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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
Wednesday,
September 10, 2003
Notable Quotable:
“Here’s what I see happening in the 2004
presidential race: Al Gore is watching
President Bush. Hillary Clinton is
watching Gore. Bush is watching
Hillary and the Democrats are watching
Dean.” – Dick Morris, in New
York Post column
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
Headline
from yesterday’s New York Times: “Senator
Clinton Says No to ’04, but Playfulness
Hints at Yes”
Boston
columnist notes that Kerry is getting
beat by a guy who used to spend his time
“speaking to the Montpelier Elks”
At
Baltimore debate, Dems continue attacks on
Bush – probably because they can’t find
anything else to agree on
Kerry –
playing electric guitar – to join music
sensation Moby tonight at Boston event:
“John Kerry Unplugged”
Washington
Post’s Kurtz: Dean may be the real deal –
and there’s even a “Republicans for Dean”
website
Dean
keeps battling – and arguing – his way
through the wannabe field: Now Gephardt –
like Kerry and Lieberman before him – is
taking Dean on over SC radio spots
Morris
reports that Gore and Hillary are under
“tremendous intra-party pressure” to run,
especially as Dean gains momentum
Report: More
Jewish voters supporting Republicans
Unlike
Edwards – who has rejected Senate
re-election bid to run for the presidency –
Graham not closing out any options
Dean
bandwagon keeps on rolling – nearly 4,000
show up University of Maryland appearance
Dem
hopefuls continue to make anti-Bush attacks
centerpiece of their efforts to land major
union endorsements
South
Carolina report: Edwards expected to
become “a campaign fixture” in state with
decision to not seek Senate re-election All these stories below and more. Morning reports:
… Sioux City
Journal reports that the area “dodged a
monster bullet, but still took a hit”
yesterday when Gateway Inc. cut about 10% of
its workforce – 850 jobs. Only 100 jobs
will be eliminated at Gateway’s North Sioux
City facility
…Morning news reports say the Marion County (Pella,
Knoxville) Board of Supervisors is
looking into additional insurance coverage for
two covered bridges in the area. The
action was taken after two covered bridges –
one in Keokuk County (Sigourney) last
week and another in Madison County (Winterset)
a year ago – were destroyed by suspected
arsonists. Authorities believe an arsonist
tried to burn a third Madison County covered
bridge over the weekend, but it was
extinguished by a passerby.
… So, if Gore sees a
real possibility to beat GWB, does Hillary
decide to jump into the wannabe pool, too?
Dick Morris says Gore would “make quick work
of Dean” and enter general election as
favorite -- but Hillary would be “most
unhappy.” Headline on Morris column in
yesterday’s New York Post: “As Dubya sinks,
Al & Hill scheme” Excerpt: “Here’s what
I see happening in the 2004 presidential race:
Al Gore is watching President Bush. Hillary
Clinton is watching Gore. Bush is watching
Hillary and the Democrats are watching Dean.
Everything clear? Here's the long version:
Bush's poll numbers continue to tank. The
Zogby poll has his job approval at 45 percent,
a drop of seven points since August and 19
since last year…The Fox News/Opinion
Dynamic poll shows that Bush would get only 50
percent of the vote in a trial heat against
Gore. It would be a rerun of 2000 -- and
we'd still be waiting up all night to learn
the count in Florida. But the Democrats
know that the president has an ace up his
sleeve: Howard Dean. This ultra-liberal, who
Bush could defeat with his eyes closed, is
racing into the lead in the Democratic field.
The latest Boston Globe poll shows the former
Vermont governor beating John Kerry in
New Hampshire, a state each must win to
survive, by 38 percent to 26 percent. (And
with 54 percent of former McCain voters
backing Dean.) Richard Gephardt,
who must win in Iowa, and John Edwards,
who must win South Carolina, also face Dean
surges in those key states. So Bush can
hope Dean's surge continues and presents a
McGovernesque target for him in November.
