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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news">
Iowa 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.
PAGE 1
Friday,
September 5, 2003
Our next Iowa
Daily Report will be on Sunday. Have a great
weekend!
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
Trouble
in Paradise: Teresa becomes the latest to
question the Kerry campaign strategy
New SC poll:
Gephardt slides, Edwards gains – tops
field at 10% -- as four-way contest
develops, but pollster says nobody’s paying
attention to the wannabes
NY Post’s
Deborah Orin has good news for Team Bush and
Kerry’s Dem rivals – notes that
Kerry has “too many strategists (several
of them Gore veterans)” competing to
direct campaign
Debate
analysis:
AP’s political ace, Ron Fournier, says Dean
was likely winner in last night’s debate
Debate
coverage:
LA Times’ Barabak reports that Dean eludes
anticipated attacks as wannabes focus on GWB
Unfortunate discovery of the morning --
media types can’t count:
Some newscasts report that “the nine
candidates for the Democratic nomination
took after President Bush” during last
night’s debate. The problem: Sharpton
missed the debate
Editorial in
The Union Leader rips Dem hopefuls for
opposition to tax cuts
Columnist
Novak: Kerry’s announcement “generated
chuckles” from Dem lobbyists in DC, but his
efforts at political fiction and fabrication
also getting unfavorable attention
Kerry
denies campaign shakeup rumors
Christian
Science Monitor’s Liz Marlantes notes that
the six Dem debates, including last night’s,
may provide “a singular opportunity” for
rivals trying to topple Dean
In New
Hampshire, Kerry relies on Vietnam battle
cries to rally supporters – after landing on
“Bushwacker 1”
Charlotte
Observer tackles one of campaign’s most
daunting questions: “Can John Edwards so or
say anything to lift his poll numbers out of
the single digits?”
Columnist
Lambro reports that recent economic numbers
“sent a pall” over the Democratic National
Committee headquarters
In Santa
Fe, Dean “wowed ‘em again”
New York
Times report: Clark “moved a step closer
to joining the race” for Dem nomination
With
wagon now attached to Gephardt’s (fading)
star, Teamsters boss Hoffa says GWB
endorsement unlikely if Gephardt not nominee
– but the union isn’t excited wild about
other wannabes
Despite
reports that several candidates are focusing
on South Caroline, only the Lone Wannabe –
Sharpton – shows for annual SC AFL-CIO
convention
Iowa GOP
Congressman Nussle still making waves – and
headlines – for efforts to cut federal waste
Iowaism:
Increased emphasis on precision strikes in
Iraq results in emergency Rock Island
Arsenal order All these stories below and more.
Morning reports:
Central IA
newscasts report this morning that authorities
are investigating the death of a woman
whose body was found near the Ankeny exit
on Interstate 35 about 2 a.m. The reports
indicate the death is being treated as a
homicide
Morning
newscasts say the son of a Cedar Falls
woman is facing two counts of first-degree
murder. Reports say Ryan Eric Johnson, 26,
has been arrested in the deaths of Waterloo
policeman Richard Harned, 52, and his wife
Suzanne, 48, who both were found in their
Cedar Falls home early yesterday
morning after neighbors heard gunshots. Harned
was a 30-year veteran of the Waterloo Police
Department and was named officer of the year
in 1984
Radio Iowa
reports that two inmates who escaped from a
private jail in Pattonsburg, Mo., that was
housing prisoners from Polk County (Des
Moines) have not been apprehended yet.
Authorities say they believe the two are in
the Des Moines area. WHO-TV (Des
Moines) reported that it’s not know if the
two are armed, but they are considered
dangerous
WHO Radio (Des
Moines) reports that the investigation
continues into a fire that destroyed one of
Iowa’s treasured covered bridges – the
Delta bridge in Keokuk County, located
between Oskaloosa and Sigourney.
The suspicious fire occurred exactly one year
after arson destroyed the famous Cedar Bridge
in Madison County (Winterset).
Authorities said the fire started in the
middle of the pedestrian bridge, which
spans the North Skunk River.
