Daily Report: 2004 Presidential Watch: Republican conservative news on the Democrat caucus, primary candidates national campaigns.

Quotable: “I think public financing is a good thing. The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you from March to December?” – Dean, explaining why he might violate pledge to adhere to campaign spending limits. (OK, we’re confused too – but apparently Dean would campaign into December ‘04.)

Quotable: “We loved President Clinton and he wasn't the best saxophone player, you know." -- Susan Rye, commenting on Dean’s performance at a Des Moines blues club…“I'm against the recall, I think it's wrong. But I think people ought to have a choice beyond Arnold Schwarzenegger and Larry Flynt.” – Lieberman, who’s backing his top California supporter, Lt. Gov. Bustamante

Quotable: “On Team Lieberman, they’re straightaway hitters. They seem to aim everything for the center field wall. Sometimes, they even go to right center.” – The Union Leader’s John DiStaso, scouting the Dems’ softball tournament in NH that begins tomorrow

Quotable: “With the political news elsewhere dominated by the California recall, this may be the last state in the country where the Democratic presidential candidates can still find a crowd.” – Washington Post’s Dan Balz, reporting on the wannabes wandering around IA over recent days

Quotable: “He should ask Iraqis for votes, not Cubans, because he freed them.” -- Santiago Portal, referring to President Bush and expressing discontent to Cuban voters in Florida

Quotable: “If you liked Bill Clinton's eight years, you're going to love John Kerry's first term.” – Kerry, stealing a line that’s usually found in Dean’s stump speech

Notable Quotable I: “Sen. John Edwards of North Korea said he opposes the recall and will not back an alternative.”

– Sentence from Friday’s Washington Post online. “Kim Jong Edwards” – Subhead from Friday’s “Best of the Web Today” column by James Taranto on OpinionJournal.com. Taranto’s comment: “In an article on Democratic presidential candidates and the recall of California's Gov. Gray Davis, the Associated Press's Ron Fournier observes: ‘Sen. John Edwards of North Korea said he opposes the recall and will not back an alternative.’ Do we really care what a senator from North Korea thinks of an election in an American state?”

Notable Quotable II: “Presidential hopeful Al Sharpton recently played the race card when he claimed that the media are ignoring him because he’s black, ergo, the media are racist. No, the chorus might say were the chorus not so intimidated by the charge, the media are ignoring Sharpton because he can’t be taken seriously.”

– Columnist Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel.

Iowa State Fair:

: The fair concludes tonight as Iowa’s young return home to begin the school year, including some returning to classrooms tomorrow morning. It’s Des Moines University Day. It’s also Extreme Sunday – with half-price admission at the gate for all fairgoers. The adult checkers tournament is being held on the Administration Building porch, the Rev ‘n’ Roll Motorcycle Round-Up is all day on the Grand Concourse, the Mother/Daughter Look-a-Like contest is at Pioneer Hall and Alan Jackson wraps up this year’s entertainment schedule in the Grandstand.

Iowa Pres Watch Note

Although the Pres Watch’s primary mission is to monitor the Dem wannabes – and hold them accountable for their campaign misstatements and misadventures – we also want to assure that pro-GWB supporters and Republicans are aware of the current political climate, especially when it comes to topics that may impact on the president’s re-election bid. From that perspective, this is not a particularly positive Daily Report for the Bush forces. In addition to the usual array of wannabe attacks on GWB, The Union Leader editorialized that he has shown “no interest” in reducing growth in federal spending -- “President Bush yesterday said no new tax cuts were needed, and he called on Congress to restrain federal spending. Then everyone in Congress had a good laugh and got on with their vacations.” Also, the Associated Press – in a dispatch from Miami – reported on Cuban frustration with White House policies – “For the first time since he became a U. S. citizen decades ago, 62-year-old Santiago Portal won’t vote for a Republican for president.” Iowa Pres Watch believes the first step in reducing – and confronting – criticisms of the president is to be aware of them. See reports below for more on The Union Leader editorial, Cuban discontent in Florida and related items… On the other hand, it’s been a tough week for most of the leading wannabes – with the notable exception of People Powered Howard, although he took a secondary hit this weekend for possibly changing his mind on public financing. Several accounts have appeared in the media over recent days about the sinking prospects of Gephardt (for dropping to second in IA and not getting AFL-CIO endorsement), Kerry (for various problems, including a poor menu selection and skipping the Cheez Whiz in Philadelphia), Edwards (for generally failing to get any real traction.), and Graham (for not making many – if any – points during his family “vacation” in Iowa). The main loser of the week: Lieberman – who passed on Iowa forums during the week to head for the West Coast where his comments (whatever they may have been) were buried under excessive recall coverage in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Good night, Joe.

