"Do you suppose that the
Bush administration has Osama bin Laden hidden
away somewhere and will bring him out before the
election?"
Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state in the
Clinton administration, said.
"Dean, McDermott and
Albright sound like the Democratic foreign-policy
dream team,"
Scott Reed, a Republican consultant, said.
"I also heard a rumor that aliens were coming down
to Earth to occupy the bodies of three prominent
Democrats, and it looks like it came true."
"We're now entering a
whole new world,"
said Gordon
Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
"I think we are going to see more and more ads
coming out by 527s."
"You do it,"
Howard Dean
said, "by putting one foot in front of the
other and keeping your eye not just on the prize,
but keeping your eye on what you have to do every
day."
"This is classic Dean. He
shoots from the hip and whatever he hits, he says
that's what he was aiming at,"
Stuart
Rothenberg, author of "The Rothenberg Political
Report" said. "This is one of the reasons
why [Bush political adviser Karl] Rove wants Dean.
He's easy to demonize. He caricatures himself.
They will use this to define his antiwar
positions."
"When you have NATO, it's
the United States that's doing it anyway,"
Wesley Clark
said. "It puts the diplomatic piece on top
that lets you hope you can diminish the US
fingerprints on the operation."
"The undecided vote is
still ahead of every candidate in all the Feb. 3
polls I've seen,"
Kerry campaign
manager Mary Beth Cahill said. "People are
going to get knocked out of this race after Iowa
and New Hampshire, and it's not going to be us."
"This situation paints a
clear picture of why we need to rein in renegade
judges legislating from the bench. By granting
this homosexual couple a divorce, Judge Neary has
pretended their marriage was valid in the state of
Iowa. Unless I'm mistaken, it was in Vermont, not
Iowa, that Howard 'the Coward' Dean slyly signed
midnight legislation making same-sex unions
legal," said
Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican.
"The very idea that
people at the top of Enron steal millions and
millions of dollars, their employees lose their
jobs, and investors lose all their money, I mean,
how many of those people have gone to jail?"
Edwards tells an
audience in the ad. "I mean really, if
somebody goes down to the grocery store and steals
a half-gallon of milk, they end up in jail. But
here we go with George Bush's friends, get in
trouble, they don't go to jail."
"We saw at the time of
his arrest the yawning abyss of a broken self - a
man who was born in a mud hut, who rose to
incredible heights of grandeur and then returned,
not only to the mud hut, but the hole under the
mud hut," said
Dr. Jerold Post, a George Washington University
professor of psychiatry who helped the CIA develop
a psychological profile of Saddam before the war.
“We’re able to provide
money to educate, register, and mobilize our own
people, which is a significant job. We have, as of
this morning, 105 people on the ground in Iowa
talking to our people, going to their workplaces,
going to their homes, phone banks going,
mobilizing for the caucus. We can do all of those
things all over the country,”
said Gerald
McEntee, president of the American Federation of
State, County, and Municipal Employees.
Stop Dean movement
Analysis by Roger Hughes
The Dean campaign is trying to
link the Gephardt campaign to the 527 group that
went over the top with an ad in New Hampshire and
S. Carolina showing the Time magazine cover photo
of Osama bin Laden and relating how Howard Dean
can’t protect us from terrorists.
The 527 IRS group, Americans for
Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values, can take
soft money and is required to be unaffiliated and
uncoordinated with other political parties and
campaigns. The organization has many individuals
and contributors who have worked with Dick
Gephardt in the past. Its new spokesman, Robert
Gibbs, served as a press secretary for the
presidential campaign of Massachusetts Sen. John
Kerry until his resignation last month.
What Howard Dean’s campaign
seems to fail to understand is that the
establishment Democrat Party still has the power
to mount a “Stop Dean Movement”. Dean’s frequent
calls to his insurgent band that they have the
power to take back the Democrat Party do not
provide the regular Democrat Party faithful with
feelings of welcome and comfort from the Dean
campaign.
Dean’s regulars on his blog do
not help anything either. In fact, they sling the
ultimate blog insult of ‘troll’ at fellow Dean
supporters who merely suggest that Dean has done
something wrong. The sheer intensity of these
supporters approaches cult status, and many
visitors to the Dean blog type in just that phrase
about them in their comments on the blog.
A read of the Dean blog after
the capture of Saddam Hussein shows a Dean
supporter writing that they were in tears over the
prospect that Saddam’s capture might mean Dean
would not get elected.
