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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:
"Anytime someone feels like confidentiality has
been violated, that has to be dealt with. I want
their concerns satisfied. That said, I will also
be their worst nightmare when it comes to what
these memos said. I will make sure the substance
of the memos is pointed out over and over and
over," said Sen.
Lindsey Graham, Republican -Judiciary Committee
member about supporting the investigation into the
Democrat leaked judiciary memos.
"I always thought we Democrats were the party of
inclusion, not exclusion,"
said Joe
Lieberman about not being included in the debate
after he changed his mind.
"Their message of protest and pessimism becomes
clearer with each debate,"
said Republican
National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.
"It is the beginning . . . of privatizing
Medicare, make no mistake about it,"
said Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy. "Next is Social Security."
In this election, Vietnam isn't an answer; it's a
question. And the nation is still searching for
the answer --
from an article in the Boston Globe about
Vietnam’s influence and affects on the
Presidential election.
* TODAY’S
OFFERINGS:
*Dean vs Gephardt *Dean mugged at debate
*Kerry’s bad times roll on *Corn stalks have
ears
*Kerry’s wife *Clark hires campaign manager
*Playing to Carolinas *Lieberman gets in the act
*Debate hoopla *Planet Kucinich report
*LA Times editorial *S. Carolina primary assured
*Vietnam *Bush happenings
*A study in something
*Memo leaks investigation
*Energy bill slowed *Kennedy loses
* CANDIDATES &
CAUCUSES: The Des Moines debate last night
highlighted the race between Dick Gephardt and
Howard Dean. Gephardt even challenged Dean’s
opposition to the war -- the key factor that
launched Dean’s front runner status. Gephardt
challenged Dean, saying, “Howard, I think you’re
all over the lot on this one.” Gephardt has been
running ads in Iowa where it shows Dean saying
that he would have voted for the $87 billion and a
clip of Dean from Iowa Public Television where
Dean says the war will not be the central issue of
the campaign. To stress his point about Dean,
Gephardt said, "If we're going to beat George
Bush, we have got to take a position of leadership
on these issues and stick with them. We can't be
all over the lot." Gephardt also pressed forward
his new opening on Dean that as Governor of
Vermont Dean cut services to the poor. Gephardt
tagged Dean for cutting aide to Medicaid, a
prescription-drug program, the blind and disabled.
As Gephardt put it, Dean cut funds to the most
vulnerable people. Moderator Tom Brokaw asked if
his criticism of Dean had gone too far, Gephardt
responded: “I think campaigns are about bringing
out differences… We have a difference on how to
get budgets straightened out. Dean’s response was that the
Gephardt researchers have it all wrong. Dean’s
line of attack concerning Gephardt has emerged as:
Dean gets things done and Gephardt doesn’t. “A fundamental difference is
beginning to surface between myself and
Congressman Gephardt. As a Governor I worked hard
to make the tough choices to deliver results. As a
Member of Congress for nearly three decades Dick
Gephardt has delivered empty rhetoric,” Dean said.
“For too long Washington has failed to deliver
expanded access to health care or assistance with
prescription drug costs. Faced with the most
damaging legislation for American education in
recent memory, Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, my
opponents stood behind the President instead of
standing up and asking tough questions.” The best
way to describe the debate last night is that it
was a mugging of Howard Dean. Not only did Dick
Gephardt pile on Dean, but so did Sen. John Kerry.
Kerry’s biggest push on Dean was whether he would
rule out reducing the growth in spending on
Medicare to help balance the federal budget. Dean
has stated on Iowa Public Television that in order
to balance the budget he would slow the growth of
entitlements. Kerry pressed Dean hard on the
question of whether he rejected the idea of
allowing the program to grow at a slower rate than
would be required to maintain existing services as
medical costs rose and the elderly population
increased. Further clarifying his point, Kerry
drew the obvious conclusion: slowing the rate of
growth would indeed equate to cutting Medicare. Dean
appeared sullen and defensive as he tried
unsuccessfully to side step Kerry’s repeated “Yes,
or no” on cutting Medicare. In the end, a cornered
Dean finally said, "We are not going to cut
Medicare in order to balance the budget." Dean’s
attacks on the rest of the field to maintain his
anti-war grip on the party were thwarted as well.
