IPW Daily Report – Wednesday, February 18, 2004
"We don't shirk from any challenge. We are
rising to the call of history," President Bush
said. "Now and in the future, this great
republic will lead the cause of freedom and
peace."
Every father understands that a man applying to
be his daughter's sugar daddy is held to a
different standard than a man who only wants to be
president of the United States. You wouldn't
necessarily want President Sleazeball to be your
lover-in-law. -- writes Wesley Pruden,
Washington Times.
Kerry is exhausted, by all our accounts, and
while Edwards is tired, he seems fresher. Energy
and verve will matter greatly during the next two
weeks. -- writes ABC’s The Note.
“A year ago, the Democrats were falling all
over themselves to vote for the war in Iraq. They
sure don't talk about that now," Howard Dean
said.
"The voters of Wisconsin sent a clear message,"
Edwards said. "The message was this:
Objects in your mirror may be closer than they
appear."
"We're going to win the nomination," Kerry
said.
We play everywhere, unlike John Edwards and
Howard Dean and anyone else in the race," said
Steve Elmendorf, Kerry's deputy campaign manager.
"The problem these other candidates have is they
are not competing in a serious way to get enough
delegates to get the nomination."
"We underwent a lot of Republican attacks the
last week," John Kerry said.
“Notwithstanding those attacks we showed we can
fight back."
FEC to rule on soft money
Dean done & Edwards a contender
Dean’s records to be opened
Joe Trippi… He’s back
Delegate count
Ashcroft sued
Ohio battleground
Bush pushing free trade
Is Bill playing broker?
FEC to rule on soft money
The Federal Election Commission is expected to
rule on whether 527 PACs are able to go around the
new McCaine Feingold Campaign Finance Reform laws.
The Commission's legal staff has drafted rules
that essentially would prohibit organizations from
taking unlimited funds to affect the Presidential
election. MoveOn.org is one of those groups. The
FEC commission chairman has taken the opposite
position, saying there is no reason to extend the
reach of the existing rules to cover the Internal
Revenue non-profits under the 527 section of the
code. The six-member commission is scheduled to
vote on the issue, with a 4-member majority needed
to implement any new rules.
Dean done & Edwards a contender
The truth of Howard Dean’s campaign death became
apparent in Wisconsin’s election with an 18
percent finish and 13 delegates to Sen. John
Edwards' 34 percent and 24 delegates and Sen. John
Kerry’s 40 percent and 30 delegates. The Doctor
hopefully is going back to Vermont where he will
make the call to cease life support efforts and
pull the plug on a campaign that will be studied
and written about for years to come.
However, Dean’s first inclination seems to be to
scale back his campaign, and not formally
withdraw. It was reported that he was looking for
a way to still affect the outcome of the race.
Edwards has become a contender for the nomination
in a two-way race at this point. Whether he has
the money or enough media attention to play in all
the big states that make up the 10 states on Super
Tuesday, March 2 is another question. Edwards
should get a huge boost in cash, but it will be
difficult to spend the money in a timely and
effective way that will have an impact. There is
also the problem of if Dean endorses Kerry.
Exit polls showed 75 percent of Edwards'
supporters made their decision in the last three
days, after he had a strong performance in a
Sunday debate and picked up major newspaper
endorsements in the two biggest cities, Milwaukee
and Madison.
Exit polls also showed two-thirds of Edwards'
supporters said issues mattered more than
electability in the race against Bush.
Electability has been a key factor in the rise of
Kerry. Edwards has been pushing jobs and economy
and highlighting Kerry’s support of NAFTA.
Kerry won 2-to-1 among Democrats, and Edwards
easily won among independents and especially among
the one in 10 voters who were Republicans in the
Wisconsin voting.
Dean’s records to be opened
A judge ruled yesterday that neither former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean nor the secretary of
state had authority to agree to a blanket seal
covering 145 boxes of records from his 11 years as
governor.
Superior Court Judge Alan W. Cook said Dean and
the state must identify the roughly 600,000 sealed
documents and describe why each is protected by
executive privilege. An appeal of the ruling to
the state Supreme Court is likely, the Associated
Press reports.
Joe Trippi… He’s back
ABC News is reporting that key members of the Dean
campaign are going to be meeting with Joe Trippi
at his Maryland farm where they will plot to turn
the campaign into a movement.
"The single thing you can count on going forward
is that this thing that Gov. Dean has created is
going to go on in some form," campaign manager Roy
Neel said yesterday.
"You can't wrap a nice little bow around it … .If
he [Dean] does drop out then he can't just send
out an email and expect his supporters to switch,"
said the traitor and last campaign manager for the
Dean Campaign.
Delegate count
Here is ABC’s delegate count:
Kerry— 590
Dean— 200
Edwards—186
Sharpton— 15
Kucinich— 2
Ashcroft sued
The Washington Times reports on how a federal
prosecutor is accusing Attorney General John
Ashcroft and other key Justice Department
officials of "gross mismanagement" in the War on
Terrorism:
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino said in
a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia that Justice Department
executives violated his First Amendment and
Privacy Act rights in retaliation for exposing
what he called malfeasance and incompetence in the
war against terrorists.
The lawsuit said department officials in
Washington knowingly disclosed to the media false
and misleading information about Mr. Convertino in
retaliation for his criticism of the war on
terrorism and his testimony to the Senate
committee investigating terrorism.
The Times reports that:
… the lawsuit said the veteran prosecutor had been
"vocal and consistent with his supervisors and
officials within the Department of Justice" for
more than a year over his concerns about a lack of
support, cooperation, effective assistance and
resources "that plagued and hindered" the
government's ability to identify and prosecute
suspected terrorists.
Justice Department officials declined to comment
on the suit.
Ohio battleground
The Washington Post reports on the Bush campaign’s
pre-emptive strike regarding Ohio’s dismal
employment numbers before Democrats begin flooding
the state:
Ohio reporters jammed a conference call that the
Bush-Cheney campaign set up yesterday with Rep.
Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who began by saying he
wanted to "set the record straight" about how
Bush's economic policies have benefited the state.
Kerry’s campaign’s rapid response team followed up
with mayors from Ohio in a press conference call
saying they haven’t seen any recovery.
Bush pushing free trade
The Bush administration is pushing for further
free trade agreements.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said,
“We are willing to take significant cuts in
the domestic subsidies if we can get Japan and
Europe to cut as well. The key for us is getting
major economies like Europe and Japan to get a
fair shot at developing countries."
"The free trade agreements provide another role,
which is to demonstrate that at least in the case
of the United States, we're going to move ahead
towards open markets and free trade one way or the
other," Zoellick said.
"Some countries might find themselves left out,"
he warned.
Democrat Presidential candidates have frequently
voiced opposition to free trade and have advocated
various methods of returning to trade barriers to
protect union jobs.
(2/18/2004)
Is Bill playing broker?
Bill Clinton denied that he is touting retired
Gen. Wesley Clark as the best vice presidential
choice for John Kerry. The New York Post's Fredric
U. Dicker reported Monday that the former
president was embarrassed by Mr. Clark's
performance as a presidential candidate, but he
was still reported to be calling Democratic power
brokers to press Mr. Kerry to tap the retired
general as his running mate.
Clinton denied the allegation.
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