This kind of campaign -- even
with Al Gore’s endorsement -- will not create
sympathy by the Democrat Party regulars. There
will be a “Stop Dean Movement” in the Democrat
Party. You cannot let the grassroots run a
campaign without some adult supervision. You
cannot let fanatics take over a campaign without
expecting them to go too far, and it is clear that
the Dean campaign has gone too far for many in the
Democrat Party. This fear within the Democrat
Party of Dean’s campaign is beyond the split
between the moderates and liberals. It is beyond
Dean calling congress ‘cockroaches.’ It is about a
campaign that doesn’t have discipline.
There will be more 527 campaigns
running more negative ads against Howard Dean, and
it will be Democrats who do it. Dean cannot
gather enough Governor and Congressional
endorsements fast enough to stop the panic at the
prospect of the Deaniacs running the Democrat
Party.
The ads from Americans for
Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values will soon
be off the air -- they cannot run ads in January
in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to the new
law. However, the bin Laden television spot, that
questions Dean's national security qualifications,
could resurface in states with later primaries.
States holding primaries on Feb. 7 could see ads
broadcast in those states until Jan. 8.
Dean’s weapon of self-destruction
Howard Dean admits that he is
the one who added the line that the capture of
Saddam Hussein does not make America any safer,
according to a
Boston Globe story. He also doesn’t seem to
understand the difference between his suggesting
that Bush was tipped off by the Saudis about 9-11
and the Bush administration saying that there were
weapons of mass destruction in Ira:
Dean countered by suggesting that administration
officials misled the American public in the run-up
to war:
"How is what I did different from what Dick
Cheney or George Bush or [Donald] Rumsfeld or
[Richard] Perle or [Paul] Wolfowitz did during the
time of the buildup of the invasion of Iraq? There
were all these theories that they mentioned, many
of them turned out not to be true. The difference
is that I acknowledged that I did not believe the
theory that I was putting out. They professed to
believe the theories they were putting out, which
later turned out not to be true."
The
Washington Post offers a similar story
concerning Dean’s inability to control what he
says. One of the more damning points in the Post
is how Howard Dean as Governor presided over tax
breaks for Enron:
Last week, after Dean denied providing a tax break
as governor that benefited Enron Corp. -- which a
published report showed he did -- Gephardt said:
"Once again, Howard Dean refuses to admit the
truth. You can't beat George W. Bush if you can't
tell the truth about your own record."
Letter pressure
The Des Moines Register covers
the approximate 100,000 letters that Howard Dean’s
supporters have hand written to Iowans. Dean’s
campaign is the only campaign that has mobilized
this number of outside volunteers to flood Iowa
asking Iowa Democrats to go to the caucuses in
support of Dean.
The story covers how some Iowans
do not like the letters or the pressure. However,
the pressure is just beginning and will only
increase further after New Years when the campaign
hits the final stage before Jan. 19.
The letter-writing campaign
started in July and is a monthly event with Dean
supporters gathering nationwide. The Register
reports that the number of letters sent to Iowa
Democrats exceeds the number of Democrats who took
part in the 2000 caucuses by about 40,000.
Dean domestic policy
Today is the day that Howard
Dean takes on domestic policy in a speech in New
Hampshire. It is expected that many of the themes
he laid out in Texas (close to the Enron building)
will be highlighted once again. An expected twist
today will be that the era of big government is
over, Redux Dean fashion.
Dean is expected to offer his
own variation on why Bush’s tax cuts are not
benefiting the economy and hurting Americans. His
campaign staff has been preparing what it said
will be estimates of how much more people in
selected states are paying or what services
they're not getting because of Bush's tax cuts.
Look for him to not spend much time on the
improving economy except to say things are bad and
Bush will be the first President since Herbert
Hoover who has lost jobs. The
Associated Press, who has seen advance
proposals of the speech, offers this:
He will pull his domestic proposals together in a
program dubbed a "New Social Contract for Working
Families," in which he'll call for new supports
for working families, universal access to health
care, and other government assistance. A campaign
memorandum excerpting the speech did not lay out
any specifics.
He'll call for American business to accept
stricter accountability but said he also would
offer greater access to capital for small
businesses and "national investment in growth
industries of the future like renewable energy."
Dean staff humor
The Boston Globe offers this gem
from the Dean campaign trail:
In converting the Gulfstream jet that carried Dean
from California into a press charter, the
candidate's aides were careful to remove all
campaign materials and transfer them to his new
aircraft. However, when a group of four reporters
took the seats occupied the night before by Dean
and his top aides, they discovered a red folder on
which the campaign's political director Kate
O'Connor had written the following message:
"Gov: Here's the final Iowa caucus plan. Please do
not lose this, Kate."
Of course, curiousity got the best of the bunch of
reporters, and one of them opened the folder.
Inside was a piece of paper addressed to Newton
native Jodi Wilgoren, the New York Times
reporter assigned to the Dean campaign. The note
read: "Jodi, We knew you couldn't resist. Ha Ha!"
