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Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports
and information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns
and issues
IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 1
Tuesday,
Aug. 5, 2003
Quotable:
“Of the 34
‘leadership’ individuals listed until Friday
on Gephardt's Iowa campaign Web site, 11 say
that in fact they are either undecided in the
presidential campaign or actively supporting
one of Gephardt's rivals.”
– St. Louis Post-Dispatch Quotable:
"If George Bush and
his bankrupt ideology are the problem, believe
me, old Democratic policies like higher taxes
and weakness on defense are not the solution."
– Lieberman, basically taking on the
rest of the Dem field during National Press
Club speech Quotable:
“If he is not our party's nominee, we will
re-evaluate.”
– Mike Mathis, the Teamster’s
chief political director on the decision to
endorse Gephardt’s candidacy
Quotable:
“A Dean candidacy
would stamp Democrats more clearly than ever
as a party that runs hoping for a sour economy
at home and rooting for American humiliation
in Iraq.”
– Robert L. Bartley, editor emeritus of
The Wall Street Journal on OpinionJournal.com
yesterday
Quotable:
“I think he is the
worst president we have ever had.”
-- Graham, discussing GWB during
weekend campaign stop in Fort Dodge
“I have formed the Iowa Priorities
Action Committee (IowaPAC) to take on
several key, statewide projects which will
be of immense benefit to our candidates up
and down the ticket for many years to
come.”
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
Gephardt
– suffering from second place showing in
latest Iowa Poll – now faces phantom
supporter controversy. At least seven listed
on Gephardt “leadership team” never intended
to be counted among his IA backers
While
Dean and Kerry battle it out in
polls and at podiums, Dean and Lieberman
spar over party principles – and reflect the
Dem Party’s current identity crisis
OpinionJournal.com commentary: Hillary
may have to reconsider her 2008 scenario –
and run now -- since the Dem Party is in
danger of “fading away like Alice’s Cheshire
cat”
Dean
campaign pulls off another surprise attack –
keeps rivals off balance by starting TV
spots in New Hampshire today
Lieberman
continues tough-talk attack on Dem rivals,
but turns wimpish by refusing to name names
during National Press Club appearance. He
warns other wannabes will send Dem Party
into the “political wilderness” – but fails
to realize he’s already lost in a polling
wilderness in the early nominating states
And, on
the outside of the Far Left turn, it’s
Dennis “Seabiscuit” Kucinich.
In
California – where else? – Kucinich
draws Seabiscuit analogy
Big day
ahead for Dem wannabes: All nine
scheduled in Chicago for AFL-CIO cattle call
tonight. See it live (7 p.m. CDT) on C-SPAN…
Speaking of Gephardt and labor unions,
the Washington Times’ Lambro notes the
Teamsters ignored polls in endorsing
Gephardt
From the
Florida front: The Cuban community was upset
with the White House last week over return
of 12 to Castro – so this week
Arab-Americans, who supported GWB in 2000,
are displeased with post-9/11 actions
State –
Nussle’s latest move – creating Iowa PAC –
won’t discourage speculation about his
possible ’06 gubernatorial aspirations
New
Hampshire’s Union Leader on editorial
warpath – again: Says Dems
“outmaneuvering” GOP in the Senate & GWB
should be more conservative on domestic
issues
This item
is not a joke: The Washington Post
reported that Dean, as VT Guv, was a “fiscal
conservative”
LA Times
reports that “feisty Congress” is not giving
GWB “carte blanche on Capitol Hill”
Graham
tells Fort Dodge group GWB “worst president
we have ever had.” In Mason City, he says
his economic plan is solution to national
woes
South
Carolina report: Wannabes “still pay
attention” to IA and NH, but some Dem
hopefuls – such as Edwards – are
“devising strategies that bank on victory”
beyond the first-round states
State –
Obradovich: Mark down a “win” for Vilsack
with Wells Fargo move last week, but
Speaker Rants questions timing of first
Values Fund application
Iowaism:
Radio Iowa reports that Iowa continues to
have lowest insurance rates in the nation
All these stories below and more.
Morning
Reports:
The Sioux City
Journal and morning newscasts highlight report
that Sioux City voters go to the polls
today to decide whether to change
council-manager city government back to a
commission system. Election officials say
more than 900 absentee ballots have been cast
Also in western Iowa – Council Bluffs
and Carter Lake – a legislative
special election will be held today to
fill vacancy created by resignation of GOP
State Rep. Brad Hansen...By Thursday, troops
in Iraq should be eating Iowa sweet corn.
