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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: "He would give us a
treacherous trifecta of policies that turn back
the economic clock: new trade barriers, a larger
tax burden on our middle class and now bigger
bureaucracy,"
Joseph Lieberman said in a statement.
"Either he doesn't know how to turn the economy
around, or this is another reckless mistake." "You can't win a general
election if you abandon the very proven policies
that were the cornerstone of our party's success,"
Wesley Clark
said about Howard Dean’s re-regulation.
"Sometimes a good message
and a great candidate is more important than
money," Carol
Moseley Braun said. "This administration has
been all bully and no pulpit,"
said Wesley
Clark.
New York Times
said in an editorial, "Fears that the
legislation contains seeds that will ultimately
destroy the traditional Medicare program strike us
as overblown." “Overall, the issue [gay
marriages] is probably "a net benefit for the
Republicans, if they play it correctly," said
James Guth, a political scientist at South
Carolina's Furman University. But, he said, "it
works best for the Republicans if they sort of let
the issue play itself, rather than harp on it too
much." -- from
the LA Times. "The energy bill that
just passed the House ought to be called the
'Hooters and Polluters Act.' It is an abomination
that endangers the environment, makes us more
dependent on oil, and greases the palms of the
special interests. And on top of all that, it is
stuffed full of wasteful pork -- including
millions to help build a Hooter's restaurant,”
said Joe
Lieberman. “You know the old saying
about foxes guarding the hen house, but George
Bush has the foxes guarding the foxes, leaving
whole industries less accountable and less
protected,” said
Joe Lieberman. “This Medicare
prescription drug bill was written by the
pharmaceutical companies... They’re ripping you
off. And the reason they don’t want all the
seniors in one Medicare buying program is because
then they know we can use the leverage of all
those buyers to get the price down,”
said Dick
Gephardt. "I don't see anyone
getting 50 percent of the delegates going into the
convention, and I feel I have as much chance as
anyone else,"
said Dennis Kucinich.
* TODAY’S
OFFERINGS:
*Dean’s social contract for education *Dean
seeks Indian support
*Kerry’s book *Gephardt’s endorsement game
*Clark on foreign policy *Clark would do more
*Clark’s switch *Clark’s War Crime testimony
*Lieberman on Dean’s re-regulation
*Bush Administration’s integrity attacked
*Lieberman and Humphrey *Moseley Braun not
quitting
*Attack against Edwards *No political experience
necessary
*Edwards on education *Kucinich again
*Cash Flow *Poll watching *Emoting is In
*No endorsement *Michigan Internet voting
*The Great Divide *Medicare *China threat
* CANDIDATES &
CAUCUSES: Howard Dean campaigning in Iowa
said, “We need a new social contract for the 21st
century — based on shared responsibility and on
our country’s deepest values. In Iowa there is no
value more important than providing a quality
education for our children.” Howard Dean would
reform No Child Left Behind by fixing the
accountability provisions, giving states more
flexibility in deciding how and when to assess
student learning, fully funding NCLB and
leveraging more adequate and equitable state
funding of public schools through NCLB. Dean
campaign staff stated the Bush administration are
$9 billion short in funding the No Child Left
Behind act.
Reforming No Child Left Behind.
One of the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act
was to close the education achievement gap between
minority and disadvantaged students and their
peers. That remains a critical federal civil
rights goal, and as President I will dedicate
myself to achieving it. But the rigid and
unrealistic standards in Bush’s No Child Left
Behind Act have actually made it harder to meet
this challenge. It is not helpful to punish
successful schools or to provide incentives for
schools to push out high need students. We need to
reform the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in the
following ways:
Fix the accountability provisions.
We must set reasonable goals for adequate yearly
progress that are fair to students, teachers,
schools, and states and do not rely solely on
standardized tests; include multiple measures of
learning and progress in assessing success;
measure individual student growth using
“value-added” approaches, not average student
scores that encourage schools to push out
low-scoring students; and develop appropriate
methods to assess students with disabilities and
English language learners.
