an Ames
physician who chaired Florida Sen. Bob Graham's
Iowa campaign before he dropped out of the
nomination race, was heavily courted by other
campaigns, Leonard said. "It's
quite a huge boost to have her on our team,"
Leonard said. Because Riggs earned respect with
Democratic activists as the state party chair,
Leonard expects she will influence the decision of
Iowa Democrats who will participate in the Jan. 19
precinct caucuses that lead off the party's
nomination process. John Edwards campaigning in
Nashua, New Hampshire struck up the health care
theme saying that he would have the federal
government be a tougher negotiator with drug
companies for Medicare prescription drugs. He also
promoted the idea of one doctor being responsible
for preventive medicine for the chronically ill.
His suggestions for health care include: Care
For Chronic Illness More Effectively. Today,
seniors with many chronic illnesses often see many
doctors who provide duplicative or conflicting
treatments. For beneficiaries with large numbers
of chronic conditions, Edwards will establish a
single doctor, nurse practitioner or other health
professional to ensure that all of the medical
professionals are working as a team. Howard Dean is expecting the
heroic image of Bush landing on the Aircraft
Carrier Lincoln will evoke images of Dukakis in a
tank and continue to erode the President’s
popularity. In a quote in today’s
Boston Globe Dean shows his true feelings
about his proposed ad that he will soon be
running: "We're
going to put up the aircraft carrier ad and show
what his real defense is," Dean said in an
interview on Thursday. "We're going to use this
footage of him landing on the aircraft carrier . .
. to show that he's all talk and no action. And
the action he's got us into has cost us 400 lives
and thousands of wounded people who will never get
their limbs back." Dean used his opposition to the
war to propel his candidacy to the front of the
pack of nine candidates. So, he is going back to
the theme that brought him his front runner
success as he navigates the current critical
moments where he seems to be breaking out from the
pack even further. But not everyone is as certain
of the wisdom of the ad as Dean is, according to
the Globe article: "It's a
double-edged sword," said Stephen Ansolabehere, a
professor of political science at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. "It's giving air time to
George Bush, his good images -- in a flight suit,
flying onto an aircraft carrier. My guess is that
Dean will get some leverage out of this issue --
not as much as if he presented it another way." The
Washington Post is carrying a story about the
exchange between Sen. John Kerry and Howard Dean.
Kerry continues to attack Dean on a range of
articles aiming to package Dean as a flimflam
artist: “…
Kerry sharply attacked Dean, saying Thursday that
he has changed positions on guns, federal
entitlements, trade and campaign finance to
further his presidential aspirations and that Dean
had misrepresented the controversy over a comment
he made involving the Confederate flag. Kerry
called on Dean to "back off the flimflam artistry
of politics as usual." The Post reports that Dean is
now trying to paint Kerry into the corner of a
dirty campaigner: Dean
responded Friday that Kerry had gotten "down in
the mud" with an assertion that "doesn't hold
water." He said the campaign should not be about
the past but about the future and defeating
President Bush. But when asked why it was
legitimate for him to attack Kerry and other
rivals for their votes on Iraq, as he has done for
months, Dean responded, "All I'm willing to do is
tell you what my positions are." For those who do not get what is
happening with the Dean campaign, you must read
ABC’ s The Note’s “18 points on Dean.” Here is a
teaser from the column: 17. All
of the other five major candidates think they can
and should be in the end the Dean Alternative, and
each has enough hold on key state and national
support that they have no incentive or desire to
get out of the race and consolidate beyond one of
the others. The pro-war candidates in particular
are splitting a piece of the pie that is large,
but it is still a SPLIT piece. Rep. Dick Gephardt today
announced the hiring of Chad Oban as his North
Dakota campaign field director: "Chad’s
political and field experience will be invaluable
to our North Dakota campaign," said Gephardt.
