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28 January 2004 By 9:30pm ET, CNN was reporting its projection that Sen. John Kerry would win the New Hampshire primary. According to CNN, the projection is based on a combination of 59% of precincts reporting and exit polls taken by media groups. The projections showed Kerry with 39% to Dean's 25%. The news, perhaps, is that the media appear to have waited until voting was complete, so as not to fall into the trap of racing for a projection while being accused of swaying the vote, as in the 2000 election. [Full Story] NEW HAMPSHIRE POLLS SHOW ROLLER-COASTER RACE New polls from New Hampshire shows an uncertain primary climate. Zogby says Dean trails Kerry by 3; Gallup says Kerry leads by 11. On the note of electability, a new Newsweek poll now shows Kerry winning 49% against Bush's 46% in November. The Boston Globe cites a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released on Sunday as showing a 7% advantage for Kerry. [Full Story] CAROL MOSELY BRAUN ENDS HER CANDIDACY, ENDORSES DEAN Former Senator and Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun has withdrawn from the race for the Democratic nomination, in advance of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Mosely Braun reportedly spoke with Dean after the most recent Iowa debate, testing his position on a number of issues. She is the only Democratic candidate who has not attacked Gov. Dean, and now joins a list of prominent African-American legislators who endorse Dean, including Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (IL), Elijiah E. Cummings (MD), and John Conyers (MI). [For more: NYT] WISCONSIN GOVERNOR WANTS INQUIRY INTO DRUG PRICING CRISIS Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin today said in the Democratic radio address that he had asked AG Ashcroft to investigate certain drug companies for anti-trust violations, after they threatened to undersupply the Canadian market in order to drive up prices. He spoke about the crisis facing seniors who cannot afford high-priced prescription drugs and who cannot get coverage, and criticized the recent legislation passed by Congress as doing nothing to help seniors. BUSH ANNOUNCES GUEST-WORKER PROGRAM President George W. Bush has announced a plan to offer temporary legal status to undocumented immigrant workers who fill jobs Americans do not. He said he wanted to match willing workers with employers and to recognize the role which such workers already play in the US economy. GEPHARDT ACCUSES BUSH OF UNDERMINING EDUCATION Salon.com reports presidential candidate Rep. Richard Gephardt accused Bush of using "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) to undermine education in order to shift funds away from public education. Gephardt told a gathering in New Hampshire:
NCLB penalizes "underperforming schools" without first funding their improvement, and allows parents to move their children away from these "failing" schools. Gephardt, who voted for the legislation, said he had hoped the flaws could be fixed, but that it now appears that NCLB is being used to program failure into the lives of American children, in order "to advance a right-wing agenda". [For more: Salon] GORE ENDORSEMENT BACKSTORY Last week, Al Gore announced his endorsement of Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination and for president in the 2004 election. Ongoing commentary about disloyalty assumes that Gore and Lieberman have long been political allies, a sort of like-minded pair at the head of the Democratic party. In fact there have been many differences... [Full Story] ALLEGED CORRUPTION ON HOUSE FLOOR Serious questions have arisen as to the methods used by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to persuade members of their party to vote in favor of the Medicare prescription drug bill. Conservative columnist Robert Novak broke the story, in which Rep. Nick Smith of Michigan, a Republican who voted against the bill, charged that various colleagues and business interests offered large amounts of money to his son's congressional campaign in exchange for a yes vote. [Full Story] BUSH GETS GOOGLED, CREATIVELY In a technique known as "Google bombing", computer users have rigged the Google search site to show the President's official White House bio when the phrase "miserable failure" is entered into the search engine. The search rigging marks one of the more prominent search engine remote programming manipulations. The incident has implications for media dissemination, in the sense that it demonstrates an ability by interested parties to manipulate the output of prominent websites without hacking or other illegal activity. [For more: Newsday]