Accusing Dean of unjustifiable slams on the rest
of the candidates for supporting the resolution
authorizing the Iraq war, rival Kerry pointed to
the fact that Dean said that he would have
supported the Biden Lugar Resolution as his
position on the war in Iraq. "It's no different
fundamentally from what we voted on," Kerry said. MSNBC
moderator Tom Brokaw also hit Dean with the
question about his medical deferment from military
service and then skiing for nearly a year on tough
slopes that Brokaw had skied as well. Brokaw said
that he had skied those slopes and he knew that
those slopes were hard on your back. Dean
responded: "Look, I did not serve in
Vietnam," he said. "I was given a deferment by the
United States government because they did not feel
they wanted me in the Army…. I told the truth. I
fulfilled my obligation. I took a physical. I
failed the physical. If that makes this an issue,
then so be it." The issue of supporting gay
marriages came up in the debate the leading
candidates continued to support gay unions but not
gay marriages but opposed a Constitutional
Amendment to prevent gay marriages. Debate quotes: "When people see politicians
yelling at each other, as they have in Iowa this
week, they know they're voices aren't being
heard," John Edwards said. "I want America to be a land of
hope again for all of our citizens. And I want us
to come together ... and stand up and fight with
confidence in our values and the willingness to
defeat the Bush-Cheney-Ashcroft cynicism; give
back hope, give back truth, give back the soul to
our country," said John Kerry “It is immoral, in my view, and
I think in most Democrats' view and probably even
a lot of Republicans' views, to have people out
there without health insurance. We have got to
solve this problem," said Dick Gephardt. "We have to make people
understand that what we have in common is the
economic problems of this country that face both
African-American, white and Latino working people.
And they're all the same issues. They need health
insurance and decent health care, and they need
jobs, and they're not going to get them from a
Republican Congress or a Republican president,"
said Howard Dean. "We have to run against a
wartime president in a world that is suffering
from terror. We need a president who knows how to
reach out and build relationships across the
planet," said Kerry. "The real issue in front of us
is that this president misled the American people
and the Congress into war. It's wrong. If you
wrote this script in a movie, it would be rejected
as being outrageous," said Wesley Clark. "I think the only step in the
right direction is a recognition by Bush and the
White House that this policy in Iraq is a failure.
What they're failing to do, unfortunately, is to
take the American face off this operation. We're
still completely in charge of what's going on
there," said John Edwards. "Sen. Kerry is talking about
experience in foreign affairs," Dean said. "His
experience led him to give the president of the
United States a blank check to invade Iraq." "I warned that we were going to
war without a real plan of what to do next and
without adequate resources," Clark said. "Now we
see the consequences." "We have to offer a positive,
optimistic, uplifting vision for this country,"
said Edwards. "When you're the governor,
you've got to make tough decisions," Dean said.
"The people of Vermont were better off when I left
the governor's office than they were when I got
there." "I think this party's making a
great mistake by trying to make a litmus test on
who would have or did or didn't vote for that
resolution last October," said Clark, who has been
criticized for sending mixed signals on whether he
would have backed it. "The real issue in front of
us is that this president misled the American
people and the Congress into war. This
administration took us to war recklessly and
without need to do so and it was wrong. And that
is the issue … we should be taking to the American
people." "Medicare is off the table. I'm
not going to cut Medicare to balance the budget,"
said Dean. The Boston Herald confirmed with
a separate poll that Sen. John Kerry is in trouble
in his home state of Massachusetts. Howard Dean
would receive 33 percent to 24 percent for Kerry
if voting were held today. Wesley Clark drew 7 percent,
followed by Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut at 4
percent and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri
at 3 percent. The other candidates polled at 2
percent or lower. The Drudge report nailed the
Kerry staff who talked openly in at the Hotel Fort
Des Moines bar and it all wound up on the report.
