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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.
The Iowa
Daily Report for Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003
Quotable:
mid-day quotes:
morning quotes: “There's plenty of time, but General Clark
is going to have to make a big splash and hit the
ground in Iowa.” – Former Gore campaign manager
Donna Brazile, commenting in today’s Des
Moines Register “A lot of people underestimate how strong he'll
be.” – Dean campaign manager Trippi,
commenting on Clark’s entry into the Dem
derby
“It's a strange profile for a Democratic
primary: a career military with no domestic policy
experience.” – Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan,
also commenting on Clark candidacy “But a funny thing happened on the way to Election
Day. Kerry didn't just violate the deal, he
pulverized it.” – Boston Globe columnist Brian
McGrory, commenting on Kerry decision
to ignore 1996 campaign spending limit agreement “Dean, it appears, entered the race because
he wanted to win. Kerry is running because
he thought he could win.” – McGrory
“The wind is at (Dean's) back across the
country and especially here in California.” –
Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo,
commenting on survey released today “It's moved from a short-term major distraction to
a long-term minor distraction.” – Washington
based consultant in Chicago Tribune report,
commenting on possible delay in CA recall vote
“Graham's new message about Dean: I voted
against the war, he's just against it.” –
Miami Herald’s Peter Wallsten, commenting on
Graham’s decision to go on the attack “If Gov. Dean had had the kind of
background as governor of a large and complex
state and service that would put him in direct
contact with international issues, then he
wouldn't have to backtrack.” – Graham “Some Republican analysts, in fact, say they would
welcome a debate that focuses more on Iraq -- even
with ongoing U.S. deaths and other problems --
rather than jobs.” –
Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin.
…
Among the offerings in today’s update:
mid-day offering:
Quinnipiac Poll released today shows Bush leads
all prospective Dem opponents – including Hillary
and Gore – by at least 10 points
Dean to irritate Kerry again – this time with a
Boston fundraiser two miles from Kerry’s home
All the rumors and reports of the past 100 hours
turn out to be true: Clark announces for the
Dem nomination
CNN’s John Mercurio explores Clark’s chances in
Iowa and New Hampshire – reports that things are
better for him in NH than Iowa, primarily because
no prominent Iowans are in the general’s inner
circle
Two post-announcement updates on Edwards –
one from SC, another from IA.
morning offerings: All
these stories below and more.
* CANDIDATES/CAUCUSES:
Mid-day Update:
… Even Lieberman, the strongest Dem against
Bush, would lose to GWB by 11 points. He beats both
Dean and Kerry by 15. From AP report posted this
morning: “President Bush leads all Democratic
challengers -- and even some who have not entered
the 2004 presidential race -- in a national poll
released Wednesday. The Quinnipiac University
Polling Institute found that Bush outdistanced his
rivals by at least 10 points or more in the survey
conducted Sept. 11-15. Bush was favored 52-41
percent over Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut,
51-39 percent over Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri
and 53-38 percent over former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. The
president also easily bested two Democrats not in
the race -- former Vice President Al Gore,
Bush's opponent in 2000, and New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bush was favored
53-41 percent over Gore, and 52-42 percent over the
former first lady. The survey was not all good
news for the president. Sixty-seven percent of those
polled said the economy will matter more to them
than the U.S.-led war against Iraq when they go to
the voting booth in November 2004. Fifty percent
of those surveyed disapprove of the way Bush has
handled the economy, while 44 percent approve.
Voters, by a 49-42 percent margin, said that a
Democratic administration would do a better job.
Those polled supported the war 58-37 percent, but
they are evenly split on the $87 billion price tag.
The poll surveyed 1,228 registered voters nationwide
by telephone. It had a margin of error of plus or
minus of 3 percentage points.”
… Clark throws four-star hat into the ring.
Headline on latimes.com (Los Angeles Times) this
afternoon: “Clark Enters Presidential Race”
AP political ace Ron Fournier reported from Little
Rock: “Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark entered a
crowded and wide-open race for the Democratic
presidential nomination on Wednesday. ‘We're
going to run a campaign that will move this country
forward not back,’ Clark said, promising to
‘talk straight to the American people.’ Clark,
58, became the 10th Democrat in the race, joining a
contest that has been under way for months. ‘My name
is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock,
Arkansas. And I am here to announce that I intend to
seek the presidency of the United States of
America,’ he began. He entered with no experience
in elective office and no history on domestic
policy, but offered one thing Democrats crave: New
hope of undercutting President Bush's wartime
popularity. Clark immediately took aim at
President Bush, saying his economic policies ‘have
cost us more jobs than our economy has had the
energy to create.’ Nearly 3 million U.S. jobs have
been lost since Bush took office in January 2001.
Clark vowed to ‘restore the millions of jobs that
have been lost.’ The former Vietnam veteran and
commander of all NATO forces in Europe also said
that, ‘More than 100,000 American troops are
fighting abroad and once again Americans are
concerned about their civil liberties.’ Clark
made his announcement at a boys and girls club in
the state capital, under clear blue skies and on a
small stage bearing a sign of his Web site:
americansforclark.com. Supporters waved American
flags and ‘Draft Clark’ signs while
volunteers passed out Clark chocolate bars to
an audience of several hundred.”
…
Clark’s done with the
easy part – announcing his candidacy – but now comes
the tough part: Meetings the challenges of Iowa and
New Hampshire over the next four months.
Headline on report from
today’s “The Morning Grind” on CNN.com: “Wesley
Clark: a tale of two (early-primary) states”
Excerpt from report by CNN Political Editor John
Mercurio: “Wesley
Clark might be a familiar face. But as Joe Lieberman
knows, front-runners need more than familiar faces.
