The Iowa Daily Report, Friday, December 26, 2003

* QUOTABLE:

"I intend to vote for President George W. Bush in the next election, because in my view, he is best able to wage the war against international terrorism," former Mayor Ed Koch said in a commentary for Bloomberg radio.

"Christ was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind," Howard  Dean said. "He fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything . . . He was a person who set an extraordinary example that has lasted 2000 years, which is pretty inspiring when you think about it."

“But worse than a man of no faith is a man who merely pretends to be something he is not. Worst of all, the man who condescends to invoke the name of Christ. Such a foolish man will reap only scorn, and no pity.” - Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times.

"If the Dean people are playing chess instead of checkers and are moving down the board and trying to figure out how to win a general election as well as how to win a nomination, they had best explain Dean to the people in terms of religiosity," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow in governmental studies at the Brookings Institution.

"In the last month before the caucuses, we are giving supporters from every corner of the country a chance to talk to Iowans about their commitment and their reasons for supporting Governor Dean," said Jeani Murray, Dean's Iowa campaign manager. "They are traveling here because they believe very deeply in Governor Dean and his campaign to take this country back from the large corporate special interests."

Some are suddenly seeing a beauty in Dean that they hadn't seen before," Hess said. "Others are still concerned that he will be easy pickings for George W. Bush."

"Make it a referendum on Dean — is he ready for prime time?" said Mike Murphy, a Republican consultant who worked for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign in 2000.

“I am in favor of wind power, and I think we ought to find a place that is appropriate off the coast of New England to build some wind power. The question is, what is the site process going to be? You can’t just allow anybody to go build one anywhere they want without some kind of process,” Howard Dean said.

“Wind power is not going to be the solution to the power (needs) of the United States. It is one form of power and one form of contribution,” John Kerry said. “We can produce clean energy in this country and we need to do it more.”

"Comparatively wealthy consumers purchase about the same appliances they would have purchased in the absence of energy efficiency standards. When poor people must forgo the basic necessities to make long-term investments in energy cost savings, we should be cautious about proclaiming irrational behavior and imposing regulatory costs on that segment of society," said Ronald Sutherland, adjunct professor of law at George Mason University and senior scholar at the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets.

"We've found over the years that one sure-fire economic indicator is the rhetoric of a president's opponents," the Wall Street Journal says. "When they stop insisting that, say, tax cuts will never work and start complaining that the recovery is a false prosperity that will never last, you know that the good times have arrived," the newspaper said in an editorial.

* TODAY’S OFFERINGS:

Howard Dean: *Jesus in the South
*Is Dean McGovern? *Getting that old feeling

John Kerry: *Kerry’s ads

Joe Lieberman: *Lieberman offers hope

Dennis Kucinich: *Kucinich releases peace
*Kucinich qualifies *Delaware blues

Just Politics: *Poll watching
*What McCain - Fiengold wrought

* CANDIDATES & CAUCUSES:

Jesus in the South

The Boston Globe reports Howard Dean told them he is going to reference his faith in Jesus Christ when he begins campaigning in the South. Dean, and other Democrats, have been criticized by Sen. Joe Lieberman for the Democrat Party’s failure to appeal to Christians. The division between Christians who support Republicans versus Democrats is at an all time historic level. Dean is a Congregationalist but does not often attend church. His wife and children are Jewish.

ABC/Washington Post poll released this week showed that 46 percent of Southerners said a president should rely on his religious beliefs in making policy decisions, compared with 40 percent nationwide and 28 percent in the East. Dean, or any other Democrat who can bring some of the Southern states into their win column in the general election, will find their chances of victory greatly improved. However, Dean’s responses to the Globe interview might not make the grade down South:

He is a steadfast believer in separation of church and state, he said, and opposes the placement of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, is uncomfortable with a prayer invocation before a congressional session, though he would leave the matter to Congress, and is not bothered by the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

On the issue of a moment of silence in schools, Dean said, "Whatever the courts say is OK with me." The US Supreme Court has struck down state-required moments of silence in schools.

Of the president's faith-based initiative for social services, Dean said, it is "overdone." "It's not a bad thing to have churches involved in delivering social services, but I think the president has used it to reward certain churches and make it less likely for others churches to prosper," he said.

Asked whether a presidential candidate could win without talking about religious faith, Dean said, "Dick Nixon and Ronald Reagan never said much about religion. I think it's important, and you have to respect other people's religious beliefs and honor them, but you don't have to pander to them."

He added, "That's why I don't get offended when George Bush or Joe Lieberman talk about their religion . . . I have a feeling it has something to do with them as a human being, and they are entitled to talk about what makes them human."

Is Dean McGovern?

The Boston Globe covers the question of whether Howard Dean is like George McGovern -- who was massacred by Richard Nixon in the 1972 Presidential Campaign. Maybe the best admonition that Dean is not McGovern comes from a former McGovernite worker, interviewed for the Globe article: "I think Dean is much savvier," Fran Peters said. "I can't see him letting himself be savaged. He responds."

