The Iowa Daily Report, Monday, December 22, 2003

* QUOTABLE:

"I think that Howard Dean is just another George Bush… I think he's for the big-money people. He's got money behind him. He's never had to come up the hard way. John Edwards has," future Iowa Caucus attendee Kathy Johnson, 61, of Springville said.

``Prosecuting Saddam is not like restoring electricity or picking up garbage, it's one of the most politically sensitive and complex tasks facing a post-Saddam Iraq,'' John Edwards said in a speech at a Des Moines school library. ``Giving that task to a council that is neither elected nor sovereign…diminishes the likelihood that trials will be seen as legitimate.

 "I don't advocate assisted suicide. I think what we really need very badly in this country is to restore the doctor-patient relationship so private decisions can remain private and out of the political realm," said Howard Dean.

"I think the Democrats I am running against made the wrong choice," Dean said at a meeting with voters in Maquoketa, Iowa, on Saturday. "If these guys are so smart on foreign policy, then why did they vote for us to go to war?" said Howard Dean.

"We are always going to have a special relationship with Israel," Howard Dean continued. "But that does not mean that we can't recognize the legitimate Palestinian claims, and there are legitimate Palestinian claims."

"I see Clark as the wild card here," said the campaign manager for another Democratic contender. "Does he become a real candidate or does he become a novelty? I don't think we know the answer."

"This is a campaign of unproven propositions from start to finish," acknowledged one senior Clark advisor. "Can someone with no political experience run for president in the modern age? Can someone start this late with a field that started this early? [Is] a third-place finish … enough of a ticket punch in New Hampshire to win the nomination?"

"[Bush] did a bait-and-switch on us and substituted Saddam Hussein, and boom, $150 billion, 460 American lives and no telling how much more of our Treasury before this is all over," the Democratic hopeful [Clark] told ABC's "This Week."

"You can't buy votes in the South, not for a presidential election," Wesley Clark said. "They vote on values, they vote on who's going to keep the country safe. They vote on people like them who believe in things and are committed to public service. I'm the one person who can make that case and carry that argument."

* TODAY’S OFFERINGS:

Howard Dean: *Dean’s resume problem
*Dean’s clothing can’t change *Dean’s cyberspace tactics

Dick Gephardt: *Gephardt: Dean inconsistent
*Gephardt alternative?

Dennis Kucinich: *Kucinich profile

John Edwards: *"I was born in a small town"

Wesley Clark: *Who is following Clark?

* CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES:

Dean’s resume problem

"The fact is it's a resume problem, " Dean told an audience in Litchfield yesterday. "I need to plug that hole in my resume. And I am going to do that with my running mate." -- reports the Boston Globe. That was the comment that Howard Dean said about how to solve his foreign policy weakness. Dean’s lack foreign policy credentials have been highlighted as a good reason why Democrats should reject Dean as their nominee. It also was not helped when Dean offered his now famous statement that America was not safer after the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Campaigning across Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean modified back to saying that he was delighted that Hussein had been captured, but repeatedly offered the caveat that his Democratic rivals supported a war that he believes was never justified. He also continued his positioning of himself as a Washington outsider.

However, it may be more than a resume problem. A recent AP poll showed seven in 10 Americans believed the war was an important part of the battle against terrorism, and not a distraction from that effort. Jay Carson, Dean's chief spokesman, dismissed the AP poll, saying that “the governor has never based his foreign policies and decisions on polls. He believes, as do many, many others, that the United States is not safer today than we were before Saddam Hussein was captured."

Dean’s clothing can’t change

The Washington Times, Inside Politics suggest that Howard Dean’s earlier centrist policies will not be able to come forward if he becomes the Democratic Party’s nominee. The reasons include the fact that Dean has gone too far left to come back, and that he is the most secularist candidate to run in a long time:

"Dean himself is frank on this point, perhaps too frank. '[I] don't go to church very often,' the Episcopalian-turned-Congregationalist remarked in a debate last month. 'My religion doesn't inform my public policy.' When Dean talks about organized religion, it is often in a negative context. 'I don't want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore,' he shouted at the California Democratic Convention in March."

Dean’s cyberspace tactics

The Boston Globe covers whether the Internet connections of the Dean campaign will transfer into votes. The interesting fact the Globe offers is how the connection translates into necessary votes where it geographically counts:

More than a quarter of those who have used the Internet to pledge to vote are concentrated in just three states -- California, New York, and Washington -- according to a running tally posted on a linked page.

