"We need a president who will do more than simply
have a Thanksgiving lunch with our troops. We need
a president ... who will not cut 164,000 veterans'
off their health care benefits,"
Howard Dean
said.
"I think that Iowa is a place where win, place and
show really count,"
said Mary Beth
Cahill, Mr. Kerry's campaign manager. "I'm
not going to handicap what position we want to be
in at the end, but we are going to exert every
weapon at our disposal, on the ground and in the
air."
"I've never seen advertising have an impact in any
early states. The amount of money they've spent on
advertising, and the fact that nobody has locked
this thing up at all, or locked down their
supporters in any major way, is an amazing
situation," said
Matthew Dowd, a pollster and chief strategist of
the Bush campaign.
Dean is going to Washington
The essence of politics is
power.
Howard Dean is making moves on
those in power and those in power are interested
in Dean, according to a Washington Post article.
This is from the candidate who said that he would
shine a light on Washing and send them scurrying
like "cockroaches." The reports states Dean is
aggressively pursuing key House members -- black
lawmakers in particular -- and promising to raise
money for as many as 20 congressional candidates.
The Post reports:
About 30 Washington insiders, many of them
lobbyists, meet every other week in the downtown
law offices of Hogan & Hartson to plot strategy
with key Dean advisers. The group is getting
bigger by the week. And although Dean touts small,
grass-roots donors for funding his campaign, he is
getting a lift from a growing list of
inside-the-Beltway politicos and big-name
Democrats who are collecting upwards of $100,000
or more for his campaign -- much as the Bush
campaign is doing, but on a smaller scale.
Former Iowa congressional
candidate and former DNC vice chair Lynn Cutler is
a Dean supporter who attends the meetings with
lobbyists. She stated, "There's a sea change going
on." She reported she’s now being approached by
many Democrat Washington establishment types about
Dean. The big question, though, is whether Dean’s
insurgent base will take this news well according
to the story:
"There's a danger some will call it hypocritical …
or some of his original Internet warriors won't
understand he needs to consort with those they
feel are the enemy," said Democratic strategist
Jenny Backus.
Dean has been most aggressive in
reaching out to black and Hispanic lawmakers, whom
his advisers consider a key part of his "southern
strategy" to broaden his appeal from Florida to
Arizona. Dean’s announcement that he is appealing
to his supporters to help Rep. Leonard L. Boswell
(Iowa) as well as the other 19 targeted Democrats
is catching the eye of Washington insiders. Dean
will be the featured guest at a major DNC
fund-raiser this month in Los Angeles, his first
solo appearance at such an event. Dean is the only
presidential candidate who signed a letter to
supporters soliciting money for the national
committee.
Is Dean talking straight?
The
Associated Press is reporting that Howard Dean
is the recipient of more pressure to open his
records from when he was Governor of Vermont:
The Washington-based Judicial Watch said it would
file suit in Washington County Superior Court in
Montpelier, Vt., arguing that the sealed records
should be opened to the public. The organization
joined several of Dean's presidential campaign
rivals and leading Republicans in calling on the
former governor to live up to his straight-talk
stance.
"Further political considerations are not a basis
for withholding documents, government documents
certainly," said Judicial Watch President Thomas
Fitton. "It may be good politics, but it ain't
good law."
At the heart of the controversy
are 45 boxes of Dean’s personal correspondence as
Governor of Vermont. The records are sealed for 10
years. This was done to cover the time of two
terms of President if Dean would win according to
Vermont officials. Even if the documents are
unsealed certain records could be kept sealed due
the nature of the material and its subject. For
example, state law prevents personnel matters,
child abuse cases and other material from being
disclosed.
Republicans pressure Dean
Republican National Committee
Chairman Ed Gillespie spoke at the New Hampshire
Institute of Politics, answering questions from
the floor regarding the state of the party and
some of the key issues. Gillespie offered
criticism of Howard Dean’s comments calling into
question the veracity and context of his
statements.
"This is the same critic who earlier in the year
told Americans that we should prepare for the day
when the United States 'won't always have the
strongest military' -- former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean," Gillespie said.
"He is wrong about our military and his charge
that the president was going to cut the combat pay
for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is completely
at odds with all facts," Gillespie said.