Of course, the
more pressing question Clark faces today as
he joins nine fellow Dems in the presidential race
is how he'll be received in the early-primary states
of Iowa and New Hampshire. And since we figured
Clark is pretty busy these days, we made some calls
yesterday to gin up some answers for him. It
turns out that Clark, who is 58 and as an Arkansan
has no geographic edge in either state, enjoys far
deeper support in New Hampshire -- where one of his
largest draft movements is based -- than in Iowa,
where Dem leaders and political minds say his
military background could hurt him. One clear
sign of this: Top Clark aide George Bruno, an
attorney and Clinton-Gore '92 operative, who has
spent this week huddled in Little Rock with the
general, is a former New Hampshire Democratic Party
chair. There are currently no prominent Iowa Dems
in Clark's inner circle. That's good news for Dick
Gephardt, who doesn't need another strong rival in
Iowa, and bad news for John Kerry and Howard Dean,
who now must fight two-front battles in New
Hampshire. ‘Clark's not a politician. He
hasn't been here. He has no presence. He doesn't
have a record, and I haven't heard a lot of
Democrats jumping up and down saying, ‘We want
Wesley,’’ David Yepsen, the Des Moines Register's
political brain trust, told the Grind yesterday.
‘These draft movements are started elsewhere,
they're not from here.’ Sure, Clark
opposed the Iraq war -- and he eloquently presented
his antiwar arguments during hours of commentary on
CNN. But Yepsen said that may not be enough to
overcome his military background with the state's
dove-like party base. ‘There's no warrior
culture here,’ he said. Yepsen's counterpart in
the Granite State, John DiStaso, chief political
writer for the Manchester Union-Leader, was far more
welcoming. ‘The undecideds are exceptionally
high at this point, so it's not just that people
aren't focusing,’ DiStaso told the Grind. ‘That
tells me it has something to do with the field. This
tells me that there's still room for someone if he
can get his act together.’”
… Dean vs. Kerry moves closer to Kerry’s doorstep
– Dean to hold fundraiser tomorrow in Kerry’s
neighborhood and return for a Boston rally next
week. Headline from bostonherald.com this
morning: “Dean plans to storm Kerry turf”
Coverage by the Herald’s Ellen J. Silberman: “Howard
Dean is taking his surging presidential campaign to
rival John F. Kerry's doorstep, planning to rally
backers and raise cash just two miles from the Bay
State senator's Beacon Hill home. Dean, leading
Kerry in polls in both New Hampshire and Iowa, is
scheduled to come to the Hub tomorrow for three
major fund-raisers expected to add $250,000 to his
bulging campaign coffers. Posing an even
greater threat of embarrassing Kerry is a Dean rally
planned for Boston's Copley Square Tuesday as the
former Vermont governor pushes to add 50,000 new
names to his roster of backers by the end of the
month. The Dean campaign hopes to draw
3,000 supporters to the lunchtime rally, featuring a
speech by Dean and -- if city officials
approve -- live music at a site less than two miles
from Kerry's Louisburg Square townhouse.
‘He's really sticking it to Kerry,’ Boston
College political science professor Marc Landy said
of the rally, Dean's first major
Massachusetts event. ‘He's got Kerry reeling. Why
not come here?’ Dean supporters claim the
presidential front-runner is drawn to Boston's
symbolism as the birthplace of democracy and the
site of next year's Democratic National Convention
-- not a chance to tweak Kerry. ‘It seems like
the proper place to recapture and reignite
democracy, freedom and action,’ said Steve Grossman,
former chairman of the state and national Democratic
parties and Dean's most prominent local
supporter. Kerry campaign officials reacted to
news Dean's rally with a slap. ‘Boston is a
diverse and inclusive city, occasionally even
welcoming Yankee fans like Howard Dean,’
Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander said.”
… Edwards, after
announcing yesterday, rushes to South Carolina in
effort to reinforce his alleged southern foothold
and – in an understatement – says SC is “enormously
important.” Report in The State of Columbia by
veteran political reported Lee Bandy: “Democrat
John Edwards went home to North Carolina on Tuesday
to kick off his campaign for the presidency. Then he
rushed to South Carolina -- site of the
first-in-the-South primary almost certain to
determine his fate as a candidate. ‘It's
enormously important, a critical element,’
Edwards said of the Feb. 3 primary. Edwards,
a multimillionaire trial lawyer and one-term U.S.
senator, cast himself as a ‘champion for regular
people.’ To drive that point home, Edwards
started his day in Robbins, the North Carolina mill
town where he grew up. He stood in front of a
now-closed textile mill where his father worked for
36 years. ‘I believe in an America where the family
you're born into never controls your destiny,’
Edwards told about 2,000 supporters, friends and
family members in Robbins. Later, in Columbia,
some 500 people turned out at a rally in front of
the Russell House on the USC campus. College
Republicans chanted and shouted at speakers before
being quieted by the candidate's wife, Elizabeth,
who appealed to their ‘good Southern manners.’ South
Carolina is a must-win state for Edwards. He is
running hard here -- appearing regularly on TV and
in person -- looking for his candidacy to take off
with a win in the Palmetto State. The S.C. primary
follows closely on the heels of more traditional
early-bird contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The winner here will leave with momentum heading
into the big-state primaries in the following weeks.
But Edwards can't count on South Carolina alone,
experts say. He needs to win, place or show in the
earlier contests if he's to have any chance here.
‘It's going to be a death struggle in South
Carolina,’ said Rice University political scientist
Earl Black. Polls have suggested the public is
lukewarm about Edwards' presidential ambitions.
He continues to lag behind the top-tier candidates
in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire and only recently
moved into first place in South Carolina -- where 46
percent of the voters remained undecided. Edwards
believes he reflects the aspirations of the South
better than the other presidential hopefuls and
understands the complicated politics of its people.”
… Quad-City Times: Edwards to be “very focused”
on Iowa. Coverage by thse Times” Ed Tibbetts:
“Nearly two years after he began making himself
known in Iowa, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,
formally announced his bid for the presidency
Tuesday in his home state, declaring his candidacy
at the mill where his father once worked. Later,
he told Iowa reporters he intends to run hard in the
state, where he has invested considerable resources
but which has, to date, yielded him a relatively low
return in the polls. ‘I am very focused on Iowa,’
Edwards told reporters in a conference call a
few hours after his announcement. A Quad-City
Times poll conducted late last month and in early
September showed Edwards is tied for fourth in Iowa,
with support from 6 percent of those polled. He is
tied with U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.
