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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: "Marriage is a sacred
institution between a man and a woman,"
Bush said in a
statement released shortly after he arrived in
London for a state visit. He said the ruling by
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
"violates this important principle." "When you have a runaway
judiciary, as we obviously have, that has no
consideration for the Constitution of the United
States, then we have available to us through that
Constitution (a way) to fix the judiciary,"
said House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas about gay
marriages. "In some cases, the
measured use of force is all that protects us from
a chaotic world ruled by force,"
said President
Bush. "It really is about time
we started to realize who our allies are, who our
enemies are, stick with the one and fight the
other," Prime
Minister Tony Blair said I wish AARP had chosen to
oppose this bill. I wish AARP was spending its $7
million telling Americans what is wrong with this
bill," said John
Kerry about AARP’s support of the current Medicare
bill. "My entire campaign is
focused on preserving good paying jobs in this
country and creating additional jobs to get the
more than 3 million Americans who have suffered
under the Bush economy back to work again,"
said Dick
Gephardt. “Over and over, I heard
the same questions: If our country is so rich, why
am I barely getting by? If our country is so
strong, why are we being made to feel so afraid?
If our country is so powerful, why do I feel so
powerless?” said
Howard Dean. "In order to make
capitalism work for ordinary human beings, you
have to have regulation. Right now, workers are
getting screwed,"
said Howard
Dean.
* TODAY’S
OFFERINGS: *Full faith and credit
*Kucinich gets it *Lieberman differs
*Fighting words *Play fair *It’s about
the visual *No midnight talks
*Dean’s Iowa ad *Read the book *Dean’s
brother found *Dean endorsement
*Hand to hand combat *Robert Novak *Mama *International minimum
wage *Edwards still trying *Edwards to rural
America’s rescue *Soft money *Why thing
are the way they are *Hipster *The other
English speaking people *Red Coats red faced *Cheney daughter joins
campaign *Can’t be stopped
* CANDIDATES &
CAUCUSES: Leading Democrat presidential
candidates are bringing back a new states’ rights
issue concerning gay marriages. The U.S.
Constitution requires states to give full faith
and credit in recognizing the actions of other
states, corporations and individuals. There is the
rub, for if the candidates back gay marriages
rather than gay unions granting equal rights to
gay couples, then states would have to recognize
under the U.S. Constitution the gay marriages of
other states. This is why the Democrat candidates
are running away from yesterday’s ruling after
courting the gay and lesbian community for all
these many months.
"As a society we should be looking for ways to
bring us together and as someone who supports the
legal rights of all Americans regardless of sexual
orientation, I appreciate today's decision. As
president, I would support giving gays and
lesbians the legal rights that married couples
get," said Wesley Clark.
However, Clark doesn’t seem to get it in the
following statement,
“If the Massachusetts legislature decides to
legalize same-sex marriages, it will be up to each
state to decide whether those marriages will be
valid in their state-- and that is a choice each
state, not the courts, will have to make.” The
trial lawyer John Edwards leaves us confused he
says he opposes gay marriages and then says he
will oppose a U.S. Constitutional Amendment:
“As I have long said, I believe gay and lesbian
Americans are entitled to equal respect and
dignity under our laws. While I personally do not
support gay marriage, I recognize that different
states will address this in different ways, and I
will oppose any effort to pass an amendment to the
United States Constitution in response to the
Massachusetts decision.
"We are a nation comprised of men and women from
all walks of life. It is in our national character
to provide equal opportunity to all, and this is
what unites our country, in laws and in shared
purpose. That is why today, we must also reach out
to those individuals who will try to exploit this
decision to further divide our nation, and ask
them to refrain from that effort," said Edwards. John
Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, said:
“I have long believed that gay men and lesbians
should be assured equal protection and the same
benefits – from health to survivor benefits to
hospital visitation - that all families deserve.
While I continue to oppose gay marriage, I believe
that today’s decision calls on the Massachusetts
state legislature to take action to ensure equal
protection for gay couples. These protections are
long over due.” Dick
Gephardt’s response:
"While I support civil unions for same-sex
couples, I also support the right of states to
make decisions regarding the protections afforded
same-sex couples. I do not support gay marriage,
but I hope the Massachusetts State Legislature
will act in a manner that is consistent with
today's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
ruling.