WHO-TV (Des Moines) and other newscasts this morning focus on one story – The Heat. It was already in the high 70s – with heat indexes in the low 80s – before 8 a.m. in several sections of the state. Heat index expected to top out in the 105-110 range today with warnings for state fairgoers to drink plenty of water. An air quality alert is in effect for central and eastern IA

California update – Although this item was on several news outlets yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the CA recall election “has begun as a two-candidate contest” between Dem Lt. Gov. Bustamante and GOP contender Schwarzenegger. The latest California Field Poll shows Bustamante at 25% to Arnold’s 22%. All other major candidates were in single digits.

* The Lone Wannabe: After a flurry of activity during which all the wannabes – including some who spent several days – visited Iowa over the past couple weeks, only one is scheduled to travel eastern and southeastern IA highways and byways today: Edwards. According to campaign skeds, he was supposed to be in Davenport at midday and visit Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Fairfield and Ottumwa before sunset. He continues in IA tomorrow with an Ottumwa coffee and a noontime barbecue at Water Works Park in Des Moines – before leaving.

… Angry federal agency – FEMA – counters comments by the Dems’ angriest wannabe. Headline from Friday’s Union Leader: “FEMA disputes Dean’s comments” Excerpts from coverage from the UL’s Stephen Seitz: “Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are taking issue with recent comments by Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean questioning the agency’s effectiveness in light of its incorporation into the Department of Homeland Security. In a telephone conference call Wednesday, the former Vermont governor said that bureaucratic in-fighting with the new department might slow down FEMA’s effectiveness in dealing with recent flooding in New Hampshire. “Our procedures, our programs, none of that has changed,’ said FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde. ‘We’re handling disasters today the same way we were handling them six months ago.’…’This is hardly our first disaster,’ said Lea Anne McBride, speaking for the Department of Homeland Security. ‘Governor Dean hasn’t done his homework.’ McBride said FEMA has responded to 32 major disaster declarations since March 1, the day FEMA joined the new department. FEMA, she said, has also handled 12 emergency declarations and 24 fire management assistance declarations. Specifically for New Hampshire, McBride noted that in April, President Bush signed an emergency declaration for the March snowstorms. About $1.6 million went to New England to help clean up.”

… Columnist Robert Novak: Black CA ministers tried to get Sharpton to take on Lt. Gov. Bustamante in recall saga. Subhead on Novak’s column in today’s Chicago Sun-Times: “Rev. Al’s Non-Attack” Excerpt: “African-American ministers in the Los Angeles area made an unsuccessful effort this past week to get the Rev. Al Sharpton to attack Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the possible Democratic replacement for Gov. Gray Davis, for accidentally using the ‘N-word’ two years ago. Speaking in Oakland in January 2001 to an African-American audience, Bustamante stumbled in reading a long list of historic black organizations bearing the word ‘Negro’ and said ‘nigger.’ Some black leaders criticized the lieutenant governor even though he apologized profusely. Sharpton called Bustamante this week and was satisfied by his explanation of the 2001 incident. The ministers who wanted the black presidential candidate to attack Bustamante are close to Davis, whose chances for beating the recall would improve if there were no viable Democratic alternative.”

...“Edwards Criticizes ‘Shooting Gallery’” – headline from Friday’s News & Observer, the NC Sen’s home state paper. Excerpt from report by the N & O’s John Wagner: “U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina stepped up his criticism of President Bush's handling of post-war Iraq and lamented the continuing deaths of U.S. servicemen during campaign stops in Iowa Thursday. ‘We've got a bunch of young people in a shooting gallery over there,’ the White House aspirant said during a meeting with Democratic activists gathered at an Elks Lodge in Mason City. The North Carolina Democrat blamed Bush for not adequately preparing for the war's aftermath. Edwards, who supported the war, also said Bush was too slow to invite allies to help stabilize the country. ‘It is an absolute, stubborn arrogance,’ Edwards said. ‘It is a huge mistake.’ The Mason City stop was part of Day Two of Edwards' ‘Real Solutions Express’ bus tour in Iowa. Later in the day, Edwards pitched his health-care plan, which would require parents to insure their children, at a forum in Des Moines Thursday hosted by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Edwards told the audience that providing health insurance for children is as important as making sure they get an education. ‘There is no moral difference between the two,’ Edwards said.”