Morning newscasts report that 31 “large
coolers” – containing about 200 bushels of
sweet corn -- left Fort Dodge
yesterday for South Carolina, where it will be
flown directly to Baghdad. The project started
when National Guard troops from the Fort
Dodge area wrote home that they missed IA
sweet corn.
… Five
wannabes in Iowa tomorrow – Dean, Graham,
Kucinich, Lieberman and Sharpton.
Meanwhile, Kerry – apparently able to
read the latest polls and feeling Dean
on his shoulder – scheduled to arrive in New
Hampshire tomorrow and spend the balance of
the week wandering the Granite State.
… The Dean
Gang pulls off another political guerilla raid
– just as Kerry announces he’ll devote most of
week to New Hampshire campaign, Dean strikes
with TV spot starting today. Excerpt from
this morning’s Union Leader: “Democratic
Presidential hopeful Howard Dean will begin
airing a third ad Tuesday in an attempt to
reach voters in New Hampshire, a critical
primary state where he is running close with
rival John Kerry. The ads, which will cost
close to $400,000, follow commercials that
began airing Monday on President Bush's home
turf of Texas and in Iowa earlier this summer.
It is unusual for a candidate to begin airing
commercials so early in the campaign,
especially in a state such as Texas which is
not an early primary state. No other
candidate has gone on the air yet, but Dean is
looking to build momentum off his early start
in raising money and organizing supporters
through his Web site. The latest ad will
air in New Hampshire and on Boston stations,
which are watched by many southern New
Hampshire voters. Dean is running close to
Massachusetts Sen. Kerry in New
Hampshire, which has the nation's first
primary, tentatively set for Jan. 27.”
… Pressure
on Gephardt – in need of all the help he can
get after rugged week -- as the wannabes rally
in Chicago tonight for AFL-CIO forum. He’s
expected to announce another union endorsement
today, but few expect the “brass ring”
(AFL-CIO endorsement) any time soon – if ever.
Headline from yesterday’s Chicago
Sun-Times: “Deans descend on Chicago hoping
to break from pack” Excerpt from column by
the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet: “All nine
Democratic White House hopefuls hit Chicago on
[today] to appeal for union support from the
AFL-CIO and appear at a labor-oriented
presidential forum in the ballroom at the tip
of Navy Pier. Don't expect a rare early
primary endorsement from the heavily
Democratic AFL-CIO because none of the nine
Dems has pulled together enough backing.
Last February, the AFL-CIO decided that a 2004
candidate would need two-thirds of the
weighted vote of its general board to win an
endorsement. There is not going to be a
repeat of 2000, when Al Gore snared the
AFL-CIO backing under a different set of
rules. Then, Gore had the advantage of
being an incumbent vice president running
against only one rival in the primary, former
New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley. … With the
AFL-CIO taking its time with an
endorsement--if there is one--other
international unions have been making their
moves. Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) will
unveil another labor endorsement [this]
morning as he tries to establish himself as
the prime friend of labor in the big field.
The AFL-CIO throws its 90-minute presidential
forum at Navy Pier starting at 7 p.m. (to
be broadcast live on C-SPAN), with the
candidates expected to deal with at least five
big labor issues: jobs, trade, health care,
corporate accountability and the right to
organize.” (See related item next. Also,
report on Gephardt securing Teamsters’
endorsement further below.)
… Under the
subhead “The
Deanocrats,”
the Sun-Times’ Sweet also reported on the Dean
campaign riding at high tide in the campaign
ocean this week. Excerpt from Sweet’s column:
“The
Deanocrats are riding a wave.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is on the
covers of Time and Newsweek and leads a new
Des Moines Register Iowa poll. His top
strategist, Joe Trippi, remains in Chicago on
Wednesday and Thursday to work the labor,
money and elite Dem precincts. There is a
Dean "meetup.com" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at
Charlie's Ale House. Dean returns to
Chicago Aug. 17 for two big funders, including
one hosted by Niranjan Shah, a top Dem donor,
and an Aug. 26 rally.”