"As we move forward, it is my hope that we don't
get side-tracked by the right-wing into a debate
over a phony constitutional amendment banning gay
marriage. I strongly oppose such an effort as
purely political and unnecessarily divisive at the
expense of those who already suffer from
discrimination." Joe
Lieberman’s response:
"Although I am opposed to gay marriage, I have
also long believed that states have the right to
adopt for themselves laws that allow same-sex
unions. I will oppose any attempts by the right
wing to change the Constitution in response to
today's ruling, which would be unnecessary and
divisive," said Joe Lieberman "It
takes 40 to tango, and I'm not sure we're there
yet," said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg referring to
the number needed to filibuster the Medicare bill. Dennis Kucinich continues to be
the candidate for liberals and his release on the
Massachusetts court ruling proves he understands
the issue:
"The right to marry is a civil right that should
not be denied. I support federal legislation for
civil marriage between same-sex couples. Civil
Unions do not provide equal rights to LGBT
Americans. According to a 1997 GAO report, civil
marriage provides at least 1,049 legal protections
and responsibilities from the federal government,
including the right to take leave from work to
care for a family member, the right to sponsor a
spouse for immigration purposes, and Social
Security survivor benefits that can make a
difference between old age in poverty and old age
in security. Civil unions are a kind of limbo with
regard to governmental functions performed by both
state and federal governments, such as taxation,
pension protections, and provision of insurance
for families," said Kucinich. The top six Democrat
Presidential candidates attended the AARP debate
in New Hampshire. The exchange became biting and
direct. The question remains: was this debate
exchange different because… A) the other three
were not there; B) Bush was going to win on drug
benefits; or C) the time is getting short and they
have got to score points? Sen. Joe Lieberman was
the only candidate who took a wait and see
attitude on the recent legislation to add drug
benefits to Medicare while his opponents
criticized AARP for supporting it.
"There's not a politician in America who has not
promised a prescription drug benefit for seniors
for years and years and it hasn't happened," he
[Lieberman] added. The other candidates offered
the following kind word to AARP:
"This bill is a Trojan horse I think the American
people want their representatives and their
association to stand up for seniors. ... If we
reject it, we'll get a better one," said Wesley
Clark
John Edwards said the bill "takes billions of
dollars that could be used to improve benefits for
seniors and instead pumps those billions into big
HMOs." During the debate Howard Dean,
as he is want to do, held up his stethoscope and
promised not to cut seniors' benefits. "I'm the
only one up here who has taken care of patients," This brought a quick response
from John Kerry and his lagging campaign. "Holding
up a stethoscope and saying you have no intention
of cutting people doesn't mean you haven't," Kerry
said. Dick Gephardt took his usual
swipe at Dean for backing the GOP plan to cut
Medicare when Dean was Governor of Vermont.
Gephardt also said he was confident his plan would
pass when he is President because the Democrats
are going to take back Congress. That set off Dean with the
reply, “You had four terms to bring in a
Democratic majority and you didn't do it. We have
got to bring new people into this process." Wesley Clark made an appeal that
went unanswered for Dean and Kerry to abide by the
spending limits in New Hampshire.
“The issue is not just how much money you raise,
but how much money you spend. All Democratic
presidential candidates ought to abide by the
spending caps in New Hampshire," said Clark.
"Those who have more money should use it at the
end of the nominating process against George W.
Bush, not against their fellow Democrats who are
playing by the rules. This nomination should be
decided based on leadership, issues, and character
-- not money," said Clark. Howard Dean’s campaign once
again proved it knows how to run a campaign -- it
not only went to President George Bush’s home
state of Texas,but it also used the symbolism of
Enron. Dean failed to mention how Enron was a
bipartisan user of Democrats in its corrupt
activity. Dean
said, “Not far from here stands Enron Tower. It
symbolizes all that is wrong with our country
today. “At
Enron, those at the top enriched themselves by
deceiving everyone else and robbing ordinary
people of the future they'd earned. And the Bush
Administration is following their lead. They have
created an economic program that enriches their
friends and supporters at the expense of ordinary
working Americans. A program deserving of the name
-- Enron Economics. “We
were promised fiscal responsibility. We've gotten
a 9 trillion dollar increase in the nation's debt
over ten years. We were told that tax cuts would
reduce the deficit, but the government's chief
auditor -- a Republican -- says that's flat false. “Enron
Economics benefits those who make the most --
their share of the tax burden declined from 28
percent in the 1990s to nearly 20 percent today.
