IPW Daily Report – Sunday, February 8, 2004
"I'm working hard to unite
the country. As a matter of fact, it's the
hardest part of being a president. I was
successful as the Governor of Texas for bringing
people together for the common good, and I must
tell you it's tough here in Washington, and
frankly it's the biggest disappointment that I've
had so far since coming to Washington. I'm not
blaming anybody. It's just the environment here
is such that it's difficult to find common
ground." --
President Bush on MSNBC's Meet the Press with Tim
Russert.
"What you're doing, many of you, training Iraqis to become almost as
good a bunch of soldiers as you are, is ... of enormous importance
because this part of the world doesn't have much chance unless their
armed force can learn a lot from your experience ... not only in the
military but in the hearts and minds,"
-- Prince Charles, visiting British troops in Iraq [according to the
British news agency,
Press Association.]
"I don't think Democrats are ready to choose just yet," Dean said on
"Face the Nation" on CBS. "With 15 percent of the delegates selected,
that is not exactly a mandate."
Clark
told CNN's "Late Edition" that he expected to do well in contests in
Tennessee and Virginia on Tuesday, and in Wisconsin on Feb. 17. But
even if he didn't win in any of those states, Clark pledged to remain
in the race at least through the March 2 "Super Tuesday" primaries,
including in California, Ohio and New York.
In separate interviews on "Fox News Sunday" and ABC's
"This Week," Edwards noted that some 75 percent of delegates to the
Democratic National Convention will be up for grabs after the
Wisconsin primary.
"I had no conflict of interest because I wasn't interested in money…
If I was doing it to get rich, I would have done a better job than
this. I didn't have control of the checkbook."
– Joe Trippi, defending his firm’s
$7.2 million take of Dean campaign dollars.
"George Bush's days are numbered — and change is coming to America."
said John Kerry.
"I think John Kerry will do the job,"
said Robert Poli, 81, a retired
Boeing worker in Washington. "I think he can beat the hell out
of Bush."
"I have asked people to send in checks," Torricelli said in a phone
interview. "I have raised some money for John…”
– former senator Robert Torricelli,
ruined in 2002 by his own fundraising actions.
"I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet,"
Bush said in an Oval Office
interview to be broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
“Coming from one of the party's major players, McEntee's decision
underscores how far Dean's campaign has fallen — from the undisputed
leader six weeks ago to the brink of political obscurity.”
– AP story regarding AFSCME’s
dropping support of Howard Dean.
"There were those in the White House who said, 'Hey, look, you gotta
finish the bombing before the Fourth of July weekend. That's the start
of the next presidential campaign season, so stop it. It doesn't
matter what you do, just turn it off. You don't have to win this
thing, let it lie.'" Wesley Clark
told NATO's official historian.
Clark, campaigning in Virginia ahead
of that state's Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, said
President Clinton and his national security adviser, Sandy Berger,
"were totally committed to this operation. I never had any political
pressure to do anything but succeed."
“We know that Saddam Hussein had the intent to arm his regime with
weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein
had something else — he had a record of using weapons of mass
destruction against his enemies and against his own people,"
said Dick Cheney.
*Kerry wins Michigan & Washington
*Kerry gets VA Guv endorsement
*Kerry won’t do a “Dukakis”
*Kerry using Torricelli to raise $$$
*Trippi firm’s take is
$7.2M
*AFSCME drops Dean
*Clark denies Kosovo pressure
*Newsweek poll
*Bush says Tenet’s CIA job secure
*Cheney defends War
Kerry wins Michigan & Washington
John Kerry rode to easy victories in Michigan and
Washington yesterday, according to an
AP story . Fresh faced with victory, and
celebrated by attacking President Bush:
"This week George Bush and the Republican smear
machine have begun trotting out the same old tired
lines of attack that they've used before to divide
this nation and to evade the real issues before
us," the Massachusetts senator told a Democratic
Party dinner in Richmond, Va.
"They're the ones who are extreme. We're the ones
who are mainstream."
He added, "George Bush's days are numbered — and
change is coming to America."
Aides said the speech was designed to reassure the
party faithful he would fight far harder against
GOP attacks than Michael Dukakis, the former
Massachusetts governor who led the party to defeat
in 1988.