… If Kerry starts
to look like a political punching bag, it’s
because every media player with a computer or
microphone weighs in on his ineptness. There’s
more hits on Kerry below, but we’ll start with
Deborah Orin’s commentary in yesterday’s
Washington Post. Post headline – “A far
cry from Dem-debate front-runner”
(Editor’s Note: The following column was
written prior to last night’s debate, but the
main points are still relevant.) Excerpt from
Orin’s column: “Maybe it's no surprise
that slipping Democratic presidential wannabe
John Kerry's emotions seem so close to
the surface that he burst into tears at a
jobless woman's sad story yesterday. For
many months, Kerry was riding high as the
Democratic front-runner, but now he seems to
be in freefall against surging anti-war
contender Howard Dean, and no one has more
than Kerry riding on tonight's Democratic TV
debate. Kerry (Mass.) has lost the
lead to Dean in New Hampshire, a key
state where Kerry must win the Jan. 27
primary to stay alive -- and where he's a
household name, since Massachusetts TV
blankets the Granite State…’The last
time they debated, Kerry had the most money,
was perceived to have the most solid operation
and was the perceived front-runner -- now it's
all been flipped around.’ In fact,
Kerry's own staffers stole attention from
his official campaign kickoff Tuesday as they
publicly squabbled over whether there
should be a staff shakeup. Public staff
squabbles over strategy beg questions about a
candidate's sincerity -- perhaps even about
his tears, which flowed in a response to a
woman's hardship story during a campaign stop
at a New Hampshire diner. ‘It's like a
politician kissing a baby -- I feel your pain.
Tears? Please,’ scoffed a Democratic
activist who supports a rival candidate. ‘It
looks scripted to show compassion. People lose
their jobs every day.’ The tears come at a
time when Kerry is at risk of morphing into Al
Gore, as he takes heat for being too stiff and
too ‘overconsulted’ -- with too many
strategists (several of them Gore
veterans) competing to tell him what to say.
By contrast, Dean's top strategists have
worked with him for a decade and are a tight
team.”
… Edwards
in Iowa. Edwards is scheduled to arrive in
western Iowa today for a weekend swing – in
Council Bluffs today and Sioux City
tomorrow.
…Post debate
analysis: “Democrats target Bush, not each
other, in debate that may favor front-runner”
– headline from this morning’s The Union
Leader. Excerpt from analysis by AP’s Ron
Fournier: “President Bush was an easy
target. Too easy for eight presidential
candidates who railed, in harmony, against
White House policies in Thursday night's
debate. In doing so, they failed to
distinguish themselves from each other. Their
hands-off approach may have best served Howard
Dean, the former Vermont governor who left the
debate relatively unscathed and still the
party's presidential front-runner. ‘Dean
kept his shine on,’ said Democratic strategist
Donna Brazile who managed Al Gore's
2000 presidential campaign. ‘Nobody took any
of the gloss from the type of message and the
type of campaign he's been running.’ Joe
Lieberman tried. The Connecticut senator
accused Dean of pressing for fair trade
standards that would scuttle existing treaties
and cost millions of jobs. ‘If that ever
happened, I'd say the Bush recession would be
followed by the Dean depression,’
Lieberman said. It was the type of shot
Democratic activists had expected since Dean
surged this summer to the head of the
nine-candidate field. A day before the
first major debate of the 2004 campaign, New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson spoke for the
entire party when he predicted verbal
‘fireworks.’ But there was more fizzle than
fireworks. Democrats targeted Bush, not
each other. Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts accused the president of a
‘failure of leadership’ in the world.
Lieberman said Bush has been a ‘powerful
failure’ on the economy. Sen. John Edwards
of North Carolina and Dean accused Bush of
refusing to tell the truth about the conflict
in Iraq -- both its costs and risks. But
voters already knew that the Democrats don't
like the president; they learned nothing new
Thursday night about why they should favor one
candidate over another. The campaigns are
unsure how to respond to Dean's rise. Some
strategists fear the former Vermont governor
will pull away with the nomination unless he
is confronted. Others worry that
aggressive tactics will make their candidates
look mean while firing up Dean's
backers. That may be why the most pointed
criticism came outside the University of New
Mexico's Popejoy Hall - in press releases
distributed by campaign aides and in
post-debate interviews. Away from the debate
spotlight, Lieberman said he would have
criticized more Dean policies if given the
opportunity during the 90-minute debate.
Arguments over strategies to confront Dean
have deeply divided Kerry's campaign.
The senator has criticized his own staff while
promising there will be no shake-ups. His
wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, complained publicly
that the campaign waited too long to air its
first television ads. ‘They all have to be
careful’ about attacking each other, said
Kathleen Sullivan, head of the Democratic
Party in New Hampshire. ‘Their job tonight was
to introduce themselves to voters.’…’I
don't think anybody had to win or lose tonight
- and nobody did.’”
… Debate
coverage: “Democrats Focus Fire on Bush…Eight
hopefuls save their harshest criticism for his
policies on the war and economy. Trade is one
of the few issues to divide the rivals in the
debate.” – headline from this morning’s Los
Angeles Times. Excerpt from report by the
Times’ Mark Z. Barabak: “Eight of the nine
Democratic presidential hopefuls ganged up on
President Bush on Thursday night, lashing at
his policies on issues ranging from jobs to
Iraq while generally steering clear of attacks
on each other. Former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean, who has surged to front-runner
status in the race, came away from the
90-minute debate largely unscathed, as rivals
mentioned their differences mostly in passing.