Now, that's what we call "gotcha" journalism. (For
the record, Wilgoren was not the scribe to open
the folder.)
Dean supported war
The
LA Times reports on the conflict regarding
Dean’s statements that he never supported war with
Iraq. It seems that Dean’s support of the Biden
Resolution would have resulted in war with Iraq:
Andy Fisher, communications director for the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said one of
the reasons the amendment failed was that more
liberal Democrats would not go along with it.
"Biden wasn't sure he could deliver many Democrats
for this resolution because it was an act of war,"
said Fisher, a Lugar aide. "This would have been
all the president needed."
Dean viewed the amendment as a tactical maneuver
that would have slowed the rush to war and forced
the U.S. to seek international support. Last week,
he argued that the war would never have happened
if the legislation had been adopted because Bush
would have had to attest to the fact that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction, which have not been
found.
Gephardt: Dean can’t win
Rep. Dick Gephardt charged that
Dean’s repositioning of his campaign will not
work:
"The capture of Saddam Hussein Sunday and Governor
Dean's remarks yesterday in the speech that he
made, I think make one thing pretty clear. And
that is a candidate with no foreign policy
experience is not going to beat George Bush.
"Governor Dean can do all the repositioning he
wants but the fundamental truth is that he made
many contradictory statements about the war on
Iraq and the aftermath. He has consistently
exploited foreign policy for his political agenda
and his positions don't demonstrate a person
grounded in serious foreign policy experience and
expertise.
"And at the end of the day we are going to have to
defeat George Bush by showing our real ability to
be able to show foreign policy expertise not only
on Iraq but a lot of other areas of concern
including the war against terrorism. And I just
don't think the way Howard has been talking about
these issues is going to achieve that goal. In the
end we've got to have someone with a real foreign
policy background and experience to be able to
defeat George Bush.
"I have been saying from the beginning of this
campaign that in an age and time of terrorism the
American people are not going to leave the
president that is in office to go to someone they
doubt has the steady hands and the reliable
experience to deal with all of these foreign and
international challenges that we face.
"And I've also said that I'm not the flavor of the
month but I'm the candidate with real experience
over 26 years in both domestic and foreign issues
and I think that's going to be a real asset in
this campaign."
If this isn’t damning enough,
the
Washington Post argues that Howard Dean is to
far left even for them and it agrees that Dean
can’t win:
It is Mr. Dean's position on Iraq, however, that
would be hardest to defend in a general election
campaign. Many will agree with the candidate that
"the administration launched the war in the wrong
way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning,
insufficient help and at unbelievable cost." But
most Americans understand Saddam Hussein for what
he was: a brutal dictator who stockpiled and used
weapons of mass destruction, who plotted to seize
oil supplies on which the United States depends,
who hated the United States and once sought to
assassinate a former president; whose continuing
hold on power forced thousands of American troops
to remain in the Persian Gulf region for a decade;
who even in the months before his overthrow signed
a deal to buy North Korean missiles he could have
aimed at U.S. bases. The argument that this tyrant
was not a danger to the United States is not just
unfounded but ludicrous.
By the way:
The Gephardt campaign announced
this morning that former House Whip David Bonior
(D-Mich.) will formally endorse Gephardt today and
begin serving as the campaign's national
co-chairman. There's a fun-filled, action-packed,
surprises-galore conference call scheduled for
2:00 pm ET today.
Clark tells difference
The Boston Globe editorial board
wanted to know the difference between Clark’s push
to go to war in Kosovo over humanitarian reasons,
and his opposition to go to war in Iraq where
there were abundant humanitarian reasons. The
editorial basically says that Clark believes the
differences are timing and lack of regional
threats. This is true even though Clark admits
that Hussein was paying for suicide bombers in
Israel. The article goes on to say that foreign
policy experts don’t see any difference between
Kosovo’s humanitarian effort and reasons for Iraq.
Clark’s best description of the difference is:
"Well, if everything we knew was the same and I
had been the commander in 1991," Clark said, he
probably would have intervened to depose Hussein.
"But by the time the Bush administration decided
to go in, the ethnic cleansing was long over. Iraq
was a failed state," Clark said. "And now, the
grounds for the operation are being shifted to
sort of look as though it were a humanitarian
operation."
While Clark said yesterday regional stabilization
was the key reason for stopping Milosevic, his
campaign has made much of the humanitarian aspects
of that war. His first biographical ad says he
"stopped a campaign of terror" and "liberated a
people."
Clark: internationalize prosecution
Wesley Clark campaigning in New
Hampshire just after testifying against another
war crimes criminal stated that he wants to
internationalize the prosecution of Saddam
Hussein. He also wants the death penalty as an
option. According to the
Associated Press, Clark made the following
statements:
You've got to hold this trail in Iraq and I
believe the trial has to be held in public," he
said. Clark suggested convening legal experts from
the United States, United Nations, Arab League,
and European Union to work with the Iraqis to
develop procedures for the trial.