… Lieberman –
barely visible in early-state polling and
trying to find way out of his own Dem
nominating wilderness – warns that his rivals
could send the party “into the political
wilderness.” But, he wimps out when it comes
to being a real tough guy by naming the
wannabes he’s criticizing. Headline from
this morning’s Union Leader – “Lieberman:
Democrats must reject big government programs”
Excerpt from report by AP’s Nedra Pickler:
“Presidential candidate Joe
Lieberman warned Monday that his Democratic
rivals threaten to send the party ‘into the
political wilderness’ with a return to
big-government programs and less-than-strong
stands on national security. Determined to
persuade Democrats that he is the only
candidate capable of defeating President Bush,
the Connecticut senator said the party must
focus on strengthening America's security and
economy and will, in turn, win over moderate
voters. ‘Some Democrats, on the contrary,
still prefer the old, big government solutions
to our problems,’ Lieberman said in
a speech to the National Press Club. ‘But, my
friends, with record deficits, a stalled
economy and Social Security in danger, we
can't afford that.’ Lieberman did not
name any of his opponents but took a shot
at their political stands on a range of
issues. He criticized Missouri Rep. Dick
Gephardt's plan to provide health care for
nearly all Americans and his opposition to
trade treaties such as the North American Free
Trade Agreement. He chided those who voted
against a compromise plan for a prescription
drug benefit under Medicare; the list
includes Sens. John Edwards of North
Carolina, Bob Graham of Florida and
John Kerry of Massachusetts. He
assailed those who opposed the U.S.-led war
against Iraq - Graham, former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio,
former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and
Al Sharpton. Lieberman is
positioning himself as the foil to Dean,
whose campaign has taken off on his criticism
of Bush's tax cuts and the conflict in Iraq.
Lieberman said those positions ‘could
really be a ticket to nowhere.’…’If George
Bush and his bankrupt ideology are the
problem, believe me, old Democratic policies
like higher taxes and weakness on defense are
not the solution,’ Lieberman said. ‘We
need to reclaim the vital center of American
politics for the Democrats.’ While
Lieberman goes after the center to take
votes from Bush, Dean says Democrats
must take a stand against Bush's policies to
win. ‘Unlike some Democrats in Washington,
Governor Dean believes that the way to
beat George Bush is to stand up to him and to
give people a reason to vote,’ said Dean
spokeswoman Tricia Enright. In a
question-and-answer period after the speech,
Lieberman said he respects Dean's opposition
to the war, but, ‘I just plain disagree
with him.’ Lieberman, who ran as Al
Gore's running mate in 2000, was also
asked if he would choose Gore as his
vice presidential nominee. ‘I would guess that
being vice president is something one does
once in a lifetime, so I don't think that's in
the cards.’ Lieberman had promised not
to run for president this year if Gore
was in the race. He also he doesn't expect
Gore to change his mind and get in now,
but won't drop out if he does. ‘I've crossed a
bridge,’ he said. ‘I'm in this for the
duration.’”
… Gephardt, once
considered nearly invincible in Iowa, now
faces another campaign hurdle as his alleged
supporters disappear. His much-touted IA
“leadership team” looks more and more like a
campaign mirage. Headline from St. Louis
Post-Dispatch: “Team touted by
Gephardt fades in Iowa” Excerpt from
report by Jon Sawyer: “When Richard
Gephardt announced his ‘leadership team’
of Iowa supporters a month ago he said, ‘I
don't take one bit of support for granted,’
and touted what he called ‘a great team of
folks behind me.’ But in politics, a month
can be painfully long, and if Gephardt looks
behind him now he'll find that his leadership
team is fading in a state deemed crucial to
his presidential hopes. Of the 34 ‘leadership’
individuals listed until Friday on Gephardt's
Iowa campaign Web site, 11 say that in fact
they are either undecided in the presidential
campaign or actively supporting one of
Gephardt's rivals. At least seven of
those listed, including three mayors and a
county supervisor, say they never intended to
be counted among Gephardt supporters to
begin with. Among the 15 individuals who
identified themselves as actual Gephardt
supporters, several appeared to be wavering.
‘I said I'd support him for now, verbally,
but that's as far as it goes,’ said Joe
McCasland, the mayor of Calmar, Iowa.
Gephardt's campaign dismissed the
defections as ‘par for the course’ and pointed
to recent union endorsements as a better
bellwether of Gephardt's standing in
union-strong Iowa, where caucuses Jan. 19 mark
the start of the presidential nomination
process. ‘We did call these folks and got
verbal commitments from them,’ said Bill
Burton, Gephardt's Iowa spokesman. ‘It's too
bad that this has happened,’ Burton said,
referring to the defections and confusion,
‘but organizationally we have public support
from important folks.’ Burton also supplied
the Post-Dispatch with the names of an
additional 53 activists and public officials
in Iowa who he said have endorsed Gephardt.