But Democrats are slowly waking up to the
possibility that they may have the '04
election in their grasp, only to throw it away
on the Dean candidacy. This is generating
tremendous intra-party pressure on Gore and
Hillary to run. My guess is that
Hillary would be just as happy to see
Dean win the nomination and get
slaughtered in November by Bush. That would
make W a two-term president despite having no
real base of popularity, and open the way for
her to run in 2008. Since Dean has no
chance of beating Bush, she needn't worry
that an incumbent Democratic president would
bar her way until 2012, when she'll be 65. But
Gore may suddenly see a real possibility of
a straight run for the nomination and a
general-election win. A review of the donor
lists of the Democratic contenders shows that
most of the former vice president's money
people are still sitting out the race. Were he
to run, Gore would force out most of the other
Democrats and likely make quick work of Dean.
In November, Gore would enter the
election as the favorite against Bush. But
Hillary would be most unhappy to see
Gore get the nod. Since Al would be
a good bet to win, her nightmare scenario of a
Bush defeat and no open field in 2008 would be
coming to pass. So should Gore begin to
make a move, Hillary will likely get into the
race to pre-empt him. The White House must
realize the temptation the president's low
ratings pose for Gore and Hillary, and
understands that if Bush's numbers keep
sinking the pressure for one or both of these
heavyweights to run may prove irresistible.
So Karl Rove et al are scrambling to raise
Bush's numbers in the crucial next 40 to 50
days, during which Hillary and Gore
must make their move or watch the filing
deadlines for the primaries pass them by.
Hence the speech to the nation on Sunday, the
TV movie about Bush on the same night and the
focus on the 9/11 anniversary, all designed to
raise the president's polling and keep the big
guns out of the Democratic presidential
sweepstakes.” (Editor’s Note: Two related
reports below – New York Times writes about
Hillary hints about possible ’04 bid and
Washington Post’s Kurtz reports that Dean’s
detractors believe he’s “for real” and could
be Dem nominee.)
* IOWA PRES
WATCH SIDEBAR: In yesterday’s “Best of the Web
Today” column on OpinionJournal.com, James
Taranto wrote “the Jerusalem Post quotes
Dean as uttering one of those bloopers that
the media would trumpet as proof of his
stupidity if he were a Republican. Asked
about his views on the Israeli-Arab conflict,
here's what he said: ‘The two-state solution
is a solution that I support and I believe is
the ultimate way to peace in the Middle East.
And we're going to have to be the honest
broker. The Americans are the only people who
can broker that, and I wish the president had
spent more time on the Middle East and less
time on Iraq.’ More time in the Mideast and
less time in Iraq? That's like saying you
should get out of Indianapolis and go to the
Midwest.”
… “Democratic
hopefuls debate, attack Bush on war policy,
spending” – headline from this morning’s
Chicago Tribune. Excerpt from coverage of last
night’s debate in Baltimore: “Two days
before the second anniversary of the brutal
attacks that solidified President Bush's
credibility and trust as a national leader,
the Democrats fighting for his seat in the
White House blamed the administration Tuesday
night for abandoning the war against terrorism
and failing to win the peace in Iraq. In
their second debate of the fall campaign, the
party's nine presidential candidates delivered
broad, harsh critiques of Bush's approach to
foreign policy in Iraq and throughout the
Middle East, while questioning whether the
U.S. could afford to spend $87 billion
stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq. The
acrimonious remarks, unthinkable two years
ago, underscored the notion that the political
stage is again level and a bitterly
competitive 2004 presidential primary and
general election campaign awaits. ‘They
promised us bin Laden. We are almost at the
second anniversary. Where is bin Laden?’
demanded civil rights activist Al Sharpton,
referring to Osama bin Laden, the mastermind
of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ‘That's what
we need to ask George Bush.’ The Democratic
presidential contenders, in a 90-minute debate
at Morgan State University here, also took new
shots at one another as they sought to
distinguish their own candidacies four months
before the primary election season begins.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut
accused Howard Dean, the former Vermont
governor who has ascended to the top of the
field, of turning his back on Israel and
accused him of wanting to reverse a
half-century of U.S. policy there. In a sharp
rebuttal, Dean said he held the same views as
former President Bill Clinton and rebuked
Lieberman. ‘It doesn't help, Joe, to
demagogue this issue,’ said Dean, who
last week drew fire when he said the U.S.