Fund NCLB. We cannot expect
states to implement sweeping reforms without the
necessary resources. We must provide the resources
to help schools offer smaller classes, after
school programs, teacher training and other
improvements that actually help students succeed.
It is also important to maintain the long-standing
federal commitment to disadvantaged children and
better target federal funds to our most needy
schools.
Leverage more adequate and equitable state
funding of public schools through NCLB.
Just as we are holding schools accountable for
student progress, we should hold states
accountable for providing schools with the
resources they need to succeed. Federal funding
should be used to leverage state investment and
give every child a world-class education,
Accountability must be two-way: state support for
meeting high standards must accompany expectations
of students and schools.
Fully fund the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I will
be the first President to fulfill the federal
government’s promise to fully fund special
education. This commitment was made more than 25
years ago, and its past time to fulfill it and
improve education for all students. When all of
our children are enabled to learn to their highest
potential, they can become self-sufficient,
contributing citizens, which makes our country
stronger.
Invest in school construction.
Schools are crumbling and overcrowded in
communities across our land. I will invest in new
schools through the Fund to Restore America.
Federal funds will be used to match state and
local investments over a three year period to
build new schools and renovate existing schools.
Bolster student health centers.
Healthy children make for active, engaged students
in the classroom. School health centers can serve
as a critical check point for our children’s
health. Upon enrollment in school we must ensure
that each child has health insurance, and
in-school access to a school nurse, immunizations,
and nutritional and mental health counseling.
Provide free breakfast and lunch.
Every parent knows that a hungry child is also a
cranky, impatient and unfocused child. All
students must have access to breakfast and lunch
in order to learn throughout the day. A full
stomach is a prerequisite for a child’s success in
school. No child should go hungry and miss out on
learning because his or her parents cannot afford
the cost of breakfast and lunch. My plan will
provide all children up to 185% of poverty, the
same level served by my health insurance plan,
with free breakfast and lunch at school. The
research shows what parents and teachers know –
students must eat breakfast and lunch to be
successful in school.
Ensure that all children have access to
well-qualified teachers. Students in
high-poverty schools are less likely to have a
qualified teacher than their peers in low-poverty
schools. The federal government should end this
inequity by ensuring more teachers are prepared to
teach in high-need fields and schools. I will
ensure that prospective teachers who commit to
teaching in high-need fields and working in
high-need districts will have their preparation
for teaching underwritten with national service
scholarships.
Improve teacher quality.
Improvements in teacher education (including the
support of schools that function like “teaching
hospitals” to prepare teachers for
state-of-the-art practice in high-need locations)
and support for mentoring will help teachers
become more effective in teaching all children.
Incoming or current teachers who meet the
standards set by the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and commit
to teach in high-poverty schools will be
recognized as ASSET teachers.
Develop highly qualified principals.
I will put similar requirements and supports in
place to recruit, train and reward high-performing
principals who serve in challenging schools. I
know that school leadership play an important role
in closing the achievement gap, and believe we
must do more to support strong principals.
Invest for Success. My early
childhood program will begin the partnership
between parents, schools, and communities that
will help parents succeed as their child’s first
teacher.
Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The research is clear – students do better when
their parents are involved in their education.
Unfortunately many parents today struggle with
long hours or even work two jobs to make ends
meet. We must help parents support their
children’s education by allowing them to spend up
to 24 hours each year at parent-teacher
conferences and other school related activities
without the risk of losing their job.
Support after school programs. I
will support after-school programs such as the 21st
Century Community Learning Centers. Students who
participate in extracurricular activities have
better grades, feel greater attachment to school,
have lower truancy rates and reach higher levels
of achievement in college. Dean, speaking at the National
Congress of American Indians, announced a variety
of policy proposals aimed at ensuring that the
government treats Native American nations as
governments, not special interest groups. As
president, Dean said he would support tribal
sovereignty and government-to-government relations
between the United States and federally recognized
tribes. Dean announced that, as
president, he would:
·
Rebuild the trust relationship
between the federal government and Native
Americans.