Interestingly, Howard Dean gave his best
performance so far by coming in second place in
Washington. He gained 30 percent there. He also
came in a very distant second in the Michigan
contest. The once hot Howard has yet to score any
win.
Here are the AP’s numbers from Saturday’s
contests:
Returns from 97 percent of Washington's precincts
showed Kerry with 49 percent and Dean with 30
percent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio had 8
percent; Edwards had 7 percent and Clark had 3
percent.
With final returns from Michigan, Kerry had 52
percent, Dean 17 percent, Edwards 14 percent,
Sharpton and Clark at 7 percent, and Kucinich at 3
percent.
Sharpton finished a close second to Kerry in
caucuses in and around Detroit, qualifying for at
least seven convention delegates.
Delegate counts now show John Kerry with two times
as many delegates as his closest rival:
Kerry's victories left him with more than twice as
many delegates as his closest pursuer. His overall
total swelled to 412, with Dean at 174, Edwards at
116, Clark at 82 and Sharpton at 12. It takes
2,162 to win the nomination.
Next in line in the delegate battle is Maine,
holding caucuses today (Sunday). Maine has a total
of 24 delegates to be won. Tuesday is primary day
in Virginia and Tennessee – where both Wesley
Clark and John Edwards have campaigned hard and
hope to win big as “true Southerners.” Howard Dean
is still holding out hopes for a win, aiming at
the following Tuesday primary in Wisconsin (Feb.
17th). But overclouding all rivals, John Kerry’s
support continues to mushroom – he shows leads in
Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Thus far, Kerry
has won nine of the 11 primaries/caucuses.
Kerry gets VA Guv endorsement
Virginia Governor Mark Warner is slated to
announce his official support of John Kerry’s
candidacy for president today. Warner presided
over a party dinner Saturday night attended by
several of the candidates.
Kerry won’t do a “Dukakis”
Front-runner John Kerry sought to position himself
as a fighter, claiming he’ll fight the GOP and not
give a weak showing as Michael Dukakis did back in
his 1988 ill-fated matchup against George H.W.
Bush. According to an
AP story , Kerry is determined not to repeat
Dukakis’s mistakes:
"This week, George Bush and the Republican smear
machine have trotted out the same old tired lines
of attack that they've used before to divide this
nation and to evade the real issues before us.
Well, I have news for George Bush, Karl Rove, Ed
Gillespie and the rest of their gang: I have
fought for my country my whole life. I'm not going
to back down now," Kerry, a decorated Vietnam
veteran, said in remarks prepared for delivery
Saturday night to Virginia Democrats in Richmond.
"This is one Democrat who's going to fight back,
and I've only just begun to fight," he said.
"George Bush, who speaks of strength, has made
America weaker — weaker economically, weaker in
health care and education. And the truth is George
Bush has made us weaker militarily by
overextending our forces, overstraining our
reserves, and driving away our allies."
Kerry is still trying to deflect criticism of his
stance that a Democrat doesn’t have to win a
Southern state in order to win the election. He’s
taking lots of heat on that one… the numbers may
back him up, but offending the South is just not
smart campaigning. It seems Kerry’s efforts to
contain fall out from this are centered on
deflecting attention onto the GOP’s attacks – real
or imaginary. Kerry’s kleptomania-prone campaign
(he’s taken the best from his rivals and used it
for himself), takes from Dubya as well, droning
“Bring it on” in every campaign stump speech:
"We all saw George Bush play dress-up on an
aircraft carrier. Well, I know something about
aircraft carriers for real. And if George W. Bush
wants to make national security the central issue
in this campaign, I have three words for him I
know he understands: Bring it on."
Right now, it plays well. The folks gathered seem
to relish the oft-used phrase. And as President
Bush’s poll numbers show further drops, Kerry
continues to grow in popularity.
Kerry & Torricelli
A former senator, ruined in 2002 by his own
fundraising actions, has raised money for John
Kerry’s presidential campaign according to an
AP story. Robert Torricelli was formally
rebuked after a Senate investigation of his
fundraising. He is no longer a senator. But
apparently, he’s raising money for Kerry:
"I have asked people to send in checks,"
Torricelli said in a phone interview. "I have
raised some money for John. I have known him for
many years and probably have contributed to most
members of the Democratic caucus."