Meanwhile, everyone else suffers -- cities and
states across America are raising property taxes
health insurance premiums and college tuition.
Schools are closing and teachers and police
officers are being laid off. Funding for Medicaid
and housing is being cut â'" and our
infrastructure continues to crumble. “We
know what happened to Enron. Moral bankruptcy led
to fiscal bankruptcy. And the ethos of Enron is
where our politics and policies have led us in
America. “But
every one of us here today knows that Enron Tower
marks the end of an era, because right here, less
than one mile away, the new era is being born. “And
it begins with you,” said Dean. The
Washington Post tells of Howard Dean having
informal talks with reporters on the way back from
Texas at around midnight. In those talks, Dean
became every business in America’s nightmare
saying that he would re-regulate business. Nothing
like giving the opposition reason to have the
money roll in. Dean doesn’t seem to comprehend the
need to not scare people more than is necessary:
After years of government deregulation of energy
markets, telecommunications, the airlines and
other major industries, Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean is proposing a significant
reversal: a comprehensive "re-regulation" of U.S.
businesses. The
Des Moines Register takes a look at Dean’s
strategy to attack Dick Gephardt in an ad that
doesn’t have a contextual basis for doing so and
the fact that the ad works to put the war to the
forefront over the economy and jobs. It also
delves into the fact that the ad might not hurt
Gephardt as much as John Kerry, whose supporters
share the war as a more important issue to them
than Gephardt supporters.
Slate does a synopsis of Howard Dean’s new
book. Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean said Tuesday that the search
for the long-lost remains of his younger brother
may be over with the discovery of bones, a sock, a
pair of shoes and a bracelet buried in a Laotian
rice field. Charles Dean has been missing
since 1974, when the 24-year-old University of
North Carolina graduate was traveling through
Southeast Asia with a companion, Neil Sharman of
Australia. The remains have not been
positively identified, but Dean said his family is
confident they belong to his brother because of
personal items found at the site. Dean plans to go
to Hawaii to meet the returning body. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee
from Texas's 18th District (which comprises much
of Houston since she was first elected in 1994)
endorsed Howard Dean’s candidacy. Jackson-Lee
joins Reps. Neil Abercrombie, Bob Filner, Raúl
Grijalva, Maurice Hinchey, Zoe Lofgren, Jim
McDermott, Jerrold Nadler, Major Owens, Frank
Pallone, Tim Ryan, and David Wu, in addition to
Vermont Senator Patrick J. Leahy, who have already
endorsed Governor Dean. USA Today has a story about how
the terrain in Iowa is squishy and caucus
attendees could switch camps: Jeani
Murray, who runs Howard Dean's campaign in Iowa,
was idly flipping channels at home here Sunday
afternoon when she discovered that C-SPAN was
telecasting live a Dick Gephardt house party. It
was not the rival candidate's stump speech in
nearby Waukee that intrigued Murray, but the faces
in the crowd. She recognized from the TV pictures
at least half a dozen uncommitted local activists
whom the Dean campaign has also been trying to
woo. ''We
immediately sent our people out to work on these
undecideds,'' Murray said over breakfast Tuesday.
''It's all hand-to-hand combat.'' Novak explores Howard Dean and
finds that political commentator Nina Tottenberg’s
statement that Dean Lies is true:
What was not reported was Dean's account of a
12-year-old pregnant girl he treated. "After I had
talked to her for a while," he said, "I came to
the conclusion that the likely father of her child
was her own father." That led to Dean's heated
promise that "I will veto parental notification,"
evoking stormy applause.