DEAN LEADS KERRY BY 30 IN N.H. A new poll by Zogby International shows Vermont Gov. Howard Dean now leads his nearest rival, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, by 30 points in New Hampshire. The poll showed Dean with 42% support among likely primary voters and Kerry at 12%, with a +/-4.5% margin of error. The New Hampshire primary will be held January 27th, and is thought to be the first big test in the competition for the Democratic nomination to challenge President Bush. The poll is especially significant, given the degree to which Dean had been treated as an underdog outsider by Washington party leaders, and indicates that the Democratic base is looking for something other than what Washington currently has to offer. [Full Story] "MINI-NUKES" APPROVED FOR DEVELOPMENT Last week, the Bush administration quietly approved a research project into the development and deployment of nuclear "bunker-buster" bombs. Citing deeper, more secure bunkers found in Iraq, proponents say that new fortifications require new weapons. Anti-nuclear campaigners also say that the use of such weapons would confound nuclear and conventional warfare, limiting the extent to which the use of nuclear weapons could be effectively prevented by conventional or diplomatic means. [For more: Mail & Guardian] POST EDITORIAL CITES TROUBLING FIRST IN MEDICARE VOTE PROCEDURE The Washington Post published an editorial citing a troubling new development in legislative procedure. Controversy has been growing over measures taken by the Speaker of the House to obtain the desired vote totals by keeping the vote open to allow for "stragglers". But the new development was a reversal of a time-honored tradition of not allowing officials or interested parties to lobby for votes during the actual vote on the floor of the House. In this instance, HHS Secretary T. Thompson was reportedly allowed to walk the floor, "twisting arms" to persuade House members to vote in favor of the Medicare overhaul package. NEW HAMPSHIRE POLL SHOWS DEAN'S LEAD INCREASING A new poll conducted by the American Research Group, asking likely primary voters in New Hampshire which Democratic candidate they will choose, shows Dean at 38%, with Kerry at 17%. This demonstrates an increase in Dean's lead to 21 percentage points over his nearest competitor in NH. [Poll results] SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE SHUTS DOWN The US Senate committee charged with overseeing the methods of gathering and the use of intelligence has been shut down. The committee had been investigating the processing of intelligence leading up to the Iraq war began to produce calls for broadening the investigation into possible misuse or misrepresentation of intelligence by high-ranking officials. Claiming that the quality of his investigation would be jeopardized if the White House were alleged to have manipulated intelligence, Roberts agreed with Frist and shut down the committee. Democrats contend that the quality of the investigation was already compromised by a Republican refusal to investigate the White House and its use of intelligence. [Full story]
BUSH DEMANDS VOTE ON JUDGES After an all-night debate session in the Senate, the President has called for an up or down vote on all of his judicial nominees. Three controversial nominees in particular still await approval, while one has withdrawn from the process. Republicans are calling the filibusters a "constitutional crisis", while Democrats point out they have approved 98% of Bush's judicial nominees. These four were just too radical to be entrusted with the future of American democracy, Democrats say. FIGHT FOR REPRESENTATION GOES TO COURT Democrats have taken their fight for the representative soul of Texas to federal court, in an effort to block Republicans in Texas from altering the Congressional map in order to take seats away from Democrats in the next election. [Keep reading]
VETERANS IN WARTIME In the midst of an ongoing guerrilla war in Iraq, the House of Representatives has chosen the questionable politics of voting for a rule which would prohibit voting for an amendment to improve funding for veterans' healthcare. CONGRESS SEEKS NUCLEAR ADVANCES The Senate voted 51-43 to allow the administration to proceed with research for the design and manufacture of new "low-yield" nuclear weapons for battlefield deployment. Speculation about the legality of such research abounds, as it would seem to contravene a number of important treaties approved by the US (which are thus enshrined within the Constitution as the law of the land). FALLOUT FOR REPUBLICAN UNITY Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine has been targeted by pro-tax-cut groups for her resistance to the president's massive tax-cut proposal. She has cited traditional Republican values, such as fiscal responsibility and an aversion to massive deficits, as being the touchstone of her objection to the president's plan. She has said she will not go above $350 billion, while Republican leaders in the House, Senate and White House, are pushing for $550 billion minimum. Attack ads insinuating that Sen. Snowe is unpatriotic for her opposition to the president in wartime and in bad economic times has led some to speculate on the possibility of more defections from the party, by embattled moderates who feel such attacks are a betrayal and only serve to erode party unity. SATURATION POLITICS As the Democratic party seeks its footing, after the defeats of last fall, it is the more liberal, and confrontational, candidates who are drawing the favor of crowds across the country. Leading career moderates, adept at playing the fence, are adrift amid such developments and being called on to justify past support for the president they now seek to oppose. The question of what good could come from such a saturated field is commonly put forward, and some have suggested that the goal is to shift debate toward traditionally democratic issues. LEFT TURN |
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