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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
Sunday,
September 14, 2003
… “Public
Says $87 Billion Too Much” – headline from this
morning’s Washington Post. The good news,
however, is that GWB’s numbers are still high – and
he even beats the “generic” Democratic nominee.
Excerpt from report by the Post’s Richard Morin &
Dan Balz: “A majority of Americans disapprove of
President Bush's request to Congress for an
additional $87 billion to fund military and
reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan over
the next year, amid growing doubts about the
administration's policies at home and abroad,
according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Six in 10 Americans said they do not support the
proposal, which the president first announced in
his nationally televised address last Sunday night.
That marks the most significant public rejection
of a Bush initiative on national security or
terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In a
second rebuff to the administration, more Americans
said that, if Congress decides to approve the
additional money, lawmakers should roll back the
president's tax cuts to pay for the increased
spending, rather than add to the federal budget
deficit or cut government spending. The survey
findings send a clear signal that many Americans are
unwilling to give the administration a blank check
on peacekeeping efforts in Iraq, despite continued
strong backing for Bush's decision to go to war and
public support for staying there to help stabilize
and rebuild that nation. The president's overall
job approval rating remains stable and relatively
strong, a reflection of broad confidence in his
leadership despite increasing concerns about his
policies. Fifty-eight percent approve of the job he
is doing as president, while 40 percent disapprove.
Bush's approval ratings on the war against terrorism
and homeland security also remain strong. But on
many domestic issues, he has fallen to the lowest
point of his presidency, from his handling of the
economy and health care to the federal budget.
Declining approval ratings on important issues
suggest that the president may be vulnerable in his
bid for reelection next year. Matched against a
generic Democrat, the poll found Bush at 49 percent
and a Democratic nominee at 44 percent. However,
when pitted against any of several Democratic
candidates running for their party's nomination,
Bush is the clear choice. None of the Democratic
candidates has emerged as a significant challenger
and, according to the poll, Bush comfortably leads
all four tested, generally by a margin of about 15
percentage points. At this early stage of the
campaign, few of these candidates' positions are
widely known to the public.”
… “Democrats Find
Some Traction on Capitol Hill” – headline from
yesterday’s New York Times. Excerpt from report by
the Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg: “With President Bush
on the defensive over his handling of postwar Iraq,
Democrats on Capitol Hill have been scoring a few
victories in the Republican-controlled Congress,
gaining a measure of political momentum that they
hope will grow more pronounced as the 2004 elections
draw nearer. This week, Senate Democrats won
votes on such pocketbook issues as overtime pay and
student aid, as well as financing for special
education. Last week, their long-running filibuster
forced an appeals court nominee, Miguel Estrada, to
withdraw. Next week, they are expected to prevail
in a Senate vote to repeal new rules, backed by the
White House, that would enable large media
conglomerates to expand. Political analysts and
Democrats say it is no coincidence that the recent
gains on overtime and student aid came in the same
week that President Bush announced he was requesting
$87 billion for postwar Iraq, an announcement
followed by a drop in Mr. Bush's approval rating.
Some say the numbers have emboldened Democrats and
made Republicans, especially those up for
re-election, more likely to break ranks with their
party and the president. ‘The president is
losing some of his popularity,’ said Senator Harry
Reid of Nevada, the Democratic whip. Of
Republicans, Mr. Reid said: ‘They no longer feel
that he can be a dictator. They no longer feel that
he is King George. He is President George now.’
Republicans, of course, are hardly relinquishing
control on Capitol Hill. This week, they shut
Democrats out of talks designed to reach an
agreement between the House and Senate on a new
energy bill. Senators Bill Frist of Tennessee, the
Republican leader, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,
the Republican whip, played down the Democrats'
recent gains. ‘We like to let them win one
occasionally to keep their morale up,’ Senator
McConnell said, adding that Republican unity was not
cracking. ‘My response,’ he said, "is: Prove it.
There's no evidence." Dr. Frist called the
Democrats' gains ‘isolated victories.’ But some
scholars and political strategists, both Democrat
and Republican, say Democrats have succeeded in
taking advantage of the limited muscle they have.
