News media blacking out candidates
Since Iowa, I have been watching the news media’s coverage of the New Hampshire primary and all of the stations and networks are blacking out the lower tier candidates.
Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, and to a lesser extent Joe Leiberman, have been blacked out by the media.
Local news has mainly shifted their coverage to the presumed top four candidates: John Kerry, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and John Edwards. On Channel 7 the other night, Andy Hiller spent about six or seven minutes talking about the four candidates – ignoring Lieberman – whose poll position is the same as Edwards. Sure, Edwards has momentum from his second place finish in Iowa. But that doesn’t mean Lieberman [or the others] should be blacked out. The media's job is to report the news, not to decide who is viable and then report. The other local stations have done the same thing.
On FoxNews tonight, the camera went to "the spin room" after the debate.
Lieberman had an extended interview on "Hannity & Colmes," a whole segment and then a half a segment after a break. Kerry and Clark spokespeople chatted for a few minutes and then Dean’s campaign person spoke.
Edwards, Kucinich, and Sharpton were not allowed to comment on FoxNews.
"Hannity & Colmes" also spent 15 minutes getting Bill Bennett’s view of the debate, in which Bennett praised Lieberman, the most rightwing candidate in the race. Bill Bennett, you ask? You mean the former Republican Education Secretary? The virtue man with the gambling problem? Yeah, that one, commenting on the Democratic primary. Bennett did defend Dean a bit, saying Dean had been hammered too much by the media. But he has no business commenting on a Democratic primary race unquestioned by any opposition.
Paging Alan Colmes – get some stones already, boy. Tell your producers to stop booking these rightwing analysts like Bennett and Newt Gingrich without any balance!
Then, Susan Estrich and one of Steve Forbes' former campaign aides talked about the debates. Estrich attacked Dean - which she has been doing since the Iowa debacle. However, this is "fair and balanced" coverage? That’s a lot of crap.
"On the Record," with Greta van-Facelift, was no better, with rightwing Tony Snow, rightwing Michael Barone of US News, and rightwing, invasion of Iraq author [via PNAC], former aide to Dan Quayle, and editor of The Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol, commenting on the debate.
Again, this is "fair and balanced" coverage? Please.

LAST NH DEBATE
Here are the ratings:

Kerry: A-
Answered questions well. Cited residents he met on the campaign trail which people in NH like. Above all - looked presidential. He didn't look tired or bored as he had in other debates. Although, I can't stand him.

Edwards: A-
Answered questions well. Didn't repeat the two Americas line which is beginning to sound like a broken record. Understood the need to support the Second Amendment and other issues and was playing for the future states, not necessarily NH. Very smart. He is lucky to come in fourth here. Solid performance.

Kucinich: B-
Been better in other debates. Won't stop yelling at the camera which doesn't work in debates, only on stump speeches. However, was thoughtful on education issues and joked about trading delegates with Edwards. He cited a NH fair trade group, which was good. Also got the most positive reactions and cheers from the crowd.

Lieberman: B-
He was really good in the debate, considering how bad he has been in the past. However, he is so off-base it isn't even funny. Got a lot of cheers - for all the wrong things.

Dean: C+
Didn't do as badly as people hoped he would; didn't do as well as he needed to. Didn't really get into issues which he needed to. If you were just watching the debate, you didn't know anything about the guy's positions. The smirk needs to go, as does the "back to Crawford, Texas" line.

Clark: C-
He's so not ready for prime time. Stammers over the questions. Talks in lame slogans. So bad it isn't even funny. And then, he didn't even answer the most important question about Michael Moore calling Bush a deserter. What? You don't know what he is talking about? 'I don't know it, I didn't research it, blah, blah, blah ...' He could have at least looked up the fact that Bush walked away from the National Guard service and wasn't arrested. Maybe Clark is saving it for the general election - but he ain't going to be able to use it because he isn't going to be there.

Sharpton: D-
What, no jokes? Come on. He talked about the IMF when he was asked about the Federal Reserve. What a drag. Where was Al?

I am now watching the Dean/Sawyer interview.
Dean on the Caucus night performance: "I was leading with my heart." He was. I can't vote for the guy but damn I am beginning to like him. And his wife is adorable!

The Phoenix's Adam Reilly calls on Kucinich and Sharpton to be kept out of future debates: ["Grading the candidates"].

Kerry Triple Crown:
While I saw the Phoenix endorsement this morning I missed the Boston Herald and Boston Globe endorsements.

Herald:

"Unlike many of his Democratic Party rivals, Kerry also understands that hiking taxes on the already burdened middle class is no way to win votes or to run a country. He insists he'll keep the Bush tax cuts in place for middle income Americans, while rolling them back only for those earning more than $200,000 a year. John Kerry as a presidential candidate remains a work in progress ... But John Kerry as a solid, thoughtful political leader is a well-known commodity around these parts. It is that man, that leader, the Boston Herald is pleased to endorse for his party's presidential nomination."

Globe:

"We think Kerry is best suited to help Iraq prepare for its future. His prescription to bring security and freedom to Iraq is undergirded with a broad, interdependent view of the world. Whether the focus is foreign relations, trade policy, or the eradication of AIDS, Kerry evinces a deeply felt desire for America 'to rejoin the community of nations.' We share John Kerry's values and vision for America as a confident, tolerant, enlightened nation. By his consistency, his resolve, and his experience, he has continued to demonstrate that he is best prepared to help the nation realize those ideals."

Kerry was also endorsed by retiring SC Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings today, a rabid fair trader.

Kerry reaching out:
The rumor mill is churning: Are the candidates jockeying for Dick Gephardt's support? Will he be a VP? Kerry acknowledged earlier today that he had been talking to Gephardt: ["Kerry reaching out beyond New Hampshire"]

"I don't have any idea what Dick will do. He's a pro, he's a man of great personal conviction and judgment about this process. He'll make up his own mind."

However, Kerry did pick up the endorsement of 42 prominent NH pols who had endorsed Gephardt [John Edwards got 17; Joe Lieberman picked up four], as well as the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445.

As are others - in South Carolina:
SC's Rep. Jim Clyburn being wooed: ["Clyburn coy on endorsing new candidate"]

"Not since the Great Depression has South Carolina suffered this kind of three-years-in-a-row job loss. Over 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last 10 years; 65,000 textile jobs lost since I've been in Congress. ... No state per capita has lost more jobs than South Carolina."

Again, this is why Gephardt was so important in this race. Thanks Dr. Dean for taking the scalpel to him. More from South Carolina: ["Gephardt's departure opens more doors in Missouri, S.C."]

Pollster John Zogby said the impact of Gephardt's departure is difficult to assess because this year's Democratic primary is "very much a sequential process." Gephardt was running strong in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio and had "potential in South Carolina" because of Clyburn's endorsement, Zogby said, adding that the biggest impact of Gephardt's departure is that his union endorsements now are up for grabs. In Michigan, the first large primary state with a strong manufacturing base, Gephardt and Dean were leading the polls, according to campaign and state party sources.

