Today Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich released a statement strongly opposing the Bush Administration's latest plan to effect the in-depth profiling of airline passengers:

"The Bush Administration is diverting resources to measures that appear to make us safer but actually make our lives more difficult and violate our privacy," said Kucinich. "The new system will require all airline passengers to provide their full names, home addressees, phone numbers, and dates of birth when they book flights. The government will feed that information into databases and produce profiles on all passengers. The databases will include government records, information from commercial systems such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, and mailing lists and other commercial information. And the databases will be secret, and therefore no one will have any idea why they would be given a specific security level.

"The Administration is turning every airline ticket counter into a Big Brother Booth. Our freedoms and our liberties are on the line. This Administration is moving with breathtaking speed to demolish the Bill of Rights and privacy protections. In a democratic society we have a right to live free and they're taking that right away.

"What conceivable right does the government have to develop these database profiles? What else will the government do with the information? The FBI is already collecting information on people who attend peace demonstrations. What purposes will all of this data be put to? Once someone is deemed a threat to air travel, will they also be denied a driver's license? Will they be denied admittance to large public events?

"These are serious questions. Big Brother is here. This is absolutely unacceptable in a democracy. We have to live free, or it's not America anymore. I will work quickly to repeal the 'PATRIOT Act,' to repeal the intelligence authorization bill that slipped in sections of Patriot Act II, and to rescind all practices that mine data for the purpose of profiling.

"We are being driven to fear each other, and it is not helpful. There is no evidence that this new scheme, or duct tape and plastic, or the general color-coded terror threat warnings actually make us safer. Rather than pouring hundreds of billions into an illegal war that is destabilizing the Middle East and additional resources into assigning people color codes, we should be working to rejoin the world community and make the world safer through diplomacy and cooperation."

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate for President who voted against the Patriot Act. He has introduced a bill to repeal major sections of that act. He has protested the proposals for a Patriot Act II. And he has committed to file suit to overturn the Patriot Act upon election as President.  (1/16/2004)

A Boston Globe column explores why Rep. Dennis Kucinich went against his ideology in asking Iowa Caucus attendees to caucus with Sen. John Edwards when they were not viable:

On Monday, when it was clear that the Ohio representative could not win enough votes to be viable in the Iowa caucuses, Kucinich asked his supporters to throw their votes behind North Carolina Senator John Edwards. It was a curious choice, given Edwards's votes in support of the congressional resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and in favor of the Patriot Act of 2001, a measure Kucinich regularly denounces as an assault on fundamental civil liberties.  (1/21/2004)

One day after the Iowa Caucuses President Bush had his say to the nation in the traditional State of the Union Message. The divided and partisan nature of this campaign year was evident in the split between Democrats’ and Republicans’ reactions to the speech -- Democrats were frequently visible in their lack of applause to the President’s speech.

In New Hampshire according to New Hampshire Politics.com the Democrats were unanimous in their Bush bashing.

Kucinich offered the following statement:

"I actually thought it didn't have that much content. He spent a lot of time talking about terror. And see, it's kind of instructive. He can spend time talking about that and if you spend a lot of time talking about that you don't have to explain why America's lost 3 million manufacturing jobs. You don't have to explain why unemployment, while it hovers around 6 percent it doesn't really reflect the massive unemployment that exists in this country from people who have stopped looking for work. You don't have to explain why 43 million Americans don't have any health insurance at all. So just talk about terror and you don't have to talk about anything else."  (1/21/2004)

Kucinich offered his own state of the Union Address:

Kucinich said our nation was "in a perilous condition due to fear, war, tax cuts to wealthy Americans, and trade policies leading to widespread unemployment in manufacturing and high tech industries." The rising cost of health care, he said "threatens the financial stability of all Americans. The retirement security of tens of millions of Americans is in doubt. Social Security is under attack with another privatization scheme."

Kucinich called for the creation of "a job creation program patterned after the WPA of the Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt."

Kucinich spoke at length about the crisis in health care in this country, and said, " It is time for a universal, single payer, not-for-profit system, extended Medicare for All. Such an approach is contemplated in HR 676, a bill I have cosponsored in the House of Representatives, which will phase in a full coverage plan over a ten year period. This approach to health care emphasizes patient choice and puts doctors and patients in control of the system, not insurance companies."