Torricelli denies any official role in Kerry’s
campaign and claims not to know how much money he
has raised for him. Is Kerry aware of Torricelli’s
endeavors on his behalf. You bet he is:
"John did a briefing last night with 150 people,
made a brief appearance and thanked me for the
help," he [Torricelli] said. Torricelli said he
did not know how much money in all he raised for
Kerry because checks were still flowing in.
Seems conflicting? Kerry’s ongoing claim to have
fought valiantly against the dirge of special
interest money in his political career would
certainly put this in a less than flattering light
– something not lost on Kerry’s New Jersey
co-chair Rep. Bill Pascrell, who clearly tried to
put some distance on the issue:
"What Bob Torricelli does is his business, but he
has nothing to do officially with this campaign,"
Pascrell said.
Trippi firm’s take is $7.2 million
An article in the
Baltimore Sun reports former Dean campaign
manager Joe Trippi’s consulting firm got $7.2
million from Dean for advertising:
The campaign paid $7.2 million to Trippi, McMahon
and Squier, the Virginia-based consulting and
media firm - 23 percent of the $31 million it
spent through Dec. 31, according to
PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks political
spending.
According to Trippi, he did not take any salary
for his job as campaign manager, but did take “a
percentage” – or commission – on the advertising
for Dean. Trippi maintains he did not know how
much that commission was:
"I didn't want to know. I didn't do this for the
money," Trippi said. "I was interested in beating
[President] Bush. I was interested in building a
campaign that could get Howard Dean in position.
I'm proud of what I did. Anyone who knows me knows
my personal money was never, ever on my mind, and
it was nothing that motivated me."
But with $41 million dollars of fundraising
already spent on a campaign that basically went
bust politically and financially, Trippi’s nearly
one-quarter take on the $41 million doesn’t look
pretty. Dodging potential bullets, Dean campaign
spokeswoman Sarah Leonard defended Trippi, stating
his advertising firm actually lowered its
commission. She further countered, “TMS didn't
make tons of money off the Dean campaign," she
said.
How does Leonard draw this conclusion? $7.2
million is a ton of money by most folks’
standards. But Leonard argues the $7.2 million
paid to the Trippi firm yielded little profit:
The campaign paid the company about $250,000 for
media production costs and another $6.7 million
for media time, space and expenses. Trippi,
McMahon and Squier also received $312,000 for
political consulting.
Like Trippi, firm partner Steve McMahon also
refused to state what the exact percentage of
commission was. Leonard said the money the Dean
campaign spent on advertising last year was "not a
high percentage compared to most political
campaigns."
Enter the ‘political spending expert’ – professor
Anthony Corrado from Colby College – who says the
point is the amount spent on advertising:
But Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at
Colby College who is an expert in campaign
spending, said the television spending was
"extraordinary" because it was so much and so
early.
"It's certainly out of scale in what you see in
other presidential campaigns in other election
cycles," he said.
Corrado also said that Trippi's dual roles - as
campaign manager and as a principal in the media
company - "at least raises questions about
conflicts."
Trippi’s response:
"I had no conflict of interest because I wasn't
interested in money," he said. "If I was doing it
to get rich, I would have done a better job than
this. I didn't have control of the checkbook."
[IPW NOTE; If people think this is bad, wait
until we find out the facts about the Clark
campaign and what the former Clinton aides are
charging that campaign]
AFSCME drops Dean
It’s not easy being presidential candidate Howard
Dean – all that money (gone), no wins, vanishing
press… And it just got worse: the 1.5 million
member service union AFSCME took back their
support of Dean this weekend.
Ouch.
According to an
AP story, union head Gerald McEntee gave the
bad news to Dean during a meeting in Burlington,
Vermont. There was some good news, though. Two
other unions (Service Employees International and
the International Union of Paintera & Allied
Trades) are apparently still behind Dean – at
least for now. Here are excerpts from the AP
story:
Coming from one of the party's major players,
McEntee's decision underscores how far Dean's
campaign has fallen — from the undisputed leader
six weeks ago to the brink of political obscurity.
McEntee is one of Dean's earliest backers from the
ranks of the Democratic elite. McEntee's early
endorsement of Bill Clinton helped propel the
then-Arkansas governor to the presidency.