In the earliest voting states, few Dean supporters have used the Internet to pledge a vote. As of late last week, only 692 from New Hampshire and 589 in Iowa had pledged online. That's a tiny fraction of Dean voters already identified by the campaign using old-fashioned methods.

In the potentially crucial Feb. 3 contests, the number of online vote pledges is modest at best: New Mexico, 1,308; Arizona, 903; Missouri, 651; Oklahoma, 400; South Carolina, 359; North Dakota, 224; Delaware, 93.

In an operation titled the “Perfect Storm” the Dean campaign is seeking volunteers over their website to come to Iowa and New Hampshire to use old fashioned phone calls and shoe leather to implement the three necessities of a campaign: identify, persuade and turnout favorable voters. The Dean campaign claims 3,500 people have pledged to come to Iowa during the final weeks -- at their own expense.

Gephardt: Dean inconsistent

Rep. Dick Gephardt continued his theme ‘Howard Dean can’t win’ as he campaigned in Iowa on Sunday. The Des Moines Register reports Gephardt made the charges in Ogden, Iowa:

"He's been inconsistent, contradictory," Gephardt said of Dean during a Sunday morning stop in Ogden. "He criticized me for voting for the war resolution, yet he was for the very same resolution and said so at the time. He's criticized me for voting for the $87 billion. He said at the time we had no choice but to fund the troops."

Dean’s spokeswoman Sarah Leonard rejected Gephardt’s assertion in the article:

"Iowans know better than anyone that Governor Dean's opposition to the war has been steadfast from the beginning," she said. "Dick Gephardt is just trying to deflect attention from his role coauthoring the war resolution and standing in the Rose Garden (at the White House) with President Bush."

Gephardt also hit the theme he has been the only candidate for fair trade when it counted. He emphasized he was the only one who fought and voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the trade agreement with China, which he opposed because of a lack of proper labor and environmental standards.

Gephardt alternative?

The Wall Street Journal considers Gephardt as a potential alternative to Dean. "His campaign has all the textbook elements: policy ideas, a well-crafted stump speech, a loyal staff, a candidate who always has the stamina for one more event... White House strategists believe that by blending all-American wholesomeness with a full-throated appeal to economic discontent, Mr. Gephardt may have the best chance against Mr. Bush in the Midwest battlegrounds where the 2004 election may be decided… The question is whether Democrats want to make the head-over-heart choice that Mr. Gephardt represents."

Kucinich profile

The New York Times has a profile of Democrat presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich remains more than a lightweight in this political race. While Carol Mosley Braun wants respect and Al Sharpton wants a stronger voice for Blacks, Kucinich is becoming a liberal iconoclast. The reason could well be his strength of belief in liberalism’s core principles:

Despite whatever dark ideas, at long last, might be taking shape in Kucinich's mind about his odds, he has lost none of his optimistic flourishes. ''The whole world is waiting for an American president who will heal the wounds that have occurred,'' he says. ''We're on the threshold of a new era, where fear ends and hope begins!''

The Times reports the candidate is energized by his visits to California and being around other liberals. He also inspires the liberals in his speeches:

Optimism is central to the candidate's platform. His mantra regarding the war is ''U.N. in, U.S. out!'' He says he believes strongly that ''by eliminating Halliburton sweetheart deals'' and offering the U.N. sway over contracts, the international body is ready and able to slug its way back into the Sunni triangle. On the domestic side, he rails against corporate corruption at the slightest opportunity and favors single-payer health care, free and universal pre-kindergarten, free and universal college tuition at state schools. His pet project is the creation of a Department of Peace, which would redirect 1 percent of the Pentagon budget to somehow foster principles of nonviolence from the domestic level all the way into foreign policy. In one typical speech last month, he said, ''I am running for president of the United States to enable the goddess of peace to encircle within her arms all the children of this country and all the children of the world.''

The Times goes into the question of the image of Kucinich and what is his appeal:

[Douglas] Brinkley's take on Dennis Kucinich is not optimistic. ''He's a product of a 1960's version of masculinity,'' he says, ''when heroic males were people like John Lennon and Bob Dylan. It was a kind of gender-blend -- and a countercultural one. But the counterculture doesn't elect presidents; the culture still does.''

Does Kucinich see himself as on the fringe?

''The point is, I have a genuine, mainstream message,'' he adds, by all evidence believing this. ''There's no question that if I get coverage, I'll rise in the polls. And interestingly, the lack of media coverage has started to become such an issue that the media is covering it!''