… Comic relief. Dean team seeks to take lead on softball diamond too – while Edwards and Graham entries not seen as great threats. Lieberman’s team reportedly only hits to center field. Play begins tomorrow for Dems with a game against GOP team on the horizon. In yesterday’s The Union Leader, senior political reporter John DiStaso – apparently desiring some comic relief from the drudgery of covering the wannabes – wrote: “The expectations are high for the Howard Dean and John Kerry teams. The Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards and Bob Graham teams are looking to play the spoiler’s role — and perhaps pull off that big upset that will send them to the top. No, no, no. We’re not talking about the Presidential Primary. That’s still five months away. Of immediate concern is the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Campaign Staffs Softball Tournament…It all begins Monday at Derryfield Park in Manchester and wraps next Friday evening with its own version of the championship playoffs. The World Series of Presidential softball, so to speak, comes next month, when the Democratic all-star team takes on the Republicans. Matt ‘The Rake’ Gardner of the Dean team says his squad is up to the unlikely challenge of being a favorite. ‘It’s going to be a team effort like everything we’ve done so far,’ he said. The likely pitcher will be press secretary Dorie ‘Don’t-Call-Me-Wesley’ Clark, a cool customer who Gardner said ‘is always very calm under pressure.’…On Team Lieberman, they’re straightaway hitters. They seem to aim everything for the center field wall. Sometimes, they even go to right center…In the Edwards clubhouse, second baseman Colin ‘Moving’ Van Ostern is lowering expectations, confiding, ‘We haven’t practiced all that much.’…Meanwhile, Kate Murphy is heading the Kerry team, while Mike Matoon is captaining the Gephardt squad and David Moore heads Team Graham. The line on the Kerry team is that they will look good taking the field, and like to spray the ball to all fields, but have to prove they’re willing to get their uniforms dirty. Graham’s team will take the field in a friendly and unassuming — almost grandfatherly — manner, but don’t underestimate. At any moment, they’re capable of a barrage of screaming line drives. And if the Gephardt squad sends in a tractor-trailer filled with Teamsters with baseball gloves, the game may be played under protest…It all begins Monday at 3 p.m., when the Dean and Lieberman squads square off, followed by Team Edwards versus Team Gephardt. On Thursday at 5 p.m., it will be the Kerry and Graham teams. The semi-finals are slated for next Friday at 3 p.m., with the final game to follow. State party spokesman Pam Walsh, who may also umpire a bit, said, ‘It’s a good activity to remind people that we’re all in the same league, and, when the all-star team plays the Republicans, we’ll all be on the same team.’”

… IOWA PRES WATCH SIDEBAR: Under the subhead “What a Prize,” James Tartanto wrote in Friday’s “Best of the Web Today” – “’Win a day on the campaign trail with John Kerry!’ proclaims the Web site of the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam. What's second prize, a week with Kerry?”

… Dean has the blues in Des Moines. Headline from Friday’s Washington Post – “Candidate With the Blues …In Iowa, Howard Dean Sets His Campaign to Music” Excerpts from report – datelined Des Moines – by the Post’s Mark Leibovich: “Howard Dean, the man suspected of being too liberal, too untested, too dovish or too cranky to be elected president, quoted another obstacle to his campaign tonight: the specter of public humiliation. The former Vermont governor is approaching a musty blues club, where he has threatened to play a set of blues tunes on guitar and harmonica. And about 150 people are waiting inside, threatening to watch him. Dean has taken lessons in neither harmonica nor guitar. He taught himself to play both instruments years ago, and has played in public only once before (at a folly put on by Vermont legislators). He has had no time to practice for this gig. He just met the man he'll be playing with, blues musician and Iowa native Mike ‘Hawkeye’ Herman, about an hour before. They jammed for a few minutes back at campaign headquarters (Bob Dylan's ‘Don't Think Twice, It's All Right’ and the Animals' ‘House of the Rising Sun’). Now Dean is shaking his head as he walks into Blues on Grand, a low-ceilinged and dark room just west of downtown. ‘This is a very frightening thing,’ Dean says. ‘This could be worse than that debate in South Carolina.’ Successful candidates have played music on the stump (sax-playing Bill Clinton) as have unsuccessful candidates (trumpet-playing Michael Dukakis). Precedent is there, if not any decisive omen, and either way, Dean's performance has been heavily billed and anticipated by the political and media throngs who are in town for the Iowa State Fair. It is the night's hottest political spectacle, surpassing even vegan candidate Dennis Kucinich's meeting with the vegetarian community of Iowa at a vegetarian restaurant down the street. ‘We loved President Clinton and he wasn't the best saxophone player, you know,’ says Susan Rye, an undecided voter who is sitting near the stage. Such consolation seems lost on Dean as he slings a steel-string acoustic guitar over his right shoulder. He waves down applause, grabs his mike and promptly fires the staffer who arranged this. Hawkeye Herman breaks into a traditional blues song, ‘Come Back, Baby.’ Dean joins after a few seconds and is not bad, not bad at all. He does a 30-second solo, bobs his head, closes his eyes and purses his lips and quivers his face back and forth during a tasty crescendo. ‘He's got the blues, right?’ Hawkeye asks the crowd. ’YES!’”