should not take sides in the region. ‘We're
all Democrats. We need to beat George Bush so
we can have peace in the Middle East.’ Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, one of two
presidential candidates in Congress who voted
against the war, blamed Rep. Richard Gephardt
of Missouri for failing to stand up to Bush
before the president launched the strike on
Iraq. ‘When you were standing there in the
Rose Garden with the president and you were
giving him advice, I wish that you would have
told him no,’ said Kucinich, whose
remarks were heavily applauded by the
Democratic audience. "Your position helped to
inform mightily the direction of the war."
Gephardt, who has become critical of the
war, said: ‘This president's foreign policy is
a miserable failure.’ Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida, the other candidate who voted against
the war, waved a copy of the congressional war
resolution in his hand as he reminded fellow
Democrats that they are partly responsible for
the precarious military state in Iraq.
‘Those who voted for that gave the president a
blank check,’ Graham said. ‘We cannot
trust this president with a blank check.’ Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts defended
his support of the resolution, saying ‘it was
the right vote’ because the fear of weapons of
mass destruction in the hands of Saddam
Hussein was too great a risk to ignore. But
Kerry said the administration has blundered in
its handling of postwar Iraq and said he
opposed sending more American forces into the
country.”
… Now that Edwards
has ruled out Senate re-election bid,
expectations increase in South Carolina that
he’ll be a top player. Headline from
yesterday’s Charleston Post and Courier: “Edwards
likely to wage key campaign in S. C.”
Excerpt from report by Schuyler Kropf: “North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards' announcement that
he'll stick to one term in the U.S. Senate and
will run solely for the White House makes it
more likely he'll become a campaign fixture in
South Carolina, political observers say.
With a tight pack of northern Democrats
fighting over Iowa and New Hampshire, Edwards
has to finish near the top in South Carolina's
Feb. 3 primary or face the prospects of
packing it in, said Wofford College political
scientist Robert Jeffrey. Edwards told the
North Carolina Democratic Party he would not
seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Although his decision was not unexpected, it
removes any doubt he might be distracted by
running two races at once. ‘It's a sign he's
serious about being a presidential candidate,’
Jeffrey said. Reports from Iowa and New
Hampshire indicate Edwards is not drawing the
interest some other candidates are getting,
particularly former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Because of that, following a strategy that
concentrates on South Carolina might be a good
one for Edwards to follow, Jeffrey said.
‘The way it looks now, everybody is going to
come out of Iowa and New Hampshire behind
Dean, so it's who is going to be left,’ he
said. ‘Edwards will be there because no one
expects him to win up there anyway.’ A
poll of South Carolina voters released last
week showed Edwards leading the
Democrat contenders in the state, though
almost half of the likely primary voters
remain undecided, and the margin of error
makes the race a statistical tie. Edwards
was at 10 percent; Dean was at 9
percent; Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry
was at 8 percent; and Connecticut Sen. Joe
Lieberman was at 8 percent in the poll
released by Zogby International. About 46
percent of those surveyed said they were
unsure about which candidate to back, a number
unchanged from March.”
… Boston
columnist attempts to advise Kerry: Says it's
time to put down the hairbrush, heat up the
campaign and lighten up. Notes that no matter
what happens, the Mass Sen will still have
houses in Georgetown, Beacon Hill, Idaho and
Nantucket. Headline on Brian McGrory’s
column in yesterday’s Boston Globe:
“Where’s the beef, Kerry?” Excerpt: “John,
put that hairbrush down and pull yourself away
from the mirror for a second. We need to have
a little talk. What's that, you're not
sure you want to sit? You'd like to sit some
of the time and stand some of the time? You're
saying that by sitting, that in no way means
you don't like standing? OK, but that's
exactly what we need to address. You were
supposed to be a maverick, a thoroughbred,
galloping toward the Democratic nomination
with all those glue horses in futile pursuit.
