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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 2
Thursday,
September 11, 2003
“Bush
campaign ignores broad sides of opponents”
– headline from yesterday’s Washington Times.
Coverage – an excerpt – from the Times’ Bill
Sammon: “The White House yesterday
shrugged off increasingly sharp criticism from
Democratic presidential candidates, chalking
it up to politics even as other Republicans
branded it ‘hate speech.’…’There's a lot
of talk about politics these days,’ said Mr.
Bush at the first of two Florida fund-raisers
for his re-election campaign. ‘And I'm
loosening up. I'm getting ready. The truth of
the matter is, the political season will come
in its own time. I've got a job to do. I've
got to do the people's work, the people's
business.’ White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan agreed. ‘We recognize there's a
Democratic primary going on,’ he said in
response to questions from The Washington
Times aboard Air Force One. ‘That's politics.’ During
a Democratic presidential debate last week,
Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt
repeatedly denounced the president as a
‘miserable failure.’ Republican National
Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said this and
other broadsides by Democratic candidates
bordered on ‘hate speech.’ But the White
House is trying to remain above the fray for
as long as possible to keep Mr. Bush looking
presidential. Mr. McClellan even demurred
from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's
assertion that criticism of the president is
giving comfort to America's enemies…But the
White House refrained from going on the
offensive against Democrats who have called
for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. Mr. McClellan
contented himself with proclaiming the
president's confidence in the defense
secretary. ‘Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a
terrific job,’ he said. ‘He shares the
president's strong commitment to confronting
the new threats we face before they reach our
shores.’ The president did not mention his
Democratic detractors during the fund-raisers
in Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
which netted $2.8 million for his re-election
campaign. But he made clear he intends to
vanquish the political opposition. ‘Today,
we're laying the groundwork for what is going
to be a great national victory in November of
2004,’ he said to thunderous applause in
Jacksonville.”
“Hillary’s
Free Ride” – headline from yesterday’s New
York Post. Editorial excerpt: “Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has found a hot-button
issue with which to pummel the Bush
administration -- and never mind the facts,
ma'am. New York's junior senator disclosed
over the weekend that she is placing a hold on
the president's nomination of Gov. Mike
Leavitt as head of the Environmental
Protection Agency; the move would keep the
full Senate from voting on Leavitt's
confirmation. At issue is a report last month
by the EPA's inspector general -- an Al
Gore ally held over from her husband's
administration - charging that the White House
forced the EPA to cover up possible health
risks in the air around Ground Zero after the
9/11 attacks. Clinton, in typical
Hillaryesque hyperbole, claims the report ‘has
to do with the credibility and trust of this
entire government.’ Such words coming from
a Clinton drip with irony; as we noted
at the time, if anybody knows cover-up, it's
Hillary. It's all about politics, of
course -- and even if the net effect of the
effort is to call into question the legitimacy
of America's War on Terror, what's a little
aid and comfort to the enemy when there's a
Republican president to smear?…In
particular, why have Gov. Pataki and state GOP
Chairman Sandy Treadwell been so quiet?
The governor has expressed his own ‘concern’
about the report. And, asked whether he was
disappointed in the president, Pataki said he
didn't ‘want to draw any conclusions.’ Why
not? Why is Sen. Clinton getting a free
ride? Shouldn't Republicans be calling her to
account, politically, for her pernicious
nonsense…Yet no evidence has been
presented since to contradict the EPA's
position. As for the White House's desire to
prevent widespread fear -- well, what's wrong
with that? After all, thousands of Americans
lay dead in smoking ruins. It wasn't at all
clear that the attacks were over. Maybe
Sen. Clinton -- who seems to be hard at work
pumping up a presidential bubble of her own
these days -- would have handled things
differently. Maybe she would have fomented
panic in the streets of New York. Well, we
hope not. Bottom line: The evidence over the
past two years validates the EPA's judgment on
this matter. All the more reason, then, for
Pataki and Treadwell to ‘draw [some]
conclusions’ -- and call Mrs. Clinton
out on her slanderous accusations. She appears
to have no shame. Do they?”
“Senate
president Kramer picked fro ambassadorship”
– headline from this morning’s Quad-City
Times. Coverage by the Times’ Todd Dorman: “It
appears likely that Senate Republicans will be
choosing a new Senate president, but a change
might not happen until sometime after the 2004
session begins in January. Current Senate
President Mary Kramer, a Republican from
the Des Moines suburb of Clive, is being
tapped for an ambassadorship by the Bush
administration. Where Kramer would be
stationed has not been made public. Kramer
said Wednesday that she still must cross
several bureaucratic hurdles before her
ambassadorship becomes an official reality,
including U.S. Senate confirmation. That
lengthy process means she still might be
presiding over the Senate when the gavel falls
on the next legislative session. She has no
plans to leave her Senate post ahead of time.
Her departure would open up a top Senate
leadership post for the first time in seven
years. Kramer and Senate Majority Leader
Stewart Iverson, R-Dows, won their leadership
jobs after the GOP captured the Senate in
1996. ‘I’m focused on this job and I will be
as long as I’m here,’ Kramer said.” This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: 9/11 – “A
lingering ache…Anxiety ebbs, yet follows
us everywhere”
Quad-City
Times, main online stories: “Terror threat
reaps subtle fear” & “New bin Laden
video hints at more attacks”
Nation/world
online heads, Omaha World-Herald: “Still
grief, pain at Ground Zero” & “Bin
Laden video lauds 9/11”
Featured
reports, New York Times online: “Foreign
Views of U. S. Darken Since Sept. 11” & “Slip-On
Shoes, Long Waits: Air Travelers Still
Adjusting”
Sioux City
Journal, top online stories: “Deluge leaves
field soaked” & “Bush urges foreign
troop role; Rumsfeld says contributions will
not be large”
Chicago
Tribune online, main reports: “Bush seeks
to expand FBI power” & “’Forgotten war’
taxes GIs in Afghanistan”
Iowa Briefs/Updates:
Radio Iowa reported that economic development
officials in Madison County (Winterset)
are urging area residents to help in
watching the famed “Bridges of Madison
County.” Meanwhile, Radio Iowa’s O. Kay
Henderson reported that a fire that
slightly damaged a covered bridge in Madison
County probably isn’t connected with blazes
that destroyed a covered bridge in Keokuk
County (Sigourney) last week – or in
Madison County last year.