… “Lieberman: U. S. remains vulnerable” – headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader. Excerpt: “Despite a stream of tough rhetoric from President Bush, the nation remains ‘dangerously unprepared’ for yet another attack, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said yesterday. ‘This president claims he’s been strong on security,’ said Lieberman. ‘I envision an America where we’re really secure at home.’ A massive power blackout and another Internet attack, though not linked to terrorism, have added to a sense of insecurity. ‘I want to bring back security and prosperity to America,’ Lieberman said. He is seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination running as a moderate who backed Bush’s decision to attack Iraq, though he’s been critical of Bush’s handling of events in the wake of the war. ‘It’s hard to imagine this administration was so unprepared,’ Lieberman said. He also warned that Bush has stubbornly insisted that the United States go virtually alone in controlling events in Iraq after the hostilities, when allies should have been brought into the picture. ‘I would have reached out to our allies in the world,’ said Lieberman, who also said he would offer a plan to broaden access to health care in the next couple of weeks. Though details will come later, Lieberman said the basics of his plan will call for expanding coverage to children who lack insurance, as well as giving subsidies to the working poor who can’t afford health insurance, but make too much to qualify for Medicaid. He offered no price tag for his plan, but said it would offer coverage to about half of the 40 million Americans who lack coverage. ‘You’ve got to take a step-by-step approach to this,’ Lieberman said. Lieberman has been less active than his rivals in Iowa, where precinct caucuses next January will launch the presidential nominating season, and yesterday’s swing underscored the differences with his rival campaigns. Lieberman skipped two forums earlier in the week, where most of his rivals courted labor leaders and touted their health plans to health care activists. Aides cited scheduling conflicts for missing those forums. Yesterday, Lieberman dropped by the Iowa State Fair for a couple of hours with Attorney General Tom Miller in tow, but then flew out of the state just hours before yet another forum before labor activists in Cedar Rapids. Aides said he was headed back to Washington.”

… Reinforcing the media drumbeat, the Register’s Thomas Beaumont joins the media parade of writers and columnists who have reduced the Dem contest to a three-way tussle. Headline from Saturday’s Register: “Candidates try to widen base…The top Democratic candidates look to broaden their appeal.” Excerpt: “The three top candidates in the race for the 2004 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses showed this week they know their rivals' strengths - or at least tried to de-emphasize their own weaknesses. During a series of multiple-candidate events with health care and labor groups in Waterloo, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has earned support from social liberals, stressed practical achievement over ideology. Likewise, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, whose 19-year Senate career has more foreign policy highlights than domestic, went out of his way to stress fiscal responsibility, a signature Dean theme. And U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, described by even his own supporters as bland, showed Iowa Democrats his passionate side. ‘I've never heard him so vehement,’ Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said after hearing Gephardt Thursday at a health care forum on the Des Moines college campus. ‘He has sounded wooden and mechanical before. He's clearly trying to show us Dick Gephardt, the man.’ The campaigns say their messages did not change. However, as the campaign approaches the Labor Day checkpoint, candidates are tweaking their delivery in preparation for the stretch run to Jan. 19, when the Iowa caucuses launch the 2004 nominating season. Gephardt punctuated a familiar line from his stock speech at a Cedar Rapids labor forum Friday by shouting and pounding the podium with his fist…On Friday, Gephardt's voice broke and a tear welled in his eye as he elaborated on the story of his son Matt's battle with childhood cancer. Gephardt has told the story hundreds of times publicly, but Friday, with more than 1,000 Iowa union activists and their families listening, he seemed to go further to support his call for universal health care…Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith said his candidate has shown passion in this, his second bid for the Democratic nomination. Gephardt ran in 1988, but exited the race early after winning in Iowa. Gephardt and Dean have emerged as the top two in Iowa, according to recent polls, with Kerry within striking distance. Kerry and Dean are locked in a tight race for the New Hampshire primary, which follows the caucuses by eight days. The two tangled over war and tax policy early in the race and have become the most heated rivals in the field of nine candidates so far…Dean, whose opposition to the war in Iraq earned him early support from social liberals, accused his rivals who support universal, government-paid health care of ‘tilting at windmills’ and vowed to avoid ‘an ideological crusade’ during the health care forum at Drake on Thursday. "I supported the first Gulf War," Dean said. ‘I supported the invasion of Afghanistan because they killed 3,000 of our people and I thought that was a matter of national defense.’ Likewise, Kerry, who stresses his record during the Vietnam War and 19 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed balancing the budget and reducing the federal debt during his remarks in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Friday he added a line crediting the Clinton administration's economic record similar to one Dean frequently uses. ‘If you liked Bill Clinton's eight years, you're going to love John Kerry's first term,’ Kerry said. Dean routinely tells audiences: ‘People would gladly pay the taxes they paid under Bill Clinton, if only they could have the same economy as they did under Bill Clinton.’”