Aides, however, say they are encouraged by other
polls that show he and former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean are the only candidates who have improved
their standing over the summer. There are nine
people seeking the Democratic nomination, and a
10th, Gen. Wesley Clark, will join the race
today, according to reports. In his announcement,
Edwards emphasized his roots growing up in the small
town of Robbins, N.C., where he became the first in
his family to attend college. That small town, he
said, formed the person he is today. ‘I have spent
my life fighting my heart out for the kind of people
I grew up with,’ he added.”
Morning Update:
… While Clark steals today’s headlines with prez
announcement, other wannabes continue to play –
Gephardt introduces website targeted at Dean.
Headline from this morning’s Quad-City Times: “Internet
turnabout aims at Dean” Coverage – an excerpt –
by the Times’ Ed Tibbetts: “Former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean, who has used the Internet to elevate
his presidential candidacy, saw it turned against
him Tuesday. Dean’s principal rival in Iowa, U.S.
Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., announced the creation
of a Web site to emphasize Dean’s past statements
about Social Security and Medicare. The
announcement elevates an attack Gephardt
launched Friday when he compared Dean with
former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Gephardt and Dean are battling for the
lead in Iowa caucus polls. The Web site,
www.deanfacts.com, posts Dean comments
gleaned from newspaper accounts during the first
half of the 1990s. In one of them, Dean
reportedly backed Republican efforts in 1995 to
reduce Medicare spending by $270 billion. A
spokesman for Gephardt in Iowa, Bill Burton, said
there are clear differences between Gephardt and
Dean on their past statements about the programs.
‘It’s worth people knowing what kind of president
these candidates will be,’ he said. The Web site, he
added, merely points that out. Last week, Dean
called Gephardt’s attacks the politics of the
past. And Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman for the
campaign, reiterated that message Tuesday. She
said the campaign believes ‘this is the first smear
Web site ever produced by a major presidential
campaign.’ The Dean campaign says that as
head of the Democratic Governors Association,
Dean fought the Contract With America, the
Republican-devised plan that helped sweep the GOP to
the majority position in Congress in 1994, with
Gingrich as its leader.”
… “Liberal Democrats give Dean lead in Field Poll…Vermont’s
former governor has surged since spring” – San
Francisco Chronicle headline this morning. Excerpt
from report by the Chronicle’s John Wildermuth: “Former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, buoyed by liberal, white
and college-educated voters, has surged to the head
of the pack in California's crowded Democratic
presidential primary, according to a Field Poll
released today. ‘The wind is at (Dean's)
back across the country and especially here in
California,’ said Mark DiCamillo, director of the
Field Poll. ‘Every time we've done a poll, his
numbers have been up by a substantial margin.’ A
poll last April had Dean with only 7 percent support
among California Democrats, compared with 22
percent for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman
and 16 percent for Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts. By July, the three candidates were
in a virtual dead heat with about 15 percent each.
The new survey puts Dean on top in the March 2004
primary at 23 percent, with Lieberman at 15 percent,
Kerry at 11 percent, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt at
8 percent and the rest of the Democratic field at 4
percent or less. Showing up in the polling for
the first time, at 4 percent, is former Gen. Wesley
Clark, who is expected to formally announce
his candidacy today. Given the margin of error,
the poll also showed the top four Democratic
candidates all fare similarly in head-to-head
matchups with President Bush. The survey showed
Lieberman as the choice of the more moderate
wing of California Democrats, with backing from 20
percent of those who describe themselves as moderate
or conservative. ‘Lieberman is holding his
ground as the center-right candidate, which can
allow him to hold himself up as a more electable
alternative to a more liberal candidate,’ DiCamillo
said. The poll was especially bad news for Kerry,
who has spent an enormous amount of time in
California, working to raise money and to cultivate
high- tech industry sources and state Democratic
leaders. But his appeal to liberal voters has
been swamped by Dean's growing popularity.
Liberal voters ‘have migrated from Kerry and
are going right into the back pocket of Dean,"
DiCamillo said. Kerry's campaign in the state
got a boost Tuesday when California Sen. Dianne
Feinstein endorsed him. Kerry has the
‘strength, experience, leadership and judgment to be
an excellent president,’ the former San Francisco
mayor said in a prepared statement. Dean's
increasing strength has been fueled by a narrow mix
of supporters. He is backed by 36 percent of
Democratic liberals, 37 percent of college
graduates, 35 percent of white voters and 34 percent
of males. Only 6 percent of California's minority
Democrats backed Dean in the survey, compared with
16 percent who supported Lieberman. ‘It's a very
unusual pattern for a Democratic candidate, one
that's very targeted,’ DiCamillo said. ‘There are
certain subgroups he's appealing to.’ There's
still plenty of room for change in the California
primary race, with almost 3 in 10 enrolled
Democratic voters remaining undecided. That
number climbs to 36 percent among women, 35 percent
among voters 18 to 49, 40 percent among minority
voters and 42 percent among voters who didn't
graduate from college. ‘There is no heir apparent,
no incumbent and no vice president looking to move
up,’ DiCamillo said. ‘It's a wide-open year.’
Dean's narrow appeal shows up in the head-to-head
match-up with Bush, where he appears weaker than the
other leading Democrats, losing to Bush by 45
percent to 40 percent. Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt
are locked in statistical dead heats with Bush.”
… Kerry commentary in New Hampshire today takes
on Gephardt and Dean. Headline from today’s The
Union Leader: “Dean, Gephardt abandoning Bill
Clinton’s economic legacy” Excerpt: “Twelve
years ago, Gov. Bill Clinton announced his candidacy
for President with a pledge to ‘fight for the
forgotten middle class.’ He called for a tax cut for
middle class families, cutting the deficit in half
in four years, and restoring investment in jobs, the
skills of our workers, and economic growth.
