"I've decided I want to
endorse you for president,"
Gore told Dean,
according to Dean aides. "I don't want to
wait around. I want to get involved, and I want to
tell people now."
"We need to remake the
Democratic Party and we need to remake America to
take it back on behalf of the people of this
country," Al
Gore said.
"The best thing Bush has
going for him is that Dean is a weak Michael
Dukakis," a key
Bush official told the Daily News. "Dukakis
won 10 states. Unless things turn very bad for
Bush, I don't see Dean winning more than five."
"We're not going to have
a coronation,"
said North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. "The
Republicans have coronations. We have campaigns
and elections."
"It is necessary for the
protection of the essential security interests of
the United States to limit competition for the
prime contracts of these procurements to companies
from the United States, Iraq, coalition partners
and force contributing nations,"
U.S. Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in a notice
published on the web site www.rebuilding-iraq.net.
"This nation has never in
our two centuries and more made a worse foreign
policy mistake,"
Al Gore said.
"I think there are going
to be some Democratic leaders who would like to
have a presidential candidate wrapped up with a
nice, neat bow for Christmas,"
Dubuque Democrat
Teri Goodmann said. "I think it's way too
early."
“If anybody thinks this
race is over, they should contact Tom Dewey’s
descendants,”
said former Iowa Congressman Dave Nagle, who has
not endorsed a candidate.
“A lot of people who are
for other candidates are not happy today,”
said Joe
Shannahan, a Dean backer.
“There’s nothing wrong
with corporations. They’re big, amoral folks who
look at the bottom line, and that’s their job. But
we are not meant to be cogs in big corporations.
We are meant to be human beings,”
said Howard
Dean.
“This is not the politics
I believe in or practice. Friends don’t treat
friends like that. In 2000, the firefighters of
this state believed in an ideal and a cause. They
were never thanked for the extra effort they made
for that individual (Gore), and then, at the end
of the day, he sweeps in like he’s going to spread
his wisdom to us,”
said David Lang,
president of the Professional Fire Fighters of New
Hampshire.
Lieberman is no doubt
disappointed by his old comrade’s decision. But it
may have a silver lining for him. Given that
Lieberman is trying to distinguish himself from
the far-left Democratic pack — witness the
attraction to his candidacy by many supporters of
independent-minded Republican John McCain —
getting rid of the Al Gore albatross could have
its benefits. -
Manchester Union Leader editorial.
How many true believers
will bolt the bus to make room for Al Gore and all
his baggage? Why, when a Web-linked network of the
freshly politicized was poised to deliver Iowa and
New Hampshire, would Howard Dean choose this
moment to embrace the political establishment he
has been running against? -
Eileen McNamara,
Boston Globe columnist.
He [Dean] came off as a
bit too desperate to blame Bush and too unwilling
to give him any credit. Given Dean's Bush-bashing
image, one couldn't resist reading Freudian
overtones into his slip of the tongue: "We will
not be able to withdraw an American president"
instead of "American presence." -
Cathy Young,
Boston Globe reporter.
Steve Elmendorf,
a Gephardt adviser, said: "If we beat him
[Dean] in Iowa, then he will be unmasked. And if
we don't beat him in Iowa, then someone's going to
have to try to beat him somewhere else."
"From what I gather,
Howard Dean brought all of his black supporters
with him to the announcement. I counted one black
guy," joked
Rangel, who watched the announcement on
television.
Dust up in New Hampshire
Al Gore, in endorsing Howard
Dean, called on Democrats to remember (the often
quoted Reagan line) the 11th
commandment of not speaking ill of a fellow party
member. However, just the opposite occurred in the
New Hampshire debate. In fact, Al Gore came in for
some hits to take the shine off of his endorsement
of Dean. The Associated Press reports on Dean’s
defense of Gore:
Dean fired back: "If you guys are upset that Al
Gore is endorsing me, attack me, don't attack Al
Gore. ... I don't think he deserves to be attacked
by anybody up here. He doesn't; he's not a boss.
He's a fundamentally decent human being. We share
a lot of values."
Joe Lieberman, who was Al Gores
running mate, reported that he was receiving
sympathy because of Al Gore’s endorsement of Dean.
He stated, "my chances have actually increased
today." The Connecticut senator said people had
stopped him in the airport to express outrage over
Gore's backing of Dean. Gore did not even inform
Lieberman in advance that he was endorsing Dean.