Dean wants new social contract
Howard Dean campaigning in union
hall in Cedar Rapids, IA renewed the theme of a
new age of social responsibility that he launched
in Texas near Enron. According to the
Waterloo Courier Dean blamed President Bush
for America’s economic woes despite the recent
good news:
Heavy industry influence in writing the energy and
Medicare bills, massive corporate campaign
donations to Bush and tax breaks to the wealthy
are all evidence of government working for the
wrong people, Dean said.
"The government today is no longer working for all
the people," Dean said. "The government is working
for the large, corporate special interests.
"Iowans have lost their trust in corporate CEOs
and in their government. I have seen this all
across America. People feel disconnected from
their government and our business leaders," Dean
said.
Florida shakedown redux
The golden rule
Florida continues to play by the
golden rule that the person with the gold rules --
and the person with the gold is Howard Dean. Dean
contributed $50,000 to the state party. For that
contribution, Dean and his supporters will be
allowed to blanket the Coronado Springs Resort at
Walt Disney World with receptions, rallies,
information tables, even activist training
seminars. The other campaigns are complaining and
many don’t think they will pay the highwayman the
toll. The Miami Herald reports that the Clark
campaign has an alternative to paying thousands
for a hospitality suite and will roll into town in
an RV that will serve as the makeshift hospitality
suite.
Florida’s holdup is not limited
to out-of-towners. It also covers candidates
running for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat being
vacated by Bob Graham. The Herald reports that
Aides to two of the party's three candidates to
replace retiring Sen. Bob Graham also said
Wednesday that they declined request for $25,000
contributions.
Meetup reaches 150,000
Just hours before the December
3rd Dean 2004 Meetup, the 150,000th American
joined the Meetups. Dean supporters met at over
910 bowling alleys, restaurants and community
centers to support the campaign and influence the
future of the country.
"I'm so pleased that 150,000 individual Americans
have made the decision to get involved in my
campaign," Governor Dean said "These are all
people who are re-engaging in American
politics--and they’ll find out that they really
can make a difference and take our country back."
"We started this campaign in January with just 432
Americans on Meetup—and [Wednesday] morning we
watched that many new supporters join in just a
couple of hours,” said Campaign Manager Joe Trippi.
"It's these individuals across the country who are
banding together through efforts like Meetup to
support Governor Dean and help build the greatest
grassroots campaign that presidential politics has
ever seen."
Dean’s mutual fund plan
Howard Dean praised the vote by
Securities and Exchange Commission to stop illegal
mutual fund trading after the Market’s close and
went on to offer more rules for the exchange.
"The mutual fund scandals are only the latest
example of the betrayal of the public trust in our
economic system. The thread of that betrayal
begins with the deceptions of Ken Lay and Enron,
extends through the abuses by some mutual fund
executives, and runs right up to the very top, to
a President who used budget gimmicks and fuzzy
accounting to justify his reckless and
irresponsible tax cuts," Governor Dean said.
"We need a return to ethical business practices,"
Dean said. Governor Dean called on Congress to
adopt the following measures:
·
Require mutual fund boards to have a
majority of independent directors, including the
chairman.
·
Amend the Investment Company Act of
1940 to state that boards have a fiduciary duty to
act in the interest of investors.
·
Require mutual funds to report all
managerial compensation in a transparent way.
·
Mandate a simple, uniform system of
reporting of all fees charged by mutual funds.
Dean books reviewed
Rich Barlow of the Boston Globe
offers review of two recent Books on Dean. One is
written by Dean titled, “Winning Back America,”
Simon & Schuster, 179 pp., paperback, $11.95. The
other is “Howard Dean: A Citizen's Guide to the
Man Who Would Be President,” by a team of
reporters for Vermont's Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier
Times -Argus. Edited by Dirk Van Susteren,
Steerforth, 245 pp., paperback, illustrated,
$12.95. The review provides some unsettling
previews of Dean’s inconsistencies:
Dean, of course, eclipsed his Democratic primary
rivals on the strength of his opposition to the
war against Saddam Hussein. There were reasonable
arguments on both sides of that debate, but Dean's
were worrisomely ill considered. "Iraq was not an
imminent threat to the security of the United
States," he writes in "Winning Back America."