Clinton economics worked -- nearly 40 million
hard-working families got a tax cut, we created 23
million new jobs and witnessed record high family
incomes and the fastest real wage growth in more
than 30 years. With George W. Bush in the White
House, the middle class has been forgotten all over
again. More than three million jobs lost,
retirement and college savings gone in a flash,
investment in skills and training plummeting. In the
last years the cost of the average home for families
with children has grown 70 times faster than average
incomes. In November of 2004, Democrats need to
offer America’s middle class a clear choice: jobs or
no jobs, making health care more affordable or
continuing skyrocketing costs, a return to fiscal
discipline or more fiscal insanity, tax relief for
middle class families or tax loopholes for corporate
special interests. George W. Bush stands in the
way — but so does a debate within our party. Before
all of America votes, we Democrats are going to have
to make our own choice: are we going to imitate
George W. Bush in forgetting the middle class or are
we going to be the party that fights for the middle
class? Will we turn our back on the progress of the
Clinton years or will we follow his lead in assuring
middle class voters that Democrats will defend their
interests and honor their values? That’s why
I am so concerned that some of my fellow Democratic
candidates for President, most prominently former
Gov. Howard Dean and U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, have
adopted policies in the course of this campaign that
— in effect — turn their back on both the Clinton
economic legacy and the very middle class families
the Democratic Party has historically defended.
I believe we should repeal President Bush’s
special tax breaks that go to the wealthy. I believe
we should end corporate welfare as we know it and
tax giveaways to special interests. But I do not
believe we should abolish tax cuts for middle class
families — whether it’s the child tax credit or the
elimination of the marriage penalty. In fact, I
believe we should give middle class families a tax
cut, not a tax increase…Gov. Dean and others have
vowed to repeal these middle class tax cuts
Democrats fought to pass, because of a commitment to
balance the budget in four years. However, as
Bill Clinton pointed out in 1992 under similar
circumstances, the budget deficit is not the only
deficit we face. America has been suffering under an
investment deficit, a jobs deficit, a fairness
deficit; and all of these deficits would be made
worse by a breakneck rush to raise the tax burden on
struggling middle class families. Our party
should put substance ahead of sound bites. We
should cut the budget deficit in half in four years
while keeping tax cuts for middle class families and
eliminating them for the very wealthy and special
interests. We do not need to offer Americans a false
choice between health care for all and middle class
tax cuts — a responsible health care plan can bring
down health care costs for all Americans, cover the
uninsured, and still protect middle class tax
fairness. In 1992, Democrats had the strength and
courage to stand up to the pressure to turn their
backs on the middle class, to trade middle class
fairness for quick and easy sound bites. Now our
party is being tested again. It is time again to
honor the middle class families our party at its
best has championed and defended.”
… Before the sun sets, the nine veteran wannabes
will face a new – although probably not unexpected –
opponent: The Clark Challenge. From Little Rock,
the Washington Post’s Jim VandeHei reported in
today’s editions: “Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark,
a prominent military leader with no national
political experience, has told friends and advisers
that he will enter the presidential race on
Wednesday, shaking up the wide-open fight for the
Democratic nomination. After months of
deliberations, Clark, 58, will announce his
candidacy here at a boys and girls club and
immediately start challenging the nine other
Democrats who have been running, with mixed success,
for many months. ‘I don't feel it would be too late’
to enter the race and win, Clark said in a
brief interview [yesterday]. Clark said he has
‘confidence’ he could quickly raise enough money and
build a powerful enough political operation to
eventually blow by the other candidates.
Clark's candidacy is adding even more
unpredictability to what is already one of the most
unsettled Democratic presidential contests in
history. Clark rained on North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards's entrance into the race today, as Clark's
friends spread the word he would soon march into the
campaign to take on Bush. Former Vermont
governor Howard Dean, the frontrunner in key
early states, decided to cancel a major economic
address planned for Wednesday, concerned that the
Clark announcement would drown it out. ‘A lot
of people underestimate how strong he'll be,’ said
Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. Clark's
entry comes at a point when the race is still taking
shape. Despite Dean's success, many
Democratic voters are undecided, and many have not
yet begun to pay close attention to the race.
While a number of party strategists once considered
Bush virtually unbeatable, many now feel that the
weak economy and instability in Iraq make him more
vulnerable than he was only a few months ago. Those
around Clark think his unique résumé and his
standing as a non-politician make him an ideal
candidate to take on Bush…Clark's
associates said he will run as a moderate southern
Democrat in the tradition of fellow Arkansan Bill
Clinton. Clark is surrounding himself
with key operatives from the Clinton-Gore
White House and campaigns…Even before Clark's
official announcement, Jim Jordan, campaign manager
for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), previewed the
attacks to come. ‘It's a strange profile for a
Democratic primary: a career military with no
domestic policy experience,’ Jordan said.
Moreover, ‘some Democrats might find it unsettling
he just decided in recent weeks to become a
Democrat,’ he said. Clark announced he was a
Democrat on Sept. 4. But Jordan's candidate might
have the most to fear from a strong Clark challenge,
according to several Democratic strategists.
Kerry is running as a war hero candidate, a
Democrat who can challenge Bush on foreign policy
because he, unlike Bush, served in combat and won
several medals for his service. With his
experience in Kosovo and Bosnia and prominent role
in the U.S. military, Clark, however, could steal
much of Kerry's thunder, strategists said,
including Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. ‘The
guy most affected the most will be Kerry,’ he
said.”
… Kerry’s criticism of Dean for possibly
abandoning campaign spending limits sounds pious
now, but it ignores the reality of ’96 campaign –
when Kerry “pulverized” a deal in his Senate
campaign. Headline from column by Brian McGrory
in yesterday’s Boston Globe: “Hard to pull for
Kerry” Excerpt: “John Kerry was asked
recently about the possibility that Howard Dean
might forgo public matching funds in his bid for the
nomination, thereby avoiding spending limits.
Dean had indicated that he would accept the
funds, but now is considering reversing his
strategy, much like George W. Bush. And here's what
Kerry said: ‘Somebody who wants to be
president ought to keep their word. I think it goes
to the core of whether you are a different
politician or a politician of your word or what you
are.’…if I'm interpreting him correctly, [Kerry]
is accusing Dean of not being a man of his word, and
a man who doesn't live up to his word, Kerry is
essentially saying, is unqualified to be president.
So let's go back to 1996, to Kerry's
reelection campaign against then-Governor Bill Weld,
specifically to the night Weld met Kerry at the
senator's wife's Beacon Hill mansion. They
finalized an unprecedented agreement to limit
advertising spending to $5 million apiece, and to
limit the use of personal funds in the campaign to
$500,000 apiece. Good government types hailed
the agreement as a major breakthrough. Kerry
and Weld basked in the plaudits of editorialists the
nation over. Kerry described the pact as ‘a
model for campaign reform across the country.’