Lieberman also defended his vote as to why he
thought Dean was not electable by saying that this
election is about a battle for the Democrat Party
and whether it was going to represent the
principles of fiscal responsibility, military
strength and family values. (ABC's Ted Koppel
asked the candidates in the beginning of the
debate to raise their hands if they thought Dean
could win. Only Dean raised his hand.)
Wesley Clark, who probably has
the most former Gore employees working in his
campaign, used Gore’s own words against him. "To
quote another former Democratic leader, I think
elections are about people not about the powerful.
I think it was Al Gore who said that," Clark said.
Dean diverted the issue of his
bringing forward the idea that Saudis tipped off
President Bush in advance about the 9/11 attacks.
He stated that he was just repeating "the most
interesting theory that I heard, which I did not
believe, was that the Saudis had tipped him off."
Dennis Kucinich countered the
line of questioning that was exploring the
candidate’s viability, according to the AP:
"I want the American people to see where media
takes politics in this country," Kucinich said to
cheers from the crowd. "We start talking about
endorsements, now we're talking about polls and
then talking about money. When you do that you
don't have to talk about what's important to the
American people."
Setting the record straight
It seems that the Democrat
candidates just can’t get their facts straight in
the debates. The
Associated Press has a story on the many
failures of comments during last night’s New
Hampshire debate:
Several of the nine candidates criticized the tax
cuts Bush pushed through Congress. But none
mentioned that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan, who has served both Republican and
Democratic presidents, has cited those cuts as a
reason for the recent economic growth.
And:
Although al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden remains
at large, the administration's war, including the
arrest of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed, has substantially thinned the ranks of
the terror network. The administration also has
thwarted attacks through increased cooperation
with allies.
And
On the Iraq front, Dean declared, "I think we need
to bring in foreign troops," although 24,000
soldiers from NATO countries are already fighting
with the 130,000 U.S. troops. While some big
Western allies, like Germany and France, have
refused to send troops to Iraq, the campaign has
received support from the likes of Britain,
Poland, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Denmark and
Ukraine.
The Associated Press reported
that Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who studies political
rhetoric at the University of Pennsylvania, said
the debate was filled with hyperbole and
exaggeration typical of candidates trying to
unseat an incumbent president.
Gore – Dean coverage
Iowa coverage
Iowa’s most important newspaper,
The Des Moines Register, gave extensive coverage
to Al Gore’s visit and endorsement. In one of the
stories covering the event, “Gore: It all about
the war,” covers the fact that Gore made his
decision to endorse Dean because of his lone voice
against the war -- although, Rep. Dennis Kucinich
probably did more earlier than even Dean. The
story’s top point quotes Gore:
"This nation has never in our two centuries and
more made a worse foreign policy mistake," Gore
said about the war during an afternoon rally with
Dean at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cedar Rapids.
"Therefore, it is not a minor matter to me that
the only major candidate for the nomination of my
party who had the good judgment, experience and
good sense to feel and see and articulate the
right choice was Howard Dean," he said to the
crowd of roughly 1,000.
The story also reveals that Dean
was called by Gore last Friday and the fact that
he was going to endorse Dean was kept quiet until
Monday. No small feat in politics. The story also
covers with individual accounts what effect the
endorsement is going to have on Iowa Democrats. By
an large not much unless Gore comes to Iowa and
campaigns opines (Dem.) Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
Some said they would take it into considerations
and others discounted it altogether:
Dave Neil, political director of the Iowa United
Auto Workers, supported Gore in 2000 but is
committed to Gephardt in 2004. "I think our people
are going to stay with Dick Gephardt," Neil said.
"I supported Al Gore in 2000, but that race is
over. He was better than the Republican
alternative, but Dick Gephardt is better than the
both of them."
A second story covers the
frequent visits to Iowa. The third story, “Backing
helps us enormously,” covers the fact that Dean
did not ask for Gore’s endorsement. Dean had been
consulting with Gore on issues and had recently
asked advise on a defense speech he was making.
Gore said the points in the speech made him decide
to endorse. Dean also expressed what the
endorsement means to his campaign:
"I think it's a wonderful match. It helps us
enormously," Dean said. "We have been seen as the
insurgent campaign and we are the insurgent
campaign, but the truth is we're not going to win
this campaign against George Bush unless we unite
the entire Democratic Party. This is a big step in
doing that today."