… Novak: Bush’s money players believe Gephardt will prevail for Dem nomination. Subhead in Robert Novak’s column in this morning’s Chicago Sun-Times: “GOP Loves Gephardt” After getting the talk from President Bush at Crawford, Texas, his top money men talked Democratic politics among themselves and discovered that they agreed on who will be the opposition's probable presidential nominee: Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri. They calculated that Gephardt's endorsement by 11 international unions will enable him to win the Iowa caucuses and do well enough in the early primary elections to be nominated. The Republicans also figured that former House Democratic Leader Gephardt enjoys a big advantage in congressional at-large delegates to the national convention. A footnote: Gephardt's forces have all but given up hope for an AFL-CIO endorsement when its executive council reconvenes in October. However, his operatives claim the support from 11 individual unions still makes Gephardt labor's choice even if he does not get the AFL-CIO's blessing.”

… A pledge is not always a pledge, especially when you’ve got bucks in the bank and access to the Internet. Dean says he is keeping his options open and may ignore commitment to accept campaign spending limits. Headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader: “With cash pouring in, Dean backs away from spending limits pledge” Excerpts from report – with another Iowa dateline, Nevada – by AP political ace Ron Fournier: “Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean backed away from his pledge to adhere to spending limits, saying some advisers want to explore opting out of the Watergate-era public financing system because of his sudden fund-raising success. Dean said he still intends to accept some taxpayer money and spending restraints and suggested he has discouraged his staff from considering alternatives right now. But he left open the possibility of following President Bush's lead in rejecting public financing. ‘Could we change our mind? Sure,’ he said. ‘But I really don't want to do that.’ Just five months ago, Dean committed to accepting taxpayer money and vowed to attack any Democrat who didn't. The about-face follows his emergence as the Democratic Party's biggest fund-raising threat. Dean collected $7.6 million in the fund-raising quarter that ended June 30, more than his eight rivals, and aides said Friday that he is on pace to far exceed that total in the next quarter. In an interview Thursday, the former Vermont governor said he did not recall promising to accept public financing and the limits that go with it. Under a program designed to curb special interest influence, candidates who agree to state-by-state and overall spending limits get federal matching dollars for the first $250 of each donation they receive. ‘I was asked very early on and I said I intend to take the match,’ Dean said. ‘I think what I said is that we weren't looking into that as an option.’ However, in a March 7 interview with The Associated Press, Dean committed to accept the taxpayer money. The promise was echoed by a campaign spokesperson. ‘We've always been committed to this. Campaign finance reform is just something I believe in,’ he said in March. Dean also said his position was not based on any political considerations, such as the size of the field or how much money he can raise. On Friday, however, Dean cited Bush's plans to raise $200 million - five times the spending limit - as a reason for keeping his options open. ‘I think public financing is a good thing. The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you from March to December?’ Dean said. Democrats worry that their nominee will emerge from the primaries broke, restricted by public financing caps, while Bush holds a huge financial advantage until he accepts public financing after the GOP convention in September 2004. Dean said it's too early to determine whether he will reject public financing in the primaries. For one thing, he said it is ‘a little optimistic’ to assume he could raise more money than is available under the federal system. Candidates who take the matching funds can get up to $18.7 million - money Dean would be turning away if he rejects the system - and are limited to about $45 million in spending through the primary season.”

