IPW Daily Report – Wednesday, February 25, 2004
"My pledge is to keep my head above water and let
the dirt land where it is."
– Teresa Heinz
Kerry.
"If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from
being changed forever, our nation must enact a
constitutional amendment to protect marriage in
America." –
President Bush.
"Not so fast George Bush. You don't get to decide
who our nominee is,"
Edwards
declared.
`We were deeply committed to the cause of Howard
Dean and we couldn't stomach not voting for him,"
said Blaise Strenn, a Dean volunteer coordinator
in Raleigh, N.C.
“But Dr. Dean is getting conflicting advice from
his closest advisers, with some telling him to
endorse Mr. Edwards, others telling him to endorse
Mr. Kerry, and some telling him only to endorse
when there is a certain nominee.”
– writes the New
York Times.
Atheist loses case to block prayer at Prez
inaugurations
Teresa Heinz says Bush's anti-gay amendment
divisive
“Not so fast, Mr. President!” says Edwards
Howard Dean’s ‘Wild Card’
Kucinich at Harvard Law today
Bob Graham punts to Kerry
Senator Bob Graham of Florida is still working the
ropes for that VP spot on the Dem ticket. After
his own unsuccessful presidential campaign (Graham
dropped out of the race in October), Graham’s
daughter went to work for the Dean campaign, his
wife appeared at a Dean fundraiser and Graham
himself spoke radiantly of Dean’s foreign policy.
But all that’s changed now that Dean is out of the
picture. Now Graham’s man is: John Kerry.
Senator Bob Graham of Florida plans to endorse his
colleague John F. Kerry for president next week,
according to three advisers close to the senators,
a move intended to strengthen the Democratic
front-runner in a key electoral state, and that is
likely to renew speculation about Graham as a
possible vice presidential candidate
Graham, 67, Florida's senior senator and former
governor, abandoned his own campaign for the
nomination in October amid poor showings in polls
and weak fund-raising. His eldest daughter, Gwen
Graham Logan, then went to work for Howard Dean,
while his wife, Adele, attended a Dean fund-raiser
and Graham himself hailed Dean's foreign policy.
Dean dropped out of the race last week, leaving
Graham as an attractive supporter for Kerry and
his leading rival, Senator John Edwards of North
Carolina. Both are trying to show strength in the
South, especially in Florida, where a disputed
outcome in the 2000 general election is expected
to serve as a rallying point for Democrats this
fall.
Graham is the former chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, which should enhance his
stature as a surrogate campaigner this fall if, as
expected, President Bush runs on a national
security theme. Graham and Kerry are expected to
appear together in South Florida late next week in
advance of the state's March 9 primary.
Last week, following a speech in Tallahassee,
Graham fueled the vice presidential talk. "I want
a Democrat to be elected president. If I can be in
whatever way a contributor to that, I'll do it,"
he told reporters.
"And that includes vice president?" one replied.
"Yes," said Graham.
Atheist loses case to block prayer at Prez
inaugurations
Remember Michael Newdow? Maybe not, but he’s the
fellow who successfully got a federal appeals
court to stike down the Pledge of Allegiance (he
objected to “under God”). Well, Newdow is at it
again. This time he’s trying to get prayer
abolished from the Presidential inaugurations.
The good news is – he lost, this time. The
Associated Press reports that a U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals did not deem Newdow’s case to have
enough merit:
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals said Michael Newdow did not suffer "a
sufficiently concrete and specific injury" to
pursue his latest claim.
Newdow is both an emergency room physician and a
lawyer and has represented himself in the two
legal actions.
Newdow argued that the Rev. Franklin Graham's
prayer at President Bush's 2001 inauguration was
an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. He
said the practice of clergy-led prayer at
presidential inaugurations did not begin until
Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inauguration in
1937.
Teresa Heinz says Bush's anti-gay amendment
divisive
Presidential candidate John Kerry’s mega-rich wife
was in San Francisco to campaign for her husband
and took the occasion to declare President Bush’s
support of the no-gay marriage amendment “divisive
politics.”