Actually, I believe Michigan is a caucus state.
However, other campaigns made some nice comments about Gephardt:

Kerry spokesman David Wade said: "The loyalty [Gephardt] engendered was extraordinary, and his supporters would be absolutely critical to any of the Democratic candidates but particularly hard to woo for a certain Vermont governor who scored points from the cheap seats calling Democrats in Congress 'cockroaches.'"

Then, check out the arrogance from the Dean campaign:

Dean spokesman Garrett Graff, meanwhile, said Gephardt's decision "doesn't really affect our strategy" - such as focusing more on certain states. The Dean camp has "always been aiming to win every state," Graff added.

God those people never learn. How many times do they have to be hit in the head before they learn? Some in the Dean campaign are so pathetic.

Other stuff:
Gephardt's cable ads are still running in NH. I have seen a bunch of them over the last three days.

Is Dean really melting down? Some think no: ["The Phony Dean 'Meltdown'"]

From Slate magazine ("Mean Dean Loses Steam") to The New York Post ("Dean's Ballot-Box Conspiracy Theory"), it's all about painting him as unseemly, unstable and irrationally angry, rather than focusing on his ideas. And yet, carefully scrutinized, virtually everything the man has said accords with the beliefs and understanding of a significant portion of the American populace, and, significantly, of what has been reported in the media.
But once something like this "meltdown" story gets started, the media go into a kind of inexorable black hole, and the pull is so great it becomes hard for thinking journalists and editors to resist. And not just journalists. It takes extraordinary mettle for anyone in the limelight to resist this. Once the howl of the pack gets loud enough, questioning the seriousness of Dean's so-called 'problems' becomes tantamount to downplaying allegations against Michael Jackson.
Sometimes it's hard to remember, but presidents aren't primarily dinner party hosts or recruiting posters for perfection. They're supposed to be smart people who can make intelligent choices, mostly in private, that serve our interests. And they're supposed to be human.

Franklin Foer of the New Republic has a mixed analysis of the John Edwards campaign: ["Sitting Pretty?"].
But Drudge says Edwards wanted to privatize Social Security: ["http://www.drudgereport.com/mattje.htm"].
Kucinich takes on the trade deals: ["Kucinich raps free trade agreements"].
FAIR reveals problem with Dennis Miller's new show: [link]

The conflict-- brought to our attention by weblogger Roger Ailes (no relation apparently to the Fox News chief)-- began with the show's hiring of Mike Murphy as a consulting producer. The problem isn't that Murphy is a well-known Republican campaign consultant whose past clients have included John McCain, Jeb Bush and the 1992 Bush/Quayle campaign; the problem is that Mike Murphy already has a job. Murphy, who was a key political advisor in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 campaign for governor of California, still works for Schwarzenegger. Currently Murphy is a leader of Gov. Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team and Californians for Schwarzenegger, two groups created by the governor to maintain his political image, raise money and promote his policies (AP, 1/2/04). Indeed, Murphy has become so identified with Schwarzenegger that a January 21 Los Angeles Times article referred to him as "Schwarzenegger's chief strategist." The website of Murphy's political consulting firm, DC Navigators, lists the California Recovery Team (which has been in operation for less than a month) as a client.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP
The Boston Phoenix endorses Kerry:
I don't know what kind of effect this Boston weekly will have on voters in New Hampshire [they have Portsmouth/Southern Maine, Worcester, and Providence editions as well], but they have come out for their home state senator:

In his nearly 20 years in the Senate, John Kerry has actively dealt with issues of war and peace, terrorism and international malfeasance, social justice and human rights. He’s grappled with the best way to provide health care and education to all citizens. In his private life, he served in Vietnam, where he was three times wounded and twice decorated for bravery. Recognizing the magnitude of our national error, he then helped lead the fight to change policy there, along the way helping to raise two daughters. He understands the balance between the public and the private.

'NAFTA affects everything':
The Village Voice has a whole slew of stuff on the New Hampshire primary, including digital video clips from James Ridgeway [one was an interesting exchange between him and Michael Moore about his support for Clark and Moore's pleading to Ralph Nader not to run]. However, this story really stands out as an example of some of the excellent coverage I have seen in years past from the Voice: ["Pulp Friction"].

Like a lot of other Berliners, [Cynthia Girard]'s angry about the globalized economy. "NAFTA affects everything," she said. "They've been cutting wood up in Canada and sending it to Finland, where there are no environmental regulations." The paper comes back to the U.S., she said, available more cheaply than any product the small Berlin mill, with its antiquated equipment and its relatively high wages, could hope to match.

Kennedy's analysis:
Once again, the Boston Phoenix's Dan Kennedy nails some analysis right on the head, first in defense of the polling before Iowa and how Mike Dukakis called the Iowa Caucuses: ["Media Log"]. Kennedy also has a new walk-around piece with John Kerry in New Hampshire: ["A brand-new campaign"].

Monitor's take on Gephardt:
In another sometimes silly "Ask Primary Man" editorial, Concord Monitor editor Mike Pride gives a two-sided compliment to Dick Gephardt. Pretending to be interviewed by a "Bigtime Beltway Network reporter" [hah!], the reporter asks, Will New Hampshire miss Dick Gephardt? Primary Man's response?

Watching Gephardt's sad concession Monday night and even sadder goodbye the next day was a reminder of how personal politics becomes once the masks are off and the play is done. Gephardt was a throwback: an old trade union candidate resisting the tide of free trade and a global economy. This wasn't just politics to him; it was a view of life. In his grace and humanity, Gephardt set a fine example. His issue - the conditions under which workers everywhere must toil - needs a new and more progressive voice.

Well, he wasn't really a throwback if you listened to him and took what he said seriously. Sure, he may have missed his political time. But the fair trade issue is so damn important the age of its promoters shouldn't matter. The media and public slough off the issue, whether it is a young educated person or a "throwback," with the same flip of the hand. Frankly, the fair trade movement doesn't need "a new and more progressive voice," because that will lead to a more socialistic candidate, who will immediately be attacked by Republicans and big money looking to keep the status quo. What the fair trade movement does need is an educated public who know American trade history. It also needs a fair and balanced approach in economics and business classes at universities. If after hearing both sides, the public still decides that cheap imports are more important than preserving the American family, so be it. But I believe this will lead to an enlightened public - both liberal and conservative - who should be concerned about working families and enslaved foreigners and not cheap imports and failed economic theories like free trade.