He acknowledged that those names had not been
included on the campaign Web site; he said
they have been disseminated to local reporters
in Iowa. Until Friday the leadership list
and Gephardt's quotations about it were
prominently displayed on the campaign's Web
site. They were removed some two hours after a
Post-Dispatch reporter raised questions about
the accuracy of some of the reported
endorsements. ‘Here's what happened,’
Burton said. ‘I told (campaign) folks you were
feverishly working on your story, and they
said that if there were problems we should fix
them.’”
… Kucinich – “the
former wunderkind Cleveland mayor who was sent
out to pasture in the late 1970s” – goes with
Seabiscuit comparison while rallying liberal
buddies in CA. Headline from yesterday’s
Los Angeles Times: “He’s champing at the
bit…Eager to stand out, presidential hopeful
Dennis Kucinich takes the ‘Seabiscuit’ hook by
the reins” The Times’ Reed Johnson writes
about Kucinich’s weekend on the Left Coast.
Excerpt: “Take a dark-horse Democratic
presidential candidate (in this case, Ohio
Rep. Dennis Kucinich), ask him to speak at a
Hollywood function (technically, Sherman
Oaks), invite some of The Industry's most
active and outspoken liberals, and what do you
get? Why, ‘Seabiscuit’ references, of course.
Not that anyone was openly laying bets on
Kucinich's long-shot run for the Oval
Office at the Saturday afternoon party hosted
by actors James Cromwell, his wife, Julie
Cobb, and their friend Hector Elizondo at the
Cobb-Cromwells' elegantly attired Valley home.
And Kucinich isn't really a horse, of
course, of course. He's the former
wunderkind Cleveland mayor who was sent out to
pasture in the late 1970s, roamed wild and
free during a lengthy political exile, then
rose to his feet again on Capitol Hill in the
mid-'90s. Lately, he's been trying to
convince voters that he's the only bona fide
Democratic progressive with the guts to take
on the corporate fat cats, implement universal
health care and nuclear disarmament, and
confront George W. Bush on what Kucinich sees
as the president's maladroit Middle East
policy. But with the 2004 presidential
campaign well under way, Kucinich, 56,
and the other eight declared Democratic
hopefuls have begun courting celebrity
support. And with the handy symbol of ‘Seabiscuit,’
this summer's big hit about an undersized
equine with a bum leg who confounded the
handicappers and rallied a Depression-racked
nation, Kucinich's campaign staff
has been playing up the parallels between man
and mythic beast. His local supporters
were likewise rarin' to make hay with the
analogy…Asked what he thought separated
Kucinich from the other Democratic aspirants,
Cromwell instantly replied that, first of all,
Kucinich was a vegan. That may sound
trivial, he said, but it shows that the
candidate understands the inter-connectedness
between humans and the planet's other
occupants…A sudden gust of noise near the
front door heralded the candidate's arrival,
and a few seconds later Kucinich
strolled into the room, smiling as he shook
hands with anyone in range. Physically slight
though he is, Kucinich has a longshoreman's
grip…Mercifully, on this hot summer
afternoon, he quickly shed his dark suit
jacket. But his rhetoric stayed warm as the
conversation turned to California's miserable
economic state. Kucinich laid the blame not
at the feet of his Democratic colleague Gov.
Gray Davis, who may be recalled out of his
job in a few months, but at the collapse of
key industries like aerospace, spiraling
insurance costs, lack of investment in
infrastructure and ‘catastrophic’ energy
deregulation policies — problems that,
Kucinich said, he'd address as president with
a ‘WPA-type’ public rebuilding program and
other reforms. ‘Because California presents a
special case, there needs to be a special
effort,’ he added.”