News from Iraq, combined with the increasing federal
deficit, high unemployment and recent polls on Mr.
Bush ‘have caused Republicans to get a little
wobbly,’ one Republican strategist said. He added,
"It feels like the wheels are starting to fall off a
little." The polls have been running in the
Democrats' favor. A Gallup poll, conducted after Mr.
Bush's speech on Iraq and released on Thursday,
found his approval rating at 52 percent, down from
59 percent at the end of August. And a recent
poll by the Senate Republican Conference, released
this week, found voters preferred Democratic Senate
candidates to Republicans by 46 percent to 40
percent. The margin of sampling error in both polls
was plus or minus three percentage points.”
…
DNC chief McAuliffe – like some of the Dem wannabes
– criticized the White House on 9/11. Under the
subhead “Vitriol patrol,” Jennifer Harper
reported in Friday’s “Inside Politics” column in the
Washington Times: “Democratic National Committee
(DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe was openly critical
of the White House on the second anniversary of
September 11. In a statement posted yesterday at
the DNC Web site, www.democrats.org, Mr. McAuliffe
said: ‘From the bogus statements in the State of
the Union, to exaggerated claims about aluminum
tubes to the latest revelations about drones, the
Bush administration seems to have engaged in a
pattern of deception in their manipulation of
intelligence.’ The statement continues: ‘With
every story of the Bush administration politicizing
intelligence, America loses credibility with the
rest of the world.’ According to an account in
the Denver Post yesterday, Mr. McAuliffe also told
reporters that Mr. Bush made ‘absolutely ludicrous
and insane statements’ that endangered U.S. troops
in Iraq. He also urged the president to ‘go tell the
parents’ of Americans killed in Iraq why it was
necessary to say ‘mission accomplished’ when Iraq
was not yet secure. ‘These harsh, bitter personal
attacks are unprecedented in the history of
presidential politics,’ said Republican National
Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson. ‘They
continue to seek a new low in presidential
discourse.’”
… “Advice
from the Clintons” – subhead on Robert
Novak’s column in today’s Chicago Sun-Times.
Novak reported: “Hillary and Bill
Clinton, responding to growing speculation,
advised a longtime Iowa supporter this week
that under no conditions would the senator run
for president in 2004. The supporter, who
has committed to Sen. John Kerry for
2004, personally asked the former president
about renewed talk that his wife would enter
the race. Bill Clinton said that would not
happen. That was confirmed in a separate chat
with Hillary Clinton.
Hillary-for-president talk was revived by fear
engendered among some Democrats that Howard
Dean may become the presidential nominee.
Sen. Clinton leads all possible
candidates in Democratic preference polls and
runs best against President Bush.”
… Headline
of the weekend: “Tricky Dick and Slick Willie,
another comparison” Headline and coverage
on CNN.com – excerpt from report: “Bill
Clinton has an autobiography to finish on
Martha's Vineyard and a presidential library
to open in Arkansas. But this weekend, from
Indianola to the City of Angels, he'll once
again show us how seamlessly he has risen from
disgraced former president to Democratic
man-to-see.
Much like Tricky Dick did in the 1980s, Slick
Willy has emerged as his party's most
sought-after political guru, a
genius-strategist whose private counsel is
treasured like no other.
Unlike Nixon, however, a Clinton marquee still
guarantees sellout crowds and media hordes
that would make any politician, especially
embattled ones, drool. And when we talk
about embattled Dems these days, we're usually
talking about Gray Davis, who's hoping that no
freeway chase or natural disaster dilutes the
local media coverage of his and Clinton's
joint appearance Sunday at a black church in
Los Angeles…In his remarks, aides say
Clinton will artfully intermingle the words
‘impeachment’ and ‘recall’ in a way that will
leave few listeners confused by his message --
or his disdain for what's happening in
California. During his trip, Clinton will
also attend an anti-recall fund-raiser Monday
with Davis at the home of billionaire
businessman Ron Burkle, sources said. Sources
say Davis secured Clinton's pledge to campaign
with him (and against the recall) when they
privately last month at the AFL-CIO convention
in Chicago. Although Davis and his wife Sharon
have visited the Clintons' home in New York
and the governor was one of the few Dems who
appeared with the humbled president soon after
the GOP sweep in 1994, Clinton and Davis are
not personally close, associates say.