Drudge pointed out that even the stripped corn
stalks in Iowa have ears:
"The campaign advisers spoke frankly at the
hotel's bar on Sunday night about the state of the
White House race and their frustrations of living
in the shadow of Howard Dean.
"All of Dean's money is coming from Republicans,
one member of Kerry's kitchen cabinet told the
group. Another adviser asked if that had been
researched. No one had an answer.
"The staff said Kerry should — and will — use a
motorcycle for campaigning more often.
“The advisers discussed how Kerry should stop
trying to defend his Iraq vote and develop how
Kerry's the real antiwar protester, not Dean.
"The staffers talked about doing an ad where they
would contrast Kerry's antiwar activism with Dean
as a draft-dodging ski bum. The ad would feature
vault clips of Kerry speaking at antiwar rallies
and testifying on Capitol Hill vs. Dean statements
on how he could have served in the military, but
decided not to.
"The Kerry staffers talked about the possibility
of doing a documentary on the campaign, like the
one Spike Jonze did with Gore. One frustrated
operative said it would help with Kerry's 'aloof'
image problem.
"The advisers carelessly talked about how thick
Kerry's accent used to be.
"Kerry did the thick accent when cameras were
around to sound like JFK, laughed one senior
staffer. The
Associated Press has a story on Teresa Heinz
Kerry campaigning in Seattle. There she called for
the detainees in Guantanamo Bay to receive
prisoner of war status: "They were captured while
fighting a war," Teresa Heinz Kerry said at an
informal discussion with minority activists in
Seattle. "They should have the rights that other
prisoners of war have had." Heinz Kerry said that denying
the detainees the protections of the Geneva
Convention is "insulting, ignorant, and
insensitive" to the rest of the world. She added
that under President Bush, the United States, once
known as the standard-bearer for human rights, is
now considered a hypocrite. "The arrogance shown
by this administration on human rights and in its
foreign policy is horrible," she said. Wesley Clark continues to pick
up former personnel from Bob Graham’s campaign,
hiring Paul Johnson the former campaign manager of
Bob Graham's unsuccessful presidential bid. He was
hired Monday for the same position in Democrat
Wesley Clark's campaign. Clark spokesman Matt
Bennett said Johnson was hired by campaign
chairman Eli Segal and will start next Monday. Johnson is a Minnesota native
and a veteran of several Democratic campaigns for
the Senate. He also worked on the presidential
campaigns of former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey in
1992 and Walter Mondale in 1984. Sen. John Edwards is offering a
proposal to extend quotas on China to protect S.
Carolina’s textile industry. The move is seen as
helping Edwards secure his margin in that must win
state’s primary. Edwards’ proposal is to make
China live with more years of quotas -- despite
the fact that all World Trade Organization
countries have agreed to end quotas in 2005. His
argument is that China came into the WTO four
years ago, so they are living under a shortened
time frame for ending the quotas. The Edwards’ campaign website
has a press release and a famous Edwards in-depth
fact sheet. Here is just a tiny-tiny part of that
fact sheet:
Under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, all
textile quotas worldwide will be removed on
January 1, 2005. As a result, China's share of the
U.S. textile market is expected to soar to about
70 percent, leading to 1,300 plant closings and
the loss of 630,000 American jobs. China's share
of the global market may increase from 20 percent
to 50 percent. Because it joined the World Trade
Organization only in 2001, China is benefiting
from these quota removals after only a four-year
transition, unlike the 10-year transition for the
rest of the world’s producers. Part of the reason for the focus
on S. Carolina in the presidential lineup is the
fact that the state’s unemployment has risen to an
all time high. Sen. Joe Lieberman released this
statement concerning the unemployment:
Joe Lieberman issued the following statement on
South Carolina's unemployment rates rising to 7.1
percent in October -- its highest level since
1994:
"George Bush has failed South Carolina. While
unemployment has hit new highs in South Carolina,
George Bush has spent more time manufacturing
excuses instead of manufacturing jobs.