"I was born in a small town"

John Edwards, parodying Howard Dean, made trek to Howard County – the same county where Dean used the literation of ‘Howard’ to make the point of connection with Iowa voters. Dean was the first candidate in this election cycle to visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Edwards then went to Robins in Linn County because it shares a similarity with his hometown of Robbins, South Carolina, to mark his feat of visiting all 99 Iowa counties. An estimated 300 individuals showed up for the festivities, which was herald by the lyrics, "I was born in a small town" by John Mellencamp, pouring into the crowd of listeners. The Des Moines Register reported Edwards commenting:

"I know these small towns," Edwards said. "I grew up in a small town. I've been in small towns all over the state of Iowa. As your president, I will restore the strength and vitality of small-town America. You have my word on that."

Who is following Clark?

The Washington Post reports on Wesley Clark’s campaign being in search of a following. Clark’s missteps of late are only chronicled from past perspectives. And it seems we are giving Clark a pass until Feb. 3rd round of primaries. He will have to perform then or be gone:

On that day, with more conservative electorates in states such as South Carolina, Arizona and Oklahoma, Clark hopes to score his first victories and then consolidate the anti-Dean vote in hope of winning the nomination.

But other Democrats have similar scenarios in mind, and Clark must demonstrate the candidate skills and the political ingenuity to turn that strategy into reality. So far the jury is still out. At times, he demonstrates clear talents as a candidate; at other times, he is unfocused in his public appearances. He often excels in the question-and-answer sessions that are a staple of New Hampshire politics, but can turn testy when pressed, particularly by reporters, to fill in the details of his policy proposals.

To that end Clark was in the very important state of S. Carolina campaigning with Andrew Young, according to the NY Times:

"I asked a whole lot of my friends who were generals and colonels and majors, who served over General Clark and under General Clark," Mr. Young told the congregation of more than 1,000 at Bible Way Church, "and every last one of them said to me that this is a good man, and if he were leading our nation they would be proud."

Darrell Jackson, the church's pastor, joined in. "Thanks be to God for somebody who can lead this country in the right direction," he said to shouts of "Amen!" and applause.

More praise of Clark’s chances are reported by the LA Times, where the potential of Clark followers derives from Clark being an outsider to Washington:

"The more time passes, the more I am convinced this is the year of the outsider," said Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist who served as Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000. "The only possible candidate who can come in with the Dean sort of momentum is Gen. Clark."

* ON THE BUSH BEAT:

Economy ok

The Associated Press reports a poll indicates 55 percent of registered voters said they approve of Bush's handling of the economy and 43 percent disapproved. That is Bush's best number on this measure since the third quarter of 2002, though he briefly came close to this level — at 52 percent — last July. A month ago, 46 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved of Bush on the economy.

* THE CLINTON COMEDIES:

Clinton’s Iraq-al Qaeda connection

The Weekly Standard explores how the Clinton administration clearly felt Iraq was connected to Al Qaeda but now offers a different perspective. The issue is the chemical factory Bill Clinton ordered blown up in Sudan. Sudan was the country Bin Laden was in until he went to Afghanistan:

If the case appeared "clear cut" to top Clinton administration officials, it was not as open-and-shut to the news media. Press reports brimmed with speculation about bad intelligence or even the misuse of intelligence. In an October 27, 1999, article, New York Times reporter James Risen went back and reexamined the intelligence. He wrote: "At the pivotal meeting reviewing the targets, the Director of Central Intelligence, George J. Tenet, was said to have cautioned Mr. Clinton's top advisers that while he believed that the evidence connecting Mr. Bin Laden to the factory was strong, it was less than ironclad." Risen also reported that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had shut down an investigation into the targeting after questions were raised by the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (the same intelligence team that raised questions about prewar intelligence relating to the war in Iraq).

* NATIONAL:

Canadian Drugs

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Kergin objected to a number of the U.S. Speaker Dennis Hastert’s assertions on drug pricing. Hastert made the assertion that Canada threatened American drug companies with the possibility of stealing their patents if they did not do business with Canada. The Hill reports that the Ambassador sent a letter to Hastert and Bush administration officials:

“Drug companies that do not want to sell their pharmaceuticals in Canada are certainly free not to,” Kergin wrote. “Overwhelmingly, though, they choose to operate – profitably – in Canada.”

 

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