Indeed not -- which was the strongest argument for
disarming Saddam now. Reading just the recent
headlines about North Korea reveals that a
president's military options contract, not expand,
when the enemy is an imminent threat, i.e., has
weapons of mass destruction. Candidate Dean was
quoted once as saying that he would have
unilaterally attacked Saddam if the dictator had
possessed nuclear weapons. It's likely President
Dean would do no such thing.
Kerry’s policy fallout
Senator John Kerry’s speech to
the NY Council on Foreign Relations continues to
receive coverage and rebuke from Wesley Clark.
Clark took exception to Kerry’s including the name
of former Secretary of State James Baker under
President H.W. Bush on a list of names that he
would consider being a special Mideast ambassador
according to Reuters:
"Sen. Kerry's suggestion that he might use Bush
family consigliere James Baker as a special envoy
to the Middle East is offensive," Clark's
spokesman Matt Bennett said, referring to Baker's
role in the 2000 presidential recount vote in
Florida which led to Bush's election.
"Baker, who was the driving force behind George W.
Bush's theft of the 2000 election in the Florida
recount, helped to disenfranchise thousands of
voters," Bennett said.
Kerry also said he would "launch
a 'name and shame' campaign against individuals,
banks and foreign governments that are financing
terror." "Those who fail to respond will be shut
out of American financial markets," he said. He
also said he would challenge Saudi Arabia on the
issue of funding violent, radical groups. "The
Saudi government now claims to be cracking down on
terrorist financing, but frankly their actions
have not matched their words," he said.
Union wars
The Service unions that have
endorsed Howard Dean are in a fight in Missouri
the home state of Rep. Dick Gephardt. Gephardt is
the 800-pound gorilla of Missouri Democrats and
his aide Joyce Aboussieis is accused of
threatening the Service Employees International
Union and the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees unions.
Andrew Stern – SEIU - and
Gerald McEntee – AFSCME - accused Aboussieis of
promising to seek the reversal of an executive
order that granted Missouri employees collective
bargaining rights. The union officials urged
Gephardt to fire the St. Louis-based Aboussie from
the campaign and issue a written retraction of her
threats. According to the
Associated Press Aboussieis has apologized for
her remarks:
"In a candid discussion of Missouri politics, I
expressed my belief that people in Missouri
Democratic politics were upset by the SEIU/AFSCME
endorsements of Howard Dean," she said in a
statement Wednesday. "If anyone felt threatened by
what I said, I apologize."
Gephardt had no comment on the
accusation but released a statement that the
congressman strongly supports collective
bargaining for public employees.
Missouri Gov. Bob Holden has
been placed in the middle of the fight. The
Governor created the public employees’ right to
collective bargaining through an executive order.
He was also at the meeting where Aboussieis made
the threat, according to the unions. Her alleged
threat was to prod 22 Missouri Republicans to
overturn the executive order granting the service
unions collective bargaining. The AP reports that
the division between the unions in Missouri is
large. Gephardt has 20 international union
endorsements and for 27 years in Congress was
labors workhorse. This shows in the reply of St.
Louis AFL-CIO president:
“This isn't tiddlywinks; it's politics, and
everybody's committed to doing what they need to
do," said Bob Kelley, president of the greater St.
Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
"The bottom line is, it's politics, pure and
simple," said Kelley, a longtime Gephardt backer.
"And I have to tell you, I will take Joyce's
influence on Missouri politics over either AFSCME
or SEIU."
Air wars
Bush haters are going up with
$1.9 million of TV ads. MoveOn.org will begin
broadcasting the 30-second ad Thursday in major
media markets in Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio
and West Virginia. The TV industry estimates that
average viewers will see the ad about 10 times
over the course of its run. These states are key
battle grounds for the Presidential election. The
organization in an email boasted of their success
in their test ad in Ohio:
We have some great news. Weeks of on-the-ground
testing have shown that our "$87 Billion" TV ad
successfully gets the truth out about President
Bush and his policies. In West Virginia, where we
ran the ad, there was an impressive 4% drop in
support for Bush. In Ohio, where no ad ran, little
changed. Even experts who have been in this field
for years were blown away.
