Hillary No. 2 in Iowa
The two big surprises in a recent Des Moines Register "Iowa Poll" is the
fact that Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a lock on the 2008 Democrat
presidential nomination and Vilsack doesn’t seem to be a player -- in his
own home state.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is in second place with 26 percent. Former Sen.
John Edwards (D-NC) came in first with 30 percent. Sen. John Kerry came in
third with 12 percent and the home state Governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA) came in
a dismal fourth with 10 percent.
Over the weekend Sen. John Edwards made his fifth appearance in Iowa
campaigning for two of the nation's highest profile races: Iowa's first
Congressional District and Iowa’s Governor’s race. Edwards has also been the
featured speaker at Sen. Tom Harkin’s Steak Fry, the Farmers Union and the
state’s union convention.
Vilsack on the other hand was in Vegas this weekend for the ultra-liberal
Kos convention.
Kerry has made several visits to Iowa since the 2004 election. He seems to
be having trouble holding his Iowa organization together.
For further details and graphs visit the
Des Moines Register.
Governors up for grabs
USA Today reports on how Democrats are unlikely to make big gains in the
nation's gubernatorial races. Some darling Democrat governors are even in
trouble:
The political landscape has gotten friendlier for congressional Democrats
over the past six months, but the party's prospects for scoring big gains in
governors' races now look more difficult.
In some cases, the same concerns that are costing congressional Republicans
— and raising Democrats' hopes of gaining control of the House or Senate —
are hurting Democratic governors in November's races.
...
In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm — the darling of Democrats when she was
elected in 2002 — is now in a dead heat with Republican challenger Dick
DeVos. A statewide poll last month by EPIC-MRA put him at 46%, her at 45%.
Last fall, she had held a 23-point lead.
...
In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is increasingly vulnerable, in part
because of ethics controversies in his administration. In a statewide
Strategic Vision poll in April, Doyle was at 45%; U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a
Republican hopeful, was at 43%.
Gore’s inconvenient truth
The
Washington Times "Inside Politics" reports on an article in the San
Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders writes.
"Just 10 years ago, Gore told the Democratic National Convention that after
his sister Nancy's needless death in 1984 from lung cancer, he committed
himself 'heart and soul into the cause of protecting our children from the
dangers of smoking.' In his new film, Gore again dredges up his sister's
death and how it led his once tobacco-growing family to turn away from
tobacco," the columnist said.
"After the DNC speech, reporters with memories intervened. America learned
that contrary to his rhetoric, in 1988 Gore campaigned as a tobacco farmer
who told his brethren that 'all of my life ... I hoed it, chopped it,
shredded it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.' The year his
sister died, Gore helped the industry by fighting efforts to put the words
'death' and 'addiction' on cigarette-warning labels.
"For years, Gore supported Big Tobacco in other ways. You could call the
above 'inconvenient' facts -- that you won't see in the movie.
"Let me be clear: The problem with Gore is not that he is a hypocrite. The
problem with Gore is that he has no idea he is not Lancelot. He has this
scary ability to block out any facts that make him less than a perfect,
selfless eco-hero, and in his need to present himself as the world's savior,
he'll say anything -- no matter how hysterical."
Rove to New Hampshire
Presidential adviser Karl Rove is the keynote speaker Monday night at the
New Hampshire Republican Party's annual dinner. Democrats are trying to link
the fund-raiser is to paying legal fees in a Republican phone jamming case.
|