"With his help and leadership, we will organize a
winning grassroots effort, going door to door in
the fight for good paying jobs for middle class
Americans and quality health care for every
American." Oban is a native of Bismarck,
North Dakota and most recently worked for the
North Dakota State Democratic-NPL Party as the
information director. During the 2001 legislative
session, Oban served as the communications
director to the Senate and the House Caucuses and
in 2000 managed Roger Johnson's victorious
campaign for North Dakota Agriculture
Commissioner. Oban is a graduate of University of
North Dakota. Gephardt also announced the opening
of his North Dakota campaign headquarters in
Bismarck. While Gephardt is opening a
campaign office in North Dakota, his campaign is
also asking his staff to voluntarily take a pay
cut. This days before Dean announces whether he is
going to live with the spending limits in state’s
like Iowa that is so important to Gephardt. "We
want to make sure we spend the bulk of our
resources in the early states on the ground and on
the air," said campaign manager Steve Murphy.
"This is an effort to make sure we meet those
goals." The campaign has not announced the results
of the Gephardt cadre’s sacrifice. Sen. John Kerry tried to tag
Congressman Tom Delay’s actions to exempt gasoline
additive manufacturers of MTBE from clean-up in
the new energy bill to President Bush, according
to an Associated Press story in the Manchester
Union Leader: "George
Bush has reversed the polluters pay principle,"
Kerry said. "This is a reversal of the sense of
morality and responsibility we fought hard to put
in place. It's no surprise Tom Delay has led this
fight when you consider that 75 percent of the
MTBE is produced by his campaign contributors in
Texas." Wesley Clark responded to
President Bush’s trip to N. Carolina saying in a
press release that Bush exported jobs but he would
create them. “North
Carolina has lost 145,000 manufacturing jobs since
President Bush took office-- and more than 2.6
million manufacturing jobs have been lost
nationwide. Many of these jobs were relocated
overseas… “This is just more evidence that Mr.
Bush and his administration are seriously out of
touch with the problems facing ordinary Americans.
Even members of the GOP are rebelling against
Bush's tax cuts for multinational corporations.
According to the Associated Press, Republican Rep.
Donald Manzullo asked, "We're going to reward
companies to move production offshore. Who wants
that?" Clark said. General Clark would make job
creation job one. He would repeal Bush's tax
giveaways for the wealthy and use the money to
jump-start job creation, while strengthening
Homeland Security, health care and education, the
release went on to say. Ralph Nader is thinking of
running for President again, according to the
Nation. However, the Green Party is not very
enthusiastic about it -- in fact, they are saying
‘please don’t.’ John Rensenbrink, who is
one of the party’s founders, is quoted in the
Nation:
"There's a concern that we'll be deflected from
that message because of the baggage Ralph Nader
has from 2000. I doubt he can get over 1 percent
of the vote. He'll have to spend a lot of time
dealing with the 'spoiler' question, unfairly, but
that's where it is. I'd add to that that he
doesn't want to be a Green, he runs with his
coterie rather than party organizers, he doesn't
involve local Green leaders and he doesn't get the
racial issue. I fear if Nader runs, he'll drag
down every other Green in this country. I love
him, but this is sheer practical politics." The National Journal’s
Democratic Insiders Poll shows that the insiders
don’t think that Howard Dean is electable. The
winner in being able to prevale against Bush is
…Dick Gephardt, with 16 votes. The rest of the
field received: Wesley Clark-9; John Kerry-5. Dean
tied with John Edwards and Joe Lieberman, all with
4 votes. The reason for the opinion of
Dean? … As one Insider explained about Dean,
"The qualities that make him the front-runner in
the primary – unequivocal opposition to the war
and anger at the status quo – would be his
downfall in a general election." Besides, as
another Insider writes of Gephardt, "Working-class
white guys do not dislike Gephardt the way they
would inevitably dislike Dean, regardless of how
much he talks about the NRA." Joe Lieberman, John Edwards,
John Kerry, Dick Gephardt and Wesley Clark each
delivered letters on Thursday stating their
intention to withdraw from the Jan. 13th
Washington D.C. Primary. But Dennis Kucinich --
true to his maverick ways -- is going forward,
according to his press statement: "As
someone who works in the District of Columbia, and
as a member of the Government Reform Committee, I
have a close relationship to the District and a
special obligation to the people of the District.