Other stuff:
Bloomberg is reporting that Kodak will cut 15,000 jobs or 20 percent of its workforce. They still made a profit, $19 million, but that was down from $113 million last year. Clearly, these cuts are about advanced technology, as more people use digital cameras and less film, and not so much about economics. Kodak has outsourced a lot of jobs already to save on costs.
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby is the target of a probe into the Sept. 11 attacks: ["Probe of Intercepted Messages Focuses on Shelby"]

The investigation centers on the disclosure in 2002 that the National Security Agency had intercepted two messages on the eve of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks signaling that something was to happen the next day. The cryptic messages were not translated until Sept. 12.

One last note on Iowa, from the Joan Jett/Howard Dean rally: ["Jett set"].

When a young Republican hit her instrument, Jett kicked him. "You can hit me, but don’t hit my guitar," she later sneered.

Yeah baby! Don't touch the guitar!

The Kerry shocker
Here's my latest column. Damn, it sucks being an undecided voter:

No one was surprised more than I was by the results from the Iowa Caucuses on Monday night.
In a late surge, John Kerry stunned everyone with a come-from-behind win. John Edwards who was mired in single digits in the polls for most of the campaign season spoke positively on the trail and - with the help of Dennis Kucinich - vaulted into the second place. Howard Dean, the volatile former-governor of Vermont, collapsed, way behind in third.
But the other revelation of the night was the disappointing results of Dick Gephardt, who came in fourth and dropped out of the race. Gephardt had one of the best platforms of all the candidates. He had the backing of 21 unions and a long career of standing up for working folks in Congress. But it didn't help him in the end. In fact, it was a hindrance, as candidates like Dean attacked Gephardt for being "a Washington insider."
The Gephardt exit, however, leaves the Democrats with a hole in their nomination race.
None of the top tier candidates has a good record on international trade issues, one of the major problems with the economy. Whole industries are being shipped overseas where the labor is cheaper, much to the detriment of the ordinary Americans who used to fill those jobs. At the same time, the Democrats and the president want to naturalize millions of illegal aliens currently in the United States doing the other low wage jobs. The new jobs that were supposed to replace the manufacturing jobs - the technology, software, computer, and service sector jobs - are also being shipped overseas. It should be a bigger issue than it is.
But now, with Gephardt out of the race and Kucinich in the cellar, the free trade issue will all but be ignored even if it should be a galvanizing issue against President George W. Bush. Of course, it isn't all Bush's fault. The hemorrhaging of the manufacturing sector started under Ronald Reagan, continued under George H. W. Bush and was made even worse by Bill Clinton's free trade deals.
During the Clinton years, there was growth in other sectors, which offset some of the damage. But when those jobs were lost in the dot-con collapse and after the Sept. 11 attacks, what was left? Very little. Millions of jobs have been lost. People are hanging by a thread. Last month alone, over 300,000 people fell off the unemployment rolls. Millions more stopped looking for work because there isn't any. The corporate sector only created 1,000 new jobs in December, the holiday season. That's a recovery?
However, I can understand what some voters might be going through right now.
For the first time in a long time, I have no idea who to vote for. Like millions of other people, I'm an undecided independent - the modern voting bloc - even after spending so much time watching the campaigns. It is an unusual position to be in. But there are some intriguing candidates left in the race.
Kucinich is truly inspiring, with an amazing story about growing up in poverty. Sometimes, when his large Catholic family didn't have a home, they lived in a car. But this didn't stop him from attaining success. He got himself elected to the Cleveland City Council, and later, Mayor, only to be driven out of power when he refused to sell the city's main asset - the municipal power plant. In the end, it was the right thing to do and years later, the city's voters thanked Kucinich by electing him to Congress. Despite what the mainstream press says, Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton are the only true "anti-war" candidates. They've attended the anti-war rallies. Heck, Kucinich wants to create a Department of Peace and cut the defense budget to fund domestic needs. With towns like Winchester millions of dollars in the hole, who couldn't like that? In a perfect world, he would be the president.
I am also impressed with Sen. John Edwards, although the southern charm leaves me with that queasy feeling I always felt with Clinton. However, Edwards seems to have a bit more class. As a trial lawyer, he did a lot to help people who didn't have anything. Edwards has also been nailing home the fact that we do live in two Americas - one of the haves, one of the have-nots. If he is elected, there is a good chance Edwards won't be able to do much about bringing the two Americas together. But at least you know he might try.
Former NATO Gen. Wesley Clark has some moving biographical ads talking about his childhood and military background. But like Dean and Kerry, when you look into his background, there is a lot to worry about. To start, there are Clark's seven different positions on the invasion of Iraq, conveniently forwarded to the media by Joe Lieberman's campaign. Clark makes Dean's flip-flopping look reasonable. Then, there is the fact that he wasn't even a Democrat three months ago. Just 18 months ago, Clark was commending Bush and his administration for their "war on terror." Then, he admitted voting for Richard Nixon and Reagan - twice. I could forgive him for voting for Nixon. Compared to Clinton, Nixon was a liberal. So why are the Democrats falling all over themselves to nominate Clark?
The race for the Democratic nomination is far from over, no matter what the pundits say about Dean's third place finish in Iowa and his caucus night antics.
Yet, I'm still undecided. Deep down, I believe Gephardt - with his trade position, support for the invasion, and Midwest background - was in the best position to challenge the president. The question now becomes, Can any of the guys leftover beat Bush? Call me a cynic, but I doubt it.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP: Dean endorsed by Keene Sentinel

This came out late Sunday but not enough to help Howard Dean in Iowa. However, it is clear that the wire services reporting the endorsement of John Kerry by the Concord Monitor and the Nashua Telegraph helped him.

Although he is probably best-known for his stand against the Iraq war, his political agenda strikes us as the most traditional of all. He believes, responsibly, that the United States now has a commitment to put Iraq back on its feet, and he believes, optimistically but with reason, that, as an early opponent of the war, he could enlist the help of the rest of the democratic world in that effort.
Dean offers voters a wide range of well-thought-out policy initiatives, foreign and domestic, based on a dramatic - and one might say conservative - theme: I want my country back. That cry, coupled with Dean’s direct, energetic style, appeals to a lot of Democrats and independents, and has attracted a large number of people to his campaign who had previously been alienated from politics of any kind. Dean is particularly effective in his open refusal to entice voters with wild promises of expensive new government programs.

Gephardt for VP?
I was telling people earlier today how disappointed I was with Dick Gephardt giving up the campaign so early. While I hadn't decided to vote for him yet, I was leaning towards voting for him. I can understand his decision to drop out, but it is a disappointment.
However, I joked to one person how cool it would be if Gephardt was given the VP slot and was allowed to relentlessly campaign against Bush's failed trade policy in all the swing states, especially those with manufacturing job losses.
After the President's State of the Union address, I flipped over to MSNBC to hear Pat Buchanan attack Bush's failed trade policy and suggest that Gephardt should be put on the ticket to campaign in the swing states. Was there a mind-meld going on?