·
Pursue innovative strategies to help
Native American communities achieve
self-sufficiency, as well as build partnerships
with USDA, HUD, Fannie Mae, and others to meet the
dire housing needs of Indian country and to
improve basic infrastructure for housing
development, including water, sewer, and
utilities.
·
Provide affordable quality health
care for all Americans, and provide incentives for
students and mid-career health professionals to
serve as primary care providers on reservations
and urban Native American health clinics.
·
Improve the educational
opportunities for all Native Americans, including
fully funding the continuation of the Indian Head
Start programs and supporting bilingual and
multicultural programs that involve parents,
tribal leaders, and other community members.
·
Preserve Native American lands while
developing sustainable energy resources, through
programs aimed to increase energy efficiency and
promote sustainable energy sources. The Washington Times’ Inside
Politics has an interesting account of Howard
Dean: Rep.
David Wu, Oregon Democrat, may have landed himself
a prime speaking role at the Democratic National
Convention for endorsing Howard Dean’s
presidential bid.
Turning back to the crowd, Mr. Dean joked, “unless
he endorses me at the end of this program.” Sure
enough, when Mr. Dean finished his speech, Mr. Wu
praised the former Vermont governor for being the
only presidential candidate to attend the forum
and for visiting Oregon. “I
haven’t endorsed anybody yet until right now,” Mr.
Wu said as the crowd roared and the two men
embraced. Sen. John Kerry’s website
features a cover by Atlantic Monthly reviewing the
forthcoming book next month by the historian
Douglas Brinkley. He will publish the first
full-scale, intimate account of Kerry’s Navy
career. In writing that account Brinkley has drawn
on extensive interviews with virtually everyone
who knew Kerry well in Vietnam, including all but
one of the men still living who served under him.
Kerry also turned over to Brinkley his letters
home from Vietnam and his voluminous “war
notes”—journals, notebooks, and personal
reminiscences written during and shortly after the
war. This material was provided without
restriction, to be used at Brinkley’s discretion,
and has never before been published.
Eleven members of the North Dakota Legislature
endorsed Dick Gephardt’s candidacy for President
of the United States today. The
Missouri United Automotive, Aerospace and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
today announced its endorsement of Dick Gephardt
in the race for the Democratic nomination for
president.
Unions: # two The
125,000-member Transport Workers Union will
declare its support for the Missouri Democrat’s
presidential candidacy, union spokesman Jim Gannon
said yesterday. Gannon said the union has about
9,000 members in Oklahoma and 5,000 in Arizona.
They are two of the seven states holding
Democratic caucuses or primaries Feb. 3, a week
after the New Hampshire primary. Almost 50,000 of
the union’s members live in New York state, he
said. Wesley Clark took the
opportunity of President Bush’s visit to England
to criticize the President before the prestigious
NY Council Foreign Affairs. He said, “We must be a
country that listens and leads again.” The
Associated Press is reporting that Clark took the
opportunity to cover a wide range of issues:
Clark, a retired four-star Army general, said the
military must be adapted for peacekeeping and
post-conflict operations besides fighting wars. He
said the United States should take up Secretary
General Kofi Annan’s call to reform the United
Nations so it can respond to the threats of terror
and weapons of mass destruction.
In Asia, Clark called a regional strategy to deal
with North Korea’s potential emergence as a
full-fledged nuclear power and the threat of war
between China and Taiwan. He also called for
corporation to address AIDS and democratic
development in Africa and threats to the rise of
democracy in Latin America. Wesley Clark released a
statement concerning the Bush administration
restriction on China’s textiles.
“Limiting a surge in imports from three narrowly
defined categories of textiles is too little and
too late for America’s struggling textile firms.
It is inexplicable that this Administration waited
so long to use their explicit legal authority to
protect America’s workers from exactly the type of
import surges that the rules were designed to
prevent. I would review and enforce the rules for
all textiles that face large surges in imports
from China.