McGovern’s former campaign manager, Gary Hart also does not believe that Dean is like McGovern. He sees Dean as more of an enigma:

"It's a kind of political journalism shorthand to say that Dean is the George McGovern of this year," said Hart, who has run twice for the Democratic nomination and has endorsed Dean rival John F. Kerry. "It paints a portrait of McGovern which is not true. He was a regular Democrat who got elected twice from a conservative Midwestern state, and you can't do that if you're a far lefty. On social issues, Dean has been all over the lot. You can put three or four of his positions together and paint him as a liberal, but that doesn't make him a liberal."

The Dean campaign doesn’t view their man as anything like McGovern.  Spokesman Jay Carson sees mostly differences between Dean and McGovern:

"George McGovern is a good man, but this is a very different time, a different campaign, and governor Dean is a very different candidate," said Carson. "Despite all of the attempts of the press and his opponents to pigeonhole him and paint him as someone or something else, Howard Dean is always going to be Howard Dean."

Getting that old feeling

The Des Moines Register reports on how some are feeling like they are being used unfairly by Democrat candidates for President. That seems to be the case for Rev. Arthur Hilson of New Hope Baptist Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He offered an appeal to candidates from his pulpit Sunday: "Don't come here because you want to use me or our people."

He was most critical of the Dean campaign, who wanted Rev. Hilson at the front door of the Church for a photo opportunity. The photo made the cover of Newsweek about how candidates were seeking votes in S. Carolina.

The swirl of these campaigns can be a bit much.

Kerry’s ads

Sen. John Kerry, who loaned his campaign over $6 million, is spending his dollars on new ads. Kerry’s spending over $300,000 in Iowa on a healthcare ad and a modest boost in New Hampshire with a $150,000 ad where former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen asks voters to support Kerry.

The Iowa ad features health insurance and uses the story of the Knowles family to illustrate what Kerry says is wrong with America's health care system. Kerry describes how John Knowles lost his job and how his wife, Mary Ann Knowles had to continue working to keep the family's health insurance while undergoing chemotherapy to treat breast cancer.

Lieberman offers hope

Sen. Joe Lieberman spent Christmas at a homeless shelter in Washington, D. C. “They’re just like us, but they haven't had a break," said the Connecticut senator, joined by his wife, Hadassah. “When you're in that line putting casserole on the plate, you really know you're doing something good." The Associated Press reports that Lieberman offered encouragement to the group before beings served the meal - telling them to "stay healthy, hopeful and have faith that things will get better." The Manchester Union AP versions reports further on Lieberman’s sermon to the press following his offer of hope to the homeless:

"The American people cannot, and I'm confident, will not allow these warnings to diminish our joy and faith at this extraordinary time of year. It's not just the terrorists and the extremists, though, challenging the ideal of tolerance in a very different way, much less harmful, but serious nonetheless. The government of France has announced its intention to ban Muslim veils, Christian crosses and Jewish skull caps in public schools.

"That's wrong. It seems to be in these difficult times in world history, it is more important for us as individuals to reaffirm our faith in our own lives, and also for us as Americans to reaffirm our birthright of religious freedom, to embrace the diversity of religion as a unique strength of Americans to celebrate the pluralism that characterizes this season, and to honor the constructive role that faith in all its forms plays in our families, in our communities and in our country."

Kucinich releases peace

Dennis Kucinich offered a Christmas hope for peace and offered a plan for its achievement. Kucinich announced that he will be releasing a multi-part World Peace Initiative. The first piece, being released today, addresses the elimination of nuclear weapons through a 12-point program. Today Kucinich released this statement:

"The holiday season is a time of common aspiration for peace on Earth, but this holiday season the Bush Administration is taking us in the opposite direction, undermining international efforts to stop the spread of nuclear arms. Our government is now developing new nuclear weapons. The Administration is putting the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in jeopardy, thereby increasing the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons.

"According to an article published yesterday in the Los Angeles Times, diplomats and non-proliferation experts are saying that the Bush Administration's efforts to develop new nuclear weapons while simultaneously condemning such development by other countries creates a double standard which will undermine efforts to curb nuclear arms.

"In this season of peace, the Administration is conjuring nuclear war. This is why I feel it's imperative to announce the first part of a World Peace Initiative, one dealing with the threat of nuclear weapons to world peace."

World Peace Initiative

Part 1: Nuclear Weapons

As President, Dennis Kucinich will work to achieve the following steps to promote world peace:

1. Leading the way toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the earth. Kucinich's goal as president will be a steady movement toward complete nuclear disarmament.

2. Renouncing first-strike policy. Kucinich will set aside the Bush Administration's Nuclear Posture Review, which is a strategy for nuclear proliferation. He will assure the world community that the United States will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.

3. Cancellation of all U.S. nuclear weapons programs. Kucinich will work to put an end to the development of any new nuclear weapons, to the manufacture of any nuclear weapons, and to any plans to test nuclear weapons.

4. Stopping the use of all depleted uranium munitions. Kucinich will order an end to the United States' use of depleted uranium munitions. He will lead an international effort to recover depleted uranium. He will promote environmental remediation. He will develop a program to provide care and restitution for people suffering as a result of the United States' use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons production, nuclear testing, and uranium mining.