I was the first candidate to develop a
manufacturing plan to create the factories of the
future, train workers, and hold China accountable,
and as president I'll bring jobs back to South
Carolina." Speaking of Sen. Joe Lieberman,
yesterday’s performance of trying to get back into
the Iowa Debate after saying that he would not
participate demonstrates why he does not seem to
have a chance of getting the nomination. Not many
Lieberman quotes today. He couldn’t make it in
Iowa, and now, he can’t make it against the other
two New Englanders in New Hampshire -- or even the
guy from Arkansas. The
Des Moines Register has a story about the
scene around the debate (if you are interested in
reading use the link.) One group used a novel
approach to make their point:
Nine people dressed as Democratic presidential
candidates riding furry ostriches made their debut
Monday, just before the start of the nationally
televised presidential debate in Des Moines.
"We're here dressed as ostriches because . . . all
of the candidates have their head in the sand"
about the need for Social Security reform, said
James Hamilton, national director of a
Virginia-based group called For Our Grandchildren. Dennis Kucinich’s latest
campaign tactic proves that MoveOn.org should hire
him after the campaign. Kucinich has Americans
walking to Cleveland spreading peace and love.
Here is his press release:
WHAT: Peace walkers, inspired by Presidential
Candidate Dennis Kucinich, are crossing the nation
from Maine to California by foot. The walkers are
approaching Cleveland where they will celebrate
Thanksgiving, serve the community, walk local
routes, be welcomed at a house party, and host a
public rally and press conference on Nov. 28. The
LA Times editorial by Robert Scheer takes on
the GOP ad on terrorism. It is an excruciating
piece that exhorts the Republicans for their dirty
tricks. The argument of the editorial is the
boilerplate of the Democrats about the war.
However, the editorial like the Democrats does not
offer any alternative to defending our nation from
the new terrorism in the world other than, ‘leave
it to others.’ Here is a quote:
The irony is that the ad features the president
delivering the 2003 State of the Union speech,
which has turned out to be an enormous
embarrassment of admitted distortions, including
one claim, based on a forged document, that Iraq
was a nuclear threat. It was in that speech that
the president touted the imminent threat of Iraq's
so-far-undiscovered weapons of mass destruction
while implying that Saddam Hussein collaborated
with Al Qaeda on the 9/11 attacks — a charge that
the president himself recently conceded was
without foundation.
In fact, the Iraq war has proved to be a terrible
test case for "preemptive self-defense" because
the intelligence it was founded on is so much
loose sand. If you say somebody is a threat and
then it turns out they aren't, your "preemptive
attack" is no longer "self-defense." S. Carolina Democrat Party is
close to having the $500,000 to pay for their Feb.
3 Presidential Primary. So, good news for those
Democrats who are putting their hopes on a good
show there. The
Boston Globe carries a story on how Vietnam is
creating a questioning of our purpose and meaning
of our current national identity:
If international terrorism, like global communism,
represents a threat to the American way of life,
there can be two basic responses: one essentially
liberal, to persuade others to come together to
condemn it, and one essentially conservative, to
ward it off by force.
Often, in the face of such threats, nations try to
do both. But like the war in Vietnam, the Iraq war
puts these two impulses at odds, because it was
not justifiable as a purely defensive action.
Neither North Vietnam nor Iraq attacked the United
States. Iraq was targeted because it allegedly
sought to advance the spread of terrorism the way
North Vietnam was advancing communism.