… Blame Bush – Dem hopefuls suggest that the president pulled the plug on the northeastern United States. With wannabes wandering IA, Associated Press’ caucus watcher Mike Glover decided to highlight their reaction to the blackout. Want to guess who they criticized? Excerpt – datelined Cedar Rapids – from Glover coverage: “The Democratic presidential contenders blamed President Bush Friday for the massive blackout in the northeastern United States, saying the White House's refusal to invest in the nation's infrastructure caused the problem. ‘It underscores a blackout in this administration on energy policies,’ Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said. ‘They have ignored the investment needs of our infrastructure in favor of a tax cut for the wealthy.’ Northeastern cities from New York City across to Toledo, Ohio, were gripped by a massive blackout Thursday afternoon that left officials scrambling to restore power and searching for causes of the failure. While no one has yet pinpointed a cause, Democrats were quick to bash Bush. Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt argued that the blackouts can be linked to flaws in Bush and the Republican party's energy policy. ‘These events illustrate how shortsighted the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress were in 2001 when they rejected modernization of our nation's power grid,’ Gephardt said. Much of the criticism came during a labor forum featuring six of the Democratic presidential candidates. One of the candidates, the Rev. Al Sharpton, was forced to cancel because of jumbled air schedules after the blackout. Florida Sen. Bob Graham said Bush called for new investment in electrical transmission systems but Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to do just that. ‘Just two years ago, he and his allies in Congress blocked a Democratic proposal to invest $350 million in upgrading America's electrical grid system,’ Graham said. ‘The blackout is further evidence that America needs to invest in its infrastructure.’ North Carolina Sen. John Edwards chose not to immediately attack Bush. ‘I think we need to find out what happened,’ Edwards said. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said the Bush administration, through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, tried to merge the New England's electrical grid with New York's when he still governor. ‘I raised hell and told them they better get a lot of lawyers,’ he said in a telephone interview. ‘The president always sees bigger as being better and that's not true. What we really need to do is let local people take care of things. What we need is good, strong regional grids. We do not need huge mega-grids.’ Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said he has fought the big utilities since he was the mayor of Cleveland and resisted efforts to sell of the city's utilities. ‘I stood to the Enrons of that day, and I'll stand up to the Enrons of this day,’ Kucinich said. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, speaking earlier at the state fair, said the blackouts, along with the latest virus attacks on the Internet, have Americans feeling less secure even though neither event has been linked to terrorism. ‘Electricity is too important to the quality of life to all of the American people to allow it to become a gap in homeland security,’ Lieberman said.”

… Wannabes – and Boston newspapers – waste little time getting on Bush and Pentagon after report about plans to cut pay of military in Iraq. Headline from Friday’s Boston Herald: “Dems attack Bush over military pay” Excerpt from report with a DC dateline by Herald’s Andrew Miga: “Opening a new line of attack against President Bush, Sen. John F. Kerry and fellow Democratic presidential hopefuls yesterday accused the administration of targeting U.S. troops in Iraq for pay cuts. ‘We have 148,000 troops in Iraq in 127-degree heat who are in danger of losing their lives every day and the Pentagon is talking about cutting their pay,’ Kerry said in Iowa. ‘It's a betrayal of our troops,’ added Kerry. ‘If it's part of a cruel game of Washington budgeting, it's an abuse of our soldiers.’ The charges came as Bush toured Miramar Marine Corps Air Station outside San Diego, former home of the famed ‘Top Gun’ flight school. The pay issue is a particularly sensitive one for Bush, who made boosting military pay a cornerstone of his 2000 White House campaign. Seeking to turn the tables on Republicans who have questioned the patriotism of some Democratic White House hopefuls, Bush's Democratic rivals charged that soldiers are being shortchanged so the White House can pay for its sweeping tax cut plan. ‘Because of President Bush's budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, we have no money left to fund important priorities like giving our servicemen and women a much-deserved pay raise,’ said U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.). ‘This is a disgrace and the most egregious example yet of this president's misplaced priorities,’ Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman said in a statement…Headline from Friday’s Boston Globe: “Pentagon promises combat troops it will make up for expiring raises” Excerpt from report from Des Moines by the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “The Pentagon scrambled yesterday to say that overall compensation would not be cut for members of the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, after Democrats in Congress and running for president complained about planned reductions in combat and family separation pay currently received by the troops and their families. Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, a Navy combat veteran of the Vietnam War, said during a campaign stop in Iowa: ‘If it's a cruel game of Washington budgeting, then it's completely inappropriate and an abuse of our soldiers, and if it's not a cruel game of Washington budgeting and it's serious, it's an even worse abuse of our soldiers.’ Others who quickly joined in included Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, and presidential candidates, including Senators John Edwards of North Carolina, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, and Bob Graham of Florida. The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that 148,000 US troops in Iraq, as well as 9,000 more in Afghanistan, were scheduled to lose a $75 monthly increase in ‘imminent danger’ pay and a $150 hike in their ‘family separation allowance’ when the federal budget year ends on Sept. 30, despite protests by the troops, their families, and the usually supportive Army Times. In a hastily arranged news conference, David Chu, the Defense Department's personnel chief, said: ‘I would just like to very quickly put to rest what I understand has been a burgeoning rumor that somehow we are going to reduce compensation for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is not true. We are not going to reduce that compensation.’”