"If we do this the right way, we can help the
people of Iraq and the people of the Middle East
gain a new appreciation for the meaning of the
rule of law," he said.
"Justice must be done, known to have been done,
and known to have been done right. Doing it right
will help us bring peace to the region, rebuild
our relations with the world community and,
ultimately, it will help us be more effective in
defeating terrorism."
Clark: jobs gone
Wesley Clark campaigning in Iowa
said the jobs are gone, according to the
Associated Press:
"The only way to increase profits is to fire
people," Clark said of the business mentality.
"That's what's happening. Some of the jobs will
never come back." He said he would "re-employ
America" by pumping $100 billion into the economy.
Clark made the comments as the
stock market and jobless rates continue to
improve. The Labor Department report that new
applications for jobless benefits had declined by
a seasonally adjusted 22,000 to 353,000 — a drop
much larger than economists had expected. It was
another sign the struggling labor market is
recovering. Analysts continue to forecast that job
improvement is likely will be the last sector to
fully heal.
Clinton on Clark
As reported in the press today,
former President Bill Clinton sent a letter to the
prosecutors in the Hague this week, asserting that
General Wesley Clark "carried out the policy of
the NATO alliance, which was to stop massive
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, with great skill,
integrity and iron determination." Clark Campaign
Communications Director Matt Bennett issued the
following statement in response:
"General Clark is grateful to President Clinton
for his comments and for his support in the
prosecution of this brutal despot."
Clark’s new ad
Clark's new television spot will
begins airing in New Hampshire today. In it,
campaign advisers say, the retired Army general
from Arkansas talks about the need for a strategy
that ensures success in Iraq and says that while
others discuss foreign policy, he's actually been
involved in it in his career.
Madonna
By the way, if any of you are
wondering how it came to be that Madonna is
backing Clark, it seems the two were introduced by
"Bowling for Columbine" filmmaker Michael Moore -
an early supporter of Clark.
Kerry’s new ad
Wednesday, Kerry's campaign
announced it would start broadcasting an ad in New
Hampshire on Thursday that currently is running in
Iowa. In the 30-second spot, Kerry criticizes the
Bush administration for creating a "special
interest feeding frenzy" in Washington.
Open records, Dean
Kerry Campaign Manager, Mary
Beth Cahill responded to Dean’s Campaign Manager
Joe Trippi’s open letter calling for exposure and
openness regarding who are behind the running of
mean ads against Howard Dean. Her response? Cahill
calls on Dean to be open – as in, open the
records he sealed as Governor. Apparently Dean’s
‘do as I say, not as I do’ just doesn’t cut it
with Cahill:
Yesterday, Dean presidential campaign manager Joe
Trippi called on us all to support full disclosure
of donors of third party groups that are running
television ads against his candidate. Many of us
voted to make full disclosure of donors the law of
land. Because of our efforts, we passed
McCain/Feingold a year ago and tightened all
disclosure laws dealing with campaign
expenditures, including those of 3rd party groups.
As Democrats, we all agree that full disclosure
and transparency is a hallmark of our party. In
that spirit and to hold Governor Dean to the same
standards that he is imposing on some of us, we
call upon Gov. Dean to open up his secretive
documents.
The concealment of these records for 10 years
doesn't allow voters to make a fully educated
decision about who is best equipped to send George
Bush back to Texas and restore this nation to its
full promise and potential. Democrats are the
leaders of openness in our government, and
anything less is not worthy of our party.
President Bill Clinton often said that if you make
sure voters get all the information, they’d make
the right decisions. While Gov. Dean is very fond
of reminding voters that they have the power, we'd
like to see him trust them with the information to
exercise it.
Only Governor Dean has the power to unseal these
records. I hope you will join me in calling on
Gov. Dean to use the power he has and unseal his
governmental records.
Praise for Kerry
As if the Boston Globe recent
article telling of hope for Kerry wasn’t enough,
now The
Des Moines Register’s dean of politics, David
Yepsen, has good news as well.
Yepsen writes that Kerry could
come in second in Iowa -- a Pew Research poll
released 10 days ago reported likely caucus-goers
showed Dean with 29 percent, Missouri Congressman
Richard Gephardt with 21 percent, Kerry at 18
percent and John Edwards at 5 percent. An internal
Kerry poll by the Mellman Group shows Dean at 28
percent, Kerry at 24 percent and Gephardt at 23
percent. Kerry also shows up as the second-choice
candidate of a lot of Democrats, which is a good
sign for Kerry if their first-choice candidate
should falter.