I've been there whenever the District has needed
help in Congress. I am running in the DC primary
and in support of DC statehood," Kucinich said. The officials connected with the
effort to bring attention and statehood to D.C.
were vitriolic in their response to the other
candidates’ withdrawal. The UAW union decision to not
endorse a candidate continues to weaken the old
industrial unions in favor of the emerging
powerhouse service unions of the AFSCME and SEIU
unions who are set to formally endorse Howard
Dean. The UAW is letting local unions endorse
candidates so Gephardt is expected to pick up
endorsements in this manner. However, certain
states will undoubtedly go with their favorite son
candidate. A statement from UAW President Ron
Gettelfinger is quoted in an
Associated Press story saying anybody is
better than Bush: "UAW
members and all of America's working families
urgently need a strong alternative to the failed
policies of the Bush-Cheney administration," he
said. "Fortunately, a number of Democratic
presidential candidates offer thoughtful,
progressive approaches on health care, fair trade,
workers' rights, education and other issues." The
New Republic Online has a good profile of
Dean’s campaign manager, Joe Trippi: …Trippi
is first and foremost an organizer--a man who has
spent much of his career making sure the right
number of bodies turn up on Election Day. "That's
the way [organizers] think," says Beckel. "They
think about moving votes. In his case, where do
you find [the votes]? Who are they? Where do they
stand? If they're with us, get them; if they're
not with us, forget about them. If they're
undecided, badger the hell out of them." And for
good reason: In the Democratic primaries, where
turnout is extremely low, the better-organized
campaign almost always wins. The Iowa Democrat Party is
reinforcing the fact that Iowa doesn’t like any
shenanigans when it comes to the Caucuses. Iowa
Democratic Party Chairman Gordon Fischer is making
the point with the current candidates in Iowa.
Fischer is making it plain that he doesn’t want
the busloads of outsiders that Democrat candidates
are bringing into the state showing up at caucuses
claiming to be Iowans. The Secretary of State Chet
Culver has pointed out that anyone doing that
could face legal problems: "If
you come here for one day and you live in another
state for 364 days that is a question that the
county attorney and the county auditor have to
determine," he said. "If a county attorney decides
to challenge that person's residency, they could
be looking at violating Iowa's election laws and
possibly some fines," said Culver.
* ON THE BUSH
BEAT: President Bush used his radio
address to highlight the growing economy and job
creation. Bush tapped his comments from Camp
David, Md. Bush stressed the overall recovery of
the economy: “The
economy has created nearly 300,000 new jobs in the
past three months after a half-year drought,
pushing the unemployment rate down to 6 percent in
October and leaving little doubt that the jobs
market is bouncing back,” said President Bush.
“American companies are investing. Americans are
buying homes at a record pace, and home ownership
is near-record levels. Stock market values have
risen, adding about $2 trillion in wealth for
investors since the beginning of the year, he
said, crediting the gains to "the effects of tax
relief on the American economy," he said.
* THE CLINTON
COMEDIES: Susan Sarandon seems to be in
the pity column regarding Hillary: "Hate her! ...
The only thing she's going to be remembered for is
standing by her man, and that is really sad." --
Susan Sarandon, on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in
the latest Index magazine (New York Daily News,
via Wake-Up Call!)
* NATIONAL: The
Washington Post is reporting that there will
be sleepless nights -- if not uncomfortable
sleeping arrangements -- in the U.S. Senate next
week. The Republicans are going to try a marathon
session to try and get votes on judicial nominees.
The question is, where will the three Senate
presidential candidates be? (John Edwards, John
Kerry and Joe Lieberman). A brewing rebellion by
conservative activists has prompted Senate
Republican leaders to plan to devote at least 30
straight hours of debate next week to their bid to
confirm a handful of judicial nominees being
blocked by Democrats. The Republicans are bringing
in food and cots for the "Justice for Judges
Marathon," scheduled for Wednesday night through
Friday morning, according to the Post.
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