Dean heckled at NHTI
Dean was heckled in Concord today by Confederate waving flag hecklers: ["Dean Disarms Hecklers with National Anthem"].

REACTION FROM IOWA
Here is some of the reaction from Iowa:
Kucinich Media Guru Jeff Cohen, formerly of FAIR, has some comments about what happened in Iowa: ["Iowa, The Democrats and the Media"].

One hopes that activists will remain firm enough to make up their own minds and stick to candidates disfavored by mainstream media; otherwise, they risk letting the punditry -- which is usually wrong -- choose their candidates for them.

The Nation's John Nichols reports from a Caucus: ["IOWA: Caucusing for Kerry, Edwards"].

Anastasia Bissell, the Dean backer who finished up in the Kerry camp, was equally philosophical. "I think this is probably what the founders had in mind for America -- this kind of consensus building. People come into a room, and we all disagree. But some of us give up something to achieve a greater goal. And, of course, the greater goal for all of us Democrats is to beat George Bush."

David Corn puts his two cents in: ["IOWA: Ten Talking Points"].

An entrance poll taken at the caucuses showed that 75 percent of the attendees opposed the war in Iraq. But only 14 percent said the war had influenced their selection of a nominee. This somewhat explains Dean's slide. The candidates who had voted to grant Bush authorization for war garnered 81 percent of the vote. The two antiwar candidates--Dean and Dennis Kucinich--attracted 19 percent. Voters who disagreed with Kerry and Edwards on the war were still willing to support them. Why? Perhaps the old cliche of political consultants provides the explanation: elections are about the future, not the past. Even if voters were on the same side as Dean on the war, it did not mean they believed he would be able to beat Bush or be able to handle the national security challenges that lie ahead. Being right only gets you so far. A candidate has to offer more than that. The Iowa returns indicate the war has not yet become an overwhelmingly divisive--or decisive--political issue.

NH polls
From the AP:

Howard Dean begins the final stretch of campaigning for next week's New Hampshire primary with a slim lead over his rivals, according to several tracking polls out Tuesday. The former Vermont governor led in an American Research Group poll with 28 percent to 20 percent for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and 19 percent for retired general Wesley Clark. Other candidates were in single digits [Edwards 8, Lieberman 7, Gephardt 3, Kucinich 2]. Dean also was ahead in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup tracking poll with 32 percent to 25 percent for Kerry, 21 percent for Clark and single digits for others, and in a tracking poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. In that poll done for Fox News, WMUR-TV of Manchester, N.H., and WCVB-TV of Boston, Dean was at 33 percent, Kerry at 24 percent and Clark at 18 percent, with others in single digits [Edwards 8, Lieberman 5, Gephardt and Kucinich 3]. Any bounce from the Iowa caucuses, won by Kerry, could take a couple of days to show up in polls generally. But a tracking poll by Suffolk University of Boston for WDHD-TV showed Dean at 23 percent and Kerry at 20 percent, within the two-day poll's 5 percentage point margin of error. Clark was at 15 percent with other candidates in single digits [Lieberman and Edwards 6, Gephardt 2, Others 2, Undecided 26]. The polls by ARG, UNH and Gallup were done over the last three days. ARG and Gallup had margins of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, while the UNH poll's error margin was 5 percentage points.

Zogby's latest numbers has Dean at 25, Kerry up to 23, Clark with 16, and John Edwards and Joe Lieberman at 7 percent.

Lieberman endorsed by the Manchester Union Leader
The Union Leader will be endorsing Joe Lieberman tomorrow:

Lieberman has walked an independent line on limited school vouchers, tax cuts, and on the filth that passes for Hollywood entertainment these days. He speaks out unabashedly about his religious convictions and refuses to campaign on the Jewish sabbath.
Make no mistake. We have great differences with many of his social and big-spending positions. His stand on abortion is classic liberal, giving lip service to wanting it to be "safe, rare and legal" but voting in a way that encourages it.
But in a campaign in which the flipflops and outrageous statements are unending, Joe Lieberman’s refusal to pander is refreshing and remarkable. He is worth the consideration and support of independent-minded primary voters.

KERRY WINS, DEAN COLLAPSES
Kerry 37.5
Edwards 31.9
Dean 18
Gephardt 10.5
Kucinich 1.3
Other 0.5 [who?]
Clark 0.1
Uncommitted 0.1
Lieberman 0.0
Sharpton 0.0

1856 of 1993 precincts reporting

Iowa Caucuses
Click here to get results: ["Results"]

POLITICAL ROUNDUP
Kucinich and Edwards cut a deal:
Numerous news sources have been reporting all afternoon that Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards have agreed to swing support to each other if they don't have the necessary 15 percent to win delegate percentages in various precincts: ["Edwards, Kucinich agree to share support in Iowa caucuses"].
I was a little weirded out by this when I heard about it earlier this afternoon. I have been saying for awhile on some of the political discussion boards that I thought Kucinich voters would split on the second round between Dean and Gephardt - with anti-war people going to Dean and fair traders going to Gephardt.
Kucinich pulling this trick is a mind-blower. Why would he flip his support to a pro-invasion, pro-free trade candidate like Edwards?
Well, maybe Kucinich is a shrewder pol than we thought.
By encouraging voters to go to Edwards on the second round, Kucinich essentially takes support away from two of his biggest rivals, at least issue-wise: Dean and Gephardt. If both lose, they will be wounded.
Most "experts" have predicted that if Gephardt loses, he will drop out, although I doubt this. Campaign officials also publicly deny this.
But let's say Gephardt does lose tonight and drops out and Dean goes into NH after coming in second or - gasp - third! Dean too would be wounded.
This would leave Kucinich - chugging along - as the only true fair trade and true peace candidate in the race.
With Gephardt out, Kucinich can needle the others on the trade issue. With Dean wounded, he can continue his peace candidacy, with other voters taking a second look at him.
Now, I admit, this is a big stretch. But if it works, Kucinich becomes a player in the debates between now and whenever someone gets enough delegate commitments or even at the convention if it becomes brokered or divided. In the end, Kucinich probably won't win the nomination, but this is a pretty good trick.

More Dean hothead:
Dean crashed an MLK event in Iowa earlier today: ["Dean To News Media: Get A Life"].
The campaign is clearly starting to wear on Dean.

A while later he exited the auditorium, making a beeline to the front entrance and to his bus. Wedging through the media, he stopped at the front step before boarding the bus to answer a reporter's question about how he was feeling.
"You know why I wasn't able to attend this event," Dean said, "because you guys are behaving so badly you've got to get a new life."

And his presence sure went over well to those people who organized the event.

"I think it was very disrespectful," said Donna Graves, who was on the planning committee for the commemoration ceremony. "The intent of today was not to look at Howard Dean. The planning committee didn't know he was coming as we invited a lot of people. It was very hectic and this is a day that is supposed to be about Martin Luther King."