5. Banning all nuclear weapons testing by the United States. Kucinich will enact a new policy banning nuclear testing and will work to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

6. Opening talks with all nuclear powers. Kucinich will begin new talks with Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Israel, and Pakistan to develop a plan aimed at the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The first step will be to suspend all "readiness" levels of nuclear weapons systems, including those of the United States.

7. Encouraging participation in the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Kucinich will encourage all nations to actively participate in the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, and will meet personally with the leaders of India, Israel, and Pakistan to request that they sign as non-nuclear weapons states. He will also meet personally with Kim Jong Il to encourage North Korea to re-join the community of nations through reaffirming its participation as a non-nuclear weapons state.

8. Discouraging nations from acquiring nuclear weapons. Kucinich will work with the nations of North Korea, Iran, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, and others to discourage the acquisition of nuclear weapons capability.

9. Reinstating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and Canceling the Ballistic Missile Defense. Kucinich will work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reinstate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The treaty prevents both the United States and Russia from developing nationwide ABM defense systems and limits employment of new ABM technologies. Consequently, the ballistic missile defense program will be cancelled.

10. Meeting all requirements of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Kucinich will work to ensure that the United States leads the world again in fulfilling all requirements of the treaty. This means the United States must negotiate the complete elimination of its nuclear arsenal.

11. Committing to greatly expanding inspections. Kucinich will work with the 188 signatories of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency to greatly expand the use of inspections in all nations.

12. Leading an international effort to bring terrorists to justice. Kucinich will cause the United States to participate in a cooperative world effort to track down terrorists who are seeking to acquire nuclear weapons capability.

Kucinich qualifies

The Federal Election Commission said in a statement that Kucinich contributions from the following states were verified for threshold purposes of making Rep. Dennis Kucinich eligible for federal matching funds: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Delaware blues

Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun failed to collect enough signatures to meet the filing deadline for Delaware's Feb. 3 primary but could appear on the ballot if they show they qualify for federal campaign funds.

Kucinich’s campaign plans to give state election officials a letter stating that he qualifies for federal matching funds, which would automatically place him on the Delaware ballot. The matching funds deadline is Jan. 7. The last word from Braun’s campaign was that they were having trouble filling out the reports.

Poll watching

The polls by the American Research Group of Manchester, N.H., found Dean at 26 percent and Clark at 15 percent in Arizona with all others in single digits. In Oklahoma, Dean was at 24 percent, Clark at 21 percent and others in single digits. More than a third of voters were undecided in each of the two states. Joe Lieberman, who is placing a lot of emphasis on the Feb. 3 contests, was at 9 percent in both state polls.

In Arizona, Dick Gephardt had the backing of7 percent, John Kerry had the backing of 6 percent, John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich had 1 percent each, and Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton had the support of less than 1 percent.

In Oklahoma, Gephardt had the backing of 4 percent, Edwards had the backing of 3 percent, Kerry of 2 percent, and Braun, Kucinich and Sharpton had 1 percent each.

What McCain - Fiengold wrought

The LA Times reports on Harold Ickes and his new 527 committee raising hundreds of millions for the defeat of Bush. He is out raising money with Ellen Malcolm, president of Emily's List:

Ickes and Malcolm are talking to wealthy donors — now prohibited from giving soft money to political parties — about contributing to the Media Fund as well as to Americans Coming Together, another Soros-backed advocacy group headed by Malcolm and aimed at improving voter turnout in November. Ickes calls it "a seamless campaign," an outreach to urge individuals, unions and corporations that used to give their millions to the Democratic National Committee to send their largess instead to the so-called 527 committees (named for the Internal Revenue Code section that sanctions them) that are the new power brokers.

"I've been heartened by the number of people who think George Bush should find other employment," Ickes said in an interview in his Washington office on a recent Saturday, just back from fundraising trips to Los Angeles, New York, Denver and Silicon Valley. "We expect well over $100 million. We're shooting for $190 million. It's a very big goal."

* ON THE BUSH BEAT:

Bush strategy

The NY Times reports on the Bush campaign:

Some are suddenly seeing a beauty in Dean that they hadn't seen before," Hess said. "Others are still concerned that he will be easy pickings for George W. Bush."

As the second part of a two-part strategy, Mr. Bush's aides said, the president will set out upbeat themes and policy ideas, starting with the State of the Union address on Jan. 20. That would be part of a drive to buttress what polls show is a growing feeling among voters that the country is on the right track. The goal, Mr. Bush's advisers said, is to make the election more about the nation's success in confronting great challenges than about Mr. Bush personally.

* NATIONAL:

A matter of faith

The Washington Times reports on our servicemen in Iraq’s new apparel:

Thousands of U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing "unofficial issue" dog tags bearing a scriptural passage on one side — "I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified, or discouraged, for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go" — and the words "One Nation under God" on the other.

Four weeks ago, the Federalist, touted as the conservative journal of record, launched a national campaign to find sponsors for the "Shield of Strength" tags, which cost $1.10 apiece. Since then, more than 40,000 sponsors have responded and the tags were promptly shipped to the various U.S. military fronts.

 

homepage