|
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 Iowa Daily
Report, Friday, October 31, 2003 Chrissy Gephardt, a self
acknowledged lesbian and daughter of Congressman
Dick Gephardt, attested to her father’s zero
tolerance of homophobic epitaphs. Chrissy is
campaigning in Iowa for her father’s Presidential
campaign. The Des Moines Register story covers her
reaction to the accusation by Dean campaign staff
that one of Gephardt’s campaign workers pushed a
Dean worker and called him a fagot: "I know that
my father, just based on what he stands for and
his stand on equal rights, he would not tolerate
anything like this," said Chrissy Gephardt,
following a meeting with about two dozen Drake
University students and others. "If something like
that were to have happened, that person would be
fired. There's a zero-tolerance policy on the
Gephardt campaign for stuff like that." IPW reported on Tuesday
that Joe Trippi, Dean campaign manger, sent a
letter to the Gephardt campaign asking that
whoever the person was that called Dean campaign
worker Hunter Allen a faggot be fired. It has
since been learned that the Gephardt staff person
accused is Mike Kelley. Chrissy in Des Moines
defended Kelley and said that he was a friend. The
Register quotes Chrissy: "Mike would not say
that," Chrissy Gephardt said. "Being a gay person,
I've been on the receiving end of a lot of hate
crimes in terms of verbal attacks, letters in the
mail that I've gotten. I know just from knowing
Mike that he would not have said that." Chrissy
attributed the incident to campaign dirty tricks
by the Dean campaign and urged voters to stay
focused on the issues. The reaction from the gay
community has been mixed. Some have discounted the
incident because it involves staff and others feel
it needs to be taken more seriously. Dean and
Kerry are both recognized supporters of gay and
lesbian rights. Dean, while Governor of Vermont,
signed into law legislation recognizing gay
unions. While Iowa Democrat Party
Chairman Gordon Fischer wants the gay bashing
story to go away, Dean and Gephardt staff don’t
seem to agree. In a separate story the
Des Moines Register explores the strong
feelings about the incident where Gephardt staffer
Mike Kelley is accused by Dean staffer Hunter
Allen that Kelley pushed him and called him a
faggot. Fischer is reported to have called the two
campaign staffs and urged them to get back to
focusing on beating Bush rather than continue to
propel the gay bashing story. However, both
campaign staffs are heated in their resentment of
the other campaign’s response to the incident. Steve Murphy, Gephardt's
campaign manager, responded to Joe Trippi, Dean’s
campaign manager, calling the allegation false.
Part of the Gephardt stance on the incident is
there is no video or audio recording of what was
said. They point to the fact that Allen had a tape
recorder to tape Gephardt’s remarks. So, where’s
the tape? The accuser Allen was at the Gephardt
appearance to tape record Gephardt’s speech for
the Dean campaign. It is reported and agreed to by
Allen that he disrupted the Gephardt meeting by
taking a phone call and was dressed down by the
Gephardt campaign. He also irritated Gephardt
staff when he participated in the press conference
following the speech. The incident between Kelley
and Allen occurred outside, and even though there
were press and others passing by no one can
substantiate either side in the incident. "You are
an astute enough political practitioner to know
that making unsubstantiated allegations of this
nature is one of the lowest forms of political
dirty tricks," Murphy wrote to Trippi in response
to Trippi’s call to fire Kelley, according to the
Des Moines Register. The Register reports Dean’s
campaign reaction: Sarah Leonard, Dean's
spokeswoman in Iowa, responded: "It's outrageous
for someone to question the honesty of our staff
person. This is an openly gay young man who was a
victim of hate speech. "No, it was not caught on
tape. Hate speech is rarely caught on tape. That
doesn't mean it is rarely used." News
organizations including Fox News, Sunday Times of
London, ABC News and MSNBC have all fairly
consistently filled reports or made comments that
Allen is the least accurate in his account of what
happened. Quoted in the Des Moines Register: But a
newspaper reporter, who says he was standing next
to Allen, described Allen's behavior as "clearly
very provocative," and said he understood why