2000 Redux?
The latest polls point to it: ["'04 Election Could Be 2000 Redux"]. In the end, national polls like this don't mean very much because winning the presidency is about winning states across the nation and the Electoral College. But look at those numbers. A nation divided, indeed.

The Iowa Bystander endorses Edwards
Iowa's only African-American newspaper endorsed Edwards on Monday:

"Sen. John Edwards enters this race as the party's best hope to unseat President Bush. He has avoided the bloodletting dominating the primary process, his vision for America is bold and refreshing, his background is empathetic, and his regional base gives him a freedom of choice for a running mate no other Iowa contender has."

Lieberman endorsed by Lawrence Eagle Tribune
The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, a newspaper with border subscriptions in southern New Hampshire, has endorsed Joe Lieberman:

Lieberman understands, as his fellow Democrats do not, that we live in perilous times. He has been a steadfast supporter of the war on terrorism and recognizes that the fight in Iraq is but one battle in that war. He is among the few Democrats with the sense to acknowledge that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power has made our nation safer and has been unafraid to call those who suggest otherwise on their foolishness.
But Lieberman is no warmonger. He knows that while out immediate goal must be to destroy al-Qaida and capture Osama bin Laden, our long term security depends on winning the hearts and minds of the Islamic world. Iraq gives us a chance to establish a stable, modernizing, Muslim democracy in the Middle East. He is a steadfast supporter of Israel and understands that the Palestinian leadership must offer its people more than a seething hatred for that country and the United States. The solution to the Palestinian problem is in the hands of Palestinian leaders.

My Iowa Caucus prediction

Gephardt 25
Dean 23
Kerry 22
Edwards 18
The rest will be Kucinich and Sharpton. I doubt there will be many undecideds.
Turnout 120,000 to 130,000, whatever percentage that will be.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP
Monitor, Telegraph endorse Kerry:
Wow, this is a bit of a surprise. With the overwhelming amount of coverage that Howard Dean has received in the Concord Monitor, I thought for sure they would endorse Dean. Instead, they went with John Kerry, calling him "the candidate best prepared to be president." Kerry came in a close second in coverage on the Monitor's pages: ["Selective Coverage 2004"].

"Kerry's two decades in the U.S. Senate and his service on the Foreign Relations Committee have made him a statesman. He has traveled widely and met with most of the world's leaders. He has been heavily involved in seeking peace in the Middle East and an end to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. In Congress he proved that he has the ability to work with Republicans to break logjams and keep the nation's business moving. People trust Kerry when he speaks because he has thought things through and knows where he stands. He does not advocate one policy one week, another the next. And he strongly believes in what the nation is sorely missing, an open, accountable government."

Over at the Nashua Telegraph, the sentiments were similar:

"The Massachusetts's senator's experience and record, his understand of the complex issues that face America today, and his recommended solutions make him the best choice among the Democratic contenders ... Dean has good ideas, but he just doesn't have the breadth and depth Kerry has, particularly on international issues. A vote for a presidential candidate should be based on content not charisma. With Kerry, knowledge and experience for the demanding job of president would come before popularity."

[Sent via email from Kerry press aide Martin Meehan, via his Blackberry palm.]

In a sidebar to the editorial, Monitor Editor Mike Pride explained that this year's endorsement was "complicated" because the New York Times was video-taping the editorial board meeting. However, he made some interesting points in the sidebar.
First, only the top three candidates were considered for the endorsement: Dean, Kerry, and Wesley Clark. At the editor's meeting, Pride said, they added John Edwards and Joe Lieberman but quickly "talked through" their candidacies.
Here is another telling sentence: "The only other serious candidate, Rep. Richard Gephardt, ran a minimal campaign in New Hampshire."
Huh? What the hell is he talking about?
While Gephardt has concentrated more on Iowa, he hasn't completely ignored New Hampshire. I thought this was about who is best prepared to be president, not who ran "minimal" or extensive campaigns. I would contend that between the two, Gephardt and Kerry, Gephardt is better prepared to be the president - and to win - since he will be able to attract the blue collar, Reagan Democrats and working class folks, who have abandoned the party and corporate Democrats like Kerry, and bring them back to the fold.
And what is all this talk about "serious" candidates? Dennis Kucinich is a VERY serious candidate. Being serious isn't about whether you are high in the polls or raising tens of millions of dollars. Kucinich has raised millions and received federal matching funds. If this were 1992, he would be in the thick of it. Does he have a chance of winning? No, it is slim to none. But he is serious.
A more accurate sentence would have been "the only other candidate who we believe can win ..."
Two other quick important points: Pride stated that "The decision not to endorse Dean or Clark rested in part on our respect - though that is an ill-chosen word - for how the Bush campaign machine will demonize the Democratic nominee."
This is an extremely good point and on paper - with his military background and centrist politic views - Kerry looks good. But then, there is this sentence: "Dean does, however, flip around on the issues." Eh, well, so does Kerry, as noted in my column from last month: ["The Kerry choke?"].
In the end, it is a well-written and logical endorsement, and the sidebar explaining the paper's editorial process is a welcome read.

Another great report from FAIR:
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting released a new report about when it is okay to reference Hitler in politics and the media: ["When Are Nazi Comparisons Deplorable?"].

News Corp's Fox News Channel started the controversy on January 4, airing Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie's complaint about the Bush/Hitler comparison. "That's the kind of tactics we're seeing on the left today in support of these Democratic presidential candidates," Gillespie charged, calling such tactics "despicable." The whole next day (1/5/04), this was a major story on Fox News Channel. John Gibson asked, "What about the hating Bush movement, the MoveOn.org and George Soros sponsoring these ads that compare Bush to Hitler?"--before being corrected that the ads were not sponsored by MoveOn (or Soros, a funder of the group), and were taken down in response to complaints.
Sean Hannity accused a guest: "You guys on the left are going so far over the cliff. You're making comparisons to the president and Adolf Hitler." Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said on Hannity's show, "This is the hateful, vitriolic rhetoric that has become the Howard Dean Democratic Party." Bill O'Reilly cited the ads as evidence that "right now in America the Democratic party is being held captive by the far, far left." It should be noted that however hyperbolic, comparisons to Hitler and fascism are not unknown in the American political debate. Rush Limbaugh has routinely called women's rights advocates "femi-Nazis," and references to "Hitlery Clinton" are a staple of right-wing talk radio. Republican power-broker Grover Norquist on NPR (10/2/03) compared inheritance taxes to the Holocaust.

And then, there is this: ["MoveOn knocked out of Super Bowl"].