But as reported in Salon and USA Today weeks
later, the father had not impregnated the girl,
and Dean knew it. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Dean
indicated that he had first thought the father was
the guilty party and so parental notification was
not appropriate. In the current issue of the
Weekly Standard, opinion editor David Tell relates
the incident in full and leaves no doubt that Dean
misrepresented the situation in addressing the
NARAL dinner. The
Washington Post has a story on Joe Lieberman’s
mom, Marcia, on the stump. She and David
Letterman’s mom need to get together... IPW predicted that we
would be hearing a lot more from Dick Gephardt
about his idea for an international minimum wage
and New Hampshire unemployed workers in Rochester
listened to Gephardt discuss the idea. They also
heard how Gephardt is the only one who opposed
NAFTA and the China trade deal:
"Unlike the other candidates in this race, my
opposition to NAFTA, Fast Track, and the China
trade deal were not born of political convenience,
but of moral necessity. I am the only candidate in
this race who voted against NAFTA. Senators Kerry
and Lieberman both voted for NAFTA and Governor
Dean supported NAFTA, Fast Track, and permanent
trade relations with China. Senators Kerry,
Lieberman, and Edwards all voted for the recent
China trade deal that has sent thousands of South
Carolina textile jobs overseas. All of my
opponents are now saying that if elected
president, they would never support a trade
agreement that jeopardized American workers, but
where were they when American workers really
needed their support. "I
believe that free trade and open markets create
good jobs for American workers, but I have
traveled to countries like China, Thailand and
Indonesia, where the most sophisticated, high-tech
labor is now done for a few dollars a day. Workers
should receive a living wage and be treated with
dignity everywhere around the world which is why I
have proposed an international minimum wage,
different for every country, but with the
universal goal of raising standards and wages
around the globe,” said Gephardt. If you are a newspaper editor
and need to fill a spot or a whole newspaper with
stories, head over to John Edward’s website. He is
continuing to try to hit the themes that matter in
Iowa, New Hampshire and S. Carolina -- the
trifecta Edwards continued a three-day
campaign swing through Iowa with at stops in Adel,
Carroll, Rockwell City, Sac City, Holstein, Sioux
City, Onawa, and Council Bluffs. Senator John
Edwards detailed his plan to reduce costs, improve
quality, and address the disparity in
reimbursement rates within Medicare. "Much
of the Medicare system today is no different than
it was in 1965. George Bush's answer is to ignore
the crisis in Medicare reimbursement rates, and
push for a sham prescription drug benefit that
dismantles Medicare's basic compact and amounts to
little more than a $12 billion giveaway to HMOs."
Edwards said. "That's money we could be using to
protect the trust fund, add benefits, and support
rural providers who have been taken advantage of
for too long. It's time to modernize Medicare so
that our nation keeps its promise to seniors and
ensures that quality health care is there for them
when they retire - whether they live in a rural
state or any other part of the country." Since 1965, Medicare has
provided high-quality care to more than 90 million
Americans. In the 38 years since it was created,
however, Medicare has failed to incorporate basic
advances in medical care and management practices.
Rural states in particular have suffered as the
disparity in reimbursement rates has meant that
providers in states like Iowa have received less
money from the federal government for providing
the same quality of care found across the nation. Edwards outlined a series of
specific steps to protect the future of Medicare,
that would:
·
Care For Chronic Illness More
Effectively. Today, seniors with many chronic
illnesses often see many doctors who sometimes
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.
·
Encourage Cost-Saving Preventive
Benefits. Under Edwards' plan, Medicare will
offer preventative benefits such as cholesterol
testing and cover education efforts that help
beneficiaries understand their chronic diseases so
they can help care for themselves and avoid costly
hospitalizations.
·
Get The Best Products At The Best
Price. The General Accounting Office has shown
that competitive bidding is a major cost saver.
Edwards will provide Medicare with the legal
authority to use competitive bidding throughout
Medicare products purchasing.
·
Reduce Prescription Drug Costs
Within Medicare. Edwards will use Medicare's
bargaining power to negotiate effectively with
drug companies over prices. If negotiations fail,
Edwards will implement a rebate or mandatory price
reduction, as Medicaid and private insurers
already require. Edwards also strongly supports
efforts by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and others to
reimport drugs from abroad, with strict safety
measures.
·
Combat Medicare Mismanagement And
Fraud. Edwards will undertake a full audit of
the contractors responsible for processing
Medicare claims to ensure they pay only proper
claims and educate providers to ensure they can
file Medicare claims efficiently and correctly.
·
Pay Fairly for Quality Care.
Iowa Medicare providers give the highest quality
services, yet they receive the lowest
reimbursement per Medicare beneficiary rate in the
nation. Edwards would use cost savings to ensure
that Medicare reimburses providers like those in
Iowa more to reward them for giving quality care.