This has to scare the
you-know-what out of the Gephardt camp, not to
mention the Dean campaign. Part of what might be
going on is the unlimited money being spent by
Kerry and Dean in Iowa. However, Yepsen reports
that Kerry’s improvement is in part due to old
fashion hard and smart work of the candidate and
campaign. Yepsen writes:
What has Kerry been doing to move up?
Working the fundamentals, that's all. He's been
spending a lot more time in Iowa (which he should
have done from the beginning) and impresses
caucus-goers with his brains, experience and
level-headed manner. His campaign staffers are a
seasoned lot who execute well on the daily details
of signing up caucus-goers. He's increased the
number of television commercials. Answers that
used to be 500 words are down to 250. He's a
combat veteran, an important quality given that
the Republicans will go after any Democratic
candidate - especially Dean, who didn't go to
Vietnam or serve in the military at all - for
being weak on defense.
Kerry’s high stakes strategy
The Boston Globe reports that
Kerry is so focused on his Iowa-New Hampshire
strategy that he plans to stay in Iowa for the
first two weeks of January, making only quick day
trips to New Hampshire and staying out of other
upcoming primary states almost entirely. Kerry’s
high stakes gamble is betting on the fact that
candidates can gain what is known as the big Mo
from early wins. The Globe describes it this way:
Kerry advisers say he is wagering on a "January
effect" to ignite his campaign: He plans to remain
in Iowa for roughly 15 days after New Year's in
the run-up to the Jan. 19 caucuses, while making
quick trips to New Hampshire.
He will also deploy surrogate campaigners in New
Hampshire, including his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry;
daughter Vanessa and stepson Chris Heinz; and his
campaign chairwoman, former Granite State governor
Jeanne Shaheen.
Campaign around the clock
If you would like to find Sen.
John Kerry Monday, Dec. 22, you could go bowling
in Mason City, IA and do both at 10:00 p.m. Kerry
is starting early on the traditional 24 hour
campaign across America that has become the
hallmark at the end of Presidential campaigns.
Kerry is going to put in an around the clock
effort in Iowa to demonstrate how much he wants
Iowans’ votes.
John Kerry will campaign in Iowa
on Saturday, December 20-Tuesday, December 23. The
last portion of the trip will include a 24 hour
day of visiting the workplaces of the Iowans he is
fighting for: those who care for patients, keep
our communities safe, work the third shift, farm
the land, and look after our children. The details
of his schedule are as follows:
Saturday, December 20th
11:45 am-12:30pm
Press event: Conversation with Working Families …
In Altoona … Location forthcoming … *open to the
press*
12:30pm-1:45pm
Very “Kerry” Holiday Party … Adventureland Inn,
3200 Adventureland Drive (I-80 and Hwy 65),
Altoona … *open to the press and public*
2:30pm-3:45pm
Fighting for America’s Workers with Jasper County
Democrats … DMACC Newton Campus, 600 N 2nd Avenue
W, Newton … *open to the press and public*
5:30pm-7:00pm
Kerry Holiday Party with Johnson County
Democrats … City High School Auditorium, 1900
Morningside Drive, Iowa City … *open to the press
and public*
Sunday, December 21st
11:30am-1:00pm
Fighting for America’s Workers with Dubuque County
Democrats … Happy’s Place, 2323 Rockdale Road,
Dubuque … *open to the press and public*
4:30pm-5:45pm
Chili Feed with Firefighters … Village Hall, 2113
East 11th Street, East Davenport … *open to the
press and public*
7:00pm-8:15pm
Fighting for America’s Workers with Clinton County
Democrats … Bluff Elementary School, 1421 South
Bluff Boulevard, Clinton … *open to the press and
public*
Monday, December 22nd
10:00am-11:00am
Meeting at the Quad City Times … *closed
*
11:15am-12:00 pm
Fighting for Davenport Workers …
Location: TBA … *open to the press*
1:30pm – 2:30pm
Fighting for Cedar Rapids Workers …
Location: TBA
3:30 pm – 4:15pm
Visit the Cedar Rapids After School
Program Waypoint … 318 5th St. SE , Cedar Rapids …
*open to the press*
5:45pm-7:00pm
Fighting for Waterloo Workers … Waterloo
Fire Station #1 … 425 East 3rd Street, Waterloo …
*open to the press and public*
8:00pm-9:00pm
Fighting for Working Americans with
Charles City Democrats … Floyd County Museum, 500
Gilbert Street, Charles City … *open to the press
and public*
9:45 pm-11:00 pm
Bowling at the Rose Bowl … Hwy 65 South,
Mason City … *open to the press and public*
1:45am-2:30am
Conversation with Nurses in Des Moines …
Mercy Hospital … *open to the press* … Possible
stop by with Des Moines police
6:15am-6:45am
Meet and Greet with Workers in Council
Bluffs … Location: TBA … *open to the press*
7:15am- 8:00am
Breakfast with Farmers in Missouri Valley
… Oehler Brothers, 3157 Joliet Avenue, Missouri
Valley … *open to the press and public*
9:30am-10:30am
Fighting for the Child Tax Credit in Sioux City …
Boys and Girls Club, Family Service Inc. … 2101
Court Street, Sioux City … *open to the press*
Edwards’ new ad
The Edwards for President
campaign announced today that it is airing a new
television ad in New Hampshire focused on Senator
Edwards' corporate responsibility proposals.
