AMERICA - The Right Way!! (Day 1082) [Remember the Trade Center!!]

Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!!

Moveon.org had been running a contest for its members to produce a 30-second ad spot that opposed the current president. Recently the site had been criticized for this effort as members produced ads that suggested a relationship between President Bush's leadership and that of Adolf Hitler. Now the winning ad has been chosen, and moveon.org has chosen its place in history. The winning ad is yet another "Bush is Hitler" type spot.

Gov. Dean has decided it is time he is no longer the candidate who is willing to speak his mind. In a move reminiscint of that great reinventor, Algore, Gov. Dean has decided to remake his image, and has now told the press that he is no longer going to be as available as he was. Polls show his lead over Gen. Clark shrinking dramatically in the last month. Maybe that has something to do with it.

The IMF has weighed in on the US budget deficit, saying that it will hurt the world's economy by driving up international rates of interest.

Unusually warm weather in the Washington, DC, area is often responsible for the growth of many rather strange species during those periods. The recent episode of above average temperatures was no exception--the species globulus warmicus made an appearance. The species is noted for a dogmatic adherence to the as yet unproven theory the Earth is in a warming environment because of the activities of mankind. The latest sighting of the species was coupled with their claim that global warming will be responsible for the elimination of 25% of the world's species of plants and animals over the next few decades.

And, finally, in the "I can't possibly make this stuff up folks" category, in West Bend, WI, a man claims cable TV caused him to be addicted to TV, his wife to be overweight, and his kids to be lazy. He intends to sue the local cable TV company, saying his addiction resulted from getting four years of free cable TV--which occurred after he tried to cancel his cable subscription. Timothy Dumouchel stated: "I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years." In response to the threat of a lawsuit, the cable TV outlet responded by saying: "Even though we consider our services to be a very powerful entertainment product, I don’t think it’s reached a medical level yet where it could be proved to be addictive."

Because of the 'Dust Up' I got involved in at my meeting yesterday, I put a lot of other things out of my mind last night. I forgot an important tidbit I gleaned from the Forum of Campaign Managers last night.

Apparently the Dean Campaign has inquired of the State Democrat Party if their 1000+ campaign workers, imported from outside the state, can establish temporary residental status and participate and vote in the Caucuses.

It caused quite a bit of indignation from the other managers. They are asking the state party to prepare some type of a pledge card and will ask each of those out of state volunteers to sign off that they will not try to infiltrate.

On another matter: Today's column from Iowa's top political writer (the guy with the bad makeup from Sunday's debate)

By DAVID YEPSEN
Register Political Columnist
01/08/2004

Howard Dean has come an awfully long way for a guy who has yet to put one vote on the boards. Yes, he's captured a lot of the anger in the party. Yes, he's raised lots of money from small donors. Yes, he's attracting lots of young people. That, in turn, has generated a lot of media buzz, which, in turn generates even more money, bigger crowds and more buzz.

Ordinarily, candidates like all that. But in this case, we could see buyers' remorse, too. A new poll conducted by CNN/Gallup and USA Today shows President Bush would defeat Dean 59 percent to 37 percent. Such Mondalean numbers should cause rational caucus-goers to ask if they're doing the right thing by signing on with the Vermonter. (In fact, two-thirds of likely caucus-goers were undecided or were with another candidate even before this poll, and it's evidence a number of Democrats have reservations about Dean, despite all the ballyhoo.)

In the poll, Bush gets favorable ratings from 65 percent and has unfavorable marks from 35 percent. By contrast, Dean gets favorable marks from only 28 percent while 39 percent rate him unfavorably. There are 17 percent who don't know him. Bush's positive ratings are growing. So are Dean's negatives.

It's clear a president who is winning a war and has an improving economy gets tough to beat.

A couple observations about these polls, particularly ones of likely caucus-goers: Some may understate Dean's support. He's getting a ton of it from younger voters, and those people are big cell-phone users. It's difficult, if not impossible, for pollsters to contact the correct cell-phone numbers when they make random calls of likely voters.

The caucus surveys may also be understating Dick Gephardt's labor support. Some 19 international unions with 95,000 members in Iowa have endorsed Gephardt. Many of those people are not traditional Democratic caucus-goers. Some, like a lot of Teamsters, aren't even registered Democrats. That means they're not on lists of prior caucus attendees, nor are they on the lists of registered Democrats the pollsters like to tap. The same holds true for a lot of the military veterans John Kerry is attracting.

Bottom line: We may go into a caucus night not knowing for sure just what's going to happen because our radar screens have black holes.

PALMETTO PUSH? The battle for votes in South Carolina's Feb. 3 presidential primary heats up Sunday night. In Iowa.

The Brown and Black Presidential Forum is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. and will be televised live by MSNBC and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. by IPTV.

It's supposed to focus on issues of special concern to minority communities. But polls show fewer than 5 percent of the likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa will be from a minority group. So, thanks to the wonders of telecommunications, the debate may have greater resonance and audiences in communities and states with larger minority populations than Iowa's. For example, 40 to 50 percent of the vote in the South Carolina primary is expected to come from African-Americans.

But because this is the last debate before Iowa's Jan. 19 caucuses and since many caucus-goers remain undecided and care about these same issues, the event could have some consequence here. (Even if it is close to Sunday bedtimes in Hawkeyeland.)

THERE GO MY PEOPLE AND I MUST GO LEAD THEM: There is much buzz about whether Senator Tom Harkin will endorse Dean or not. Harkin, who has the wettest index finger in Iowa politics, can sense Dean's Big Mo and wants to be part of it.

The senator also likes Dean's fire on the stump. But, he also likes Gephardt's long history of support for progressive causes. Gephardt's hard-scrabble Midwestern upbringing is also more like Harkin's own childhood than Dean's privileged East Coast background.

However, this is business, and Harkin, like others, worries Gephardt's time has passed. But Harkin may want to seek re-election in 2008. If he does, he'll need a lot of the financial support from the labor unions that are now backing Gephardt. He'll also need the activists and volunteers who are helping other candidates. (As I said, this is business.)

With only days left in the campaign, Harkin would also look like a Tommy-come-lately to the Dean endorsement parties, and Dean has already built an impressive organization and following among Iowans without any help from the senator. A Harkin endorsement might persuade undecided Democrats that the doctor is the way to go, but there's little time left for Harkin to do the fly-arounds and stump work needed to effectively drive home that argument.

A PLUG: I'm scheduled to interview Gephardt tonight at 6:30 on IPTV. It's part of our series of interviews with candidates and political leaders this week and next.

(Yeah, yeah, I know. That is shameless self-promotion. But what's the point of having a column if you can't plug your own show?)

http://desmoinesregister.com/opinion/stories/c5917686/23193094.html

And now I really need to get ready to take MIL to the Dr. Back late this afternoon.

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