Homeland
Security to take hard look at California’s
latest crazy decision: Granting driver’s
licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Headline
from yesterday’s Los Angeles Times: “State
License Policy Impact Goes Federal…Homeland
Security says it will review border-crossing
rules since California well let illegal
residents have driver’s permits.” Excerpt from
report by the Times’ Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar:
“California's decision to grant driver's
licenses to undocumented immigrants could lead
to new federal policies that deny citizens the
convenience of reentering the country merely
by showing a license, a senior Homeland
Security official said Tuesday. Federal
officials said they are reviewing the current
policy because California is the most populous
state and one that has been a magnet for
illegal immigration. ‘Certainly, we need to
review the policy of our inspectors at the
border and their reliance upon driver's
licenses,’ said Asa Hutchinson,
undersecretary for border and transportation
security. ‘I think that would be the biggest
repercussion.’ The closest thing to nationally
accepted identity cards, driver's licenses
have long been a focus in the debate over
illegal immigration. The Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks also called attention to the
security weaknesses of licenses. Several of
the hijackers obtained Virginia licenses by
giving a false address. A congressional
report released Tuesday concluded that it
remains relatively easy to acquire licenses
with a phony ID. One possible alternative
to relying on driver's licenses would be to
require all returning travelers to show
passports. But Hutchinson, who oversees
immigration, said border inspectors would not
single out travelers from California. ‘We are
not going to say [that] we are going to have
closer scrutiny on Californians,’ Hutchinson
told reporters. ‘We would simply look at our
overall policy and what our inspectors need to
be checking. If driver's licenses are given to
people who are illegally in the country, then
that puts an extra burden and difficulty on
our inspectors at the border,’ he added…Gov.
Gray Davis last week signed legislation that
permits illegal immigrants to obtain
California driver's licenses. Thirteen
states accept Mexican consular identification
cards for issuing driver's licenses, usually
with other documentation. (Those states are
Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, North
Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and
Wisconsin.) California's Department of Motor
Vehicles is still deciding what documentation
will be required for the licenses.”
State Sen.
Kibbie: Air-condition Iowa classrooms.
Radio
Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reported that a
state legislator says it's time for the state
to think about forcing schools to install air
conditioning in all K-through-12 classrooms.
State Senator Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from
Emmetsburg, said having air conditioning
would let schools meet year-round, or meet in
August and June without the need for an early
release because of the heat. Kibbie said
nearly 40 years ago, the Iowa Legislature
passed a law requiring community college
buildings be air conditioned, but he says
lawmakers have never addressed the air
conditioning issue in K-through-12 schools.
Kibbie said Iowa's climate is getting warmer,
and that's one reason the legislature needs to
be considering the matter. A survey by the
Iowa Association of School Boards finds few
schools are completely air-conditioned --
121 districts reported having less than 25
percent of their classrooms air-conditioned.
Seventy-four districts plan to put A-C in more
classrooms. According to the survey, at least
17 school districts in Iowa have no air
conditioning in any building in the district. Today’s editorials, Des Moines Register:
“Why we
remember…Two years after 9/11, pursuing
world peace is the truest way to memorialize
victims…The cause of peace cannot be advanced
by military might alone but with a 21st-century
version of the Marshall Plan that rebuilt
Europe after World War II.”
The Daily
Iowan (University of Iowa) reported yesterday
a proposal to reduce the number of football
scholarships and on-campus recruiting visits
will go to the UI Faculty Senate Sept. 23
following a formal endorsement Tuesday from
the UI Faculty Council, an organization
consisting of professors from every UI
college. The proposal, presented by the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Educational Policy Committee, states that
scholarship cuts could save the university
$150,000, which could be used to fund and
preserve ‘non-revenue’ sports such as baseball.
‘There is a credible argument that the
football program will be able to sustain
itself,’ said UI political science Professor
Peverill Squire, who brought the proposal
before the council. The liberal-arts school
proposal calls for a 15 percent reduction in
football scholarships, from 85 to 72, and a 16
percent decrease in the number of on-campus
visits from 61 to 51.
DSM 7 a. m.
70, mostly cloudy with haze. Temperatures at 7
a.m. were primarily in the upper 60s and lower
70s, but cooler in areas receiving rain – from
55 in Orange City and Sheldon to
72 in Fort Dodge, Atlantic, Shenandoah, Red
Oak and Clarinda. Today’s high 83,
chance T-storms. Tonight’s low 61, T-storms
likely. Friday’s high 81, chance T-storms.
Friday night’s low 58, chance T-storms.
Tree-planting program keeps growing and
growing.
Radio Iowa reported that Iowa's largest
utility is "branching out" to help communities
statewide grow through a tree-planting grant
program. Donna Backstrom, an energy
efficiency specialist with MidAmerican Energy,
says the "Trees Please!" program started in
1996, and continues to be popular.
Backstrom says it's part of her job to help
communities save money by saving electricity.
Backstrom says 81 Iowa cities took part in the
program last year. She says after
applications are sent out at the end of this
month, officials will review them and notify
communities by mail in December, then grant
money will be dispersed in January.
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