"I mean really, if somebody goes down to the
grocery store and steals a half-gallon of milk
they end up in jail," Edwards says in the ad
titled "Milk." "But here we go with George Bush's
friends, get in trouble they don't go to jail."
"We need to act to put the law back on the side of
the American people and not have the law be on the
side of the special interests."
In July, Edwards outlined his
comprehensive corporate responsibility plan in a
speech in Manchester. The five-part plan will
restore trust in America's economy in the wake of
Bush era corporate scandals that have slowed
economic growth and washed away the financial
security of millions of Americans through layoffs,
bankruptcies and destroyed pensions. Today,
Edwards built on that plan and announced a new set
of measures to protect investors against abuses at
the New York Stock Exchange and at mutual funds.
"Milk" began airing this week in New Hampshire.
Edwards on SEC
Sen. John Edwards said on
Wednesday the Securities and Exchange Commission
is not going far enough to protect investors
against abuses at the New York Stock Exchange and
at mutual funds. "The SEC's response to scandal
has fallen short. Unfortunately, the commission is
putting the insiders ahead of investors," Edwards
said. Edwards proposed three steps the SEC must
take to restore accountability at the New York
Stock Exchange:
·
Separate Regulatory and Market
Functions. The New York Stock Exchange is
responsible both for maintaining the stock market
and regulating the companies that trade on the
market. Edwards will clearly separate these
business and regulatory duties.
·
Increase Transparency. Edwards will
require Stock Exchange committees to issue annual
reports about their governance activities. Edwards
supports calls from North Carolina Treasurer
Richard Moore for the exchange to release its
internal report on Grasso's pay. Edwards also will
release the SEC's recent investigations of
corporate wrongdoing at the stock exchange.
·
Study Shifting to Electronic Market.
The New York Stock Exchange is one of the last
equity markets in the world where human traders,
not computers match buyers and sellers, leading to
potential conflicts of interest. Edwards will
convene a blue-ribbon commission to study the
issue.
To end insiders' ability to rip
off mutual fund investors, Edwards will:
·
Reduce Mutual Fund Fees. The cost of
mutual fund fees has risen consistently, and
typical investors are often confused by
overlapping fees and undisclosed charges. Edwards
will require clear disclosure of fees and supports
the fee reduction negotiated by Spitzer.
·
Disclose Manager Pay. Some market
watchers say that mutual fund managing is the most
overpaid profession in the country. Edwards will
require companies to disclose their fund managers'
pay packages, including how managers are trading
the funds they control.
·
Get Tough on Fund Abuses. Edwards
will increase SEC enforcement, work with states
and pass legislation to increase disclosure
requirements, regulatory oversight, and
punishments for abuses like market timing and
collusion between brokers and fund managers.
Edwards also called on the SEC
to fix the convoluted rule it developed to
implement Edwards' corporate lawyer accountability
law. The Edwards amendment to the landmark
Sarbanes-Oxley reform bill requires corporate
attorneys to report wrongdoing up the chain of
command and to the shareholders if action is not
taken. The way the SEC interpreted the rule is
impenetrable even to expert securities lawyers,
not to mention regular investors.
Edwards supports protest
Sen. John Edwards expressed his
support for a march held in South Carolina to
protest a school drug sweep in which police, with
guns drawn, ordered students to the floor.
"I support the march, particularly the fact that
the issues that were discussed in that march were
broadened to bigger issues of equality," Edwards
said at a day care center in Charleston. "I was so
proud of those who stood up and spoke up. There is
still so much more work to be done in this country
when it comes to racial equality."
The Nov. 5 raid at Stratford
High drew national attention after video from
surveillance cameras showed students ordered to
the floor while officers with guns and a drug dog
searched them.
Lieberman’s new ad
This is the week to try
something different it seems. Sen. Joe Lieberman
is joining in with a new ad in New Hampshire,
which continues his theme of demonstrating the
differences between himself and Howard Dean – whom
Lieberman says would take the country backwards
not forwards and reverse the gains made under Bill
Clinton:
"I know how to unite America
again -- and take us forward, not backward,"
Lieberman says in the ad. "I am more determined
than ever to fight for what's right for you."