But what's happened is, you're starting to
look like a jackass. In New Hampshire,
you're 12 points down in a Globe poll to a guy
nobody knew back in May. Howard Dean? When
you were railing on the Senate floor about
huge national issues, he was, what, speaking
to the Montpelier Elks? When you were
fighting in Vietnam, he was, where, in a white
coat learning how to give a flu shot? So how
did this happen? All that stuff in your
speeches about you being a courageous soldier
with years and years of experience in
international affairs -- can it. Can the
impatient air of entitlement. Biography
rarely wins an election, especially in modern
times. Ask John Glenn. It gets you a seat at
the table -- and in your case, a seat at the
head of the table. But voters are fickle.
They take your past for granted; they care
more about their future and what you're saying
about it. Can, too, the campaign of
inevitability. The scariest aspect of the
Globe poll wasn't that you're down by 12
percent in a state that's turning into a
Boston suburb. It's that people believe Dean
is as capable as you of beating Bush. All
that blathers from your staff about Dean
being from an insignificant state? You've
heard of Bill Clinton, right? Before he was a
New Yorker he came from Arkansas. Forget, as
well, your creed that we can't afford a
president who needs on-the-job training.
Prancing around Washington with a Senate pin
on your lapel is not the best preparation to
live in the White House. In fact, the last
senator to get there was John Kennedy;
meantime, four of the last five presidents
were governors. Hate to say it, but your
resume is not your friend. It's early, you
like to say, and in some ways you're right.
But perceptions have already been formed by
opinion leaders. Campaign contributions have
already sculpted paths of little resistance.
Heading into the final stretch, every
candidate has been assigned a role, and yours
is of the waffling patrician disconnected from
the common man. So what to do? First,
heat up. Dean looks angry, like someone
just wrecked the car. You look confused, like
someone just stole yours. Second, lighten
up. This should be fun, running for
president, one of life's great experiences,
and win or lose, you're still going to have
houses in Georgetown, Beacon Hill, Idaho, and
Nantucket. Third, give us clear reason.
Nearly every president had a short message.
Richard Nixon was law and order; Jimmy Carter
was honesty; Ronald Reagan was strength and
optimism; Bill Clinton was economy and
empathy; George W. Bush is -- well, I'm not
sure, which is part of the point. Your
slogan – ‘The courage to do what's right for
America’ -- is one of the worst ever.
Fourth, speak from your heart, not your
memory. The public wants conviction, not
know-it-all nuance…The voters not only know
sincerity, they demand it. There's a lot of
politics to be played in the next four-plus
months, and you've proven in the past that you
know how to play it well. The lip-lock
between Dean and the national press will
inevitably end, and be sure that some tearing
down will begin. When that happens, it will
again be up to you.”
… “Bush’s
Worst Nightmare?” – headline on
Howard Kurtz’ media column yesterday on
washingtonpost.com. Excerpt from Kurtz’
column: “Even Howard Dean's detractors now
believe he's for real. Real as in: Scoff all
you want, this guy actually could be
president. The good doctor's media
treatment has gone through several distinct
phases. First he was the colorful gadfly who
had no chance of winning the nomination but
was getting plenty of press. Then he was the
serious threat who was suddenly raising
truckloads of cash through some kind of
Internet alchemy. Then he was magically
declared the front-runner, but one who,
critics said, would lead the Democrats to an
'04 defeat of McGovern or Mondale proportions.
Now even some conservatives are saying: watch
out. And there's a Web site called Republicans
for Dean. The new perspective may be
driven in part by Bush's declining popularity
(45 percent, says Zogby) as Iraq turns from
glorious victory to albatross. But it also
reflects a realization that Howard III is hard
to pigeonhole as an unabashed lefty. Yes,
he was against the war, wants to roll back the
Bush tax cuts and approved gay civil unions in
Vermont. But he also governed as a fiscal
conservative, won business support and got
high marks from the NRA. I don't know
whether Dean is a nimble enough politician to
broaden his appeal from angry underdog to
potential commander-in-chief. You saw
signs of that in the New Mexico debate, when
he stressed that he supported the Persian Gulf
and Afghanistan wars rather than harping on
his opposition to the Iraq invasion. As I
noted Sunday in a Washington Post story,
Dean's advertising has been all
issue-driven, as opposed to the biographical
spots that Edwards and Gephardt
are running. Dean rarely talks about his
background, or his wife (who doesn't do the
campaign thing) or the death of his brother.