Gephardt staffers sought to remove him. "If
anything transpired, for my money, it was Allen
who started it," said Tony Allen-Mills, the
Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Sunday
Times of London. Leonard, representing Dean, said:
"We're not backing off of this. We realize that
the Gephardt campaign has chosen to deny and
attack rather than deal with this serious
situation, so we've decided to move on," quoted in
the Register. Chairman Fischer believes that
this will now die down. We will see. The
Union Leader reports … that Charles Burnham
(who chaired Republican McCain’s 2000 campaign in
Strafford), Dr. Cathleen Sterling(McCain’s Newport
chair) and Charles de Rham (who chaired McCain’s
Franconia effort) will endorse the Democratic
Connecticut senator [Joe Lieberman] in an upcoming
official announcement. Also, Allen Damren,
President George W. Bush’s 2000 Sullivan County
co-chair, this week left the GOP to endorse John
Kerry for President, and Manchester Democratic
state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro has endorsed North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Isn’t it curious that
Lieberman received the McCain former chairs after
McCain and Lieberman brought forth their Global
Warming Bill in the Senate yesterday? In another
note, Rep. Jessie Osborne, D-Concord, New
Hampshire has endorsed Dean. He now has the
backing of 37 House members in New Hampshire. The Manchester
Union Leader story covers the state angle on
the battle for union support by interviewing New
Hampshire Service Employees Association President
Paul Stokes. The union is the largest in the
AFL-CIO organization and is meeting next week to
consider endorsing Howard Dean. If Dean receives
the endorsement, it will be a big setback for
Gephardt. The Union Leader reports: “Stokes said
that three months ago, “I’d have been very
surprised” to be told that Dean appeared to be the
front-runner for the SEIU endorsement. He said
that a Gephardt endorsement, “three months ago,
was the common wisdom. “But Dean seems to be
changing that,” said Stokes. “Either that or those
making the endorsement have decided we have to
look at a broader spectrum than traditional labor
issues.” Dean pledged that as president,
he would launch a multi-pronged attack to ensure
that all Americans--regardless of race, geography,
gender, or income--would have access to quality
health care. “As access to health insurance has
declined for all but the wealthiest, it's tempting
to define America's health care crisis only in
economic terms. However, our healthcare system
isn't plagued only by costly insurance premiums,
but also by the lingering impact of institutional
racism and other assorted biases,” from Dean’s
policy
page. Democratic Presidential
candidate John Kerry wrote a letter to the
hundreds of individuals, celebrities, authors,
religious organizations, and businesses
blacklisted by the NRA, to join him in standing up
to the divisive agenda of the gun lobby and stand
up for gun safety. For full details visit Kerry’s
webpage. John DiStaso’s
column in the Manchester Union Leader is a
must read if you want to keep up with New
Hampshire primary. Today reporter DiStaso covers a
wide range of topics including Wesley Clark’s
slowness to get organized in the Granite State.
The more interesting side road is the question of
how Internet workings are being governed by the
Federal Election Commission: [FEC spokesman Bob] Biersack
cited a 1999 FEC advisory opinion on questions
raised by George W. Bush’s campaign. It says that
when a volunteer provides “personal property” to
help the candidate, “no contribution results . . .
Therefore, if a volunteer for the campaign chooses
to prepare a Web site supporting the campaign by
using his or her personal property at home . . .
that action would not be a contribution.” So, if you’re working for a
campaign and want to launch a website for your
candidate it is not a contribution and is not
reportable by the campaign. Clark’s website shows that his
comments about the report on links between
contributors to the Bush campaign and contracts in
Iraq is his breaking news: Yesterday, the Bush
administration announced an extension of
Halliburton's no-bid contract in Iraq, even though
Halliburton has been accused of gouging American
taxpayers with an inflated bill for emergency oil
imports. "It is time for more transparency and
less cronyism," General Wesley Clark said.