* ON THE BUSH
BEAT: Bush plans to sandwich
fund-raising stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix with
appearances at senior citizen centers in each city
to tout the passage of legislation overhauling
Medicare. President Bush pardoned two
turkeys named Stars and Stripes and fired off a
quip that the second one is on standby just like
the Vice President. Before going to his ranch in
Crawford, TX for Thanksgiving, Bush also took time
to pay tribute to American soldiers at Fort
Carson, Colo. He expressed the nation’s gratitude
for the sacrifice that the military is making on
behalf of democracy, tolerance and the rights and
dignity of every people. The Washington Times
reports that the President’s sentiments were
heartfelt:
"Here, you have felt loss. Every person who dies
in the line of duty leaves a family that lives in
sorrow and comrades who must go on without them.
The Fort Carson community said farewell to some of
your best," he said.
But Mr. Bush said each soldier has "answered a
great calling."
"You live by a code of honor, in service to your
nation, for the safety and security of your fellow
citizens… "You and I have taken an oath to defend
America. We're meeting that duty together, and I'm
proud to be the commander in chief of the greatest
military, full of the finest people on the face of
this earth." The
President singled out the loss of Staff Sgt.
Daniel Bader by quoting his wife Tiffany.
"Tiffany Bader said this to a reporter recently,
'I'm going to wait until she is old enough to
realize what happened, and I will tell her exactly
what her daddy did for her. He died serving his
country so that my little girl could grow up
free.' "
Mr. Bush said the courage of Sgt. Bader and his
wife "show the spirit of this country in the face
of great adversity."
"And all our military families that mourn can know
this: Our nation will never forget the sacrifice
their loved one made to protect us all." The
Washington Post has a story with a headline
that compares President Bush to Richard Nixon and
then goes on to say how much more like Ronald
Reagan Bush is. The title of the article is after
Roger Ailes’ book, The Making of the President
with the twist Nixon Bush after it. The book shows
how President Bush uses the centralized control
method of Nixon (and it might be added, Franklin
Roosevelt…) in managing his White House, but uses
the style of Reagan to create policy and
communicate. IPW would recommend that they
review Stephen Hess’s work on this subject.
* NATIONAL: The
Washington Times reports that Senate
Republicans have thrown their support behind the
investigation into how internal memos written by
Democratic staffers on the Judiciary Committee
wound up in the Wall Street Journal and The
Washington Times. The memos revealed how Democrats
planned with liberal interest groups to block
President Bush's judicial nominees. The story goes on to report that
the computer firewalls were down on the Democrat
and Republican computers, so that (as one person
put it) any twenty-something person could figure
it out. The memos incriminates the Democrats for
using race as the reason why they filibuster
certain judicial nominees and not others. Senate Republicans last night
abandoned attempts to pass energy legislation this
year after efforts by the White House to find a
way out of the impasse that has stalled action on
the bill since Friday failed to produce results.
Officials vowed to make a fresh attempt to move
the huge measure, a top priority of the Bush
administration, after Congress reconvenes in
January. The House could not reach a
compromise on the controversial aspect of the MBTE
provision that provides the industry legal
protection after the US government mandated that
they produce the product. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s fight to
kill the Medicare bill that would bring
prescription drugs to seniors failed as the Senate
voted 54-44 in favor of the Medicare bill. Kennedy
tried to stall and defeat the bill yesterday. The
Senate’s action is the first reform of Medicare in
38 years. Two procedural votes yesterday
represented the last chance for the Medicare
bill's foes to block the measure this year.
Supporters needed 60 votes to prevail on each. In
the first showdown, the Senate voted 70 to 29 to
break the filibuster led by Democrats and
supported by a handful of Republicans to delay the
measure indefinitely. On that cloture vote, 22 of
the Senate's 48 Democrats joined most Republicans
in opposing continuation of the filibuster, which
was led by Kennedy and supported by the three
Senate Democrat candidates for President (Joe
Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards). On the second vote, involving a
technical violation of Senate budget rules, the
vote was far closer: 61 to 39.
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