The ad touts Lieberman's solid
progressive record, including his strong
environmental, civil rights, and pro-choice
advocacy. It also draws distinctions between
Lieberman and the rest of the field, on
Lieberman's strength on defense and security, and
his unique plan to cut taxes for 98 percent of
Americans.
Finally, the ad describes
Lieberman as a "man of rock solid integrity,"
which follows on the heels of a new Franklin
Pierce College poll showing that integrity, not
electability, is the most sought-after quality
among New Hampshire voters.
The ad builds on Lieberman's
speech yesterday in Manchester, New Hampshire, in
which he warned that in countless areas of
domestic and foreign policy, Dean would take the
Democratic Party and the country backwards.
Lieberman's speech was his most comprehensive
effort to date highlighting the serious
differences between himself and Dean.
The ad, which includes footage
from Lieberman's recent unedited televised town
hall that aired last weekend on WMUR-TV, can be
viewed at
www.joe2004.com/determined. It will begin
airing in New Hampshire today and was produced by
Integrity Minded Media, a collaboration of
Lieberman media consultant Mandy Grunwald and
pollster Mark Penn.
Lieberman’s reply to Trippi
There is an old adage among
lawyers: never ask the question unless you know
the answer. Among political operatives, it is:
never ask for a response you do not want. Dean’s
campaign manager Joe Trippi forgot that axiom when
asking other campaigns to respond to the mean ad
against Howard Dean.
Brian Hardwick, Joe Lieberman's
Deputy Campaign Director, issued the following
statement in response to a letter sent by Howard
Dean's campaign manager Joe Trippi. Trippi asked
the other Democratic campaigns to join him in
denouncing the ad, which features images of Osama
Bin Laden and was paid for by a "527" group called
"Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive
Values." Trippi wrote that the ad "is the kind of
fear mongering attack we've come to expect from
Republicans."
Hardwick's statement:
"We agree with Joe Trippi that this ad is produced
and presented in a way that is over the top. But
we also agree that it's exactly the kind of ad
that Republicans would run -- and that's precisely
the problem. Simply put: the Democratic nominee
will not win in 2004 if he appears weak on
defense. That is why Joe Lieberman has spent this
week talking about the legitimate policy
differences he has with Howard Dean on national
security and foreign policy. We look forward to
continuing this legitimate debate of ideas on the
campaign trail."
Kucinich is #2
The University of Iowa Daily
Iowan editorial board created a ranking of who
they think should be the Democrat nominee and Rep.
Dennis Kucinich came in second:
The first-in-the-nation caucuses come to Iowa Jan.
19; they will be the first step in electing a
Democratic candidate to run against President Bush
next November. The Daily Iowan's Editorial Board
discussed the policies of each of the nine
Democratic candidates and collaboratively came up
with a list ranking the candidates 1 through 9.
Our purpose is to assist students in gauging the
strengths and weaknesses of each candidate as the
general election approaches.
1. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
From a social perspective, Dean's rising through
the political ranks from his original vocation as
a doctor is attractive to voters skeptical of
life-long politicians. Other than Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich, Dean is the only candidate who opposed
U.S. intervention in Iraq. He is a proponent of
repealing Bush's upper-class tax cuts, and he
plans to keep taxes on the middle-class as a way
to balance the budget and pay for his universal
health-care plan. As governor of Vermont, Dean
balanced 11-consecutive state budgets. He has the
endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore and,
as a former governor, has history on his side. The
last active member of Congress to be elected to
the presidency was John F. Kennedy.
2. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.
Kucinich is the most progressive of the Democratic
candidates. He is ardently opposed to war of any
sort and wants U.S. troops immediately pulled out
of Iraq. Kucinich wants the United States to be a
world leader and pull out of the World Trade
Organization and the North American Free Trade
Association, which he accuses of unfair labor
practices that cater to corporate interests. He is
in favor of slashing the multibillion-dollar
defense budget as a way to provide single-payer
universal health care and free public education
all the way to the university level. He's been
involved in politics since he was 20 years old; at
age 31, he was the youngest mayor ever to be
elected in a U.S. city.
The lady gets respect
The
NY Times writes Carol Moseley –Braun’s
candidacy is about gaining respect:
Ms. Braun, 56, is here, her allies say, to bring a
different perspective to the political dialogue —
to talk about women, about African-Americans,
about the same ordinary people her father would
not stop talking about in the late 70's, when Ms.
Braun first ran for office in Illinois. Her
father, as she retells the story, drove the
streets of the Chicago South Side in a battered
green station wagon, blaring his message from a
bullhorn: "Fight the greedy, help the needy, vote
for Carol Moseley Braun!"