“Free trade can benefit all Americans, but only if
we ensure that other countries play by the rules
so that America’s businesses and workers can
compete on a level playing field. As President, I
would show the leadership to make the right
choices by implementing a comprehensive
Manufacturing Security Plan to jump-start job
creation today and create the manufacturing
industry of the future,” said Clark. Wesley Clark’s statement that he
could not change his schedule to participate in
the Manchester, NH debate carried by ABC seems to
not be true. The fund-raiser in New York, where he
was expected to raise $1.5 million has been moved
to Dec. 10 -- the day after the debate. Wesley Clark’s testimony in The
Hague of Slobodan Milosevic will be available
after 48 hours according to the international
court. The testimony will first be redacted by U.
S. officials screening the testimony for security
matters. Sen. Joe Lieberman says he
understood President Clinton’s economic bloom and
Howard Dean doesn’t:
“Howard Dean doesn’t understand how Bill Clinton
created 22 million jobs in 8 years. By responsibly
deregulating markets, Bill Clinton allowed
exporters to sell more American products to
foreign markets and brought competition to
existing monopolies.
“Howard Dean would usher in a new era of big
government with his re-regulation proposal. He
would give us a treacherous trifecta of policies
that turn back the economic clock: new trade
barriers, a larger tax burden on our middle class,
and now bigger bureaucracy. Either he doesn’t know
how to turn the economy around, or this is another
reckless mistake.
“We need to toughen the integrity of our
marketplace, put real enforcers in regulatory
posts, and put wrongdoers in jail. We don’t need
to cripple the economy with a whole new set of
broad re-regulation as Howard Dean proposes,” said
Lieberman. The Associated Press is
reporting that Joe Lieberman attacked several key
figures in the Bush administration Thursday,
accusing 17 regulators of protecting the corporate
interests that once employed them. Chief among
those incriminated were J. Steven Griles, Deputy
Secretary of the Interior; John Graham, the
director of a White House office overseeing
environmental regulation; and former Securities
and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, who
was forced to resign a year ago following the
Enron collapse and other corporate scandals when
Democrats highlighted his connections to major
accounting firms regulated by the SEC. A group of leading Minnesota
Democrats, led by former Attorney General Skip
Humphrey, today announced the formation of Joe
Lieberman’s Minnesota Steering Committee, saying
that as President Lieberman will lead with
integrity, as George Bush has failed to do so. The
announcement coincided with a visit to the Twin
Cities by Lieberman’s wife, Hadassah.
USA Today is covering Carol Moseley Braun’s
campaign and her hope that her new campaign
manager, Patricia Ireland, will boost her
campaign. Ireland is the former president of the
National Organization for Women and that
organization has endorsed Braun. Braun expressed
her support of gay marriages and compared them to
interracial marriages:
Comparing laws against same-sex marriages to those
that once barred blacks from marrying whites,
Democratic presidential candidate Carol Moseley
Braun said Wednesday that she favors gay marriage.
She said it was preferable to civil unions that do
not “carry the same prerogatives and legal rights
as marriage does.” Braun has raised less than
$350,000 through Sept. 30, trailing all other
candidates except Al Sharpton in fundraising. She
and Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich were kept out
of the recent AARP debates in New Hampshire. A conservative group supporting
Bushs’ embattled judicial nominees is running a
second ad in S. Carolina with quotes from Al
Sharpton. “She should get an up-or-down vote,”
Sharpton says in the ad. “I don’t think she should
be opposed because she doesn’t come from some
assumed club.” The narrator says: “The daughter of
a sharecropper who worked her way through law
school as a widowed mother has been nominated to
the second-highest court in the land. But she’s
being blocked by Senator John Edwards.” Sharpton has spent a great deal
of time campaigning in S. Carolina where the
state’s black voters will be an important factor
in the Feb. 3 primary that Edwards must win. The Edwards campaign is running
a want ad on its website for a website producer:
Previous political campaign experience is not
required, but helpful. Qualified recent graduates
are encouraged to apply. This is a full-time
position located at Edwards for President National
Campaign Headquarters in Raleigh, NC. John
Edwards Wednesday met with students and teachers
at Western International High School in Detroit.