The forum's format did not give each candidate
the chance to answer every question, which
also made it more difficult to draw contrasts
or confront one another. One of the few
sharp exchanges came roughly midway through
the question-and-answer session, which took
place at the University of New Mexico. At
issue was trade. Sen. Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut said Dean's recent
statements in a Washington Post article that
U.S. trading partners should meet tough
American standards on working conditions and
environmental protections ‘would cost us
millions of jobs.’…Dean, who has come under
criticism for altering some of his stances as
his support has grown, responded that he
believed trade partners should meet
international standards, not necessarily the
tougher U.S. requirements. ‘That's a
reassuring change of position,’ Lieberman
shot back. The debate, broadcast live on
public television, brought together all but
one of the candidates for the Democratic
nomination. The Rev. Al Sharpton missed
the debate when bad weather in New York
thwarted his travel plans. While the
candidates have shared the stage several times
before, the forum came at a particularly
significant point in the Democratic race — it
was the first such event since Dean emerged as
the pacesetter in fund-raising and the leader
in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, sites of
the crucial early contests in the nominating
process. These developments had raised
expectations that many of Dean's rivals
would target him for criticism, but that did
not occur. During the debate, several of the
questions were posed in both English and
Spanish, and a handful of the candidates —
Dean, Lieberman and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of
Ohio — sprinkled in a few Spanish phrases
of their own, with varying success. Sen. John
Edwards of North Carolina drew one of
the night's biggest laughs when he mocked
Bush's habit of speaking Spanish to Latino
audiences around the country. ‘The only
Spanish he speaks when it comes to jobs is
Hasta la vista.’ Edwards said, using a
phrase associated with actor and California
gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Edwards cracked himself up; even Dean grew
a bit red-faced from laughing. Bush came
under frequent and withering attack, starting
with his foreign policy, which has long
figured to be his strongest suit in seeking
reelection. Fully a third of the debate was
devoted to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the
turbulent postwar rebuilding effort there.
The war has deeply divided the Democratic
field. Dean's relentless criticism of the war
was key to propelling him to the front of the
pack, ahead of Edwards, Lieberman, Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John
F. Kerry of Massachusetts, all of whom voted
in Congress to support the use of force
against Iraq. Dean on Thursday
mentioned his opposition to the war, but just
in passing. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida
noted his vote against last fall's resolution
authorizing the war, as did Kucinich,
who called for the immediate withdrawal of
U.S. troops from Iraq. For the most part,
though, the candidates found a consensus in
bashing Bush, saying the administration should
have worked more closely with other countries
long before it announced this week that it
wanted more help from the United Nations in
trying to stabilize Iraq.”
… It’s
probably a meaningless poll at this stage in
the process, but the movement in South
Carolina is interesting: Edwards (10%) tops
poll, Northerner Dean (9%) stronger that most
would expect, Lieberman (8%) drops to tied
with Kerry (8%), Gephardt falls from 10% to 4%
-- and 46% remain undecided. Headline from
latimes.com (Los Angeles Times): “Four
Presidential Candidates Lead Poll” Excerpt
from report by AP’s Will Lester: “Three
Democrats have pulled even with Joe Lieberman
atop a new poll in South Carolina that shows
almost half of likely primary voters remain
undecided. John Edwards, John Kerry and Howard
Dean were grouped with Lieberman, though none
were above 10 percent in the poll released
Thursday by Zogby International. Some 46
percent said they were unsure about which
candidate to back, a number unchanged from
March. Lieberman, the Connecticut
senator and Al Gore's running mate in
2000, was the leader in South Carolina polls
earlier this year, along with Rep. Dick
Gephardt of Missouri. Both have lost
ground in the state. Lieberman's
support dropped from 13 percent in July to 8
percent in the poll conducted Sept. 2-3.
Gephardt, who was at 10 percent in March,
fell to 4 percent in the recent survey.
Edwards, the senator from neighboring North
Carolina, was at 10 percent, while Dean, the
former governor of Vermont, was at 9 percent.