This is only fair, and it will encourage doctors
to provide higher quality care. Edwards will also
continue to work with Senator Harkin to increase
the Medicare payment rates in Iowa and address the
unfair disparities between urban and rural
Medicare payments. DES MOINES, IA: Today, North
Carolina Senator John Edwards announced new
proposals designed to strengthen rural America by
helping family farmers and protecting the
environment and public health in rural
communities. In addition to his plan to impose
tough national standards for air and water
pollution from massive livestock operations,
Senator Edwards called for a national moratorium
on the new construction and expansion of
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s), a
ban on packer ownership designed to help family
farms from Iowa to North Carolina, and full
funding for the Conservation Security Program. "I
have spent my entire career standing up for
working people against special interests. This
battle is taking place today in rural America,
where corporate livestock factory farms are
polluting the environment and pushing family
farmers out of business," Edwards said. "In 1998,
I beat the only corporate hog farmer in the
Senate. Since then, I have continued to fight for
small farmers against the special interests and I
want to take that fight to the White House." Edwards also announced that over
170 rural activists have endorsed his campaign and
have formed a committee, "Rural Iowans for
Edwards," to tell caucus-goers in small towns and
rural areas about Senator Edwards' background and
ideas. The "Rural Iowans for Edwards" committee
will be co-chaired by State Senator Keith Krieman,
State Representative Curt Swaim, Buchanan County
farmer Richard Machacek, and Carroll County farmer
Mary Anne Reinhart. The new measures Edwards
announced include:
·
A National Moratorium on the
Construction and Expansion of New CAFOs. Since
1997, North Carolina has had a moratorium on the
construction and expansion of hog farm lagoons.
Due to the enormous amounts of waste and corrosive
effects on rural environments, Edwards is
proposing a national moratorium on the
construction and expansion of new CAFOs. Edwards'
proposal would flatly stop the creation of new
CAFOs.
·
A Ban on Packer Ownership to Help
Family Farms from Iowa to North Carolina.
Edwards wants a strong ban on packer ownership
that can become law now. That ban must stop the
spread of large corporate hog interests which are
driving small farmers out of business by
influencing livestock prices and restricting
access to markets for independent producers.
Second, the ban must not leave contract farmers
high and dry. States should be able to opt-out if
they choose, but with just a limited opt-out
allowing only existing farmers under contracts to
continue their livelihoods as they know it.
·
Full Funding of the Conservation
Security Program. Edwards understands that
farm groups and environmentalists can all agree on
one thing: conservation is an incredibly important
component of modern agricultural policy. The
Conservation Security Program (CRP) in the 2002
Farm Bill offers farmers incentives to implement
environmentally sound farming techniques. However,
House Republicans have refused to fund the CRP and
the Bush Administration has stalled on putting the
rules into their final form. Edwards supports
fully funding the CRP and finalizing the rules so
farmers can begin conservation practices.
"Senator Edwards has listened to grassroots, Iowa
farmers, along with rural residents and come up
with a packer ban solution that protects family
farmers," said Chris Petersen, the Vice President
of the Iowa Farmers Union and uncommitted
Democratic activist. "Senator Edwards' moratorium
on CAFO construction is a bold solution that
raises the bar for all the other candidates to
meet. We hope all Democrats will embrace the
moratorium and put the destiny and stewardship of
American agriculture back in the hands of family
farmers." Chris Petersen is a farmer and
activist from Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. He is
currently Vice President of Iowa Farmers Union and
a consultant to the Grace Factory Farm Project.
His comments above relate solely to the Edwards'
Plan to Preserve Rural America hog waste
legislation, and titles listed are for
identification purposes only. He has not chosen to
endorse any campaign for president at this time.
He can be reached at 641-357-4090.
"Senator Edwards' CLEAN proposal and his
moratorium on building CAFOs are the most
aggressive plans I have seen any of the candidates
propose to crack down on animal waste, and I
applaud him for his initiative," said Kevin
Miskell, a Hamilton County farmer and Iowa Farmers
Union State Board member.