But at some point he will have to give the
public more of a peek into his persona, if
only because modern campaigning seems to
require that.”
… Although Edwards
as cleared up the NC Senate situation (by
dropping out). Graham – who’s rapidly becoming
the nuttiest of the Dem wannabes – passes on
chance to clarify FL Senate race. Headline
from this morning’s The Union Leader: “Graham
coy on Senate” Excerpt from AP
report: “Democrat John Edwards has
made his preference clear -- yes on the
presidency, no on a second term in the Senate.
Bob Graham declined to be as definitive
Tuesday. For months, the Florida lawmaker
has said his name won't be on the ballot in
next year's Senate election because he will
already be the Democratic presidential
nominee. But he has never ruled out pursuing a
fourth term if his presidential bid falters.
Graham continued to parse his words
carefully Tuesday as reporters questioned him
during a conference call to discuss education
funding. ‘I have made that decision and
that decision is that I'm running for
president of the United States and I'm not
running for any other position,’ Graham
said. Pressed on whether he might seek
re-election in the future, Graham
shrugged off the question. Instead, he
expressed confidence in his presidential
campaign, saying he would have a solid quarter
raising money. The period ends Sept. 30.
‘We're focused on being the 44th president of
the United States,’ Graham said.
Graham was asked about his plans two days
after North Carolina's Edwards, one of
Graham's rivals for the nomination, said he
would not seek another term in the Senate so
he could focus on a presidential bid. For
months, Graham has encouraged potential
successors to start working on their bids to
replace him in the Senate. ‘I've told those
candidates who have expressed their interest
that they should start their engines, begin
organizing and fund raising to maximize their
chances of success,’ he said Tuesday. “
… IOWA PRES
WATCH SIDEBAR: Both House wannabes – Gephardt
and Kucinich – were AWOL yesterday when the
House defied a threatened presidential veto to
lift a four-decade ban on travel to Cuba. By a
227-188 margin, the House approved the
amendment – after AZ GOP Rep. Flake said it
the Cuba travel ban was “not only ineffective,
(but) it curbs the basic American freedom to
travel and to export America ideals and
values.” Although both Gephardt and Kucinich
missed the vote, all five Iowa congressmen
were on hand – GOP Reps. Latham, Leach and
Nussle as well as Dem Rep. Boswell supported
lifting the travel ban while western IA GOP
Congressman King opposed it.
… Dean vs.
Gephardt. After already going a few rounds
against Kerry and Lieberman, Dean now finds
that Gephardt is on the attack. Headline
from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “Gephardt
takes issue with Dean radio ads” Excerpt
from report – dateline: Columbia, SC – by AP’s
Jennifer Holland: “Democratic presidential
hopeful Dick Gephardt took issue with rival
Howard Dean's South Carolina radio ads Monday,
saying the message misleads voters on a
critical issue -- the fight for jobs.
Dean, the former Vermont governor who
became the front-runner after a summer surge
in the polls and in fund raising, has become a
target of his opponents in the race for the
White House. Gephardt, who has not run any
television or radio ads in South Carolina,
says he wants to set the record straight when
Dean's ads ask ‘has anyone really stood up
against George Bush and his policies?’…”I
believe that I am the one Democrat who has
stood against unfair trade on NAFTA (and) on
China, while other candidates like Howard [Dean]
and John Kerry and others were favoring
those treaties,’ Gephardt said.
‘They are Johnny-come-lately on this issue.’