Kerry, the Massachusetts senator who
formally announced his candidacy in South
Carolina Tuesday, was at 8 percent. Al
Sharpton had 5 percent, and Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida had 2 percent. Retired Gen. Wesley
Clark, who is considering a run for president,
also was at 2 percent. Carol Moseley Braun and
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio were at 1
percent. Based on his survey, pollster
John Zogby said ‘this campaign is not even on
the radar screen in South Carolina.’ He said
the numbers indicate that the results in Iowa
and New Hampshire could influence the outcome
in South Carolina, which holds its primary
Feb. 3. The Iowa caucuses are Jan. 19; New
Hampshire's primary tentatively is set for
Jan. 27. Dean and Gephardt lead in Iowa,
while Dean has a double-digit advantage in New
Hampshire. The poll of 501 likely primary
voters had a margin of error of plus or minus
4.5 percentage points.”
… Headline of the
day: “Teresa gives strategy thumbs down”
– from yesterday’s Boston Herald. Coverage
by the Herald’s Andrew Miga: “You can add
Teresa Heinz Kerry to the lengthy list of
Democrats expressing doubts about how her
husband's slow-starting presidential campaign
has been run so far. Sen. John F.
Kerry's wife said yesterday she wishes
the campaign had launched TV ads two months
ago to stop former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's
summer surge. ‘I've been asking for that
for a long time,’ she said of Kerry's
three new campaign ads airing in Iowa, New
Hampshire and Boston. ‘I'm not involved in
campaign decisions. I'm only the wife.’
Heinz Kerry, a wealthy philanthropist and
longtime activist, said she often shares her
view on the issues of the day with her
husband, usually over meals. ‘I talk to him
all the time about foreign policy, the
environment, the economy, women's issues,’ she
said aboard Kerry's campaign plane as
it jetted from Iowa to New Hampshire.
Heinz Kerry, who has been freewheeling and
opinionated in recent interviews, said she has
learned to adopt a more serious approach.
‘I can't joke around anymore about myself,’
she said. ‘People take it seriously and I get
into trouble.’ She joked that her husband has
nicknamed her ‘Sassy.’”
… Columnist
Novak explores some of the “tricky”
contentions – like knowing GWB at Yale – that
challenge his credibility. He says Kerry
“looks like a trickster running for
president.” Headline from yesterday’s
Chicago Sun-Times: “For Kerry, snide comes
before and after the fall” Excerpt from
Novak column: “One reason why Sen. John
Kerry has precipitously toppled from being
putative Democratic nominee for president to a
potential also-ran was demonstrated at the
conclusion of his grueling interview on NBC's
‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. It had nothing to
do with Iraq or taxation but everything to do
with his credibility and likability.
Moderator Tim Russert ended the hourlong
program with the last blast from his massive
research. Kerry was quoted by Vogue
magazine last March as talking about George W.
Bush's ‘lack of knowledge,’ and adding this:
‘He was two years behind me at Yale, and I
knew him, and he's still the same guy.’
Implicitly, Kerry was saying the president was
the same empty-headed, hard-drinking playboy
he was in college. But when Russert twice
asked Kerry just what he meant, he
shrugged off these questions (‘I believe that
President Bush is a very likable fellow.’).
The conclusion widely drawn from that exchange
is that Kerry never knew Bush at Yale and that
he fibbed to Vogue's interviewer in trying to
denigrate the president. In fact, there is
an eyewitness: George W. Bush. He tells aides
he certainly did not know John Kerry at
Yale. Kerry, the Vietnam War
hero-turned-protester who out-debated
front-running Republican William Weld in the
1996 Massachusetts Senate race, looks like a
trickster running for president. On
Tuesday, Kerry was tricky again.
‘Re-launching’ his candidacy by announcing it
at Patriot's Point, S.C., he declared: ‘I
voted to threaten the use of force to make
Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions of
the United Nations.’ Kerry's vote, which
seemed politically prudent at the time, was to
authorize--not to threaten--force in Iraq.
Meeting privately Tuesday on another matter, a
group of Democratic political operatives
agreed that Kerry blew it that morning
when interviewed by Katie Couric on NBC's
‘Today’ program. Only a few months ago,
Kerry was the presidential choice of
establishment Democrats. He led the party's
other eight candidates in the polls, and
seemed the strongest challenger against
President Bush. All this was predicated on
getting his primary election season off to a
winning start with being the sure primary
winner in his neighboring state of New
Hampshire Jan. 27…That explains the shock
inside the Kerry camp when the Zogby Poll
showed a 21-point lead by Dean on Aug. 27.