"His support of a packer ban that protects
independent farmers and a fair market for all
farmers may be the solution that gets us past the
legislative impasse we now face. Passing a packer
ban is an important step to restoring the
profitability of family farmers and rural
communities, and I am happy to see that a
President Edwards would sign such a bill," Miskell
added. Miskell is an active farmer from
Hamilton County and a state board member of Iowa
Farmers Union. He was the Democratic nominee for
State Senate against GOP Majority Leader Stuart
Iverson in 2002. His comments above relate solely
to the Edwards' Plan to Preserve Rural America hog
waste legislation, and titles listed are for
identification purposes only. A former aide to
Graham '04, he has not chosen to endorse any
campaign for president at this time. Previously, Edwards introduced
the Concentrated Livestock Existing Alongside
Nature (CLEAN) Act. This legislation would:
·
Establish tough pollution limits
for livestock operations. The act would
require the Agriculture Secretary and EPA
Administrator to establish maximum acceptable
levels for the discharge of nitrogen, phosphorous,
and other pollutants. Discharges that risk
significant soil toxicity, pollution of surface or
ground water, or harm to human health would be
forbidden.
·
Establish limits for hydrogen
sulfide and ammonia emissions from large CAFOs.
The strict limitations would be the first national
emissions limitations for these pollutants.
·
Establish rigorous requirements
for spraying and waste containment. The act
would require new limits on spraying, including
spraying near sensitive locations and in inclement
weather. The act would also establish new
requirements for containing excess waste,
including both wet and dry waste.
·
Mandate tough penalties for
polluters. Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations (CAFO) owners who violate this act
could lose their CAFO and face stiff monetary
fines.
·
Prioritize federal funding for
clean water and prohibit funding to construct or
expand CAFOs. In order to ensure that farmers
have the resources to comply with the new
requirements, the act would prioritize federal
funding for clean water practices. And to ensure
money is targeted to aiding the environment, the
act would bar uses of Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQUIP) funds to construct or
expand CAFOs.
·
Encourage states to improve their
regulations. The act does not apply to states
that provide greater protections against
pollution, including a moratorium on any
construction or expansion of CAFOs. This will
encourage states to provide even stronger
pollution protections. The
Associated Press is reporting that Republican
activists Attorney George Terwilliger and
Republican political consultants Frank Donatelli
and Craig Shirley are asking the Federal Election
Commission for advice on whether their plan to
form an independent campaign to counter Democrat
soft money is legal under the new campaign finance
law. The law bars the use of
so-called soft money — corporate, union and
unlimited contributions — in connection with
federal elections. National party committees and
federal candidates are banned from collecting soft
money for any purpose.
Several Democratic-leaning groups have sprung up
in the months since the law took effect last
November, including many who say they plan to
raise tens of millions of dollars for voter
registration and other activities aimed at
defeating Bush next year. Their leaders, who
include former AFL-CIO political director Steve
Rosenthal, have said the groups are necessary to
counter record-breaking fund raising by the GOP
and Bush. The president is expected to raise more
than $170 million for next year's primaries with
no Republican rival. Iowa Presidential Watch recently
reported on Republican National Committee Chairman
Ed Gillespie wondering where the whistle blowers
were on George Soros and other groups who were
raising an approximate $420 million to defeat
President Bush. The Republican group would form
under the name Americans for a Better Country
(ABC) and they report that they have several
contributors who would seed the effort. However,
the group has shifted the question to the Federal
Election Commission as to whether what they would
do is legal, thus placing the question of what the
anti-Bush groups are doing before the FEC as well. The Washington Post offers a
report on the recent Pew Poll that shows the
shifting political landscape of America. The
article points out that the Democrats are going to
have to perform flawlessly in the Midwest to win.
The article also outlines the political parties
are shifting and each party is coalescing in its
uniformity because of the shift of unlike minded
groups no longer feeling comfortable in their
party affiliation – with the Republicans being the
greater beneficiary of the switching. Here is the Post’s story’s
commentary on Dean:
This Democratic move leftward is key to
understanding the rise and repositioning of Howard
Dean. A somewhat truculent centrist in his years
as governor of Vermont, Dean has now embraced
economic and trade policies well to the left of
those he favored as governor (while losing none of
his truculence).