Nearly all papers carried the
story of Gore’s visit to Cedar Rapids most used
the Associated Press story. It was the most
coverage any single candidate has received in the
state so far in the campaign. The AP story stated
that some of Gore’s family might be campaigning
for Dean:
Campaign manager Joe Trippi says he was approached
by Gore’s daughter earlier in the day, who
volunteered to campaign for Dean. In addition,
Gore’s wife Tipper, could be an asset, Trippi
said.
New Hampshire shaken-up
The Manchester Union Leader runs
several stories on the debate and Al Gore’s
endorsement. In one story the headline is “Gore's
Dean backing sends NH shock waves.” Nothing
expressed shock waves more than the expressions by
former Al Gore New Hampshire chairman Bill Shaheen,
the husband of former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who is
now John Kerry’s state chairman:
“The most disappointing part,” Shaheen said, “is
that he should have at least had the courage to
call Joe Lieberman. I didn’t need a call. I didn’t
do what I did for him, I did it for America…
“Jeannie didn’t need a call, but Joe Lieberman
deserved a call,” Shaheen said. “If Al Gore wants
to run again, I will not support him.”
When Shaheen was
asked if he would talk to Gore if he came to the
debate last night, he replied:
“Sure, I’ll talk to him,” Shaheen said. “I’ll tell
him I’m disappointed in him. I think he’s made a
mistake here. I’m disappointed because I don’t
think Howard Dean is Al Gore’s kind of man… “I
don’t see anything Howard Dean has done in the
last three years that would warrant this. There’s
no logic to it because Howard Dean is not prepared
and equipped to be President,” Shaheen said.
Nation
The Washington Post really
punctures Al Gore for his lack of courage for not
giving Joe Lieberman a heads up. The title of
their article is “No Warning You’re About to be
Gored.” They also sink in the knife with the line,
Et tu, Brute! The two sides offered by the
post are:
But in most cases, failing to give a heads-up is a
passive-aggressive power play, a slight of
omission. It is as much clumsy or rude as it is
hostile. "The essence of the heads-up in politics
is respect," said William Mayer, a professor of
political science at Northeastern University in
Boston. As an example, Mayer cited Michael
Dukakis's failure to give Jesse Jackson -- the
runner-up for the 1988 Democratic nomination -- a
heads-up that he was picking Lloyd Bentsen as his
running mate. "The heads-up is the political
equivalent of giving props," said Mayer.
Or, in an opposing view, the lack of a heads-up is
much ado about nothing. "This is big league
politics, it isn't a game," said former
congressman Tony Coelho, the general chair of the
Gore 2000 campaign. Coelho said that if Gore had
given Lieberman or any of the other candidates a
heads-up about his endorsement of Dean, the news
would have leaked instantly to the media. "I find
it fascinating that people in this town feel sorry
for Joe Lieberman," Coelho said. "I say, 'Grow
up.' If Gore didn't pick Lieberman to be his
running mate, Lieberman wouldn't be running for
president now to begin with."
Dean kept staff in dark
LA Times covers the fact that Dean’s staff was
kept in the dark. It reveals that the first clue
came to Trippi on Sunday:
Dean said he managed to keep the news quiet for
the next few days, only telling his wife "at the
last minute." Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi
didn't even know until Sunday, when the candidate
asked his scheduler to charter a large flight to
Iowa.
When Trippi asked the candidate why, Dean said he
couldn't say. But the veteran campaign manager,
who knew Dean and Gore had spoken Friday, soon
figured it out.
"I'm not dumb," Trippi said. "We knew something
significant was happening."
A New York Post article covers
Rep. Charlie Rangel’s harsh comments for Al Gore.
Rangel is supporting Wesley Clark:
Rep. Charles Rangel said yesterday Howard Dean has
weak support in the black community and charged
that former Vice President Al Gore "polarized" the
campaign by dropping into an event in Harlem to
endorse the presidential candidate.
Dean’s $5,000 grab
The Washington Times covers the
U.S. News and World Report story on Howard Dean’s
search for $5,000 contributions:
"Presidential hopeful Howard Dean's new strategy
to take advantage of his front-runner status and
help raise cash for fellow Democrats is giving
Republicans an unexpected chance to dub him
'Howard the Hypocrite,' " Paul Bedard writes in
the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News &
World Report.