… Interesting read. Wannabes in Wonderland – the Dems appear to be drawn to the only state where the California recall continues to be a secondary story. Headline from Friday’s Washington Post: “Democrat Hopefuls Crisscross Iowa …Each Seeks to Win In Coveted State.” The Post’s Dan Balz – who was stationed in CA just a couple days earlier – joined the Dems in Iowa. Excerpt: “With the political news elsewhere dominated by the California recall, this may be the last state in the country where the Democratic presidential candidates can still find a crowd. And so they have come, crisscrossing the state this week in RVs, vans and automobiles, consuming pork chops, corn dogs and other deep-fried delicacies at the Iowa State Fair, debating the economy and health care and, above all, looking for anything that will attract a little extra attention. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean went to a blues joint [in downtown Des Moines Thursday] and played the harmonica. Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), who is traveling with his photogenic family, was promoting the wireless capabilities of his fancy campaign bus, which was fit for a rock star. Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) went to the Field of Dreams earlier this week and challenged reporters in the area to compete against him and his family in a game of baseball at the field built for the 1989 Kevin Costner movie. Luckily, no one kept score. Graham has been in the state since Aug. 3. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) will campaign in 20 counties before he leaves early next week, driving a seemingly endless loop from east to west and back again. ‘This is what you do in order to win Iowa,’ said Erik Smith, Gephardt's spokesman. ‘You've got a race here. You've got three candidates trying to win here. You have to be out there.’ Gephardt is one of those three, the preseason favorite to win the state's caucuses in January, as he did in 1988. But he has strong competition now from Dean and Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.). Dean has surged here in the past two months, as he has in New Hampshire and elsewhere, and is now in a statistical dead heat with Gephardt, the former House Democratic leader. Notably absent for most of this week was Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), whose centrist ideology does not fit comfortably with Iowa's more liberal caucus attendees. Lieberman will arrive Friday for an appearance at the state fair, but has spent his week in California, despite three candidate forums in Iowa this week. ‘We are not able to accept every invitation that comes our way," said Jano Cabrera, Lieberman's spokesman. "But in the weeks ahead, he will unveil his health care plan, meaning he will certainly be discussing health care on the campaign trail and especially here in Iowa.’ With the other candidates fanned out around the state here this week, Lieberman's campaign issued a release today announcing a 21-city "WinnebaJoe" tour of Arizona, although the candidate will not be along on that tour, either. His supporters will be doing the heavy lifting. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D), who moderated the health care forum [Thursday], was asked whether Lieberman had hurt himself by skipping the event. ‘He and the caucusgoers would be the best judge of that,’ he replied. The state fair was one big attraction for the candidates, although many of the Iowans there today were not particularly interested in the presidential campaign.”

… In his irregular Internet “Caucus Notebook” column, the Des Moines Register’s Thomas Beaumont – under the subhead “Kerry ‘Gores’ Dean” – wrote: “Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts took another swing at Howard Dean last week, a week after accusing the former Vermont governor of supporting policy unbecoming of ‘real Democrats.’ The comedic timing was admirable, but the jab left a reporter's question unanswered. During a campaign stop in Des Moines Monday, Kerry was asked whether the Internet petition drive he was announcing in protest of President Bush's proposed overtime pay standards was in response to a similar effort Dean had launched a week earlier. Dean staffers had stirred up the questions in advance of Kerry's event with union members at a Des Moines AFSCME office. ‘The Dean campaign is saying you're kind of stealing their thunder on this on-line petition,’ Dave Price, a reporter for Des Moines-based WHO-TV 13, to which Kerry responded with a smirk: ‘Well, the last person I heard who claimed he had invented the Internet didn't do so well.’ The response earned restrained yucks from the gaggle of reporters. But Dean's staff hadn't said they invented on-line petition drives, and Kerry didn't refute that Dean's drive started first.”