While Kerry has certainly not abandoned
New Hampshire, his campaign team has hastened
to construct a backup position in South
Carolina. However, Kerry's opponents
privately deride the switch of his Tuesday
announcement from Boston to South Carolina,
which holds its primary one week after New
Hampshire. The Zogby Poll in July gave
Kerry 5 percent in South Carolina for
fifth place. He had not been in that state for
three months prior to his Tuesday
announcement. The announcement from the
aircraft carrier USS Yorktown generated
chuckles among the Democratic lobbyists who
met Tuesday. These savvy Democrats used
the words ‘arrogant’ and ‘attitude’ in
describing what they felt was wrong with their
former front-runner. That may stem from
Kerry's failure to come to grips with his
ambivalence on the Iraq War. On ‘Meet the
Press,’ Russert played a tape of Kerry
addressing the Senate last Oct. 9 with a
hard-line speech declaring Iraq ‘is capable of
quickly producing weaponizing’ of biological
weapons that could be delivered against ‘the
United States itself.’…’That is exactly the
point I'm making,’ Kerry replied to
Russert. ‘We were given this information by
our intelligence community.’ But as a
senator, Kerry had access to the National
Intelligence Estimate that was skeptical of
Iraqi capability. Being tricky may no longer
be as effective politically as it once was.”
… Analysts say other
wannabes may have to confront Dean before he
pulls too far ahead of them. Headline from
yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor: “Democratic
race pivots on Dean…rivals may focus as
much on the Vermonter as on Bush.” (Editor’s
Note: The following report, obviously, was
written before last night’s Dem debate, but
the content and observations are worthwhile.)
Excerpt from coverage by the Monitor’s Liz
Mariantes: “With the battle for the
Democratic presidential nomination now in the
decisive fall campaign season, the growing
dominance of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean
is changing the dynamics of the race. In a
field characterized for months by evenly
matched contenders - and no real stars - Dr.
Dean is suddenly setting the pace,
presenting his opponents with both a standard
and a target. Already, candidates such as
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry are stepping up
their criticisms of Dean, even as they
scramble to adopt some of his tactics. The
attacks are likely to take a more pointed tone
beginning [last night], when all nine
candidates assemble in New Mexico for the
first of six fall debates. For rivals
looking to topple the surging Dean, the
debates may provide a singular opportunity
- as one famously did for Vice President
Walter Mondale in 1984 when he brought a halt
to Sen. Gary Hart's surging campaign with his
pointed line, ‘Where's the beef?’ Yet the
candidates face significant risks in trying to
bring Dean down - and most are likely to
approach the task with caution. Not only
can attacks easily tar the person launching
them as much as their intended object, they
could also inflame Dean's supporters.
Still, analysts say Dean's mounting
strength may well force his rivals to confront
him directly before he pulls too far ahead.
‘Right now, Dean has the momentum,
and it's not apparent that momentum can be
broken unless he screws up - or unless his
opponents raise or point to an issue that puts
him on the defensive,’ says Stuart
Rothenberg, a political analyst. Most rival
campaigns profess themselves unconcerned by
Dean's apparent strength. Although polls
show the former governor with widening leads
in key primary states such as New Hampshire
and Iowa, some argue much of this momentum can
be attributed to Dean's early spate of
TV advertising -- a move other candidates are
only now following. In national surveys,
however, Dean still trails the better-known
Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Richard
Gephardt among registered Democrats…Regardless
of which candidate is most threatened,
analysts agree that the rest of the field is
now essentially fighting to become the
alternative to Dean - which means the fight
will likely take a sharper turn. ‘It will
get a good deal more nasty because now the
battle is for second place,’ says Emmett Buell,
an expert on the primary process at Denison
University. The candidate who successfully
claims that position, Professor Buell notes,
‘might well have a better chance’ of winning
in the end, particularly if Dean
stumbles or is unable to convince voters of
his electability in a matchup with President
Bush.”
… Kerry
just might be overdoing his emphasis on
Vietnam background as he directs supports in
New Hampshire to “lock and load.” On the other
hand, what more can be expected of a guy who
calls his campaign plane “Bushwacker 1”?
Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Kerry
hits Bush policies in a pair of NH stops”
Excerpt from coverage by the UL’s Nancy
Meersman and Kimberly Houghton: “John
Kerry made a short but lively appearance in
Manchester yesterday to round up New Hampshire
supporters and tell them to ‘lock and load’ as
they departed in a 10-bus caravan to Boston.
Senator Kerry’s home state of
Massachusetts was the last stop in his two-day
‘American Courage’ tour marking the
official launch of his ‘fight’ theme campaign
for President. ‘I just flew in on
Bushwhacker I,’ Democrat Kerry
declared to loud cheers and the waving of
signs by several hundred people in ‘American
Courage’ T-shirts who rallied outside his
campaign headquarters. Kerry, a
decorated Vietnam War veteran, said it was
time for Americans to ‘take care of each other
the way the veterans did’ and to work together
to change the course set by Republican
President George Bush. With rock oldies
blaring from speakers, he urged his supporters
to fight to ‘take back the White House’
reminding them of the Vietnam battle cries
‘rock ‘n’ roll’ and ‘lock and load.’…’We need
to turn this country around, and those are not
just words,’ Kerry said. Kerry,
59, has slipped in the polls, to about 20
points behind former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean. Kerry brushed aside questions
about how he would catch up to Dean. ‘The
challenges we face are the same as they were a
month ago or six months ago,’ he said. ‘People
have not made a decision yet.’ New
Hampshire supporters also shrugged off what
has been described as Kerry’s ‘free-fall.’