Other stuff:
Interesting story here by Howard Kurtz who finds over 100 media people who have given money to federal candidates: ["Journalists Not Loath to Donate To Politicians"]. I have to wonder if this is as much a no-no as it seems to be. No one can really call Neal Cavuto a "journalist." He is a talk show host who talks about business. There is a difference. There is always a lot of talk about how in the old days journalists knew their place. But the flip of that is journalists do have to vote and have long relationships before they became journalists that they may not be able to ignore. And politicians have had a direct effect on how journalists do their jobs. The old rule that journalists should not be involved with candidates they may cover, that stands. However, there are a lot more conflicts in the world than whether or not some media people gave some cash to political candidates.
It must really suck being Bubba: ["Lving in Bill's Shadow"]. You gotta feel for this guy. He had it all - the presidency for two terms, his finger on the button, and interns galore. Now, he just can't fade into the black. He has to have his fingers in everything. It makes me wonder why these candidates don't just tell him to screw.
The Orlando Sentinel's Charlie Reese, who backed Jerry Brown in 1992, makes some good points about Dean, young people and the 2004 election: ["A Year For Youth"].

"I think what people are responding to is that for the first time in a long time, they have a genuine human being - a guy who gets mad at the right things, a guy who says what he thinks, and a guy who doesn't talk in the tired political platitudes that have virtually killed any real communication inside the Washington Beltway. Lieberman, Gephardt and Kerry haven't had an original thought in decades."

The Boston Globe's Mark Jurkowitz analyzes Dean's bitching: ["Dean's attacks on press hint at coverage gone sour"].

Polling in the home stretch ...
In Iowa, the Des Moines Register released this poll last night of likely voters: John Kerry at 26 percent, John Edwards at 23 percent, Howard Dean at 20 percent, Dick Gephardt at 18 percent, Kucinich at 3 percent, Wesley Clark at 2 percent, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman with 1 percent. Of "definite voters," the numbers changed a bit: Kerry at 33 percent, Dean at 21 percent, Edwards at 19 percent, and Gephardt at 16 percent.
American Research Group posted its latest numbers which are practically the same as yesterday's: Dean at 28 percent, Clark at 20 percent, Kerry is at 19 percent, Edwards at 8 percent, Lieberman with 6 percent, Gephardt at 3 percent, and Kucinich with 1 percent. Undecideds make up a whopping 30 percent.
In New Mexico, the Albuquerque Journal shows a close race between Dean and Clark [18 to 16 percent], with Kerry and Lieberman at 8 percent, Gephardt at 7 percent, Kucinich with 6 percent, and Edwards with 4 percent. Undecideds make up a whopping 34 percent.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP: Dean, Gephardt drop negative ads

As both Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt see their poll numbers drop in Iowa, both campaigns have pulled their negative campaign ads off the air. On FoxNews last night, Gephardt said that when the campaign heard that Dean's camp took off their negative ads, he followed suit. This is a good move by both but it should be noted that Dean went negative first - attacking Gephardt for his invasion of Iraq vote in both mail and TV ads. Dean's negative Gephardt mailer was the first negative campaign mailer in the history of the Democratic Caucuses, according to sources.
As Gephardt held his ground - and John Kerry and John Edwards surged - Dean again attacked Gephardt and finally Gephardt attacked back. However, as all negative ads do, the vote for both candidates became depressed. Frank Luntz on MSNBC's "Hardball" had a focus group of Iowa voters on Friday night rating both the positive ads by Kerry and Edwards airing in Iowa much higher than Gephardt's attack ad against Dean.
All of this while "hundreds" of Teamsters have driven into Iowa from neighboring states to work for Gephardt [ABC Radio News], as others are crashing on the floors of all of Howard Dean's campaign offices [CNN].
The Dean campaign denied rumors that Carol Moseley Braun was being paid to work for Dean but confirmed that her expenses and staffing were being paid by the campaign. According to the Los Angeles Times, Moseley Braun is being paid $20,000 to campaign in South Carolina and other states. The paper also reported that Dean will help Moseley Braun pay off her campaign debt [$300,000]. The campaign stated that all the candidate's debt would be paid off after the nomination during unity meetings.

... But is Clinton behind the attacks?
["Clinton Gang Behind Media Hits on Dean?"].

Clark gets first endorsement...
Wesley Clark has received his first endorsement from the Exeter News-Letter:

Clark is an intelligent man who brings to this campaign a sense of where he wants to bring America. He has a vision and the varied experience that makes him uniquely qualified among the Democratic candidates to answer the question of how America will ford the seemingly impassable waters that now surround us. He is also a man who is not driven by ideology, but rather a deep and abiding desire to find the best solutions to strengthen all Americans and our reputation around the world.

The Concord Monitor is going to make its endorsement on Sunday. I would bet anything that it will be Dean, although there is a slim chance that it could be Clark or Kerry. The Monitor has been fawning over Dean for months so don't be surprised.

... and supports the dictator school
The Boston Globe this morning is reporting that Clark is a fan of the School of the Americas: ["Facing questions, Clark backs Army school"].

"There's been a lot of rotten people who've gone to a lot of rotten schools in the history of the world. And a lot of them went to this school. But a lot of them have gone to Harvard Business School and a lot of other places."

Yeah but very few people went to Harvard Business School to learn how to torture, rape and repress people! That school teaches people to do this and America shouldn't be about teaching foreigners how to repress others. You could make the case that the business school might teach bad economics - and hence produce "rotten" students - but that is a stretch. However, why should we be surprised by this? Clark voted for Reagan twice and Bush 41. If he becomes the Democratic nominee it will be a travesty.

Other stuff:
The Boston Phoenix's David Bernstein has a cute story catching the Dean campaign in another fib - whether they actually participated in the D.C. primary or not: ["Dean wants it both ways"].
Kucinich's date gets engaged: PoliticsNH.com reports this morning that Gina Marie Santore, the woman who won the site's "Who Wants To Be A First Lady" contest, has become engaged to her boyfriend. She flew to Manchester and had breakfast with Kucinich, the only bachelor running for president. "If I had known it would only take an hour with a congressman (to finally get engaged), I would've called Rob Andrews to request a meeting," said Santore, who worked on Andrews' congressional staff ten years ago. Just goes to show you guys - don't risk letting a good thing get by.
Norm Solomon takes a subtle shot at Nader: ["Presidential Campaign Fever: Too Much "Vision" Without Hearing"]. Solomon makes some good points but I can't help but counter some of the other points:

"Early this month Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, wrote that 'above all, today there is a recognition, even among many Greens, that the risk of another four years of Bush may be too great to bear.' Referring to Nader’s prospective independent presidential campaign, Rothschild added: 'There is no groundswell of grassroots support for such a move; it is almost totally individualistic.'"

Well, there may be no "groundswell of grassroots support" but there is support. In Bedford, N.H. last weekend at the "Choosing an Independent President" conference, hundreds of people gave Nader two standing ovations and cheered him constantly during the speech. I don't know if there will be support to do the hard work - and impossible task - of launching an independent campaign. It will be much harder than 2000 when Nader had the assistance of numerous Green organizations. But that will be the key. If there isn't support to do the hard work, Nader won't get anywhere and the campaign will be over before it starts.