But a funny thing happened on the way to Election
Day. Kerry didn't just violate the deal, he
pulverized it. Running out of money in the
waning days of October, Kerry mortgaged and
remortgaged the Louisburg Square house, ultimately
pouring $1.7 million in personal funds into his
campaign. For those of you keeping track at home,
that's $1.2 million more than the agreement allowed.
As he made a mockery of the pact, he did
something else distinctly distasteful. He accused
Weld of violating the agreement, a charge that
seemed specious at best, an outright lie at worst.
At issue was a discount Weld received from the
standard fee his media consultant would reap from
all ad spending. It allowed Weld to buy about
$400,000 more in ads for his $5 million. Every good
campaign negotiates a discount, and the written
agreement did not preclude them. Kerry
claimed it was a violation of a rule that, well, was
never written down. Still, yesterday, he repeated
the charge. ‘The Kerry campaign took appropriate
action to level the playing field,’ said spokeswoman
Kelley Benander, adding, ‘The situation with Howard
Dean is much more serious.’ Sure he did, and
sure it is. I've had my fair share of exposure to
Kerry, having spent time covering his policies and
politics…The unvarnished truth is, I want to like
him. I want to write positively of him. I want to
highlight his great potential, his uncanny ability
to grasp the human plight. But then he whines or
haplessly hollers or passes blame as he feels every
bump, every conceivable slight, along an uncommonly
gilded path. In this campaign, his answers on
the famous Iraq vote aren't nuanced, they're
ridiculous. His overall message isn't muddled,
it's nonexistent. Dean, it appears, entered the
race because he wanted to win. Kerry is running
because he thought he could win. The thing is, I
know for a fact that Kerry can do better, and
hopefully, eventually, he will. But unless and
until he does, the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire
can do better as well.”
… “Clark looks ready to run, but how hard in
Iowa?” – headline from today’s Des Moines
Register. Excerpt from coverage by the Register’s
Thomas Beaumont: “Retired Gen. Wesley Clark faces
an Iowa dilemma if he enters the 2004 Democratic
presidential campaign, as he is expected to do
today. The former NATO supreme commander, who has
scheduled a noon announcement in his hometown of
Little Rock, Ark., must either quickly assemble an
Iowa caucus campaign or bypass the lead-off
nominating state, a strategy that has never worked.
‘There's plenty of time, but General Clark is
going to have to make a big splash and hit the
ground in Iowa,’ said Donna Brazile, who ran former
Vice President Al Gore's presidential
campaign in 2000. ‘It's going to be tough, but
Iowa Democrats need to know if he's up to snuff.’
Although it was not clear Tuesday whether Clark
would campaign actively for the lead-off Iowa
caucuses, Democratic sources in the state continued
to say they had heard little from Clark
supporters or advisers. Clark, 58, is a
Rhodes scholar and former four-star Army general who
conducted the Kosovo campaign in the former
Yugoslavia under President Clinton in 1998 before
retiring in 2000. He has been mentioned as a
potential Democratic presidential candidate since
last year, although he only recently changed his
voter registration from ‘no party’ to Democrat. He
would be the 10th Democrat to enter the race to
challenge President Bush. Clark made no
public statements Tuesday and instead huddled with
advisers, many of them former staff to Gore and
former President Clinton, in preparation for today's
announcement…Political insiders said Clark's
high-ranking military background distinguishes him
in the campaign and offers direct competition for
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who has emphasized
his status as the only combat veteran in the field.
Kerry and Clark are decorated Vietnam
War veterans. ‘He definitely takes that
distinction away from Kerry,’ said Republican
strategist Rick Davis, who managed the 2000
presidential campaign for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
also a Vietnam veteran. Clark's command of NATO
forces in Kosovo could also counter the foreign
policy edge Kerry has claimed, having served 18
years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Clark, a critic of the Bush administration's
handling of the war in Iraq, could also cut into
support for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean,
whom Kerry has criticized as having scant
foreign policy experience…But first Clark will
need to enter a race already well under way,
especially in Iowa, where the campaign for the Jan.
19 precinct caucuses began in January. Iowa
political insiders and former caucus campaign
managers agree Clark's window for jumping into an
already competitive Iowa caucus campaign is closing
rapidly, but that the battle for Iowa's
Democratic activists is far from over. ‘I don't
think it's going to be that hard for him to come in
and set up an operation overnight and get moving,’
said Steve Hildebrand, who ran Al Gore's successful
2000 Iowa caucus campaign. ‘But first, they have
to decide whether Iowa will be a part of their
strategy. I would argue it should be.’”
… Clark – expected to become another wannabe
today – may face tough four months ahead in New
Hampshire (not to mention Iowa and other states).
Headline from today’s Union Leader on report by
senior political ace John DiStaso: “Gen. Clark
enters race late, but points to his pluses”
Excerpt: “Late-entry Wesley Clark faces a
tough road if he hopes to make significant headway
in New Hampshire’s critical first-in-the-nation
Presidential Primary. But key neutral Democrats
and other observers say he has some important things
going for him: * He enters a field which, with
the exception of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean,
has been less than riveting. Undecided voter
rates are at about 30 percent. * A retired four-star
general and former NATO Supreme Commander, Clark
should be an authoritative figure on foreign policy
and military strategy. * Most of the ‘big-name’
Democratic political activists have backed someone
else, but such endorsements usually mean little in
New Hampshire by the time the votes are counted. *
Clark has hundreds of energetic volunteers
who were active in the ‘Draft Clark’
movement. According to state draft head Susan Putney
of Dover, about 200 Granite Staters have ‘gone above
and beyond expressing interest and have organized on
committees and attended events.’ * Clark’s
handlers can try to lower expectations since he’s
entering late. A ‘good showing’ should be
considered a virtual win, they can say. * Former
President Bill Clinton has had nice things to say
about Clark, a fellow Arkansan who served in his
administration. Andrew Smith, director of the
University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said a
compliment from Clinton can be ‘a powerful thing.’