Sources say two things now motivate Clinton to
fight for Davis: His desire to keep California
in Democratic hands (friends say he and
Hillary would be living in Los Angeles if Pat
Moynihan hadn't retired in 2000) and his
hatred of Republican hijinks.”
… “Branstad:
Tuition hikes Vilsack’s fault” – headline
from Friday’s Daily Iowan (University of
Iowa). Excerpt from coverage by the DI’s
Jeffrey Patch: “Former Iowa Gov. Terry
Branstad told a crowd of 50 people in
Schaeffer Hall on Thursday that double-digit
increases in tuition would have never been
approved during his governorship.
‘I want to be
real careful about criticizing another
governor. But, if you have 90 priorities, you
really don't have any priorities,’ Branstad
said about setting education as a priority.
In a 50-minute
lecture, Branstad, a Republican, faulted
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, for not
exercising enough control over the state
Legislature and failing to send a signal to
the state Board of Regents -- whom the
governor appoints -- to keep tuition under
control.
‘We never increased tuition by double
digits,’ said Branstad, referring
to three straight double-digit increases --
the latest a 17.6 percent jump -- under
Vilsack's tenure.
The life-long
Catholic, who said the issue was personal
to him because he didn't pay his student loans
off until he sat in the governor's office,
said he increased tuition by 9 percent
three-consecutive times in the '80s to retain
quality faculty.
Branstad
placed minimal blame on the Legislature and
said the governor has ‘significant control’
over the process, adding that blaming partisan
problems in the Legislature ‘doesn't cut it.’”
… Novak: Carville
– not McAuliffe – signing letters to Dem
contributors. Excerpt from report in this
morning’s Chicago Sun-Times: “Democrats received
in the mail this week another appeal for
contributions to the Democratic National Committee (DNC)
that was not signed by Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
This letter bore the signature of consultant and
television commentator James Carville. When this
column reported surprise by donors that recent DNC
appeals did not contain the controversial
McAuliffe's name, he demanded a ‘retraction.’ His
aides contended the chairman had signed more such
letters than any predecessor. However, last week's
appeal for ‘the Democratic Party's 2004 victory
campaign’ was signed by Carville, who holds no party
position. The letterhead consists of ‘James
Carville’ in bold letters, with this small-type
disclosure at the bottom of the letter: ‘Paid for by
the Democratic National Committee.’ The reply
envelope is addressed to the DNC.” This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Sunday Register, top front-page headline: “Democrats
bask in glow of Clinton…Party’s star gives
advice and praise”
Main online heads,
Quad-City Times: “Clinton addresses 8,000 in Iowa”
& “South Korea’s most powerful typhoon ever
leaves 72 dead”
Nation/world
headlines, Omaha World-Herald online: “Powell
says differences on Iraq have narrowed” & “Middle
East peace accord in tatters on 10th
anniversary”
New York Times
online, featured reports: “Talks by U. N. Fail to
Break Impasse on Iraq Self-Rule” & “Dizzying
Dive to Red Ink Poses Stark Choices for Washington”
Sioux City Journal,
top online stories: “Israel says it will ‘remove’
Arafat when it chooses” & “U. S. friendly
fire kills 8 Iraqis and a Jordanian in Fallujah”
Chicago Tribune
online, main reports: “U. S. Soldiers Welcome
Powell to Baghdad” & “Soldier Killed in Iraq
Roadside Bombing”
“UN sets
deadline for nuclear data”
– headline from yesterday’s report in the
Chicago Tribune on the latest exchange over
Iran’s nuclear program. The report: “The
UN atomic agency told Iran on Friday to prove
by the end of October that its nuclear aims
are peaceful, issuing a tough resolution that
Tehran's chief delegate condemned as
reflecting Washington's appetite for
‘confrontation and war.’ Iranian chief
delegate Ali Akbar Salehi walked out of the
meeting to protest the deadline -- and the
prospect of UN Security Council involvement --
contained in a U.S.-backed resolution to a
board of governors' meeting of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. ‘We
reject the ultimatum in this draft,’ Salehi
said, calling it a ‘disaster for the agency.’