… Graham in Fort Dodge
and Mason City. Headline from yesterday’s
Fort Dodge Messenger: “Graham campaigns in
Fort Dodge…Speaks out against President Bush’s
policies” Coverage by Messenger’s Mike
McIlheran: “Anyone coming to
Bloomers on Central to hear presidential
candidate Bob Graham walked away knowing there
was no love lost between him and President
George W. Bush. Graham singled Bush
out personally several times as being the
reason that he sought the presidency for the
first time in his life. ‘I think he is the
worst president we have ever had,’ said
the U.S. senator and former governor from
Florida. ‘I have never felt the passion to run
until the first year of George W. Bush’s
presidency.’ Graham told the 40
assembled Sunday afternoon at the Fort
Dodge coffee shop that he was the
grandfather of 10. ‘We are handing a credit
card bill to our children and grandchildren,’
he said. Graham said his position as chair
of the Senate Intelligence Committee gave him
an inside look at ‘a pattern of this
administration toward secrecy. That is why I
voted against sending troops to Iraq. I felt
we should concentrate on our biggest
adversary, Osama Been Forgotten.’ He
pointed to the fact that no weapons have been
found while risking American lives. ‘The
people of America have lost respect and trust
for our government.’…The candidate
continued to remain outspoken on his feelings
of the current administration. In answer to
the problems of allowing large corporations to
own all of the media outlets, Graham said
he would first fire Attorney General John
Ashcroft, citing a trend toward a lack of
antitrust prosecution not only in the media,
but also in large scale agriculture…
Headline from Mason City Globe Gazette:
“Graham targets deficit in area visit”
Presidential hopeful Bob Graham
attended Sunday worship services at the First
Congregational Church…After the service, Sen.
Graham, D-Fla., quietly visited with
church members and stopped briefly in the
fellowship hall for coffee. On his way to meet
with party activists for lunch, he stood on
the church steps, talking economics. ‘One
of the concerns I heard mentioned three times
this morning and several times yesterday, is
about what we're doing to our children and
grandchildren,’ he said. ‘We continue to
run up this red ink deficit,’ Graham
said. ‘We are using our government credit
card and we're not paying for it ... it will
be left for our children and grandchildren.
That's immoral and it's not the tradition of
America.’ Graham, a candidate for
the Democratic nomination for president,
pointed to the $455 billion being added to the
national debt this year and said his plan for
America's economic renewal is a solution.
The plan outlines school construction and
repair, as well as support for transportation
infrastructure, homeland security, technology
and renewable energy - including ethanol.
In the plan, Graham said, he intends to
reverse the Bush fiscal priorities with tax
fairness and balance the budget within five
years. Commenting on recent Iowa poll
numbers, which have former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean leading the pack, Graham said he can gain
ground. ‘We think we can do very well in
Iowa,’ he said, ‘as people get to know
us.’…’Dr. Dean had been campaigning in
Iowa nearly a year before we started our
campaign. We're very pleased with our
organization here in Iowa and the support
we've received," said Graham.”
… “Union pick of
Gephardt ignored poll” -- Headline from
yesterday’s Washington Times. Excerpt from
report by the Times’ Donald Lambro:
“When the
Teamsters union decided Friday to endorse Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt for president, it was not
because he is one of the strongest
front-runners for his party's nomination — he
isn't. The Missouri Democrat is
struggling to hold a one-point lead in
Iowa, his strongest state, against
once-little-known former Gov. Howard Dean
of Vermont who has surged in popularity there
on the coattails of the antiwar movement. At
fourth place in New Hampshire with 9 percent,
according to a Boston Herald poll last
weekend, Mr. Gephardt badly trails Mr.
Dean at 28 percent and Sen. John
Kerry of Massachusetts at 25 percent.
The political terrain looks similarly dismal
in other states for the House Democratic
leader, who is making his second try for the
presidency. But the 1.4 million-member
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
endorsed him because ‘Gephardt has been
a great friend of labor, particularly on one
of the most important issues we face — the
trade issue — and we very much like his health
care plan,’ said Mike Mathis, the union's
chief political director. ‘We believe he is
a very viable candidate. If he is not our
party's nominee, we will re-evaluate,’ Mr.
Mathis said. The union's decison to
embrace Mr. Gephardt on the basis of issues
first and not how he is doing in Democratic
polls or in fund-raising, where he has also
been weak, is a demonstration of how organized
labor decides who it will support. Other
party strategists think that another criteria
should be as important, even more important:
Who has the best chance of restricting
President Bush to a single term? ‘The battle
has intensified as we enter a new phase
approaching Labor Day. The issue must remain
electability and who can beat Bush in 2004,’
said veteran Democratic adviser Donna Brazile,
who managed the 2000 White House campaign of
Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Joe
Lieberman. With five months to go before
the start of next year's primary season, Miss
Brazile says the race has essentially boiled
down to two rivalries: ‘Kerry versus Dean’
in the first tier and ‘Gephardt versus
Lieberman’ in the second tier. Everyone
else trails in the lower single digits. Party
members "must keep their eyes on the real
prize — beating Bush and stopping the
Republican electoral tide," she said. But Mr.