MoveOn.org has received a $20
million matching pledge from George Soros to
defeat president Bush. The organization is just
one of many organizations who are funneling soft
money into the election process. The ad according
to the Associated Press is critical of the $87
billion for our soldiers in Iraq and that
country’s rebuilding:
“We could have built 10,000 new schools. Or hired
almost 2 million new teachers. We could have
rebuilt our electric grid. We could have insured
more of our children," the announcer says. Images
of children, teachers and a woman reading by a
flickering light illustrate the point. "If there's
money for Iraq, why isn't there money for
America?" the announcer asks.
The Washington-based group,
formed in the late 1990s to oppose the impeachment
of President Clinton, has more than $6 million in
its ad fund so far to air bush hating commercials
in battleground states.
Iowa’s television boon
The
NY Times covers the blizzard of political TV
ads that are running in Iowa:
The four major Democratic candidates competing in
Iowa — Dr. Dean, Mr. Kerry, Senator John Edwards
and Mr. Gephardt — have run at least 4,450 spots
in Des Moines alone since January, according to
new figures to be released on Thursday by the
University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, which
monitors political television advertising.
And:
The competition over the airwaves is most
ferocious in Iowa but is by no means limited to
this state. In the nation's top 75 media markets,
the Democratic candidates have bought at least
12,700 spots. By December, 1999, candidates for
both parties had bought at least 4,834 in those
markets, according to the Advertising Project,
whose system does not count cable advertisements.
The numbers are beyond record
breaking:
"These numbers are striking," said Ken Goldstein,
who is the director of the Advertising Project.
"If we compare it to any sort of campaign, or when
we compare it to the past, it's a lot.
Gore-Bradley was a serious race. Forbes-Bush was a
serious race in terms of television advertising.
We're not comparing this to a dog-catcher race."
Black voters unaligned
A new political phenomenon is
occurring this cycle. For the first time in Twenty
years, Black voters have not coalesced behind a
Democrat contender. Half of the Congressional
Black caucus is yet to endorse a candidate and
those who have endorsed are dispersed among the
field of nine candidates. The lack of progress of
the two Black candidates may also be contributing
to the inability of Blacks to define who is their
best candidate. Another reason expressed in a
Washington Times story is Bush, according to
David Bositis, chief researcher for the liberal
Joint Center on Political and Economic Studies:
"I think black voters are looking for someone who
can beat Bush and right now it is not clear who
that person will be, and Black Caucus members are
reflecting where the black population is."
Oh’ Oklahoma
The wind may be blowing across
Oklahoma but there is little coordinated campaign
effort in the state. The state has become an
important presidential primary on Feb. 3. The
state could be a haven to candidates who have been
bruised from Iowa and New Hampshire. It is more of
an open race in Oklahoma than Missouri, S.
Carolina, N. Dakota or Delaware. So, campaigns are
trying to gain a foothold in the state. According
to the
Boston Globe story on the subject campaigns
are learning how to campaign in the state on the
go:
As a
political creature, Oklahoma could be diagnosed
with multiple personality disorder: amid a history
of populism, a staunch Democratic past, and a
strong union presence, in recent years it has also
lurched to the right, delivering about 60 percent
of its 2000 presidential vote to then-Governor
Bush of neighboring Texas. In 2002, however, a few
key political posts flipped from GOP to Democratic
control, including the governorship. As of January
2003, there were 1.1 million registered Democrats,
758,000 Republicans, and 215,000 independents.
New Hampshire blow out
Zogby poll
Howard Dean is continuing to
open his lead in New Hampshire to a 30 percent
lead over his nearest rival Sen. John Kerry in the
latest Zogby poll taken Dec. 1. In October, Dean
held a 20 percent lead. The poll found only 19
percent were undecided.
The poll results by percentages
are: Dean – 42; Kerry – 12; Wesley Clark – 9; Joe
Lieberman – 7; John Edwards – 4; Dick Gephardt –
3; Dennis Kucinich – 2; all others were less than
1. The margin of error was 4.5 percent.
American Research Group
The
American Research Group poll confirms Zogby’s poll
that Howard Dean has an incredible lead in New
Hampshire. The poll results by percentages are:
Howard Dean – 45; Kerry – 13; Wesley Clark – 11;
Joe Lieberman – 5; John Edwards – 3; Dick Gephardt
– 5; Dennis Kucinich – 2; all others were less
than 1. The margin of error was 4 percent.