Still, it’s far from clear sailing. First, Clark
must decide to campaign hard here. And that
means doing the ‘retail politicking’ the other
candidates have done. At the same time, because he
entered the race so late, Clark must find
time to raise big money to show the nation he’s the
real deal. ‘On paper, he has a lot of promising
electoral characteristics and the field has a large
number of undecided voters,’ said Rich Killion,
director of the Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin
Pierce College.”
… Miami Herald report:
Although Graham is viewed as a “political oddity,”
he’s going to start attacking Dean and the rest of
the Dem wannabes. Headline from yesterday’s
Miami Herald: “Graham decides to go on the attack…The
presidential candidate and Florida senator is
targeting Democratic frontrunner Dean.”
Coverage, from Graham’s Phoenix stop, by the
Herald’s Peter Wallsten. “Sen. Bob Graham,
Florida's nice-guy senator and cellar-dweller in the
presidential campaign opinion polls, is finally on
the attack in his quest to win the Democratic
nomination. It's not a shock-and-awe assault
like Sen. Joseph Lieberman's aggressive
questioning in recent days of front-runner Howard
Dean's flip-flopping and fitness to serve,
but for a get-along guy like Graham, it's about as
vicious an attack as he'll ever deliver.
‘Frankly, the Congress gave this president a blank
check,’ Graham said last weekend. He was
speaking about the resolution authorizing President
Bush to use military force in Iraq -- a resolution
he voted against. While his remarks sound like a
dig at Bush, they are in fact aimed squarely at his
fellow Democratic rivals who voted for what is now a
highly unpopular war among primary voters: Sens.
Lieberman of Connecticut, John Kerry of
Massachusetts, John Edwards of North Carolina and
Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri. The senator's
new website,
www.stoptheblankcheck.com, carries the attack
directly to his rivals, quoting the resolution that
allowed Bush to ‘use the armed forces of the United
States as he determines to be necessary and
appropriate,’ and adding: ‘Those who voted for this
resolution need to be held responsible.’ In
Graham's own way, it's also a slap at Dean, the
former Vermont governor who has fueled his rise to
the top of the Democratic candidate pile with his
own opposition to the war -- essentially undermining
Graham's whole reason for running. Graham's
new message about Dean: I voted against the war,
he's just against it. In a news conference in
Arizona on Monday, Graham honed his aim on
the front-runner, quoting Dean claiming he
was the only candidate to propose a plan to trim the
deficit. ‘That's not true,’ Graham said ‘I've
had a plan out now for two months to do exactly
that.’ Asked whether he has a problem with Dean's
apparent penchant to misspeak and shift positions,
Graham at first said he would not be ‘induced
into the type of negativism that is sometimes
tempting.’ Apparently the temptation was too
great. Reeling off his own résumé as Florida's
two-term governor and the former chairman of the
Senate Intelligence Committee, Graham said: ‘If Gov.
Dean had had the kind of background as governor of a
large and complex state and service that would put
him in direct contact with international issues,
then he wouldn't have to backtrack.’ The new
attack mode is timely for what has been so far a
campaign struggling to be taken seriously by the
pundits and donors who anoint front-runners and
losers. Nothing else has worked so far for Graham,
who maintains he is a serious candidate in a crowded
field despite hovering near 1 percent in key primary
states and struggling to raise money. He has
sponsored a NASCAR truck, taken his family on
‘vacation’ through Iowa, performed his campaign song
across the nation, even signed autographs with
baseball great Fergie Jenkins -- but through it
all Dean has emerged carrying the anti-war mantle
while Graham is viewed as an oddity.”
… Birds of a Feather 102: CA Sen Feinstein joins
Kennedy in “Senators for Kerry” movement. From
FOXNews.com – Associated Press report from San
Francisco: “Democrat John Kerry's presidential
bid got an influential endorsement Tuesday from
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who praised him
for having the ‘strength, experience, leadership and
judgment to be an excellent president.’
Feinstein is the state's senior senator and arguably
the most popular politician in vote-rich California.
She is one of only two senators to endorse
Kerry's presidential bid so far -- the other
being his Massachusetts colleague, Sen. Ted Kennedy.
In a statement, Feinstein said she was supporting
Kerry for his leadership on a number of issues,
including health care, tax policy and the
environment. She also singled out his support for
gun control and, specifically, a ban on assault
weapons, which Feinstein wrote and is trying to
extend over Republican objections. ‘The assault
weapon ban will expire next year,’ Feinstein wrote.
‘We need a president who will actively urge Congress
to extend it, and John Kerry will do just
that.’ The endorsement comes at a critical time
for the Massachusetts senator, who has seen his
presumed front-runner status eclipsed in recent
months by the surge of rival Howard Dean, the former
Vermont governor. A decorated Vietnam veteran
who has tried to position himself as the best
candidate to challenge President Bush on national
security issues, Kerry faces competition
Wesley Clark, the former supreme NATO
commander who is poised to enter the Democratic race
on Wednesday. Other Democratic senators in the field
include Bob Graham of Florida, Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards
of North Carolina, who formally launched his
campaign Tuesday.” (Iowa Pres Watch Note: For those
not paying attention, the gun control issues
looms large with the anti-Dean contingent because
the former VT Guv advocates state – vs. fed – regs
on firearm restrictions.)
… It’s back to Square One for Dem wannabes as
they face the prospect of competing against
California recall craziness through the nominating
primary. Headline from yesterday’s Chicago
Tribune: “Altered reality for Democrats…Recall
decision in lifeline for Davis, but burden for
presidential candidates” Coverage – an excerpt – by
Tribune’s Jeff Zeleny: “The Democratic
presidential candidates quietly had been counting
the days until Oct. 7, when the California recall
saga would end and the political limelight would
return to their race for the White House. But
after a federal appeals court ruled Monday to
postpone the election, a decision widely cheered by
Democrats, the party's presidential hopefuls
swallowed the reality that for even longer they may
be forced to compete with the unwieldy California
race for attention, money and media coverage. If
the election is delayed until spring, the entire
presidential nominating season could unfold at the
same time as the recall contest. ‘There is no
question that it is sucking a lot of oxygen out of
the political air of the country, not just
California,’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
said Monday in Chicago. ‘But we have to do the right
thing for the voters and for the people.’ The
court's decision threw California Gov. Gray Davis a
lifeline, giving him more time to mount a campaign
against his removal from office. If the court's
ruling is not overturned by the Supreme Court, the
recall election is likely to be rescheduled for
March 2, the primary election date in California…While
the 2004 Democratic presidential candidates were
slow to inject themselves into the California recall
campaign, it has become a popular destination in the
last 10 days. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was
the first candidate to stand by Davis' side.