"In politics, with media coverage devoting an inordinate amount of attention to individual personas, mainstream news outlets frequently present the individual as the engine that pulls history forward. But progressive leadership can’t be successful when it is out of sync with social movements."

If there is one thing that I have learned in the past it's that "progressive leadership" is an oxymoron. Second, if we have to wait around for the "social movements" to galvanize people, nothing will ever get done. Too often, the social movement people worry about petty things and lose sight of the big picture. More often than not, nothing gets done until someone picks up the mantle and leads. Can we really wait around for the movement people to get their act together to lead? I don't think there is time for that.

"Often it’s much more difficult to challenge those you hold in high regard than those you disdain. So far, many progressive leaders and journalists who don’t think twice about denouncing George W. Bush or criticizing Democratic presidential candidates have hesitated to make public their private negative views of a Nader presidential campaign this year."

This is such a load of crap and it makes me wonder if Solomon is living in a shell. Democrats - progressives and centrists - have been attacking Nader and the people who helped him during the 2000 campaign for years now! None have been more vocal now than the people on the left who are scorning all over the Web, setting up cheesy "RalphDontRun" Web sites and other nonsense. They haven't been "private" about their negative views at all. Frankly, I'm sick of their complaining and belly-aching. If Nader wants to run, so be it. It doesn't mean anyone has to vote for him.
The Democrats are on the verge of nominating a flip-flopping hypocrite who is going to get squashed by Bush anyway. At least with Nader - and other independent candidates - voters have the choice of more than two candidates.

The shifting sands of polling ...
The polls are all over the place now:
Zogby's latest Iowa numbers: Kerry 23 percent, Howard Dean falling to 19 percent, Dick Gephardt at 18 percent, and John Edwards with 17 percent. At the bottom, Wesley Clark has 3 percent, Dennis Kucinich comes in with 2 percent, and the Rev. Al Sharpton with 0.2 percent. Undecideds make up 11 percent.
In New Hampshire, the polls shift but have similarities:
American Research Group's latest tracking poll shows a Dean slip: Dean at 28 percent, Clark with 22 percent, Kerry at 18 percent, with Edwards [8], Joe Lieberman [6], Gephardt [3], and Kucinich [1], far behind. Undecideds make up 14 percent.
The Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/KRC Communications Research shows Dean at 32 percent, Clark at 23 percent, and Kerry with 12 percent.
Survey USA posted a new poll from Delaware, an early primary state: Dean with 27 percent, Clark at 18 percent, Sharpton with an amazing 13 percent, Gephardt with 11 percent, Lieberman with 10 percent, Kerry with 7 percent, and Edwards with 6 percent.
The polling firm also posted numbers from Illinois: Dean with 29 percent, Gephardt with 16 percent, Moseley Braun with 14 percent, Clark with 13 percent, Kerry at 7 percent, Edwards at 6 percent, and Lieberman with 5 percent. This poll was taken before Braun dropped out.
In a Field Poll out of California, the first one since October, Dean has taken a slim lead: Dean 25 percent, Clark at 20 percent, Lieberman with 12 percent, Kerry at 7 percent, and Gephardt in with 6 percent. Undecideds make up 21 percent. Shockingly, Bush has slight leads [3 to 10 percent] over all the Democrats in what many considered a safe Democratic state.
The Public Policy Institute reports other numbers from California, with Dean at 31 percent, Clark at 14 percent, Lieberman at 8 percent, Kerry with 6 percent, and Gephardt with 5 percent.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP
Moseley Braun is out:
Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun is expected to end her presidential campaign today and throw her support behind Howard Dean: ["Braun to drop out of race, will endorse Dean"].
This comes as a bit of a surprise. Why quit with just four days until the Iowa Caucuses and 12 days until the New Hampshire primary? While her campaign was ill-conceived from the start - with some thinking she was only running to siphon votes off from the Rev. Al Sharpton - why quit before the first two big voting events? It doesn't make any sense. Although, there were rumors that her campaign was in debt. Because she was so low in the polls, many of Braun's negatives didn't come out - like her cozy relationship with African dictators and past campaign finance problems - although Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" reportedly tore into Braun about the dictator issue. However, Braun was impressive in the debates. She was thoughtful in her demeanor, and looked and acted presidential.

Other stuff:
There have been rumors around New Hampshire that the Dean campaign has been telling independents via a push poll that they can't vote in the primaries. American Research Group reported on the anomaly after starting their tracking polls. A number of elderly independent voters had told ARG phoners that they had been told they couldn't vote. At least one voter said when she told the phoner that she was voting for Dean, the caller said she actually could vote and was mistaken. The Dean campaign has denied any involvement in the push poll. However, the AG's office has now gotten into the act: ["State explains independents can vote in coming primary"].
The Phoenix's Adam Reilly posts his Ralph Nader speech story although it has more to do with the fringe past [and present] of the conference's organizers, Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman: ["ChIP off the old block"].
Actually, as always, the Phoenix has a lot of good presidential features and coverage this week, including reports filed from the Clark ["Catch a fire"], Dean ["Freezing for Dean"], and Kerry campaigns ["Kerry on"].
Author Paul Loeb says progressives should back Dean over Kucinich: ["Dean And Kucinich"].
More analysis on the bad news of NAFTA: ["NAFTA's legacy -- profits and poverty"].

More polls
Zogby's latest poll from Iowa shows John Kerry taking over the lead in what is essentially a four-way race: Kerry at 22 percent, Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt at 21 percent, and John Edwards with 17 percent.
American Research Group released its latest New Hampshire numbers: Dean with 32 percent, Clark with 22 percent, Kerry with 13 percent, and Lieberman with 9 percent. Undecideds make up 16 percent of the poll.
Suffolk University/Channel 7 in Boston have a new poll out from New Hampshire: Dean with 32 percent, Clark with 17 percent [up from 10 in their last poll], Kerry at 12, Lieberman in with 11 percent [up from 6], with Gephardt and Edwards both down to 3 percent. Undecidedsmake up 16 percent.
While it isn't scientific, TruthOut.org posted poll results from almost 24,000 of their readers: Dennis Kucinich would get 44.5 percent, Dean with 32.4 percent, Wesley Clark with 14.6 percent, Kerry at 3.6 percent, and Edwards with 2.4 percent.

Is Moseley Braun out?
The ticker-tape on MSNBC is reporting that Carol Moseley Braun will end her presidential bid and back Howard Dean. This is a bit strange since she was just on FoxNews last night talking about her campaign and how she was "in it to win." However, she was broadcasting via satellite from Chicago - her home town. There is nothing on her Web site and nothing from a google.com news search.

