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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 Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
THE DAILY
REPORT for Monday, October 27, 2003
From last night’s
Democratic candidates debate in Detroit: "Like father like son,
four years and this president is done,"
said Rep. Dick
Gephardt of Missouri. “We cannot afford to
play Bush roulette ... with the lives of
American troops,"
said Al
Sharpton "I think the first
thing we have to do is make certain that the
globalization of trade does not create a race to
the bottom, that creates the exploitation of
workers abroad and the hemorrhaging of jobs here
at home," said
Carol Moseley Braun. “Let’s put the hard
questions out there. Sen. Lieberman would you
meet with the Palistenian Liberation
Organization if your were elected?”
said Al Sharpton. Where’s the Plan?
Where’s the Hope? Lieberman charges
inconsistency Pull out the medals Kucinich to the rescue Patriot act Budget/ Economy Detroit factor Of interest Move On wants Move Out Where’s the Plan? Where’s
the Hope?
Even top Democrat operatives are suggesting after
last night’s debate in Detroit that the Democrats
are too shrill to win. However, it is clear that
the Democrat candidates are finding a welcome
audience among the primary going party faithful
for the vitriolic invectives. Some top Democrats
are arriving at a consensus that the Democrats’
hatred of Bush is greater than Republicans’ hatred
of Bill Clinton. Jerry Crawford, a general in Iowa
Democrat Party politics, commented on Iowa Public
Television’s Iowa Press that all you need to do to
fire up Iowa Democrats is say John Ashcroft -- and
it doesn’t matter which candidate says it. With
just two months before Iowa’s Jan. 19th
caucuses, many top Democrats are hoping to hear
more about offering Americans hope and a vision of
how they will lead America. Others are concerned
that the Democrat candidates’ focus on the War on
Terror is misplaced. "There's a huge credibility
gap our party has on national security — not
because we don't have enough military medals, but
because we have no plan of action," said
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile in an
Associated Press story about the debate. The
Democrat candidates are trying to buck the
historical trend of Americans believing that
Republicans are better in foreign policy and
Democrats are better at domestic policy in
focusing on Bush’s handling of the War on
Terrorism. American soldiers continuing to die in
Iraq combined with Osama bin Laden and Saddam
Hussein whereabouts still in question could be
like the shifting sands in Iraq if anything
changes -- including another terrorist attack.
Still criticism of the war and each other was the
centerpiece of last night’s debate. Here is some
of what the candidates said regarding the war:
John Kerry: "Our troops are today more
exposed, are in greater danger, because this
president didn't put together a real coalition,
because this president's been unwilling to share
the burden and the task. And I will tell you, the
American people understand that."
Wesley Clark: "I didn't believe last year
we should have given George Bush a blank check in
Iraq. He said he was going to go to the U.N.
Instead, he started a war. Now we're trying to
give him another blank check. There's no telling
what's going to happen."
Howard Dean: "I don't think service men and
women do view my position as short of supporting
the troops. I've made it very clear that we need
to support our troops, unlike President Bush, who
tried to cut their combat pay after they'd been
over there and he'd doubled their tour of duty."
Lieberman charges
inconsistency Sen. Joe Lieberman stayed
consistent in his position that holds that there
is a terrorism problem and we have to fix it. Of
course this comes with calling other candidates
inconsistent. "We're trying to replace a
president who doesn't level with the American
people, who's not consistent. And we're not going
to do it unless we also level. So I don't know how
John Kerry and John Edwards can say that they
supported the war but then oppose the funding of
the troops who went to fight the war that the
resolution that they supported authorized." said
Joe Lieberman. Pull out the medals Kerry responded to Lieberman by
calling on his Viet Nam experience, "Seared into
me an experience you don't have, and that is being
one of the troops on the front line when the
policy has gone wrong." Clark was not to be left
behind in the war credential department and cited
his having come home on a stretcher from Viet Nam.
Lieberman also launched into an attack on Clark
for not being able to articulate his opposition to
the war. Clark responded by saying that he had
been consistent. Kucinich to the rescue The portraying of Democrats as
being strong on defense was not helped by Dennis
‘No More Wars’ Kucinich. "Now, I think that we
have to have a commitment to work with the nations
of the world to make war archaic so we won't need
to send our men and women abroad in search of wars
or to fight wars that they never should have had
to fight in the first place." said Dennis
Kucinich. Patriot act Lawyer John Edwards played the
Ashcroft card in the debate last night. However,
he needed to defend the fact he voted for the
Patriot Act. "There are some provisions in the
Patriot Act -- most of which get no attention --
which did good things, which updated the law,
which allowed us to go after money laundering,
which allowed information-sharing. ... The problem
with the Patriot Act and the reason we need to
make changes is because it gave entirely too much
discretion to an attorney general who does not
deserve it. It's that simple," said John Edwards. Budget/ Economy The Democrats’ assault on Bush
and each other also centered on the budget deficit
in last night’s debate. Clark failed to offer
detail concerning his economic plan that would
repeal some of the tax cuts and which he said
would save $2.3 trillion over 10 years. He also
failed to offer a time when he would offer more
details. Dean stayed consistent and called for the
raising of taxes with the repeal of all of Bush’s
tax cuts. He once again claimed he could balance
the budget in five years without cutting Social
Security or Medicare. Kerry referred to an Iowa
family that he said would have to pay $2,178 in
higher taxes if Dean's program went into effect.
Kerry said that this would be the result in part
of repealing the child tax credit and bringing
back the marriage-penalty tax. Kerry also said we
would reduce the deficit in four years. Detroit factor The Democrat candidates debated
in Detroit under the auspices of the Black Caucus
and the setting and sponsors caused the Democrats
to focus on urban issues. The following comes from
an
Associated Press article that covered the
issues debated: Sen. John Edwards of North
Carolina talked about his "Cities Rising" plan,
which he said would bring jobs to urban America
through incentives for businesses to operate
there. His plan also calls for paying teachers
bonuses to work in poorer areas. Dennis
Kucinich of Ohio said violence needs to be
better addressed and highlighted the number of
deaths that have taken place in Detroit. Sen.
Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, addressing the
numbers of people jailed for nonviolent drug
offenses, said, "We need to commit ourselves to
turn this around and invest in rehabilitation, ...
education, job training." Of interest “There are three tickets out of
New Hampshire,” says Republican strategist Tom
Rath. “No more than three. Howard Dean
probably has one, and the others will have to
fight for the other two.” “In effect, Clark is
saying to the voters of New Hampshire that I’m
skipping Iowa and I don’t care how I do in New
Hampshire. And his campaign should know by now
that voters here are too sophisticated for that
type of message,” said Dennehy, a New Hampshire
Republican and past McCain supporter and worker in
the Granite state. Move On wants Move Out MoveOn.org is attempting to
raise $10 million to run television ads to kick
Bush out of the White House. A press release on
their website states that they plan to spend the
money in selected electoral battleground states.
“Our members have made it unmistakably clear that
they want to do everything we can during the
coming months to get the message out about
President Bush’s policy mistakes and mis-leadership,”
said Eli Pariser, campaign director for MoveOn.org
and the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They promise to
produce powerful public education TV ads with
themes about the President can’t be trusted to
tell the truth, mismanagement of War in Iraq and
the economy. They say they are going early with
their ads before Americans tune out from the glut
of ads later.
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