According to the article in the San Jose Mercury
News, Heinz says her husband would vote against
it.
California is one of the hottest states up for
grabs in the March 2nd Super Tuesday Primaries.
Heinz is spending three days in the state,
stumping for Kerry. According to the article,
questions of Heinz being a liability to her
husband still dog her, due to her “direct,
unscripted manner.” Heinz is famous for saying she
would “maim” her husband if he ever cheated on her
(first husband… no comment yet as to what she’d do
to current husband John Kerry.) But she had this
to say this week regarding the campaigning that
lies ahead:
"My pledge is to keep my head above water and let
the dirt land where it is."
“Not so fast, Mr. President!” says Edwards
Poor John Edwards – after his poor showing on the
George Stephanopolous show last Sunday morning,
his viability went in the dumper. True to form,
Edwards blames it on… who else? George W. Bush:
"Not so fast George Bush. You don't get to decide
who our nominee is," Edwards declared.
Edwards made the comment at a rally Tuesday in
Atlanta, Georgia, where he is pounding the
campaign trail. Later, at a news conference,
Edwards took the opportunity for another Bush
attack – this time taking issue with Bush’s
support of a constitutional amendment banning gay
marriage:
"I am against the president's constitutional
amendment on gay marriage. I don't personally
support gay marriage myself. My position has
always been that it's up to the states to decide,"
he said.
Georgia is taking steps at the state level to ban
gay marriages.
Howard Dean’s ‘Wild Card’
He’s dropped out of campaigning, but what will
Howard Dean do with his remaining clout? That’s
the big question in the minds of most Dems. With
Super Tuesday looming, and remaining candidates
drooling over the prospect of gaining those
off-the-chart-enthusiastic Deanies, Howard is
under the gun to endorse or direct the Deanies
accordingly.
Hurtin’ For Certain John Edwards could use the
boost, and according to the New York Times, he is
aggressively seeking Dean supporters. Dean’s
campaign was well organized at the states’ level,
and Dean’s departure from active campaigning has
left some states scratching their heads:
In Minnesota Dr. Dean's former campaign leaders
are weighing whether to get behind Mr. Edwards,
Mr. Kerry or to vote "undecided." In New York,
some of Dr. Dean's former state officials have
started a Web site, DeaniacsforEdwards.com, while
some grass-roots supporters are continuing to back
the former candidate. In California, the Dean
apparatus is not dissuading his supporters from
continuing to push his candidacy aggressively, to
send Dean delegates to the Democratic National
Convention this summer.
According to the NY Times article, an aide to Dean
says there have been conversations between Dean
and both the remaining top two contenders –
Edwards and Kerry – recently. The tug and pull on
Dean is reportedly among his closet advisers:
But Dr. Dean is getting conflicting advice from
his closest advisers, with some telling him to
endorse Mr. Edwards, others telling him to endorse
Mr. Kerry, and some telling him only to endorse
when there is a certain nominee.
Weighing in on the cliffhanger situation, Dean’s
New Hampshire state director had this to say:
"The whole organization was so decentralized, it's
not a command and control organization," said
Karen Hicks, Dr. Dean's state director in New
Hampshire. "Even if Governor Dean were to endorse
a candidate, it's not certain that the whole
organization would shift in that direction."
With no clear consensus among Dean’s supporters as
to which to support (Kerry or Edwards), there is
still a large group who plan to stay with their
guy and vote for Dean. Dean’s name is still on
many states’ ballots:
`We were deeply committed to the cause of Howard
Dean and we couldn't stomach not voting for him,"
said Blaise Strenn, a Dean volunteer coordinator
in Raleigh, N.C.
Kucinich at Harvard Law today
Democrat presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich to
going to law school today – Harvard Law School.
The Unsinkable Kucinich is set to deliver a speech
there titled, “The Truth About Iraq.” Time: 4:00
pm ET. He will also be at a rally later in
Cambridge, Massachutsetts (5:30 pm, outside a T
stop) and from there Kucinich will head over to
First Parish United Universalist Church to give a
speech.
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