The Ohio Congressman, who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also focused on housing, calling for the preservation of public housing and housing assistance programs and the investigation of and elimination of predatory lending.

Kucinich ended his address on the topic of Social Security, which he said "is essentially sound. The Social Security Trust Fund, according to an analysis by the fund's trustees, is solvent through the year 2042, without any congressional action being necessary."

"Social Security is solid," Kucinich told his supporters in New Hampshire. "But the same is not true for the private pension plans of tens of millions of Americans…Corporate executives and board members ought to be accountable under both civil and criminal law for under-funding pensions."  (1/21/2004)

The State offers a view of the various campaigns organizational strength in S. Carolina. Sen. John Kerry is in a mad dash to bring his staff back from Iowa to S. Carolina:

WESLEY CLARK

• Volunteers — 2,000

• Paid staff — 40

• Offices — Columbia, Orangeburg, Charleston, Greenville, Florence

• Endorsements — More than 40

HOWARD DEAN

• Volunteers — More than 350

• Paid staff — More than 50

• Offices — Columbia (2), Charleston, Greenville, Orangeburg, Florence

• Endorsements — 25

JOHN EDWARDS

• Volunteers — 400

• Paid staff — 9

• Offices — Columbia, North Charleston, Greenville, Florence

• Endorsements — More than 75

JOHN KERRY

• Volunteers — 321

• Paid staff — 7

• Offices — Columbia, Charleston

• Endorsements — More than 30

DENNIS KUCINICH

• Volunteers — 210

• Paid staff — None

• Offices — Columbia

• Endorsements — About 10

JOE LIEBERMAN

• Volunteers — 500

• Paid staff — 8

• Offices — Columbia, Charleston, Greenville

• Endorsements — About 60

AL SHARPTON

• Volunteers — About 200

• Paid staff — 4

• Offices — Columbia, Spartanburg, Florence (2)

• Endorsements — Campaign could not provide   (1/21/2004)

There is a story by The Democrat that reports on how Rep. Dennis Kucinich continues to live on another planet -- Kucinich still expects to be the Democrat Presidential nominee:

Even though he’s been registering in the single digits since his entrance into the race, and in the Iowa caucuses, he’s said he will gain the support needed in New Hampshire.

"I have a distinct message," he said. "I believe that message will resonate with the people in this state."

His stop at UNH wasn’t necessarily a move to gain support, but to support and urge students to look at the issues, register, and vote.

"We’re getting the word out," he said.  (1/23/2004)

Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich said today that the National Guard and the Army Reserve are stretched too thin.

"Reservists are being sent into combat in Iraq for periods of a year or more, lacking equipment including body armor," said Kucinich, "and our country at home is left without the ability to call on them in a crisis. West Point is replacing National Guardsmen on security duty with private security. That's how thinly we are stretched. Our military academy has had to hire a private company to protect it.

"Lieutenant General James Helmly has said we are in danger of seeing a major exodus from the Reserves when Reservists get back from Iraq. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is proposing that military police and civil affairs personnel be sent into active-duty to relieve the strain on the Reserves.

"And the situation our Reservists and Guardsmen are facing in Iraq is going from bad to worse. Two Reservists were burned to death earlier this month when their fuel truck was attacked. The death toll for US troops reached 505 today when two more soldiers were killed.

"According to wire service reports, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division believes Iraqis not connected to Saddam Hussein are taking up the battle out of a sense of nationalism. Those fighters 'really just want Iraqis to run their own country,' said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno. They 'are going to try to use Iraqi nationalism to say we need to get the Americans and the coalition forces out of Iraq, and they will continue to attack us.'

"Our own military understands the situation it is in. The Bush Administration needs to understand it and go to the United Nations with an entirely new approach that will turn control on an interim basis over to UN peacekeepers and bring our troops home."  (1/23/2004)

The Manchester Union Leader has as part of its New Hampshire debate coverage a fact-check concerning some of the things that were said by the Democratic presidential candidates. And low and behold… some of the statements made during the debate do not line up with the facts. One of those mis-statements was made by Sen. John Edwards, complaining about President Clinton’s signing of the defense of family act:

Sen. John Edwards, voicing his objections to the Defense of Marriage Act signed by President Clinton in 1996, said it "took away the power of states ... to be able to do what they chose to do" about gay civil unions." He said, "I think these are decisions that the states should have the power to make."