They say that poll results are meaningless
this early in the primary season. ‘It’s too
early to tell. A lot of candidates start off
fast but that doesn’t count,’ said Cheryl
Vezina of Manchester. ‘We have to do something
to turn the economy around. I think Kerry
can do that.’”
… Sharpton blasts
Bush and moderate Democrats during appearance
before South Carolina AFL-CIO convention in
Myrtle Beach. Excerpt from report by
Myrtle Beach Sun News’ Kevin Wiatrowski: “The
Rev. Al Sharpton brought his
presidential campaign to the Grand Strand on
Wednesday when he addressed the annual meeting
of the S.C. chapter of the AFL-CIO.
Sharpton is one of nine Democrats
competing to face President Bush in 2004.
All nine were invited to attend the
convention, said chapter president Donna
DeWitt, but Sharpton has been the only one to
respond so far. South Carolina holds its
Democratic primary Feb. 3. Sharpton's
speech drew strong applause from convention
members. But, for some, that momentary support
was tempered by concern over Sharpton's
viability as a winning candidate. ‘He's
got a lot to say,’ said Willie Rawl of
Columbia. ‘But I don't give him much chance of
winning.’ Sharpton blasted both Bush
and moderate Democrats, whom he described as
‘elephants in donkey jackets.’ Moderate
Democrats, with their tendency to support
scaled-down versions of Republican proposals,
are making their party an imitation of the
opposition, Sharpton said. That's a fatal
problem, he said. ‘The only reason Bush is
in the White House now is we did not correct
what was wrong with our party,’ Sharpton
said. Democrats must return to their roots,
supporting working people over business
owners, Sharpton said. ‘We don't represent
the part of America that believes workers in
America are expendable and profits are the
only goal,’ Sharpton said. ‘We are
talking about reaching those who have been
marginalized and disaffected.’”
… For
Teamsters, apparently, it will be Gephardt –
or nothing. Hoffa says GWB endorsement not
likely if Gephardt not the nominee, but other
Dems not that attractive. Excerpt from
report by AP’s Leigh Strope: “Teamsters
chief James P. Hoffa says President Bush
doesn't understand the economy or the problems
of working families, and despite overtures
from the White House, it ‘would be difficult
to imagine’ the union endorsing him for
president next year. The union, which
celebrates its 100th anniversary this weekend,
has announced it is backing Rep. Dick
Gephardt in the Democratic primaries to
challenge Bush next year. But some
Republicans had hoped that, should Gephardt
fail to win the Democratic nomination, the
Teamsters might back Bush in the general
election. The Teamsters have a history of
playing both sides of the political fence,
going back to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan,
and the Bush administration has tried to woo
Hoffa since taking office. But Hoffa, in an
interview Wednesday with The Associated Press,
made clear that the White House overtures,
which included a special seat at Bush's first
State of the Union speech, would not pay off
in next year's election. ‘I don't think he
understands the economy,’ Hoffa said. ‘He
doesn't understand the problems working
families are having -- losing their jobs,
plants are closing. He doesn't feel their
pain, and I think that's unfortunate.’ A
Bush endorsement ‘would be difficult to
imagine,’ Hoffa said. ‘The administration
would have to change its ways.’ At the same
time, however, the union isn't enthralled with
the other Democrats running for president,
leaving open the possibility that it could
remain neutral in the general election if
Gephardt isn't on the Democratic ticket.”
… The Great Edwards
Challenge – getting out of single digits.
Headline from yesterday’s Charlotte Observer:
“What can Edwards do to stand out?…Political
observers say attacking front-runner Dean
might backfire” (Editor’s Note: This article
was written – obviously – prior to last
night’s debate, but the central points are
well-taken.) Excerpt from coverage by Tim Funk
of the Observer’s Washington Bureau: “Can
John Edwards do or say anything to lift his
poll numbers out of the single digits? And
will anybody be watching this 90-minute debate
on a night when ABC plans to air a Super
Bowl-size NFL kickoff, complete with a
pre-game concert featuring Britney Spears,
Aerosmith, Mary J. Blige and 25,000 U.S.
troops? Even presidential handicapper
Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan
Rothenberg Political Report, says he'll skip
the debate's final half hour to watch the
Washington Redskins take on the New York Jets.