This week, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts
and Sen. Bob Graham of Florida were scheduled
to appear with the embattled governor. Other
prominent Democrats, from former President Bill
Clinton to Jesse Jackson to former Vice President Al
Gore, also have lined up to appear with
Davis…But even as the candidates have traveled to
California, several aides said privately that they
have been frustrated by the attention that the
recall has consumed, particularly from the news
media. The first votes in the Democratic
presidential nominating season will be cast in four
months and most of the nine candidates are scrapping
for attention. The potential delay in the recall
election adds another complicating element. ‘It's
moved from a short-term major distraction,’ a
Washington political consultant said, ‘to a
long-term minor distraction.’”
… In Atlanta, Dean opens another new campaign
endeavor – national “Generation Dean” youth outreach
effort. Coverage – excerpted – from report by
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tom Baxter: “Jerald
Thomas is just the type of voter former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean's campaign is trying to attract with
‘Generation Dean,’ the nationwide youth outreach
program it launched Monday with a town hall meeting
and rally in downtown Atlanta. As the Georgia
State University law student watched the candidate
for the Democratic presidential nomination from the
back of the crowd, he liked what he saw. But he said
he wasn't as moved as many of the committed Dean
supporters whooping it up before him. ‘I'm not
unconvinced; I just want Bush out of there. I just
want to know he [Dean] can win,’ Thomas said.
The audience of about 600 at the town hall meeting
at Georgia State, and another gathering of several
hundred more for a rally in nearby Hurt Park, came
mostly on the strength of word of mouth, Internet
alerts and campus circulars. MTV taped the events
for its ‘Rock the Vote’ program. ‘The way we're
going to beat George Bush is to bring people like
you out to vote,’ Dean said. Clever use of the
Internet to organize volunteers and an early and
consistent anti-war stand have helped Dean
surge to the lead of the nine-candidate Democratic
pack.”
* ON THE BUSH BEAT:
… “Bush ‘in over his
head,’ Democrats’ poll finds” – headline from
this morning’s Washington Times. Coverage – an
excerpt – by the Times’ Stephen Dinan: “Nearly
half of Americans say President Bush is ‘in over his
head,’ according to a new survey by Democracy Corps,
the polling and strategy firm founded by James
Carville and two other key Democratic strategists. Mr.
Carville, Bob Shrum and Stanley Greenberg told
reporters yesterday that not only is the
post-September 11 boost for Mr. Bush over, but the
president is arguably in worse position now than in
the summer of 2001. ‘He is convincing people that
he is uncertain about what to do,’ Mr. Shrum said.
‘He is at one and the same time blustering and
threatening and shooting off his mouth, but on the
other hand, doesn't have any idea what to do.’ Democrats
on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, called on Mr. Bush to
fire someone in his administration over the failure
to anticipate the aftermath of war in Iraq and
blamed the administration for putting American
troops in danger through poor planning. ‘We can't
allow these bureaucrats to get off while these young
people are paying such a heavy price,’ said Rep.
John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, a Marine
Corps veteran and senior member of the House
Appropriations Committee. The Democracy Corps
survey shows the nation is open to Democrats'
charges. A majority of voters no longer trust Mr.
Bush on the question of Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction, and 54 percent said he ‘does not have a
plan to win the peace and bring American troops
home.’ Republicans' own polling suggests they
have some work to do. A Winston Group poll taken for
House Republicans and released last week found
voters believe the nation is on the wrong track by a
51-37 margin. House Republican Conference chairman
Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio said that presents a
challenge for the party to better communicate what
they have done —something conference spokesman Greg
Crist said they can do by pointing to two tax cuts. ‘If
I were [the Democrats], I wouldn't want to be the
party that hangs its electoral hopes on the economy
tanking,’ Mr. Crist said. Also, a memo from
Republican National Committee spokesman Jim Dyke
last week said the last two presidents to win
re-election had lower job-approval ratings at this
same point in their terms. President Reagan
polled 47 percent approval in 1983, while President
Clinton in 1995 polled 44 percent. The Democracy
Corps poll shows Mr. Bush with a 53 percent
job-approval rating…Compared with a Democracy
Corps poll taken before September 11, Mr. Bush has
fallen 10 points on honesty and trustworthiness, and
Republicans have slipped 17 percentage points versus
Democrats on deficits, and 9 points on the
economy. Also, 48 percent said the description
‘seems in over his head’ describes Mr. Bush well --
something the Democratic trio yesterday said was
reminiscent of how voters probably saw Republican
President Herbert Hoover.”
* NATIONAL POLITICS:
… “Job Losses Unsettle Republicans…GOP
Lawmakers Don’t Want Voters’ Blame for
Economy” – headline from yesterday’s Washington
Post. Report – excerpt – from the Post’s Juliet
Eilperin: “Congressional Republicans are
watching warily as President Bush's approval ratings
slide on two major issues -- the economy and Iraq --
and wondering if voter anxiety might cost them seats
in next year's election. Of the two, the question of
the economy is particularly worrying GOP lawmakers,
who fear they could be blamed for the hundreds of
thousands of jobs that have been lost under the Bush
White House and the Republican-controlled Congress.
The ongoing conflict in Iraq, and voters' reluctance
to keep pouring billions of dollars into that
country, also are causing discomfort in GOP circles.