Salehi warned that a deadline and language
in the resolution would aggravate tensions.
If the panel rules in November that Iran did
not meet the demands contained in the
resolution, it could rule Tehran in
non-compliance of a part of the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty banning the spread of
nuclear weapons. The board is obligated to
report non-compliance to the Security Council,
whose range of action reaches from criticism
to economic sanctions.”
“Medicare Conferees to Tackle Provider
Payments Next Week” – headline from
Friday’s CQ Today Midday Update. The item: “Conferees
on a Medicare overhaul bill (HR 1) will meet
next week to consider provisions that address
provider payments, a spokeswoman for
conference Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.,
said today. Spokeswoman Christin Tinsworth
said conferees probably will meet early to
midweek. Rural provider payments are a
priority for conference Vice Chairman Charles
E. Grassley, R-Iowa, who pulled his staff from
negotiations temporarily in late August,
saying the focus of the conference was
neglecting provider payments. At a Sept. 9
meeting of Medicare conferees, aides
circulated an outline of 24 ‘provider issues’
that negotiators must resolve. Among these
is payments to ‘low-volume’ hospitals, which
are typically in rural areas. The Senate
bill would increase payments to these
hospitals by $1.9 billion, while the House
bill would provide no increase.” Today’s editorials, Des Moines Register:
“Help the
Guard come home sooner” Excerpt: “With the
technology available today, the United States
does not necessarily need a larger military
force to ‘win’ a war. Since major combat
ended, many U. S. troops spend their days in
Iraq doing everything from directing traffic
to delivering food – roles that could largely
be filled by civilians on contract, which
would free soldiers to be soldiers.”
Saturday’s editorials, Des Moines Register:
Iowa – “Spare us
a special session…It could get ugly for no good
purpose. So fix the budget shortfall without one, if
possible.” & “Park box donations don’t cut it…Recreation
deserves to be well-funded. Other states do. Why not
Iowa?”
Only one
sports report in Iowa this morning as
Hawkeyes secure bragging rights after annual
gridiron battle – and beat Iowa State
after five annual losses: Iowa 40, Iowa
State 21.
DSM 7 a. m.
53, mostly cloudy. Temperatures across Iowa at
7 a.m. ranged from 43 in Sheldon and 46
in LeMars, Spencer and Orange
City to 59 in Clinton,
Oelwein and Muscatine and 60 in the
Quad-Cities. Today’s high 68, chance
showers. Tonight’s low 47, chance showers.
Monday’s high 75, mostly sunny. Monday night’s
low 53, clear. From WHO-TV’s Brandon Thomas:
“Clearing skies Sunday night, with lows in the
mid/upper forties. Mostly sunny to start off
the work week, with highs on Monday in the
low/mid seventies. Sunny on Tuesday, with
highs in the upper seventies. Increasing
clouds on Wednesday, with a good chance of
showers/t-storms Wednesday night. Highs will
be in the upper seventies to low eighties”
Annual Monarch
butterfly migration under way in Siouxland.
Excerpt from Sioux City Journal report by Nick
Hytrek: “Fluttering from flower to flower,
monarch butterflies don't look like they're in
the midst of a 2,000-mile journey.
But the gentle
motions of the monarchs are just part of their
trip from Canada and the northern United
States to their wintering grounds among the
oyamel fir trees in the mountains of central
Mexico.
Every
September, the familiar orange and black
butterflies pass through Siouxland, stopping
to sample the nectar of backyard flower
gardens and wild milkweed.
Why the monarchs make their annual trek still
puzzles researchers.
‘They've been able to establish maps and the
time frame of the migration. This still is a
big mystery how they know to orient themselves
to Mexico,’ said Dawn Chapman, a naturalist at
the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Sioux
City.”
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