Still, he and other pundits say, tonight's
debate -- the first of six to be sponsored by
the Democratic Party -- does offer Dean's
opponents an opportunity to take back some of
the buzz that's belonged to the former Vermont
governor all summer. Take Edwards,
for example. Once the fresh face many were
betting would break out, the N.C. senator is
now struggling to re-enter that top tier of
candidates. So far, not even the $12 million
he has raised has made him a contender in
Iowa, where he's at 6 percent in the polls, or
New Hampshire, where he's at 4 percent.
Edwards needs to do a better job, the pundits
say, at calling attention to himself. ‘He
needs to hit the Democratic Party across the
face with a wet sponge,’ Rothenberg says, …What
viewers need to see when they look at Edwards,
says veteran presidential campaign chronicler
Jack Germond, is someone who seems
presidential. ‘The debates should give
(him) this opportunity,’ says Germond, who has
covered races for the White House since 1960.
‘He'll be one of the two or three new faces
for viewers who tune in to the debate. They'll
have to cross the threshold of becoming
presidential.’ Exuding a presidential
personality and vision in the coming debates
may be particularly crucial for Edwards, says
CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. Even
though Edwards just turned 50, ‘he
looks too young and inexperienced’ to be
president, says Schneider, who evaluates poll
findings for the cable news network…One way
to get buzz from the debate is to go on the
attack -- a sound bite that zings front-runner
Dean is a cinch to make the evening news,
the pundits say. But putdowns can end up
boomeranging, they are quick to add.
‘Somebody needs to attack Dean,’
Rothenberg says. ‘The problem is, whoever
does the attacking may increase his own
negative (approval ratings) as well as Dean's.
Plus, it's almost a signal of real fear that
Dean is opening up a big lead. So
everybody will want somebody else to do the
group's dirty work rather than do it
themselves.’ Still, Rothenberg and the
others say they won't be surprised at all to
see more subtle pokes at Dean. John Kerry, for
example, may allude to Dean's opposition to
federal gun control and his call for rolling
back all of President Bush's tax cuts --
even those going into the pockets of
middle-class families. Another thing to watch
for is how certain candidates appeal to
certain groups of voters. While Dean
has the backing of what Rothenberg calls the
upscale ‘Volvo-canapé crowd,’ Edwards and
Dick Gephardt have been wooing blue-collar and
small-town voters.”
… “General
Clark Edges Closer Toward Entry Into Campaign”
– headline from yesterday’s New York Times.
Report says at times he “sounded very much
like a candidate.” Excerpt from coverage
by the Times. Michael Cooper: “Gen. Wesley K.
Clark, who has been thinking about
running for president as a Democrat, moved a
step closer to joining the race yesterday by
announcing that he is indeed a Democrat.
General Clark, who was the supreme allied
commander of NATO, said he had still not made
up his mind about running. But after months of
saying he belonged to no political party, he
announced in an interview on CNN and later at
a forum at New York University that he was a
Democrat. At the forum, which was held by
the Oxonian Society, the four-star general,
who attended Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, at
times sounded very much like a candidate.
He criticized the Bush administration,
saying it should have appealed to the United
Nations for help in Iraq long ago, lamented
the United States' loss of jobs and framed
what he said he saw as the issues in the
coming presidential election. ‘The real
issue in this election is going to be whether
we believe in a two-party system and the
ability of reasonable people of good intent to
disagree and work through those disagreements
to produce a higher-level product for the
American people,’ said General Clark,
who is retired. And, weaving the themes of his
military service and his vision for the
country together, he said: ‘I fought for the
right of people to disagree. I fought for the
right of people to protest. I fought for the
right of people to question the president, and
not just to question, you know, what did he
eat today and how far did he run.’…’I fought
for the right of privacy,’ he went on. ‘I
fought for freedom from government intrusion
of our personal lives. I fought for the belief
that every American is a human being who is
worthy of respect and who should be treated
fairly and equally, regardless of race,
religion, creed, sexual orientation or any
other discriminating factor.’ General Clark
spoke of experiences leading the campaign in
Kosovo, did an uncanny impression of Slobodan
Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president,
and praised former President Bill Clinton, a
fellow Arkansan and Rhodes scholar, as a
‘tremendous leader.’ He was received
enthusiastically by the Oxonians, including
some who said they were Republicans.
Outside the forum, several groups that have
been trying to draft General Clark to run for
president handed out fliers and Clark candy
bars.”
… Dean
apparently dazzles coffee house crowd in Santa
Fe – or at least one reporter believes he did.