The Missouri congressman said his fight for
fair trade deals sets him apart from the eight
other Democrats vying for the presidential
nomination. ‘I don't think it's accurate
to say he's the only Democrat who stood up
against President Bush on the jobs issue,’
Gephardt told The Associated Press. The
latest polls show Gephardt trailing
Dean in South Carolina and New Hampshire
but tying him for the lead in Iowa…Dean's
campaign launched the ads statewide Saturday
to attract black voters, who could make up
almost half the electorate in the state's
first-in-the-South primary Feb. 3. ‘If the
Gephardt campaign would like to take out an ad
to discuss how the congressman has stood up to
the president on the issue of fair trade, they
are more than welcome.” said Tricia
Enright, a Dean campaign spokeswoman.
While Gephardt said he plans to hit
South Carolina airwaves soon, a campaign
spokeswoman said the former U.S. House
minority leader also wanted to follow up on
what his opponents said during last week's
Democratic presidential debate in New Mexico.
‘When it comes to trade, Dick wants to
make sure South Carolina voters understand
that he is the only candidate running for
president who has a record on trade of
standing up for American jobs,’ said campaign
spokeswoman Kim Molstre. ‘The other candidates
just don't and he wants to point out the
discrepancies on that.’”
… “Democrats
court union with anti-Bush themes” –
headline from yesterday’s Washington Times.
Excerpt from coverage by the Times Stephen
Dinan: “The Democrats seeking the
presidency tried to win approval of the
nation's largest and fastest-growing union
yesterday by portraying President Bush as the
worst option for union members and for the
nation as a whole. ‘This president is the
worst president of the five I have served
with,’ Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of
Missouri told the Service Employees
International Union. ‘He's done a terrible
job. He's wrecking the country. He's a
miserable failure.’ Meanwhile, former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean criticized the
president for opposing the University of
Michigan's undergraduate and law school
affirmative action programs, and particularly
objected to Mr. Bush's characterization of
them as quota programs. ‘This president played
the race card, and for that alone he deserves
to go back to Crawford, Texas,’ Mr. Dean
said. The campaign for the Democratic
nomination for president is heating up after a
slow summer…The SEIU was a welcoming
audience for Mr. Dean, Mr. Gephardt and six
other candidates seeking the Democratic
nomination for president in 2004 to try out
new one-liners and refine others already used.
Sen. Bob Graham of Florida did not attend. The
1,500 members attending their political action
conference at the Washington Hilton cheered
wildly at every critique of Bush policy from
Iraq to health care to the economy. Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts said the
president's economic philosophy is failing for
working-class and middle-class
families. ‘They're tired of being trickled on
by George W. Bush,’ Mr. Kerry said. Mr.
Dean said he wouldn't impose new taxes but
would go back on the tax cuts Mr. Bush has
pushed through Congress. ‘I think most people
would be happy to pay the taxes they paid when
Bill Clinton was president of the United
States,’ he said. The candidates also made a
particular appeal for their health care plans
because health care workers are a large
portion of the 1.6 million members of the SEIU…In
addition to the SEIU, the Democratic
candidates met privately with leaders from the
American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees, which is the nation's
second-largest union. The SEIU's leaders
will meet [Wednesday] to decide whether they
have enough information to make an
endorsement. SEIU President Andrew Stern
said the union has committed 2,004 members to
work full time on politics for the nine months
leading up to the November 2004 election, and
plans to have 50,000 members volunteer to make
phone calls and campaign door to door.”
… Kerry
continues veterans/military theme with
proposal to help ease the burden on reservists
called to military duty. Excerpt: “Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry introduced
legislation Tuesday aimed at easing the
financial burden of military reservists called
up for active duty, a day after the Army
told thousands of reservists that their time
in Iraq would be extended to a full year --
weeks or months longer than some had expected.
The Massachusetts senator's plan would give
tax credits to small businesses to use for
subsidizing the pay of workers who had been
called to serve, and to hire temporary
replacements. Businesses with 50 or fewer
employees would get up to $12,000 in tax
credits, while manufacturers with 100 or fewer
workers could get up to $20,000 in tax
credits. Half of the money would be for salary
differential and half for replacement workers.