Edwards outlined his agenda to renew America’s
high schools, including steps to provide an
excellent teacher for every child, break up large
schools, ensure that every student begins high
school with a challenging curriculum, and partner
colleges with struggling high schools.
“This is American Education Week, a time to
remember all the hard work our country’s educators
do and a time to remember how much work we still
have left to do so that all children can make the
most of their God-given talents,” Edwards said.
Edwards said that President Bush’s implementation
of the federal No Child Left Behind law has done
very little to improve education for the 1.7
million children in Michigan’s public schools.
Last year over a third of Michigan’s schools were
considered failing under the Act, the most schools
of any state in the nation.
“President Bush talks about leaving no child left
behind, but his education policies have left
millions of children behind,” Edwards said. And no
state has been hit harder by his failure to live
up to his promises than Michigan.”
Edwards Wednesday focused on high schools because,
compared to students in other nations, American
students often excel when they are in lower grades
and then fall behind in high school.
“We need to makes sure all American teenagers go
to high schools where the adults know their names,
where expectations are high and classes are
challenging, and where teachers have the resources
and support they need to succeed,” he said.
Edwards Wednesday outlined a series of measures to
improve Michigan’s high schools:
·
Excellent Teachers for Every Child.
Edwards will double funding for teacher
development and create college scholarships to
attract teachers into the weakest schools.
·
Smaller High Schools. Research shows
that small schools can help raise achievement and
graduation rates and, in fact, most successful
high-poverty schools have fewer than 600 students.
Along lines recently proposed by the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, Edwards will support
smaller schools by supporting new efforts to build
new schools, break up existing schools, and reopen
old ones.
·
Challenging Academics. For high
school graduates who go on to college, the rigor
of their high school course-work is the number-one
factor in determining whether they succeed.
Edwards will ask states participating in his
College for Everyone program (which will pay
tuition for students willing to work part-time) to
instill in every child the expectation that they
will master the core subjects of the college
preparatory curriculum.
·
Expand College Outreach and Ask
Every University to Adopt a School. Edwards
believes that every college and university should
adopt at least one high-poverty school and help it
improve. He will expand funding for college
outreach programs that offer extra tutoring,
guidance, and scholarships to low-income students.
These policies will give more than a million
students in high-poverty schools a real shot at a
brighter future.
Wednesday’s trip was Edwards’ sixth to Michigan
this year. Kucinich was critical of Bush
attack of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks was not justified and has
proved to be a “disaster” and a “nightmare. He
realized that he misspoke when he realized that he
voted to authorize military action. Of course that
didn’t stop him from being critical, according to
the Washington Post article:
U.S. military action against Afghanistan in
response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
was not justified and has proved to be a
“disaster” and a “nightmare.” U.S. military action
against Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks was not justified and has
proved to be a “disaster” and a “nightmare.” Candidates Bush, Dean and Kerry
are helping to speed up the cash flow to their
opponents’ campaigns from the Federal Election
Commission. The FEC initially estimated candidates
would only get 40 cents to 50 cents of every
dollar they were entitled to when the first checks
are sent in January. Now they are likely to
receive 75 cents to 80 cents on the dollar, based
on an Associated Press analysis of FEC and
campaign estimates. Wesley Clark is expected to get
one of the biggest initial payments — roughly $5.5
million if donations eligible for matching funds
continue coming in at the pace they have been. The
Clark campaign estimate raising $15.5 million by
year’s end, roughly 44 percent of it eligible for
matching funds. Estimates from other campaigns
are: Dick Gephardt receiving $5 million; Joe
Lieberman, $4 million; Dennis Kucinich, $3.3
million; and Lyndon LaRouche, $850,000. Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley
Braun are expected to receive few hundred thousand
dollars from the fund initially. Former Vermont Governor Dr.