The Globe’s analysis of how the
campaigns shape up is:
Clark,
Lieberman, Gephardt, and Edwards are vying for the
centrist vote; Gephardt and Dean are competing for
union support; and Dean appears to have a lock on
most Oklahoma liberals, Democratic analysts say.
Those five candidates, along with Representative
Dennis J. Kucinich, have campaign offices and paid
staffs of one to four members in the state.
Edwards is widely believed to have been to
Oklahoma the most, about 10 times this year,
focusing his campaign on rural areas in eastern
Oklahoma. By contrast, Senator John F. Kerry,
whose advisers say he plans to compete in the
state, "shows little sign of having a strategy
here," Parmley said.
Edwards’ lobbying reform
Sen. John Edwards, campaigning
at Iowa State University, called for new
regulations to govern lobbyist. Edwards would
require:
• Prohibiting lobbyists from contributing to
congressional and presidential campaigns.
• Requiring them to disclose every two weeks who
they met with and how they spent money.
• Banning federal officials from lobbying the
government for five years after leaving office.
The five year ban was
implemented by President Clinton when he took
office in 1993, then he revoked the order as his
presidency was ending, leaving an earlier one-year
ban in place. Edward’s delivered the required
bashing of President Bush in his address at the
event as well according to the Des Moines
Register:
Edwards also has accused the Bush administration
of rewarding companies with ties to administration
officials with contracts to rebuild postwar Iraq.
Edwards proposed capping contractors' profits. "We
need to end the sweetheart deals for Halliburton
and stop the war profiteering in Iraq," he said.
Edwards also used the recent
expansion of drug benefits for Medicare as an
example of Bush rewarding the lobbyist of Bush’s
rich friends.
Clark learns about education
Wesley Clark campaigned in New
Hampshire by visiting a preschool. Clark has
proposed a plan, which calls for $20 billion over
10 years to expand Head Start and $50 billion to
help states improve preschool programs. The goal
is to provide universal preschool access to all
4-year-olds. Clark seemed to be gathering
information about the program and offered few
details about his own plan according to a story in
the Manchester
Union Leader:
“I’m not going to get into the details because
educational specialists have to sit down and look
at this,” Clark said. “It’s a question of how do
you put together a structure that encourages all
of these preschools who are doing early childhood
development to meet common standards and interface
those standards with what they’re teaching where
public schools begin.”
Howard Dean, who leads by 30
percentage points in New Hampshire, has outbid
Clark’s proposal. Dean plan calls for $110 billion
over 10 years to fully fund Head Start, double
enrollment in Early Head Start.
Turnaround Tour for America
For five days, beginning next
Monday, Clark will focus on a distinct domestic
issue, discuss how America has gone wrong, and
present a plan for turning the problem around.
Clark will set forth specific goals, so that the
public and the press will have a yardstick by
which to measure his success.
On Monday, during an RV tour of
New Hampshire, Clark will focus on the economy.
On Tuesday, the second day of
the tour, Clark will discuss the environment.
On Wednesday, Clark's final day
on the RV, he will concentrate on family income.
On Thursday, in New York City,
Clark will offer his ideas for children.
Finally, on Friday, in
Tennessee, Clark will explain his health care
goals.
"Every step of the way," Clark
said, "I will set out clear goals, so that, as
president, the American people can hold me
accountable."
Lieberman’s paid leave
Sen. Joe Lieberman, campaigning
in New Hampshire, offered a plan where employees
would pay about $1 per week into a program that
would provide up to four weeks of leave at half
pay. His plan would allow states to design and
administer the program, determining, for example,
how to collect the money. Businesses with fewer
than 50 employees would be exempt -- as they are
under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The
proposal was accompanied with accusations that
President Bush has not helped families according
to the Associated Press:
“It's the families themselves that determine the
values," he said. "It's a question of what
government can do to help them realize their
values. And one of their values is to take care of
each other,” said Lieberman.