Clark denies Kosovo pressure
Wesley Clark, clashing with his own record of
recollections, denied he was put under pressure by
the Clinton administration to end the war in
Kosovo to avoid damaging Al Gore’s newly emerging
presidential campaign.:
Clark, campaigning in Virginia ahead of that
state's Democratic presidential primary on
Tuesday, said President Clinton and his national
security adviser, Sandy Berger, "were totally
committed to this operation. I never had any
political pressure to do anything but succeed."
Clark’s official papers of his 34-month stint were
requested by the Washington Post and widely
reported to show Clark frequently at odds with the
Clinton White House and the Pentagon. Such
revelations this week brought this response from
Clark:
Clark did not say he was
misquoted.
Rather, he called the report "a
stream-of-conscious dictation" with a historian.
"I had to assemble all of my memory and
think about what had actually happened. It was
such a complex period of time," Clark said.
He said he was never given any deadline to end the
war and there was no desire by the White House to
end bombing in Kosovo.
However, Clark’s told NATO's official historian,
"There were those in the White House who said,
'Hey, look, you gotta finish the bombing before
the Fourth of July weekend. That's the start of
the next presidential campaign season, so stop it.
It doesn't matter what you do, just turn it off.
You don't have to win this thing, let it lie.'"
Newsweek poll
According to
DRUDGE, a Newsweek poll conducted Feb.
5-6 shows President Bush’s approval rating at 48
percent – the lowest since February 2001.
Regarding Bush’s reelection, 50 percent polled
said they do not favor a second term for the
incumbent president, 45 percent said they do. John
Kerry, the clear leader in the race for the
Democratic presidential nomination, showed
strength over Bush with a polled 50 to 45 percent
‘win.’ Other Democratic contenders would not fare
well in a Bush match up: John Edwards loses 49 to
44, Howard Dean 50 to 44 and Wesley Clark 51 to
43.
Interesting numbers showed up regarding the role
of First Lady:
…almost a
third (31%) of Americans say former First Lady
Hillary Clinton comes closest to their image of
what a first lady should be; in a three-way tie
for second place are First Lady Laura Bush and
former First Ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan,
with 20 percent each. Almost two thirds (62%) say
a first lady should be involved in politics, while
32 percent disagree; 75 percent of Democrats feel
this way (21% disagree); and 50 percent of
Republicans feel this way (44% disagree).
When deciding
which presidential candidate to support, 67
percent say it is either very important (25%) or
somewhat important (42%) for them to learn
about the candidate's spouse. Seventy-two percent
say the relationship between a candidate and his
spouse tells voters either a lot (40%) or
something (32%) about how good a president he
would be; 13 percent say it tells you not much and
12 percent say it tells you nothing.
This poll is part of the February 16 issue of
Newsweek (on Newsstands Monday, February 9).
Bush says Tenet’s CIA job secure
According to
AP story, President Bush met with Tim Russert
of Meet the Press on Saturday and stated CIA
Director George Tenet is not in danger of losing
his position:
"I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George
Tenet," Bush said in an Oval Office interview to
be broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Asked whether Tenet's job was in jeopardy, Bush
answered: "No, not at all, not at all,"
Tenet voiced criticisms earlier this week
regarding intelligence leading up to the war in
Iraq. Additionally, Bush told Russert he would
cooperate with the new commission as it
investigates Iraq intelligence:
"I will be glad to visit with them," the president
said. "I will be glad to share with them
knowledge. I will be glad to
make recommendations, if they ask for
some."
Regarding the time frame for the commission’s work
to be completed, Bush commented, "There is going
to be ample time for the American people to assess
whether or not I made ... good calls — whether I
used good judgment, whether or not I made the
right decision in removing Saddam Hussein from
power," Bush said. "I look forward to that
debate."
Cheney defends War
Vice President Dick Cheney was in Rosemont,
Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, yesterday doing
some fundraising and told GOP backers that the
U.S. was justified in going to war in Iraq, based
on Hussein’s capabilities of producing WMDs:
"We know that Saddam Hussein had the intent to arm
his regime with weapons of mass destruction and
Saddam Hussein had something else — he had a
record of using weapons of mass destruction
against his enemies and against his own people,"
he said
Speaking to nearly 200 people at a $1,500-a-plate
luncheon benefiting Republican U.S. House
candidates, Cheney said that while inspectors have
failed to find weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, the regime did have the scientists and the
technology needed to produce them.
Cheney also called on Congress to renew the
Patriot Act.
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