"That's because Dean, who has slammed President
Bush for raking in $2,000 checks from big shots,
signed a letter for his political action committee
begging his presidential campaign donors for
$5,000. 'Please send as much as you can afford,'
pleads 'Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.'
Dean’s congressional endorsement
Following Al Gore’s endorsement
Howard Dean is already being more accepted with
the establishment. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
today endorsed Democratic presidential candidate
Howard Dean citing his vision for America and his
ability to return excitement to the political
process for Americans of all races and
backgrounds.
Sanchez is the ranking woman on
the House Armed Services Committee, represents the
California's 47th Congressional District, which
encompasses the Southern California cities of
Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Fullerton in
Orange County.
Stop Dean
Fears about Howard Dean’s
electability and temperament are fueling an
active, though disorganized, movement to stop him.
Prominent Democrats, including former high-level
Clinton advisers and top state officials
especially in the South, fear Dean's antiwar,
anti-tax-cuts presidential campaign could prevent
the party from winning the White House and
Congress in 2004. With Al Gore’s endorsement, many
of Dean’s former governor friends are expected to
endorse Dean this week. A Washington Post story
covers the concerns:
Bruce Reed, another former top Clinton official,
was more blunt. "Governor Dean is winning the
anti-Bush derby, but his positive agenda is at the
back of the pack," he said.
The article explores the split
in the Democrat Party:
Gore's endorsement reinforces the split within the
Democratic Party. On one side are Clinton's
closest advisers and adherents, who believe the
key to winning national elections lies in mixing
centrist policies (such as tax relief for the
middle class to appeal to swing voters) with
traditional party values (such as abortion rights
and environmental protection to satisfy liberals).
On the other are Dean, Gore and a large number of
activists who want to return to the party's roots
and expand its base by fighting Bush with
clear-cut alternatives. "We lost a lot of races in
2002 because we decided to go to swing voters and
[thought] the base would come along later," Dean
said. Democrats must stand for "those people who
are with us all the time."
Kucinich: gets no respect
John Nichols of the progressive
newspaper
The Capital Times of Wisconsin editorializes
about Dennis Kucinich’s lack of news coverage.
Much of the major media practice horse race
journalism that only covers those candidates that
are likely to win. This has put the idealistic
campaign of Kucinich at a disadvantage -- even
when he leads on stories like the Diebold voting
machine story, as Nichols points out:
Typically, Kucinich was ahead of the curve on an
important issue. In November, he seized on
concerns about the reliability of electronic
voting machines produced by Diebold Inc., one of
the nation's largest voting equipment
manufacturers. Those concerns were stirred by the
revelation that Diebold employees had expressed
concerns in e-mails about the security of machines
produced by the company.
Gephardt hot in Oklahoma
Dick Gephardt announced new
endorsements from the Sooner state for the week of
Dec. 9:
Liaquat Ali - small businessman, Norman
Nena Allen - Democratic activist, Clinton
Norman Cooper - Democratic activist, OEA member,
Norman
Shelley Crawford - Muskogee County Democratic Vice
Chair, Muskogee
Jalal Farzeneh - Democratic activist and
businessman, Norman
Ashley Fugate - Democratic Activist, Tulsa
Romadell Hannah - Democratic Activist, Tahlequah
Juanita "Sam" Haskins - Democratic activist, Ada
Paul Jackson - Director of Membership Development,
Oklahoma Farmers Union, Oklahoma City
Craig Jones - Vice-President, United Steelworkers
of America, Local 4800, Waukomis
Dr. Tony Litherland - Pottawatomie County
Democratic Chair, Professor, Shawnee
Laverne Maxwell - retiree, senior activist,
Clinton
Linda Mazur - Community Volunteer, Owasso
Zona Mullinax - Democratic activist, Shawnee
Clyde Potts - Democratic activist, member United
Steelworkers of America, Local 157, Ardmore
Oklahoma State Trades Council
Kenny Parrick - President United Steelworkers of
America, Local 2741, DePew
Mike Rial - Secretary, Mayes County Democratic
Committee, member TWU Local 514, Pryor
Wayne Salisbury - Democratic activist, Edmond
Eric Saulnier - TU Young Democrats Political
Chair, Claremore
Bruce Thompson - Democratic activist, Tulsa
Nancy Turner - Tulsa's Democratic Woman of the
Year, 2003, Tulsa
Roscoe Turner - former city Councilor, Tulsa
Joe Williams - Tulsa City Councilor, Tulsa
Kathy Williams - Community Activist, Tulsa
Frank Wright - Vice-President United Steelworkers
of America, Local 3741, Sand Springs
Kerry for children
At a childcare center in
Manchester, New Hampshire, John Kerry outlined a
three-point plan today to make kids safer and
healthier and assure they enter school ready to
learn. His plan includes a new Kids Safety Effort
requiring safety labels for food allergens and
mandatory testing of prescription drugs used for
treating children; setting comprehensive standards
for early childhood education; and providing
health insurance for every child in America. John
Kerry believes that we have a moral obligation to
cover America’s children. His plan would assure
that nearly 99 percent of all children have health
care coverage. Kerry’s plan would include:
* A New Deal to Provide Health Coverage to Every
Child. Kerry's plan would assure that the Federal
government picks up the cost of the nearly 20
million kids enrolled in Medicaid in exchange for
states covering kids in the Children’s Health
Insurance Program.