But his stance on the war was key, and in this, he
does indeed resemble George McGovern. In 1972,
with the Vietnam War still raging, Democrats went
for McGovern because none of the other candidates
had opposed that war as early or as completely as
he, and because he offered an implicit critique of
their own, more passive party establishment. This
year, Dean has surged into the lead for largely
similar reasons -- except that his critique of his
party's establishment has been explicit and
forceful, which resonated deeply with Democrats
appalled at the inability of their congressional
delegation to duke it out with Bush. Did you ever wonder what Nancy
Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, is doing? Did
you ever see Alexandra’s 2000 campaign HBO
documentary, "Journeys With George"? She is doing
it again and is on a mission to find the next
President. The
NY Daily News gossip columnist interviewed her
about her project: "I'm looking to be with the
winner," the 33-year-old Pelosi told me yesterday
during a rare stopover at her Greenwich Village
apartment between trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Here is the report on Dean:
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean: "He's
definitely hot right now. It's like his supporters
are a cult. At the Jefferson and Jackson dinner in
Des Moines last weekend, it was tons of screaming
kids, but they weren't from Iowa. They'd been
bused in from across the Midwest, and they didn't
clap for anyone else - only Dean. Afterward, there
was a party at the Fort Des Moines and they acted
out Dean's stump speech, waving their arms and
mouthing the words, like it was 'The Rocky Horror
Picture Show.' Dean was there, and at first he was
smiling, but after a while he looked pretty
freaked out. You have to remember that the
70-something Iowa voter is not into the screaming
kids."
* ON THE BUSH
BEAT: President Bush is over in Great
Britain and meeting with Royalty. He has started
his first full day with discussion about
terrorism:
"The hope that danger has passed is comforting, is
understanding, and it is false," he said. "These
terrorists target the innocent and they kill by
the thousands. And they would, if they gain the
weapons they seek, kill by the millions and not be
finished. ... The evil is in plain sight. The
danger only increases with denial."
"The failure of democracy in Iraq would throw its
people back into misery and turn that country over
to terrorists who wish to destroy us," he said.
"We did not charge hundreds of miles into the
heart of Iraq and pay a bitter cost of casualties
and liberate 25 million people, only to retreat
before a band of thugs and assassins." Bush called on Israel to freeze
settlement construction and dismantle outposts. He
said the Palestinians should end any incitement to
terrorists in their media, cut off funding to
terror groups and establish normal relations with
Israel. He asked European nations to do their
part, as well, by refusing to support Palestinian
leaders who maintain ties with terrorist groups
and profit from corruption. One of England’s tabloid
reporters broke into Buckingham Palace and has
left the Palace staff embarrassed. The White House
expressed its confidence in the British Security.
The Palace is undertaking one of its famous
investigations into the matter. Elizabeth Cheney, leader of the
administration's Middle East democracy initiative,
will leave her State Department job next month to
join President Bush's re-election campaign.
Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney,
said Monday that she expects to join a Washington
think tank and continue to work on Middle East
issues in the private sector while devoting most
of her time to politics. As a deputy assistant
secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs,
Cheney was given control of the Middle East
Partnership Initiative, an evolving project
designed to foster increased democracy and
economic progress in a troubled region.
* NATIONAL: Despite a dozen senators, mostly
Democrats and from the East and West Coasts, who
have promised to talk the bill to death rather
than allow a vote on I, the Energy bill is sure to
pass. President Bush is predicted to receive a
boost for the passage of the first energy bill in
decades. A common complaint was the
waiver the bill would give the gasoline additive
MTBE from product-defect lawsuits. "It is completely immoral," said
California Democrat Barbara Boxer, “because it
would cut off a successful avenue for cities and
water utilities to sue MTBE makers. Methyl
tertiary butyl ether, the formal name for MTBE, is
blamed for fouling water supplies in more than
1,500 communities.” Key measures in the bill --
which spans 1,200 pages -- are:
* Doubling production of ethanol blended into
gasoline to 5 billion gallons (19 billion liters)
by 2012;
* Sharing oil royalty payments to give Louisiana
and other coastal states some $1 billion for
restoration projects;
* Cutting royalty payments for small oil or gas
wells when prices fall below a set threshold;
* Offering $18 billion in loan guarantees to build
a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Midwest;
* Offering $1 billion to help MTBE makers convert
to other lines of business before the chemical is
banned in 2015;
* Ordering the Interior Department to approve or
deny within 30 days each application to drill on
federal land.
* Imposing nationwide electric reliability
standards to prevent a repeat of the August
blackout;
* Barring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
from issuing nationwide rules for electricity
markets until 2007;
* Granting $165 million in tax breaks for new
nuclear power plants, and
* Funding for a $1 billion nuclear power reactor
that will use advanced technology.
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