… Even in Iowa, the Dem prez candidates can’t get out from under the political shadow of the California recall election – but even they are undecided on how the party should handle the situation. Headline from Friday’s The Union Leader: “Presidential candidates oppose Calif. recall” Excerpt from Des Moines report by AP political ace Ron Fournier: “Democratic presidential candidates oppose the California recall drive but are divided over whether the party should back an alternative candidate in case Gov. Gray Davis is thrown from office. ‘It's a political power play against a governor who has governed in hard times,’ Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said during a campaign stop in California. Even as he opposed the recall, Lieberman said he supports the candidacy of Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the highest profile Democrat listed on the Oct. 7 ballot. ‘I'm against the recall, I think it's wrong. But I think people ought to have a choice beyond Arnold Schwarzenegger and Larry Flynt,’ Lieberman said. Schwarzenegger is an actor; Flynt is a pornography publisher. Bustamante is Lieberman's top supporter in California. Voters will have two choices on the ballot - whether to recall Davis, and if that is approved, who will replace him. Several of Lieberman's rivals said they oppose the recall and would not back any Democratic alternatives. The split is emblematic of a debate within the national Democratic party over recall strategy. Some party leaders believe backing Bustamante will make recall more likely and not guarantee that the Democrat will beat Schwarzenegger. Others, like Lieberman, want an alternative. ‘It sounds to me like an attempt by the Republicans to reverse the results of an election, which they have a habit of doing,’ former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said. He said he didn't know enough about California politics to support an alternative to Davis. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said he opposes the recall and will not back an alternative. ‘The recall itself is a mistake because they just elected the governor,’ he said. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said: ‘I think it insults the democracy of this country, and its wrong, and Californians should not be making a choice about which candidate ought to replace Gray Davis.’ Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun said she hopes the recall will fail and plans to campaign on Davis' behalf. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, sided with Lieberman, saying Democrats have to fight the recall while also ‘making sure they have a backup plan.’ Seven of the presidential hopefuls attended a health care forum at Drake University sponsored by Gov. Tom Vilsack, incoming chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He called the recall drive a ‘novelty’ and said his group is almost certain to donate money to help the California party fight the recall. The money could help Davis or Bustamante, he said. Al Sharpton of New York said he opposes the recall effort but has not decided whether to throw his support behind one of the candidates on the recall ballot.”

… “Free trade: Running from reality won’t help” – headline on editorial in Friday’s The Union Leader. Editorial excerpt: “Free trade is one of the reasons the American economy experienced such notable growth during the 1990s. The down side is that it has cost some American jobs, and Democrats running for President are exploiting that to win votes, even though NAFTA was President Clinton’s baby. At a candidate’s forum in Iowa on Wednesday, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Bob Graham and Dennis Kucinich all bashed NAFTA to some extent. Gephardt and Kucinich oppose free trade. Dean said he would support changes to NAFTA to make foreign workers abide by the same rules as American workers. Edwards said he would have voted against the trade pact had he been in office. Kerry and Graham, who voted for NAFTA, said they now think it needs to provide more job protections. Adam Smith disagrees with all of them. He wrote of trade, ‘It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy…What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage.’ That is no less true today than it was in 1776, when The Wealth of Nations was published. Protectionism may temporarily save some jobs in some industries, but in the long run it is costlier than the alternative. Is Clinton the only Democrat who still grasps this?”

… Most observers probably thought Edwards was already running for the Dem nomination, but it turns out he won’t announce until mid-September. The only question now – see Notable Quotable above – is whether he’s going to announce in North Carolina or North Korea? Excerpt from AP report – “North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said Friday that he will formally announce his candidacy for president Sept. 16 in Robbins, N.C., where he grew up. ‘Robbins is a very special place for me,’ Edwards said. ‘It's where I grew up. It's home to my family. And it's where I learned the values of hard work, responsibility and fairness that made country this great.’ Edwards was born in South Carolina but spent his teenage years in Robbins, now a struggling mill town of about 1,200 residents. His campaign also said Friday that Edwards will be the first Democratic candidate to air ads in South Carolina, which has the first-in-the-South presidential primary Feb. 3. The ads start airing Monday. Two of the ads have been running in Iowa and New Hampshire for eight days. A third ad debuts in South Carolina and shows Edwards outside the Seneca, S.C., mill village house where he lived after he was born. Edwards' spokeswoman would not say how much the campaign is spending on the ads.” (8/17/2003)