* Making Sure All Children Are Eligible. Kerry’s
swap plan would require states to cover children
in families making up to $60,000; eliminate the
current 5-year waiting period for eligibility for
legal immigrant pregnant women and children; and
enable children with disabilities to keep their
health care coverage when their parents return to
work.
* Assuring Automatic Enrollment. The Kerry plan
would assure every child gets health care coverage
by automatic enrolling kids when they come to
school with a simple form. Since the Federal
government would be picking up the costs for these
kids, this would not undermine states' fiscal
situation.
Edwards campaign
Sen. John Edwards has been
announcing minor elected officials’ endorsements
of him in S. Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa,
including a County Attorney from Iowa. However, in
an effort to counter Dean’s endorsement by the
teachers union in New Hampshire he is sending out
8,000 letters to teachers. New Hampshire teachers
and school board members today launched "Educators
for Edwards" with a letter to thousands of fellow
teachers and educators across the state, inviting
them to join them in supporting Senator John
Edwards for President.
"John Edwards has a firsthand
commitment to improving education that is
unparalleled by anyone else in this race," wrote
the Educators for Edwards steering committee in
the letter, signed by educators in every region of
the state.
"He knows the value of a quality
education for every child because it's what gave
him the chance to be where he is today, and he's
proven it by proposing the most ambitious plan for
improving education of anyone in the race."
Clark: investigate Bush
The
Boston Globe reports on Wesley Clark’s
increasingly harsh rhetoric against President
Bush:
"Now, we know who did 9/11," Clark told a roomful
of business people at a law firm in Portsmouth,
saying the Bush administration should be
investigated for its actions prior to the attacks.
Bush, he said, is "responsible for our
preparation, our defense, and that's the issue. .
. . This was a president who was in charge in this
country for almost nine months, and failed" to
defend the country.
Clark's remarks, among his sharpest critiques of
Bush, were delivered as his campaign has stepped
up its rhetoric. At other points yesterday, Clark
referred to Bush as "a reckless, radical, and
heartless leader" and said the war in Iraq "casts
doubts on his competence as a commander in chief."
Later, Clark elaborated on his 9/11 criticism,
saying that President Clinton's former national
security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, had warned the
Bush administration about the dangers of bin Laden
but that Bush spent his first nine months in
office focusing on Russia rather than the Al Qaeda
leader.
"What he should have done is put the priority on
dealing with the threat that was facing America,"
Clark said. "Apparently, he didn't."
Clark’s new attribution
The
New York Times catches Clark re-attributing a
remark he uses on the trail from Gore originally,
to Clinton. The former line: “‘Al Gore used to
say, “Everything that should be going up is going
down, and everything that should be going down is
going up.”’ On Tuesday, the retired general
attributed the same remark to Mr. Clinton. ‘People
told me that Bill Clinton said it,’ he explained
to reporters. ‘That’s where it came from, as far
as I know. Al Gore said it, too, and Al Gore made
it into a big thing. But today I thought I’d give
credit to President Clinton on this.’” –First
read
Lieberman praises court ruling
Joe Lieberman made the following
statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling
on campaign finance law:
"This is a huge victory. Today the Supreme Court
has affirmed the basic principle that our
democracy is not and cannot be for sale. Money and
influence must not drown out the voice and the
values of ordinary Americans. I fought for
McCain-Feingold because I believed it was not just
consistent with the Constitution, it was necessary
to preserve its basic promise of one person, one
vote and stop the corrosive influence of big money
on our political system.