"American taxpayers deserve no less. Leadership is
about making the best deal for the American
people, not extending sweetheart deals for
supporters." The Clark campaign has launched
‘C’ Company. C Company, is made up of members who
give $100 apiece. This follows a Democratic trend
to encourage donations from political newcomers,
like young professionals and older voters who have
not given in the past. Edwards was in Dennis Hopper’s
home yesterday bringing in a dollar or two from
those attending the fundraiser. Ashton Kutcher was
one of the hosts for the event but was a no-show
due to smoke from the raging California fires
preventing her flight in. However, she does back
Edwards, according to Dennis Hopper’s wife,
Victoria. Victoria Hopper said Kutcher is eager to
help and may campaign for Edwards in Kutcher's
home state of Iowa. An
LA Times’ story points out that the Democrats
are back in California panning for gold in the
liberal strongholds – and especially in Hollywood.
Excerpt: “The cash derby began Wednesday, when
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards arrived in Los
Angeles for two appearances and a fund-raiser at
the Venice home of actor Dennis Hopper and his
wife, Victoria. About 75 guests, most with
Hollywood connections, mingled and admired the
couple's pop art collection as a three-piece jazz
combo played. Guests, including actors Bill Paxton
and Jeanne Tripplehorn, gave a total of $50,000.
The Times reported the other
following candidates’ hopeful visits:
·
Gephardt had scheduled fund-raisers
in San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Jose
during his brief stay, although his campaign
declined to provide further details.
·
Clark planned a town hall meeting
Saturday afternoon at the Radisson Wilshire Plaza
Hotel in Los Angeles and an address to attorneys
from the San Francisco Bar Assn. on Sunday. He
intended to hold fund-raisers in both cities. His
staff also would not respond to requests for more
information.
·
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
planned to travel to Oakland on Sunday for a
fund-raiser sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee
(D-Oakland), the only member of the House to vote
against the war in Afghanistan.
Fox News explores the Democrats’ problem with
winning votes in the South: The last three Democratic
presidents have all come from the South. Lyndon B.
Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, sprang from Texas.
Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia and Bill
Clinton emerged from Arkansas. Conversely, presidential
candidates hailing from the North -- Michael
Dukakis, Walter Mondale and George McGovern, who
all come from states close to the Canadian border
-- were less than triumphant in their general
elections. Can anyone say, Senator Zell
Miller?
Fox News has an online story regarding how
Democrats rile against special interests and then
take their money. "What they’re saying and what
they are doing don’t quite add up," said
Republican strategist Matt Keelen. "But they’ve
been getting away with it for so long, and will
continue to until someone says, ‘This stinks!'"
Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt
each drew the support of 26 percent of Iowa
Democratic voters surveyed, while Sen. John Kerry
had 15 percent, according to the poll released by
KCCI-TV, Des Moines. Eighteen percent of those
questioned were undecided. The remaining
candidates were in single digits. The telephone
survey of 400 registered Iowa Democrats who said
they were likely to vote in the Jan. 19 precinct
caucuses was conducted Oct. 26-28 by the polling
firm ‘Research 2000.’ The margin of error was plus
or minus 4 percentage points.
* ON THE BUSH
BEAT: President Bush attended a
fund-raising luncheon in Ohio on Thursday. The
event was attended by 650 supporters, and added
$1.4 million to his campaign war chest. Laura
Bush added her voice to the effort and addressed
285 donors in Tyler, Texas. This event netted an
additional $275,000. Meanwhile, President Bush
traveled from Ohio to a fund-raising event in San
Antonio, Texas, that earned $1.2 million. This --
added to the Wednesday night fund-raiser in
Washington, where Vice President Dick Cheney was
the keynote speaker raising $475,000 for the
campaign -- brought in more than $3.3 million
within 24 hours. The Bush/Cheney campaign has
raised about $90 million for their re-election
bid. White House and the campaign staff have
announced next month's fund-raisers, indicating
the President will attend at least eight events.
The Bush/Cheney campaign plans to raise at least
$170 million for the primary cycle. The campaign
plans to accept federal funds for the general
election.
click here
Paid
for by the Iowa Presidential Watch PAC
P.O.
Box 171, Webster City, IA 50595
privacy
/ agreement
/
/ homepage
/
search engine |