Report – an excerpt – by the New Mexican’s
Steve Terrell: “Howard Dean wowed ‘em
again. The former governor of Vermont, who
in the last two months has become the surprise
front-runner for the Democratic nomination,
was interrupted by loud applause several
times Wednesday as he gave an off-the-cuff pep
talk to supporters who filled Tribes
Coffee House in downtown Santa Fe. About 100
people filled the Mideastern-decorated coffee
house. Another 150 or so lined up in the
covered pathway leading from Tribes to San
Francisco street, where they listened to his
talk over speakers. The crowd even spilled
over onto the sidewalk outside the hallway.
The appearance was at one of the monthly
‘meet-ups’ local Dean supporters
organized through the http://meetup.com Web
site…He was the only one of the nine
Democratic candidates to make a public
appearance in Santa Fe on the eve of the
Albuquerque debate. The crowd wasn’t quite
as large as the one Dean attracted to
the Plaza on a Saturday afternoon in late
June. But it wasn’t bad for a rainy
Wednesday night in Santa Fe. Dean,
who has taken some guff in the campaign
because he is not tall — spoke on a stage atop
what looked like a soap box wrapped in
campaign banners. But he appeared comfortable
talking to the crowd and later taking their
questions. He hit upon his standard themes,
ripping into President Bush for the war in
Iraq and what he said was deception the
administration used to justify the war. He
also blasted Bush for the economy and for
using racial ‘code words’ when the
administration intervened in the University of
Michigan affirmative-action case in the U.S.
Supreme Court.”
… “Tax cuts work:
Will someone please tell Gephardt?” –
headline on editorial in yesterday’s The Union
Leader. Excerpt: “Americans received the
latest round of President Bush’s tax cuts in
July. That’s when withholdings were adjusted
and child-tax-credit rebates arrived in
mailboxes. It is no coincidence that
consumer spending took a relatively large jump
that same month. Consumer spending rose by
0.8 percent in July, double the previous
month. It was the highest increase since
January 2002, and it was caused directly by
the tax cuts. Government figures show that
three-fourths of that increase came from the
extra cash put into consumers’ hands by the
tax cuts. Had the federal government not
handed that money back to the people who
earned it, consumer spending would have risen
only 0.2 percent. What is more, the tax cuts
also stimulated an increase in the personal
savings rate. For Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt,
and other Democrats who claim that tax cuts
don’t stimulate the economy, last month’s
numbers prove them flat wrong. They will not
acknowledge this, however. They will
continue to denounce tax cuts as sinister
‘giveaways for the rich’ even as the evidence
to the contrary stares them straight in the
face. ‘As President I’ll get rid of the
Bush tax cuts and use the money to get
everybody health insurance,’ Gephardt said at
the annual AFL-CIO Labor Day breakfast in
Manchester on Monday, just three days
after this economic data was released. Way
to pay attention, congressman. Just when
the tax cuts are starting to turn the economy
around, he would suck all that money back out
of the economy, where people are spending it
and saving it according to their own choosing,
and redirect it to another expensive federal
entitlement program.”
… The story
that – unfortunately for John Kerry – has been
surfacing over and over during the week.
Under the subhead “Kerry’s denial,”
Greg Pierce was the latest to report on rumors
of a Kerry staff shakeup in yesterday’s
“Inside Politics” column. Excerpt from the
Washington Times: “On
Tuesday, his first day as an official
Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry
did not get past his second campaign stop
before having to deny a staff shake-up was in
the works. It was the last thing Mr.
Kerry needed on a day his campaign was
getting heavy media attention to his entry
into the race, and he hoped to focus it on
sharp differences he has with President Bush. Talk
of changes in Mr. Kerry's campaign have
surfaced as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean
surged past Mr. Kerry in fund raising and
opinion polls in key early states like Iowa
and New Hampshire. Mr. Dean's
charge has ended the perception of Mr.
Kerry as the presumptive front-runner. Mr.
Kerry's political free fall has prompted a
fresh round of finger-pointing in his campaign
and has the candidate considering changes,
according to several campaign officials who
spoke on the condition of
anonymity. Initially, Mr. Kerry said he
had not considered a shake-up, though he
sounded as if changes could be made. ‘You
always hold the possibility open if
something's not working, you do something,’
Mr. Kerry said. ‘I always reserve the
right to do what I need to do to run a good
campaign.’ Mr. Kerry huddled with top
aides after the exchange, and quickly issued a
terse statement, the Associated Press
reports. ‘I have confidence in my campaign,’
the Massachusetts senator said. ‘I have
assembled a great team that is going to beat
George W. Bush, and any rumors to the contrary
are completely erroneous and there will be no
changes.’”
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