Mathis of the Teamsters said he is ‘hoping
that as it becomes apparent that Gephardt is
seen as a stronger candidate, and hopefully
that the AFL-CIO will endorse Gephardt at some
point, other people will see him as an
alternative for the nomination.’ Nonetheless,
as the race speeds into the final weeks of
summer, it was hard to see where Mr.
Gephardt was showing real strength outside of
Iowa. Mr. Lieberman, who leads in
most of the national polls because of his high
name recognition, has similar problems in the
early contests. He was in third place with 11
percent in New Hampshire, the Boston Herald
poll reported. Notably, Mr. Dean is the
only candidate who is near the top in both
Iowa and New Hampshire, though he remains
relatively unknown in the rest of the country. These
two contests will be followed by a second tier
of primaries on Feb. 3 that includes South
Carolina, where the Rev. Al Sharpton of
New York was expected to show some support
because of the state's large black vote.”
… As
Lieberman’s early strength fades away – and
Dean and Kerry fight in the front rows –
Smokin’ Joe is becoming the “anti-Dean” of the
campaign. Headline from yesterday’s The
Union Leader: “Lieberman, Dean in opposing
sides in Democratic identity crisis”
Excerpt from report by AP’s DC-based political
writer Nedra Pickler: “What is true in physics
also is the case in the Democratic
Presidential race: For every action, there is
an equal and opposite reaction. As Howard
Dean gains support with a populist message,
Joe Lieberman's early lead in the polls - the
benefit of being the best-known in a large
field - dwindled over the past few months. Now
the Connecticut senator is looking to boost
his campaign by becoming the anti-Dean.
Dean, a former Vermont governor, has
become the leading voice for a Democratic
Party that would renew its commitment to
social programs and peaceful cooperation with
the world. Lieberman is looking to
distinguish himself by capitalizing on his
reputation as a new Democrat and comparing
himself to Bill Clinton. Dean and Lieberman
represent Democratic factions fighting to set
the party's direction. The argument from
the liberal wing is that Democratic losses in
the past decade are due to the party's
abandonment of its central principles. The
other side says Democrats have to be strongest
on security and the economy to win elections,
especially after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
and the resulting financial fallout.
Otherwise, the thinking goes, they face a
repeat of the 1972 election when peace
candidate George McGovern was trounced by GOP
President Nixon. Lieberman, Connecticut's
mild-mannered junior senator, is emerging as
the leading voice of the party's moderate
wing. In a speech Monday before the
National Press Club, he was making the case
that Democrats who focus on peace, raising
taxes and expensive social programs are out of
step with the country's mood. ‘I share the
anger of my fellow Democrats with George Bush
and the direction he has taken this nation,’
Lieberman said in text prepared for
delivery. ‘But the answer to his outdated,
extremist ideology is not to be found in the
outdated extremes of our own. That path will
not solve the challenges of our time, and
could send us back to the political wilderness
for years to come.’ In an appearance Sunday on
CNN's ‘Late Edition,’ Lieberman said:
‘There is an important role for government,
but the era of big government is over.
We're going to be fiscally responsible. We're
going to be strong on security, and we're
going to be socially progressive.’ The
centrist movement was embraced by Clinton in
his 1992 campaign and through his leadership
of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.
One of the former President's most famous
quotes was his own declaration that ‘the era
of big government is over.’…Some in the
Presidential race are embracing parts of both
the liberal and moderate movements. Rep.
Dick Gephardt of Missouri supported the war in
Iraq but proposes repeal of Bush's tax cuts to
pay for health care for all Americans. Other
candidates, including Sens. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, Bob Graham of Florida and John
Edwards of North Carolina, also are seeking
middle ground. They want to repeal Bush
tax cuts for the wealthy, but say parts of the
President's plan, like child tax credits,
should be kept because they benefit the middle
class. The debate over tax cuts flared last
week as Kerry and Dean gave dueling economic
speeches and took slaps at each other for not
being ‘a real Democrat.’”
… Dean –
darling of the Dem radical fringe – was once
considered fiscal conservative as VT governor.