Howard Dean enjoys a large lead (21 – 10%) over
retired General Wesley Clark in polling of likely
Democratic primary voters in New York State.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Missouri
Congressman Richard Gephardt are tied at 7%. Al
Sharpton and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman
each received 6% of the Democrats polled. Former
Illinois Senator Carol Mosley Braun, North
Carolina Senator John Edwards, and Ohio
Congressman Dennis Kucinich each received 1%. New
York’s likely voters’ opinion of President Bush is
53% favorable, 45% unfavorable. His job
performance rating is 44% positive, 52% negative. The
Associated Press has a story about how the
expression of emotions are now a necessary part of
political campaigns, and some reasons why this is
so:
Stoicism was the standard for generations of
American politicians, many of whom kept physical
and emotional troubles under wraps, but Watergate
and Vietnam left Americans wanting to know more
about the inner workings of their leaders.
Presidencies are more personal now that primary
voters — not party systems of old — choose
nominees.
“These two things have put the public in a
position where they really want to know” what
makes their leaders tick, Renshon said. “The
candidate handlers have picked up on this need.”
The Communications Workers of
America failed yesterday to reach agreement on an
endorsement after the 700,000-member union, the
eighth largest of the 64 internationals of the
AFL-CIO. The
Associated Press is reporting on Michigan
Democrat State Party’s plans to increase voter
turnout in their primary through Internet voting.
Howard Dean and Wesley Clark favor the effort and
the other campaigns do not:
The Michigan Democratic Party is looking to
increase turnout in its presidential caucus
through Internet voting, despite criticism that
the plan could disadvantage poor and minority
voters who are less likely to own a computer. The Democratic National
Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to
vote Saturday on whether to approve Michigan's
plan, which also allows voting in person or by
mail. The decision could affect who will win the
state's Feb. 7 caucus with polls showing that
Internet voting is a boost to front-runner Howard
Dean.
* ON THE BUSH
BEAT: The
LA Times takes on the great divide in this
country over President Bush and his subsequent
re-election prospects.
On one axis, voters appear to be weighing
generally positive assessments of his personal
characteristics — from likability and leadership
to honesty — against a more ambivalent view of his
policies and their impact on the country.
Along another axis, the poll indicates voters are
balancing the first flickers of optimism about the
economy against growing anxiety over America's
progress in Iraq. Bush’s
strength lies in his personal character according
to the Times’ poll:
On several personal qualities, Bush scores well.
Just over three-fifths of Americans consider him a
strong leader; just under three-fifths say they
consider him honest and trustworthy. Beliefs
that Bush does not care about the poor are what
seeming divide the country:
Democrats lead Bush both among Americans earning
less than $40,000 annually and families earning
$60,000 to $100,000, the poll found. Bush leads
strongly among families clustered right around the
median income — those earning between $40,000 to
just under $60,000 — and those who earn more than
$100,000 a year.
* NATIONAL: On CNBC’s Capital Report last
night, Senate Majority Leader Frist said the
Medicare bill is “not a done deal yet... Now we
have been able to deliver a bipartisan bill... But
still, it’s going to be several days. We’ll
probably come to the floor late this week —
Friday, maybe Saturday. I’m going to probably keep
people around Friday, Saturday, into the weekend
in order to address Medicare.” Asked about the
projected cost of $400 billion, Frist said, “Well,
I can tell you the Congressional Budget Office is
going to score it under $400 billion. I predict;
I’ll know a little bit later tonight.” The Chinese government fired a
verbal salvo across the Taiwan Strait on
Wednesday, arguing in published remarks that
Beijing may be forced to react militarily if
Taiwanese leaders pursue independence. The threat comes as campaigning
heats up for Taiwan's March election. President
Chen Shui-bian's re-election bid has gained
traction in recent weeks with plans for a new
Constitution and a law that would allow citizens
to call for referendums, which could lead to a
direct vote on independence. This has angered
Beijing, which still considers Taiwan part of
China. "Independent stance may trigger
war," declared a headline on the front page of the
government-run China Daily, over an article
quoting Wang Zaixi, China's vice minister for
Taiwan affairs.
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