But Republicans said they remain confident that the
public, which tends to trust the GOP on questions of
national security, would back the president and his
party on Iraq in the end. Some Republican
analysts, in fact, say they would welcome a debate
that focuses more on Iraq -- even with ongoing U.S.
deaths and other problems -- rather than jobs. ‘I'd
love to have Democrats throw us into the briar patch
of Iraq and terrorism,’ said GOP pollster Glen
Bolger. Republican lawmakers see Bush as their
party's unquestioned leader and have been reluctant
to complain about his handling of domestic or
international matters. But recent independent and
GOP polls, coupled with extensive conversations with
constituents, have some of them worried about a
potential voter backlash 14 months from now. A
recent Washington Post poll found that 42 percent of
Americans approve of Bush's handling of the economy,
down from 45 percent a month ago. The president has
suffered a similar slip in public approval of his
handling of the Iraq situation: 52 percent, compared
with 56 percent a month ago. Recent interviews
with Republican lawmakers found considerably less
angst about Iraq than about the economy, which has
shed 2.6 million jobs since Bush took office.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said voters see the
steady exodus of manufacturing jobs, particularly in
the South, as ‘happening on our watch…Obviously that
bothers me in terms of the political outcome in
'04.’ In a memo to House members last week, GOP
Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (Ohio) said
Republicans face a ‘rough communications terrain,’
especially concerning the economy. ‘The issue of
the economy is more important than ever,’ she wrote,
‘and because voters tend to define the economy in
the context of jobs, our central message must
remained focused on jobs. It is not possible for you
to talk about jobs too much!’ But several
Republicans complained in a closed-door meeting last
week that party leaders had yet to offer concrete
legislative solutions to the country's economic
distress.”
* IOWA POLITICS:
… NRA head – and former
Iowa GOP chair – Robinson still waiting for invite
to the Oval Office. Under the subhead “Citizen
Kayne,” John McCaslin reports in the “Inside the
Beltway” column in today’s Washington Times: “Despite
an earlier uproar, National Rifle Association
President Kayne Robinson has yet to set foot inside
the Oval Office. Heck, he hasn't even been invited
to a White House tea. ‘I understand White House
tours have started up again,’ says Mr. Robinson, who
earlier this year was elected to succeed Charlton
Heston as the NRA's top gun. A former Des
Moines assistant police chief and chairman of
the Iowa Republican Party, who helped organize the
1999 Iowa straw poll and 2000 presidential caucus,
the first in the nation, had anti-gun activists
grabbing for their slingshots when he vowed during
the 2000 campaign that the NRA would work out of the
White House with George W. Bush as president. ‘Hyperbole,’
Mr. Robinson admits in an interview with Inside the
Beltway, although he's quick to point out that for
eight years President Clinton ran the anti-gun lobby
out of the White House ‘and a lot of his daily
visitors -- they were practically employees.’…’My
point was that if we had any hope of a fair shake it
would be with a change of presidents,’ he says.
‘I think the point I made was right, and I stand by
it.’ With an estimated 90 million gun owners in the
United States, and 4 million NRA members, Mr.
Robinson doesn't have to look far for
support. ‘Wherever we go we find a friendly
audience,’ he says, although adding that it's
somewhat ‘formidable’ to follow Mr. Heston — ‘a
great American and icon’ — on stage. The ailing
actor served in the NRA's top post for an
unprecedented five years.”
* MORNING SUMMARY:
This morning’s headlines:
·
Des Moines Register, top front-page
headline: “Detainees in Iraq claim to be American…The
6 are suspected in attacks on coalition”
·
Main online coverage, Quad-City Times:
“100,000 urged to leave as Hurricane Isabel bears
down on East Coast” & “Edwards finally makes
it official”
·
Nation/world heads, Omaha World-Herald
online: “Residents clear out as Isabel closes in”
& “Clark enters presidential race”
·
New York Times online, featured
reports: “F. C. C. Plan to Ease Curbs on Big
Media Hits Senate Snag” & “California Moves
to Appeal Delay of Vote on Recall”
·
Chicago Tribune, main online heads: “FCC
rule changes rejected by Senate” & “U. S. to
pursue regional, individual trade talks”
* FEDERAL ISSUES:
… Democrats increase criticism of Iraq military
contracts. Coverage by FoxNews.com’s Kelley
Beaucar Vlahos: Democrats critical of the
exclusive contracts going to private companies
helping to rebuild Iraq stepped up attacks last week
following President Bush's request that Congress
provide $87 billion for military and reconstruction
projects there. Led by Senate Minority
Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Democrats suggested
in separate press briefings that the major
corporations involved in the reconstruction –
namely Halliburton Co. and its Kellogg, Brown & Root
construction division – were profiteering from the
war. They also complained that the Bush
administration was pouring millions into Iraq while
ignoring holes in the domestic budget. ‘If we are
going to spend billions and billions of dollars
rebuilding the infrastructure and creating jobs in
Iraq, we should be spending at least that much
rebuilding the infrastructure and creating jobs in
the United States,’ Pelosi said. Taking a swipe at
the private companies now working in Iraq, Daschle
demanded Bush offer ‘a plan to ensure that
Halliburton and other corporations like Halliburton
are not in a position to profiteer on whatever money
goes into Iraq.’ Republicans countered that only
so much ‘profiteering’ can come from constructing
base camps, providing food, showers and logistical
support for troops, fighting oil fires, restoring
pipelines, constructing buildings and working to
replace power, phones and other infrastructure.
‘One of the things we are concerned about is getting
more American jobs,’ said John Feehery,
spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
‘Right now, there are American companies helping to
rebuild Iraq and there is nothing wrong with that.’”
* OPINION: Today’s editorials, Des Moines
Register: “Beyond Cancun…Farm subsidies
should be reformed with or without trade
agreements…The trade talks collapsed before the
agricultural discussions began.” & Local – “Keep
the fountain flowing…The city can’t let its
downtown centerpiece stand empty and neglected.”
Editorial urges Civic Center to get Nollen Plaza
fountain operating again.
* WEATHER: DSM 7 a. m. 64, clear. Temperatures at 7
a.m. ranged from 52 in Muscatine and 55 in
Clinton to 68 in several western Iowa locations
– including LeMars, Atlantic, Red Oak and
Clarinda. Today’s high 83, windy.
Tonight’s low 62, breezy. Thursday’s high 66,
T-storms likely. Thursday night’s low 42, decreasing
clouds.
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