There are only 12 days to go until the national
referendum on the CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCE and
CHARACTER of the _resident, the VICE _resident and the
US regime stream news media that fronts for
it…Please read these SIX pieces and share them
with others. They deserve to dominate the air waves
and capture headlines above the fold, but they will
not because the US regimestream news media is a full
partner in a Triad of shared special interest (e.g.,
energy, weapons, media, pharmaceuticals, chemicals,
tobacco, etc) with the Bush Cabal and its
wholly-owned-subsidiary-formerly-known-as-the-Republican-Party…Please
vote and encourage others to vote… The very life of
the Republic itself is at stake. If enough of us vote
they cannot steal it… The Bush abomination is an
illegitimate, corrupt and incompetent regime. There is
an Electoral Uprising coming at the Ballot Box on
November 2…Remember, in this national referendum, when
you vote NO on the Bush abomination you are also
voting NO on the US regimestream news media, which has
fronted for it and provided cover for this illegitimate, corrupt and incompetent regime…Save the Republic on November 2, 2004. If enough of us vote they cannot steal it…Frodo lives!
BuzzFlash: You’ve endorsed Senator John Kerry for president. Tell us why you think Senator Kerry would be a better commander in chief in protecting our country.
Lorie Van Auken: I have many reasons. First of all, this president waited 14 months for an investigation. We think that there should have been an investigation right away. Then they fought funding it properly. Then they fought providing certain documents. Then we fought to have pertinent people appear before the commission, like Condoleezza Rice. And, of course, President Bush and Vice President Cheney walked hand in hand to see the commission for only an hour, behind closed doors, totally off the record, so nobody would really ever hear what they had to say. It ended up being longer than an hour, but still we don’t know what they testified to.
On September 11, I don’t think the president’s actions were very commander-in-chief-like. He was sitting and listening to children read a story to him. As I was watching the events on television, watching my husband being burned alive in a building, I would have thought the president would have gotten up and told children: "Please excuse me, but I have something important to attend to."
I would hope that we’d have somebody in office that would act like the commander in chief if, God forbid, we’re ever under attack again. I know that John Kerry has served in the armed forces and I know that he knows how to react in a crisis -–that’s first of all.
Second, he has pledged to enact all 41 of the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations, which this president is still fighting against. Also, Senator Kerry has said that he would like to work with our allies in the war on terrorism, which I think is the only way to actually combat what’s going on in the world. To find money lines to stop the funding of terrorists, and to share intelligence with other countries -- you need your allies to do that. I think this president has alienated our allies. I think that’s a really terrible thing.
Sidney Blumenthal, Guardian: Passing almost without notice earlier this month, the public release of The Civil Rights Record of the George W Bush Administration - the official staff report prepared by the US Civil Rights Commission - whose submission is required by federal law, was blocked by the Republican commissioners. None the less, it was posted on the commission's website: "This report finds that President Bush has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues, nor taken actions that matched his words."
Bush has held the Civil Rights Commission in contempt since its June 2001 report on Election Practices in Florida During the 2000 Campaign. Then it concluded: "The commission's findings make one thing clear: widespread voter disenfranchisement - not the dead-heat contest - was the extraordinary feature in the Florida election ... The disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of black voters." Vast efforts to mobilise or suppress African-American, Hispanic and Democratic voters have already reached a greater level of intensity than in any modern campaign. The Republicans in Ohio, for example, have attempted to toss out new Democratregistrations because it was claimed they were written on the wrong weight of paper, a gambit overruled by a federal court. From Pennsylvania to Arizona, a Republican consulting firm is discouraging new Democratic voters from getting on the rolls.
Meanwhile, the Democratic party has more than 10,000 lawyers deployed to defend against voter suppression, 2,000 stationed in Florida; civil rights groups are sending out more than 6,000 lawyers. Bush v Gore remains an open wound; and now the battle over voting rights, over democracy itself, is being fought again.
ERIN NEFF, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: If three days of early voting can constitute a trend, Democrats think the beginning of the election in Nevada bodes well for a John Kerry victory.
In Clark County, Democrats voted in greater numbers than Republicans on each of the first three days of the 14-day early voting period. Overall, Democrats had a lead of 2,104 voters.