Headline from weekend report on
WashingtonPost.com: “As Governor, Dean Was
Fiscal Conservative…Presidential Candidate
Imposed Discipline as Vermont Legislature’s to
Spend.” Excerpt from report – datelined
Burlington, VT -- by the Post’s Michael
Powell: “The new governor faced a roomful
of fellow Democrats in 1992, liberal warriors
eager after two years of Republican rule to
right every perceived wrong in Vermont. But
Howard Dean issued no call to arms. All of
your progressive ideas, Dean told his
party caucus, won't amount to anything if
Vermonters don't trust you with their money --
and they don't. We're seen as tax-happy
liberals who spend money unwisely. Dean's
words foreshadowed years of acrimonious
battles with his party's formidable liberal
wing, which controlled the legislature.
From 1991 to 2002, Dean issued more
vetoes than any previous governor. But he
slowly bent Democrats to his will. When he
left office in 2002, Vermont had a fairly
balanced budget, while states across the
nation bled fiscal red ink. ‘He made us very
disciplined about spending, even if we didn't
really like it,’ said former state Senate
president Dick McCormack, who sat in that
caucus room in 1992. ‘I was a liberal
Democrat, and I fought him a lot, but he made
the Democrats very hard to beat.’
Dean's emerging national reputation as a
liberal tribune, a man whose rhetorical fires
have seared President Bush for invading Iraq
and cutting taxes for the wealthy, obscures
the centrist course he steered during his
tenure as governor of Vermont. In this
small, northern New England state where the
sole House member is a self-proclaimed
socialist and the state legislature tends to
come in three ideological flavors (moderate
Republicans, liberal Democrats and left-wing
Progressives), Dean gained a reputation as
a careful, even cautious, steward. That
gubernatorial record could turn off some
liberal true believers. Or it could allow Dean
to execute a political pivot in next year's
presidential primaries. A New England governor
with a budget-balancing reputation might prove
useful as the primaries move south of the
Mason-Dixon line. ‘The national role
reversal is that Democrats have become the
party of the balanced budget,’ said Eric
Davis, a Middlebury College political
scientist. ‘Howard Dean can lay claim
to that.’…Dean's governing style was not
cozy. He has a doctor's bluntness about
him, an astringent style that owes more to his
native Manhattan than to some fuzzy Vermont
country doctor stereotype. ‘Doctors are
used to being high priests,’ said John
McLaughry, a former Republican state senator
who often dueled with Dean. ‘If they tell you
it's psoriasis, by God it's psoriasis. That's
Howard.’ Dean, whose smackdown
style is much remarked upon as he runs for
president, would accuse the
Democratic-controlled state senate of
inhabiting La La Land, dismiss conservatives
as mastodons and sometimes do all of this
while speaking very loudly.”
… “NH and
Iowa no longer candidates’ only focus” –
Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader.
Excerpt from Associated Press report out of
Columbia, SC: “White House hopefuls still
pay attention to Iowa and New Hampshire, but
the states no longer have the suitors to
themselves. With so many states scheduling
primaries earlier next year, the nine
Democrats who want to be the party’s 2004
Presidential nominee are devising strategies
that bank on victory beyond the Iowa and New
Hampshire. The stretch opens Jan. 19 with
the Iowa precinct caucuses, followed by the
Jan. 27 primary in New Hampshire. Six
states — Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, New
Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina — hold
their primaries Feb. 3. That has U.S. Sen.
John Edwards, D-N.C., and the other
candidates crisscrossing the country. The
tactic is based on the assumption that neither
Iowa nor New Hampshire will propel anyone to
the nomination. ‘It’s going to make for a
really interesting winter and spring,’
Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said
about how the overhauled calendar will affect
the race. ‘It is very unpredictable.’ In
recent weeks, Edwards has chatted with
military veterans at an Arizona nursing home,
stopped by a Michigan church, spoke to New
Mexico party activists and mingled with
supporters in Tennessee. He also carved
out time to open his South Carolina campaign
offices. The compressed calendar resulted from
the Democratic National Committee changing
rules about when elections could be held.
Many Democrats argued that a crammed schedule
would allow the party to tap a nominee sooner
to focus on defeating President Bush. The
tight schedule also affects how much effort
candidates put into fundraising. Campaigns
are trying to stockpile enough cash so they
can compete in a rapid succession of
elections. ‘Candidates used to have a
chance to capitalize on a victory and then be
able to raise money in between contests,’ said
Larry Sabato, who directs the Center for
Politics at the University of Virginia. ‘Now
there’s not time to raise money in between
contests.’”
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