States have that option under the law. The act allows states to refuse to honor same-sex unions performed outside their boundaries, but also lets them legalize the unions if they want. It specifies that such unions would not be recognized by the federal government.

Another mis-statement was made by Wesley Clark, when asked when it was that he knew he was a Democrat:

"I voted for Bill Clinton and Al Gore," the retired general said in a Democratic presidential debate Thursday, then stopped there. He also has said previously that he voted for Republicans including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush.

Clark was also asked about being a superhuman President who would stop all future 9-11 attacks:

"…I never used the word 'guarantee,’" he said.

However, here’s the actual quote of Clark on the subject:

"If I'm president of the United States, I'm going to take care of the American people," Clark was quoted by the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire earlier this month. "We are not going to have one of these incidents."

Maybe Clark just sort of means it… kind of…

The Leader also accuses Sen. John Kerry of demagogism on the issue of senior health care:

Kerry flatly accused President Bush of "pushing seniors off of Medicare into HMOs."

The new prescription drug program subsidizes costs for low-income patients and encourages private insurance companies to offer coverage for the elderly willing to opt out of traditional Medicare. Nothing in the law forces seniors off of Medicare.

Overall, the debate was notable for its lack of attacks upon each other and its focus of attacks on President Bush. One of the funniest moments came in an exchange from Al Sharpton commenting on Howard Dean’s statement about his hollering screaming speech in Iowa:

“I’m not a perfect person,” Dean said. “I think a lot of people have had fun at my expense over the Iowa hooting and hollering.”

“I wanted to say to Gov. Dean, don’t be hard on yourself about the hootering and hollering,” Sharpton said. “If I spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I’d still be hollering to Iowa. Don’t worry about it, Howard.”

“Thanks, reverend,” Dean replied.

Kerry is still having trouble with some New Hampshire voters regarding his vote to go to war. He has consistently offered the following statement to get voters to support him:

“If anybody in New Hampshire believes that John Kerry would have gone to war as President Bush had done, then they shouldn’t vote for me,” Kerry said.

There were no break-away performances by any of the candidates. Sen. Joe Lieberman offered a convincing performance that kept him outside of the rest of the liberal candidates seeking the nomination. There still are no convincing events that suggest that he will survive Tuesday’s election.

Clark failed to ignite the crowd and looks to be sagging in New Hampshire voters’ minds when pitted against John Kerry. In addition, Edwards might get a boost for just being himself.

"I think it's conceivable that Edwards might go up in the polls beyond Clark in a couple days as a result of his performance," Dean Spiliotes, visiting politics professor at St. Anselm College said. "Kerry seemed pretty even, and I think it's going to be reasonably tight between him and Dean," Spiliotes said.

In the spin room afterwards, the Kerry campaign tried to turn down expectations for Kerry according to New Hampshire Politics.com:

Billy Shaheen downplayed expectations for Sen. John Kerry in the debate spin room. Shaheen, the state chair of Kerry's campaign, said that he thinks Kerry is still an underdog, despite Kerry's Iowa victory and surge in the polls.

"Gov. Dean still has a great organization," Shaheen said. "He has a lot of people that committed to him and have not abandoned, and I think he'll be a tough competitor."

[For transcripts of the debate, use this link.]   (1/23/2004)

Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich today said that based on the public record five of his fellow candidates promoted the idea Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction:

"The implications of this are enormous," Kucinich said. "They were either misled or looked the other way while President Bush was using the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction as a reason to go to war against Iraq. Either way, these candidates have seriously undermined their ability to win in the general election when President Bush is obviously running for reelection based on his Iraq policies.

"Yesterday the leader of the U.S. search for Iraq's alleged stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons said he didn't think there were any. Secretary of State Colin Powell now claims we went to war to find out whether such weapons existed.

"Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Edwards, Dr. Dean, and General Clark, all claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and, therefore, contributed to the political climate which falsely justified a war.

"In September of 2002, before five of my fellow candidates joined the President in claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, I repeatedly and insistently made the point that no proof of that claim existed and as such that there was no basis to go to war. Six months later, even Dr. Dean was still claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."  (1/26/2004)