"George Bush, on the other hand, fought this law
all along until his position became politically
untenable. And now he's doing his best to violate
the spirit of campaign finance reform by staking
his reelection on the huge stake he's being given
by special interest contributors. The way to beat
him is not to mimic him, as some of my opponents
have done in opting out of the public financing
system, but to fight for what is right, and show
the country the consequences of George Bush's lack
of integrity and his special interest sell-out."
MoveOn.com $10 million
MoveOn.com is keeping a fast
pace in the raising of money to match George
Soros’s contribution. They have announced that
they have $7.2 million in just six weeks from
117,000 people. They write:
Together, we have an opportunity to change the
face of politics -- to show Washington the power
and importance of real Americans working together.
But to do that, we don't just need more money --
we need more contributors. When we reach the $10
million mark, the success of our campaign will
depend on the number of people who participated in
it.
That's why until the end of the week, we're adding
some incentive for folks to jump in. If you make
your first contribution this week -- of at least
$20 -- or encourage someone else to make their
first contribution, then we'll match that with $20
from our challenge grants. We're looking for new
donors -- you, your mom, your friends, your boss,
or whoever. Contribute $20 or more, and you can
help us make history.
The organization also claims:
With our ads, we've been able to reach out further
than almost any other group to voters in swing
states. But our community is also growing by leaps
and bounds in other ways. Last Wednesday, we
launched a petition to stop the massive corporate
giveaways in the Omnibus spending bill. Over
10,000 new people have joined MoveOn as a result.
On Sunday, MoveOn members held over 2,000 house
parties across the country to screen the new
documentary "Uncovered." Over 50,000 people
participated in those. Now, with your help, we'll
bring lots of new folks into the $10 million
campaign.
Organizational genius
MoveOn.org was the subject of
Des Moines Register’s columnist Rekha Basu
concerning the house parties the organization held
to review the documentary, “The Whole Truth,” --
billed as exposing the lies of the Bush
administration told to get us into the war in
Iraq:
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald doesn't necessarily
break new ground in "Uncovered: The Whole Truth
About the Iraq War." Most of the evidence is
already available to those who make the effort to
find it through various media channels. But he
does a good job of putting it all together and of
juxtaposing the experts' assessments against
assertions made by the president, vice president,
secretary of state, national security adviser and
defense secretary.
Greenwald could have sat around waiting for some
network to buy his film but then decide not to air
it. By then, we might have moved on to Iran or
some new battleground. As one person who helped
distribute it observed, "They can't even get a
love story about Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan on
TV. So how are they going to get this kind of film
on a major network?"
Basu reports there were viewing
parties in Des Moines, Ames, Iowa City, Cedar
Rapids, Coralville, Davenport, Marshalltown,
Turin, North Liberty and Fairfield. She writes
that her group connected by speakerphone with
about 950 parties afterwards for a brief
conference call with the filmmaker. She also
summarizes about the new communication
technologies to change grass-roots politics.
Bush to meet with Iraqi Rep
President Bush meets with the
Iraqi Principal Diplomatic Representative and
members of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra
at 1:35 p.m. at the White House.
Hillary for President
Adam Parkhomenko of
votehillary.com will be visiting Hillary’s office
this Friday to drop off petitions for her to run
for President.
He will be delivering 5,000 to
6,000 letters signed by supporter who want her to
run. There are not only letters from every state
but several countries, according to Parkhomenko.
Rejecting suitors
Wesley Clark suggested that he
thinks Hillary Clinton would make a good VP
candidate for his campaign if he wins the
nomination. However, Hillary sent word to this
latest suitor that she is keeping herself chaste
to her promise of finishing her senate term.
"Senator Clinton is flattered by
the praise but has repeatedly said that she will
serve out her full six-year term," spokesman Joe
Householder said.
Earlier on ABC Sunday morning
talk show she confirmed that she would not run.
"That is not going to happen,"
she said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "That is so
far out of the realm of the possible. That is not
going to happen.