Poll watching
In New Hampshire, WMUR in
Manchester and WCVB in Boston poll shows Dean
leading Kerry, 46 to 17 percent, followed by
Wesley Clark (10), Joe Lieberman (7), John Edwards
(4) and Dick Gephardt (3).
In Pennsylvania, Dean has pulled
ahead of the rest of the Democratic field and is
the only candidate to keep Bush under 50 percent
in a head-to-head matchup, a Quinnipiac University
poll found.
The poll found Dean leading with
28 percent, followed by Lieberman (17), Gephardt
(10), Clark (9) and Kerry (7).
The new poll showed Bush leading
Dean, 49-43.
Bush bedevils Democrats
Tina Brown writes in a column in
the
Washington Post about Democrats’ tough times.
She recounts going to a party where Democrats were
gloating before learning about the capture of
Saddam Hussein:
The night before the announcement of Saddam's
capture (round about the time that the tyrant was
having a flashlight shone up his nose) I was at a
media-heavy Manhattan dinner party that vividly
dramatized the pre-spider hole mood. The guests --
mostly Democrats, with a smattering of moderate
Republicans -- were unanimously kissing off Bush.
It had been a particularly obnoxious week for a
crowd that favors a more metrosexual approach to
foreign relations: The Pentagon had displayed its
upraised middle finger to France, Germany and
Russia just as James Baker was due to leave for
the Continent to romance the Euros into forgiving
Iraq's debt. From appetizer to espresso, the
guests bemoaned the administration's crudeness,
incompetence and dangerous lack of diplomatic
finesse.
Twelve hours later the same people looked at their
Democratic choices for president and wanted to
scream. It was no surprise to see Bush's poll
numbers jump, but staggering how quickly even
prominent Democrats around town declared their
party to be toast. Any headway made by the
candidates over long months of practice and
message-honing was blown away in an instant by the
mug shots of the shaggy perp from Tikrit, abetted
by Baker's polished smile of success in Paris and
Berlin.
She also writes about Hillary --
see today’s Clinton Comedies.
Bush presents purple hearts
President Bush visiting Walter
Reed Hospital honored wounded soldiers and thanked
the medical staff, which has treated 2,100
patients from the Iraq. Bush was also a patient,
having an MRI of his knees while there. Bush was
also expected to visit Secretary of State Colin
Powell following his prostrate surgery.
In his visit with about 20
physical therapy outpatients and their relatives,
he planned to honor some with Purple Hearts, the
military award for wounded service members.
Civil unions
Bush took some heat from those
opposing gay marriages for being ambiguous in his
statement regarding support of civil unions. Bush,
in an interview on ABC’s Prime Time, left
some question as to whether he supported civil
unions:
"whatever legal arrangements people want to make."
Asked specifically about civil unions, he said it
is a state issue "unless judicial rulings
undermine the sanctity of marriage."
Gary Bauer is quoted in the
Washington Times as saying:
"What the president said is confusing, and some
will find it hard to distinguish from Howard Dean,
who supported domestic partnerships in Vermont at
the state level," said Gary Bauer, president of
American Values, a conservative interest group.
Web editing
The Washington Post has a story
regarding the White House keeping their image well
scrubbed:
White House officials were steamed when Andrew S.
Natsios, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, said earlier this year
that U.S. taxpayers would not have to pay more
than $1.7 billion to reconstruct Iraq -- which
turned out to be a gross understatement of the
tens of billions of dollars the government now
expects to spend.
Recently, however, the government has purged the
offending comments by Natsios from the agency's
Web site. The transcript, and links to it, have
vanished.
Self-discipline, not self-doubt
Tina Brown writes in a column in
the Washington Post about Democrats’ tough times.
She infers one of the contributing factors is
Hillary’s not a candidate:
The day after the Saddam news you could see
Hillary Clinton in New York moving herself
inexorably into the Democratic void in a policy
address at the Council on Foreign Relations. More
hawkish than Bush on the need to ramp up the troop
numbers in Iraq, practical about the impending
trouble next July when the possibly premature
transfer of power follows troop reduction in the
spring, shrewdly caring about the need to promote
maternal care in Afghanistan, sure of her leonine
power, she morphed her pinstripe pantsuit before
our eyes into battle fatigues and flak jacket.
Planted solidly behind the lectern with only
intermittent reference to her notes she exuded the
sense of a well-filled mind and life. Maybe not
yet a credible commander-in-chief but at least a
Democratic Major Barbara. Distantly one could hear
the voice of Maggie Thatcher during the Gulf War
in 1990, commanding Bush 41 not to "go wobbly."
She will wait this one out. Self-discipline, not
self-doubt.
Trade agreement