POLITICAL ROUNDUP
Fly the Kerry skies:
The John Kerry campaign announced last night that Kerry would be Iowa-hopping in a helicopter over the next few days leading up to the Caucuses. "The clock is ticking, and John Kerry is fighting harder than ever to let every Iowan know that he is on their side, and ready to take on George Bush," said Kerry spokesperson Stephanie Cutter.

["Dick Gephardt Says Dean Can't Be Trusted"].

"To me, there is no room for the cynical politics of manufactured anger and false conviction. I believe in standing for something ... Howard Dean travels the country and yells and pounds the podium against NAFTA, against the secrecy of the Bush-Cheney White House, and against insider corporate deals. This is the same Howard Dean who said he 'strongly supported NAFTA,' who won't release his records as governor, and who wanted Vermont to 'overtake Bermuda' as a tax haven for companies like Enron."

Right on! The Gephardt campaign also targeted Dean after his attacks on Wesley Clark's jobs proposal. The campaign noted that both Dean and Clark supported NAFTA and the China trade deals:

Clark on NAFTA: "I was so pleased that President Bush called for a North American Free Trade Agreement... We're going to find tremendous prosperity... We're going to find it in the state of Arkansas and even the city of Little Rock. Maybe even northwest Arkansas will benefit from all this. We've seen it already in NAFTA. We're going to see it tenfold in the years ahead." [Source: speech by Gen. Clark at the Lincoln Day dinner for the Pulaski County Republican Party, Little Rock, AR, 5/11/01. Printed in Wall Street Journal, 9/28/03.]

Lieberman whacks Clark:
In another press release today, Joe Lieberman, who has seen slight gains in New Hampshire, whacks Wesley Clark for having seven - that's right - seven different positions on the invasion of Iraq!

Position 1: October 2002: For The War.
Although he publicly questioned the Bush doctrine of preemptive war, Clark said he supported the war resolution in early October 2002 – the day before it came to a vote – and advised then-congressional candidate Katrina Swett to vote for the resolution "after vigorous debate." "'Certainly in certain cases we should go to war before our enemies strike, and I think this situation applies here," he said. He now says "I don't remember all of the specifics" about his conversation with Swett. As late as April 2003, in an op-ed in the Times of London after the fall of Baghdad, Clark wrote that Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair “should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt."
[AP, 10/9/02; www.politicsnh.com, 10/9/02; ABC’s Good Morning America, 10/15/03; Wesley Clark, What Must Be Done to Complete A Great Victory, The London Times, 4/10/03]

Position 2: September 18, 2003: Probably For The War.
The Washington Post reported that Clark said he "probably" would have voted for the resolution, and characterized his position as resembling that of Senators Lieberman and Kerry, "both of whom voted for the war but now question President Bush's stewardship of the Iraqi occupation. 'That having been said, I was against the war as it emerged because there was no reason to start it when we did. We could have waited,' Clark said."
[Washington Post, 9/19/03]

Position 3: September 18, 2003: "I’ve Said It Both Ways."
But the New York Times reported that on the same day, Clark admitted that "I don't know if I would have [voted for the resolution] or not. I've said it both ways, because when you get into this, what happens is you have to put yourself in a position. On balance, I probably would have voted for it."
[New York Times, 9/20/03]

Position 4: September 19, 2003: Against the War.
"'Let's make one thing real clear, I would never have voted for this war," Clark told the Associated Press the next day. "I've gotten (sic) a very consistent record on this." The New York Times reported Clark said "What I would have voted for is leverage. Leverage for the United States to avoid a war."
[Washington Post, 9/20/03; New York Times, 9/20/03]

Position 5: October 6, 2003: For The War…With Exceptions.
Just a few weeks later, Clark reportedly told a town hall meeting in Little Rock that "the only resolution he would have supported were proposals giving the president the support of Congress to go to the United Nations and see a war resolution” and requiring that the President return to Congress for final permission to go to war. "'I would have voted for leverage to get the problem internationalized,' he said."
[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/6/03]

Position 6: October 22, 2003: "I Wasn’t Following the Resolution."
In a call to a Boston Globe reporter, Clark reiterated that he “would have voted no on that resolution." Asked why he had advised Katrina Swett to support the resolution, he responded, "Because I wasn't following the resolution and I didn't even know what was in the resolution … My message is that I am not a political consultant, period." But according to the Associated Press, Swett said that "Clark was ‘extremely intelligent and well-spoken’ on the resolution when discussing it with her. 'At that time, frankly, he spoke with great knowledge about Iraq and the upcoming vote,' she said. 'My impression is that he knew more about it than most of us.'"
[Boston Globe, 10/24/03; AP, 10/24/03]

Position 7: November 24, 2003: "…I Bobbled the Question…"
"With respect to the opening of my campaign, I want to tell you, I bobbled the question on the first day of the campaign in the back of an airplane."
[Clark, DNC/MSNBC Debate, 11/24/03].
Man, this stuff is great. Lieberman also announced that he is the first candidate to air TV and radio ads in Delaware.

Is Kucinich electable?
He seems to think so and his campaign has released a whole page on why: ["Is Kucinich Electable? Can He Beat Bush?"]

Other stuff:
Ducking talk about the death penalty?: ["Death Penalty Debate Absent From Election Talk"].
Finally, Christians are taking on President Bush - but for the wrong reasons: ["New Christian site: Don't vote for 'W'"]. You gotta love these guys [sarcasm]. Obsess over gays. Obsess over abortion. What about Christ's policy of unconditional love? What about thousands killed in a needless war over oil? There is a great bumpersticker I have been seeing in my parking lot every morning, paraphrasing: One killing is murder. Thousands murdered is foreign policy.
The CFR: Isn't if funny that all these Democratic candidates [and Republicans, when they are running] march right over to the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan to do their little foreign policy speeches. Yet, if you openly talk about the CFR conspiracy - i.e. how they have influenced foreign policy in America for decades, creating wars, making the world safe for big business, towards a New World Order, etc. - you are laughed at as a lunatic with claims that "there is no CFR"? Here's Gephardt's coverage at the CFR yesterday: ["Bush dismissed advice to give inspectors time, Gephardt says"].

Latest poll numbers
Survey USA has new South Carolina numbers, with most of the candidates trending up over previous numbers: Howard Dean at 25 percent, Wesley Clark at 23 percent, John Edwards at 17 percent, the Rev. Al Sharpton at 12 percent, Dick Gephardt down to 6 percent, and Joe Lieberman in at 5 percent. Undecideds make up 7 percent.
Zogby's new New Hampshire numbers show a solid Dean: Dean at 32 percent, Clark with 20 percent, Kerry in at 13 percent, and Lieberman with 9 percent.
Behavior Research Center has new numbers out of Arizona showing a two-way race: Dean with 29 percent, Clark close with 26 percent, Lieberman at 6 percent, with uncommitted making up 25 percent.