"Look, I'm going to support the
nominee," Clinton added. "I hope we're going to
have victory. And then I'll support the nominee,
whoever it is, assuming that person does a good
job, for re-election in '08."
Hillary’s fault
The Wall Street Journal
editorial claims that the flu vaccine shortage is
in part Hillary Clinton’s fault:
"The reason for today's shortage — as well as
seven previous preventive vaccine shortages since
2000 — is that there are just five vaccine makers.
This lack of suppliers is partly thanks to Hillary
Clinton, who as first lady turned government into
the majority buyer of vaccines and pushed prices
so low as to make business unsustainable. (This
price control approach, we'd note, is what
Democrats would now like to inflict on the
Medicare drug program.)
Country lost a statesman
With Paul Simon’s death after
single bypass surgery the nation began paying
tribute to Simon for his many accomplishments. "I
have a friend who says life is like a bucket of
water," Paul Simon once said. "You put your hand
in, you take it out, and it doesn't make any
difference whether you lived or didn't live… I
couldn't disagree more," he said. "I really think
you can make a difference."
Simon was the son of Lutheran
missionaries, who went on to become a
corruption-busting newspaper editor. He was the
youngest editor in the nation at the age of 19. He
was also the author of more than 20 books, a state
lawmaker, lieutenant governor, member of Congress
and presidential aspirant. Simon was a quietly
efficient champion of everything from literacy,
hunger, foreign language instruction and missing
children's programs to immigration, ethics and
budget reforms. In his 1984 book, "The Glass
House," he explained his vision of combining
morality with political expediency.
"The path upwards in politics is a slippery,
stumbling one for both the officeholder and the
public," he wrote. "... But unless there are those
willing to tread the slippery path, willing to
stumble, willing to expose themselves, warts and
all, willing to give the nation something good and
noble toward which to strive, we will follow the
downward path--not purposely, but just as
certainly as if it were."
For full coverage, visit the
Chicago Tribune.
Court upholds McCain Fiengold
A sharply divided Supreme Court
upheld key features of the nation's new law
intended to lessen the influence of money in
politics, ruling Wednesday that the government may
ban unlimited donations to political parties and
the ban on ads before election. Justices John Paul
Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, Ruth
Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer signed the main
opinion barring candidates for federal office.
While this law was to ban soft
money, even those who supported the law -- such as
George Soros -- have found a way around the law
and are funneling millions into campaigns. They
are also able to get around the ban on advertising
before elections. Small dollar PACs cannot,
however.
Halliburton News
MSNBC’s First Read
reports on several stories covering the $2.64 per
gallon paid to Haliburton for gas in Iraq:
The Halliburton drip-drip continues: the
New York Times goes on to say that
“Halliburton, which has the exclusive United
States contract to import fuel into Iraq,
subcontracts the work to a Kuwaiti firm,
government officials said. But Halliburton gets 26
cents a gallon for its overhead and fee, according
to documents from the Army Corps of Engineers.”
“A spokeswoman for Halliburton... defended the
company’s pricing,” saying it’s “‘expensive to
purchase, ship, and deliver fuel into a wartime
situation, especially when you are limited by
short-duration contracting,’” and when you “must
work in a ‘hazardous’ and ‘hostile environment,’
and that [the company’s] profit on the contract is
small.”
“Halliburton’s subcontractor had had more than 20
trucks damaged or stolen, nine drivers injured and
one driver killed when making fuel runs into
Iraq.” The spokesperson “said the contract was
also expensive because it was hard to find a
company with the trucks necessary to move the
fuel, and because Halliburton is only able to
negotiate a 30-day contract for fuel... A
spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers... also
defended the price of imported fuel.”
Gore’s $6.6 million
The Hill reports on how Howard
Dean received Al Gore’s endorsement but can’t
receive his $6.6 million campaign funds:
While Howard Dean gained Al Gore’s coveted
endorsement yesterday, the former Vermont governor
won’t be able to directly tap Gore’s
$6-million-plus campaign kitty left over from the
2000 election.
Legal and Accounting Compliance (GELAC) fund and,
as of Sept. 30, had a balance of $6.6 million. It
cannot be transferred directly to another
candidate. But federal campaign law permits Gore
to make transfers, without limit, to a national,
state or local committee of a political party.
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