Junk food police
Continuing the release of his
"Valuing Families Agenda," Joe Lieberman today
promised to help parents raise healthy children by
standing up to the companies that market junk food
to kids. Lieberman said that as President he would
launch a federal investigation into the aggressive
marketing to children of food that is high in fat
and sugar and low in nutritional value. He also
pledged to develop standards for disclosing
nutritional information to parents in ads targeted
to children, require national food chains to post
the same kind of information clearly and
prominently, and develop standards for the food
that is sold in public schools. As President,
Lieberman promised to take four steps:
·
Call on the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) to investigate the
practices now being used to market junk food to
the youngest kids, and determine on whether that
marketing is worsening the obesity epidemic, and
recommend possible remedies;
·
Ask Congress to direct the FTC to
develop standards for disclosing relevant
nutritional information of foods that are
routinely marketed to children, so that parents
have more information about what they're being
asked to buy;
·
Require national food chains to post
clear labels with nutritional content on
menus and wrappers, just as we currently
have on food sold in supermarkets; and
·
Direct the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to develop sensible standards
for the food that's sold in our public schools.
Lieberman singled out the junk food sold in
vending machines on campus, where students are
captive customers.
Gephardt endorsements
Rep. Dick Gephardt received
another Congressional endorsement.-- Rep. Mike
McNulty (D-NY) today announced his endorsement of
Rep. Dick Gephardt's candidacy for president.
Gephardt has been endorsed by 33
Members of Congress. They include: Democratic
Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Democratic Whip Steny
Hoyer (MD), Rep. John Spratt (SC), Rep. Ed Pastor
(AZ), Rep. Max Sandlin (TX), Rep. David Obey (WI),
Rep. Ike Skelton (MO), Rep. Lane Evans (IL), Rep.
Jack Murtha (PA), Rep. Howard Berman (CA), Rep.
Robert Matsui (CA), Rep. Ben Cardin (MD), Rep.
Sherrod Brown (OH), Rep. Nita Lowey (NY), Rep.
Jerry Costello (IL), Rep. Rob Andrews (NJ), Rep.
Tim Holden (PA), Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX), Rep.
William Lacy Clay (MO), Rep. Adam Schiff (CA),
Rep. Gene Green (TX), Rep. Bart Gordon (TN), Rep.
John Tanner (TN), Rep. Karen McCarthy (MO), Rep.
Joe Hoeffel (PA), Rep. Lois Capps (CA), Rep. Chet
Edwards (TX), Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI), Rep.
Chris Bell (TX), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD),
Rep. James Langevin (RI), Rep. Ted Strickland (OH)
and Rep. Mike McNulty (NY).
Bush to lift steel tariffs
The Bush administration will
lift steel tariffs. The administration will
announce measures to curtail the possibility of
other countries dumping after the tariffs are
lifted. The administration was briefing steel
industry officials before the announcement this
afternoon. The Associated Press reports that the
measures will include:
…The administration was making permanent early
reporting requirements to detect any big influx of
steel into the United States.
The reporting program requires steel importers to
apply for import licenses, giving the government a
quicker way to detect possible import surges than
waiting for Customs Service data when the steel
arrives at U.S. ports.
The administration also was expected to pledge an
aggressive use of U.S. antidumping laws to impose
tariffs on specific steel products should imports
surge once the tariffs are lifted.
The administration package also was expected to
include pledges to continue pursuing global
negotiations aimed at getting other countries to
limit government subsidies for their domestic
steel producers and to curb over-capacity in the
steel industry.
France wants two NATO commands
Sen. Joe Biden, ranking Democrat
on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, relayed
that President Jacques Chirac would support
America by taking two NATO commands. Chirac raised
the issue during a lengthy meeting with him that
France wanted to head a new NATO Reaction Force (NRF).
The new force created in October was in response
to post-September 11 security threats. It provides
rapidly deployable combat troops for long-range
missions in crises. He did not say what the other
command was. Biden held meetings in Paris, London
and Brussels. Reuters reports that he is convinced
that the 19-nation NATO alliance will eventually
take over running the international military
presence in Iraq:
"I predict that in the near term, within the next
year, you will see NATO getting involved in taking
over the operation in Iraq, at least the start of
such an involvement," he said in a speech to the
Transatlantic Center think-tank of the German
Marshall Fund.
Biden said the conditions for NATO involvement
were that an Iraqi government was in place and a
U.N.-mandated high commissioner replaced the
U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which is
running the civilian side of the occupation.
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