‘This tax credit is critical to immediately
help the families of reservists while they
serve our nation," said Kerry, a veteran who
served in Vietnam.
… Crowd chants
“No more lies” and “Bush must go” as Dean
attracts about 3,700 at University of
Maryland. Excerpt from report by Lori
Montgomery in yesterday’s Washington Post: “Former
Vermont governor Howard Dean brought his
high-energy campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination to Maryland yesterday,
gathering endorsements from nearly three dozen
local officials and drawing close to 4,000
fans to the University of Maryland at College
Park. The rally, Dean's first in
Maryland and his second in the Washington
region, was held in an outdoor amphitheater
overflowing with a mix of college students and
area supporters of all ages. The crowd
cheered Dean's assault on President Bush's tax
cuts and what he called ‘lies’ about the Iraq
war. ‘When I was your age, the government
didn't tell us the truth about Vietnam,
either,’ Dean said, urging them to
follow his generation's footsteps. ‘You're
going to change presidents, and you're going
to change foreign policy in this country.’
The audience delighted in Dean's rhetoric,
chanting ‘No more lies’ and ‘Bush must go,’
drowning out a handful of Republican hecklers.
‘I'm happy to hear a Democrat who's not afraid
to sound like a Democrat,’ said Claire
Schuster, 30, of Silver Spring. Her mother,
Michelle Schuster, 56, agreed. Dean
‘hit the points that hit home to me. I was
moved by him talking about the sense of
community we've lost.’…With about four months
left until the first primary, Dean has
pulled far ahead in fundraising, is the clear
frontrunner in New Hampshire and is building
impressive operations in other key primary
states. In Maryland, Democrats will not cast
their ballots until March 2. But that hasn't
dimmed the fervor of Dean partisans in the
state. Terry Lierman, Dean's Maryland
coordinator and co-chairman of his national
finance committee, boasted that Dean
already has 6,000 volunteers, many of them
drawn to nearly two dozen Internet-driven
‘meet-ups’ that gather across Maryland. ‘No
one else is even on the radar screen compared
to that.’ Lierman said.”
… “John Kerry
Unplugged”: Kerry – apparently changing music
tastes to appeal to younger voter group –
scheduled to play guitar with Moby tonight.
Headline from yesterday’s Boston Globe: “Kerry
gets in tune for Moby gig…Classical-loving
senator will play electric guitar in Boston
concert” Excerpt from report by the Globe’s
Joanna Weiss: “At a big FleetCenter
fund-raiser in 1996, Senator John F. Kerry was
serenaded by a group of baby boom all-stars:
Joe Walsh; Crosby, Stills and Nash; and Peter,
Paul and Mary (who called the senator "our own
magic dragon"). For this year's presidential
bid, Kerry, 59, is reaching out to a younger
crowd, and playing the tunes himself. On
guitar. [Wednesday] at the Boston Park
Plaza Hotel, he'll share a bill with Moby.
Yes, Moby, the environment-saving,
animal-loving, war-hating electronic music
sensation, and Kerry devotee. The senator
from Massachusetts has ‘the best chance of
beating George Bush,’ the smooth-headed star
said in an e-mail to the Globe. This is
Moby's chance to help: the tickets, marketed
to young professionals, range from $75 to
$100. It's also a chance for Kerry, who
forged his political profile in the Vietnam
era, to prove he can play convincingly to the
modern music masses. And while the
event is called ‘John Kerry Unplugged’ -- and
Kerry has been known to favor Spanish
classical fare and selections from ‘Cats’ --
his staff now says he plans to go electric.
He'll sit in for one song with local band The
Popgun Seven; probably a Springsteen tune, an
aide said. Moby plans to play cover songs by
Boston bands. Also, he says he has no sour
feelings toward Boston, where, last December,
someone punched him outside the Paradise Rock
Club. As for the candidate's musical prowess,
Moby is optimistic. ‘He seems to be quite good
at most of the things that he does, so I'm
sure that he'll be good on the guitar,’ he
wrote. ‘Or at least as good as Bill Clinton is
on saxophone.’”
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