DIRTY CAMPAIGNING?
EmailSelf-styled John Grisham hero and vice presidential also-ran JOHN EDWARDS CAME IN FIRST IN A DES MOINES REGISTER POLL of likely Democrat voters in the 2008 caucus….
Edwards, who has practically purchased a second home in Des Moines and assuredly can quickly sing THE MUSIC MAN REFRAIN of "Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown, Mason City, Keokuk, Ames, Clear Lake", is the choice of 30 percent of those polled; Sen. Hillary Clinton is next with 26 percent; last-time winner Sen. John Kerry comes in with 12 %, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack 10 %….. the poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points, so Hillary could actually be in first place.
But there ain’t no good way to spin Vilsack’s results….
Other sad sacks pulling up the rear, are former Sen. Tom Daschle (from neighboring South Dakota) with 3 percent; Sen. Russ Feingold with 3 percent; former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, 3 percent; Sen. Evan Bayh avec 2 percent; and retired general Wesley Clark, 2 percent. Pretty flimsy showing, guys.
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QUERY — If a Republican candidate for Senate put forward a flier depicting a Jewish primary opponent as hook-nosed, with money pouring out of his pockets, and as an "anti-Christ," what kind of outrage would the Democratic party and the national media muster?
Because a Virginia Democrat Senate candidate names James Webb — one endorsed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — JUST DID SO
Cue outrage?
Speaking of dirty politics…
Should the Democrats re-take Congress should we expect fewer "earmarks"?
Not necessarily, if remarks Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran made to the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner are any guide…
“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I’m going to earmark the sh-t out of it,” Moran pledged, ACCORDING TO THE ARLINGTON (VA) SUN GAZETTE
And along those scatalogical lines…. following up a fairly gross story about the mystery of who deposited an envelope full of canine feces in the office of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-CO… POLICE HAVE CITED a former professor of French at the University of Northern Colorado named Kathleen Ensz.
Yuck.
Not quite "a chicken in every pot"….
More later
jt
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It’s not surprising about John Edwards’ showing in Iowa, where he’s been campaigning so much and so often. What would be surprising is if he can muster enough campaign momentum to be a serious threat to Hillary nationally.
And, unfortunately, it seems that the Democrats have once again proven that they are no better than the Republicans, in terms of campaigning (boos and hisses to Mr. Webb) and in terms of understanding what voters want (boos and hisses to Mr. Moran). Instead of having envelopes full of cash passed to him as campaign contributions as is so often done in Chicago, Mr. Webb should have an envelope of what was delivered to Ms. Musgrave’s office given to him. Maybe then he’d get the message!
Posted by: chuck | June 12, 2006, 10:13 am 10:13 am
So, in other words, only Democrats do bad stuff. You couldn’t find any examples of republican misdeeds. Of course. That’s not what you get paid for.
Posted by: Drindl | June 12, 2006, 10:37 am 10:37 am
Republicans, stogy and umm…conservative, have trouble coming up with creative ideas, like slashing tires on busses scheduled to haul old folks to the polls, or licking a doorknob to give the republican candidate the flu, or paying vagrants with cocaine to vote, or forcing Fido’s fouling through the first class slot, not to mention the good old shout down or pie in the face.
That aside
This must be one of the special weekends when there is more left foot shooting than right foot shooting.
Posted by: flyover | June 12, 2006, 1:01 pm 1:01 pm
Presidential candidiates traveling to Iowa have been kissing Vilsack’s ring ever since his ’98 election, and it seems to have gone to his head. He is a decent governor, but not outstanding, and does not seem to posess any obvious charisma. In a crowded Democratic field, why would anyone pick Vilsack?
Posted by: Grant | June 12, 2006, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm
If John Edwards had spent as much time on the ground as Howard Dean had running up to the ’04 caucuses, Edwards would have been the Dem Nominee and everyone would be saying something like “John Kerry? That guy who dropped out of the ’04 presidential race?”. Iowans liked Edwards then so it comes as no surprise that he came out ahead in this poll. Plus, John was smart enough to ride around the state in a bus with his wife and two cuter-than-can-be little kids, and all of that goes over well in Iowa.
Hilary has good name recognition and is pretty middle of the road as Democrats go, so it is not surprising that she polled well. Her biggest liability in Iowa will be the state of her relationship with Bill. She better campaign with him by her side A LOT there if she wants to win in Iowa. And Bill better not have any bimbo erruptions leading up to the caucuses.
Tom Vilsack hasn’t announced that he is making a run for the presidency. If he had run for governor again in Iowa, he would have easily won the Dem primary that was just held. He’s not a terribly charismatic campaigner, but I think most agree that he comes across as a pretty trustworthy guy. His wife, Christie is a big asset for him — very personable and an effective campaigner. Tom has done a good job of getting things done in a divided legislature. He works well across the aisles. If he spends more time as an ex-governor campaigning, I think he will be a contender.
To me, the bad news in the poll is reserved for John Kerry. The frontrunner in Iowa caucuses in ’04 is a long way from the lead dog now.
And what about Barack Obama? Was he not included in the poll? He’s the total package. And, he can win in Iowa.
Any viable presidential candidate has to have a plan to get out of Iraq. In addition, in Iowa, they will need to address education funding and school performance (cuts in student loan programs won’t play well there, for example, and neither does the unfunded leave no child behind mandate), economic development (be nice to insurance companies in Des Moines and also, support Ethanol development and marketing as an alternative to fossil fuels), expand immigrant rights, and develop a viable plan to save social security and improve and simplify Medicare prescription drug benefits.
Anyway, it’s way too early to call the Iowa Caucuses. Ask David Yepsen from the Des Moines Register what happens when you call them before they are done – he said Howard Dean was going to win the caucuses in ’04 only a few days before they were conducted and he was dead wrong.
Posted by: Lisa | June 12, 2006, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
Can’t really assess the propriety of the cartoon without a photo of Webb’s opponent. Cartoon drawing looks like a mixture of Beavis & Butthead’s whipping boy “Mr. Anderson” and Vincent Gardenia, topped by Albert Brooks’ mop circa 1973.
Posted by: DKNY | June 13, 2006, 9:36 am 9:36 am
DKNY, agreed. Took some googling to find a photo of Miller. You can see one on this page:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/062006/06082006/197593
Posted by: Anne | June 13, 2006, 8:45 pm 8:45 pm
Absent other information, hard to call that an anti-semitic drawing. Looks more like a reasonable cartoon drawing of the candidate.
Posted by: DKNY | June 14, 2006, 9:10 am 9:10 am