Democrats increased turnout on each of the days, edging Republicans 45 to 41 percent Saturday, 45 to 40 percent Sunday and 46 to 40 percent Monday.
"We don't traditionally vote early," Kerry campaign spokesman Sean Smith said of Democrats. "Our internal polling showed that we would do better with voters on Election Day, so we think this is a very good start for us."
Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 57,000 in Clark County, according to registration for all eligible voters. Among active voters, the edge for Democrats is 43,000.
Associated Press: Condoleezza Rice, the White House national security adviser, is giving a flurry of speeches in political battleground states in the closing days of the campaign, bringing allegations from Sen. John Kerry's camp that she is injecting herself into the presidential race.
``George Bush will go to any length to cling to power, even if it means diverting his national security adviser from doing her job,'' Sen. John Edwards, Kerry's running mate, said Wednesday. ``It's time for a fresh start with a White House whose priority will be to focus on doing everything to make our country safer -- period.''
Rice is scheduled to give speeches in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida over the next week. In recent days, she has appeared in Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington state. Until May, Rice had not made any speeches in states considered political battlegrounds…
Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, speaking to reporters during a conference call arranged by the Kerry campaign, said Wednesday he was surprised to see Rice giving so many speeches ``which are obviously timed to coincide with the national elections.''
``I'm afraid that represents, at least in my book, excessive politicization of an office which is unusually sensitive,'' said Brzezinski, who served in the Carter administration…
``For all its fearmongering on the war on terror, this White House has a greater commitment to its political security than to our national security,'' Edwards said in Canton, Ohio. ``The fact is that the violence in Iraq is spiraling out of control, Osama bin Laden remains at large and North Korea and Iran have increased their nuclear capabilities. With all this going on, Condi Rice shouldn't take the time to go on a campaign trip for George Bush.''
Editors & Publishers: Sen. John Kerry has widened his lead in daily newspaper endorsements, landing five of the seven new additions to E&P's exclusive tally. He holds a 53-36 edge over President Bush.
It also pushes the Democrat past the 9 million mark in circulation total for backing papers. Bush trails with about 5 million. ..
Kerry has now gained at least nine "switches" - papers that backed Bush and now support the challenger. (See chart below.) At least three other papers that endorsed Bush in 2000 have declined to back either candidate this year.
Associated Press: If there is doubt about the results, they will fight without delay.
Six so-called "SWAT teams" of lawyers and political operatives will be situated around the country with fueled-up jets awaiting Kerry's orders to speed to a battleground state. The teams have been told to be ready to fly on the evening of the election to begin mounting legal and political fights. No team will be more than an hour from a battleground.
The Kerry campaign has office space in every battleground state, with plans so detailed they include the number of staplers and coffee machines needed to mount legal challenges.
"Right now, we have 10,000 lawyers out in the battleground states on Election Day, and that number is growing by the day," said Michael Whouley, a Kerry confidant who is running election operations at the Democratic National Committee.
While the lawyers litigate, political operatives will try to shape public perception. Their goal would be to persuade voters that Kerry has the best claim to the presidency and that Republicans are trying to steal it.
Democrats are already laying the public relations groundwork by pointing to every possible voting irregularity before the Nov. 2 election and accusing Republicans of wrongdoing.
On Election Day, Whouley will head the so-called "boiler room," probably in Washington, that tracks vote counts and ensures Kerry doesn't concede too soon. Whouley was the aide who, after noticing Florida was too close to call in 2000, called Gore's team in Tennessee and told them to put the brakes on the concession speech…
The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because Kerry wants the focus to be on his campaign for now.
The plan to quickly name a national security team is partly practical (at a time of war, continuity is necessary) and political, aides said, because if there is another recount Kerry will want to show he's ready to take power.
Support Our Troops, Save the US Constitution,
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the White House,
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Save the Environment, Break the Corporatist
Stranglehold on the US Mainstream News Media, Rescue
the US Supreme Court from Right-Wing Radicals, Cleanse
the White House of the Chicken Hawk Coup and Its
War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat the Triad, Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/10/int04053.html
October 21, 2004
9-11 Widow Lorie Van Auken Trusting in Kerry To Make America Safer, Realign Priorities
As I was watching the events on television, watching my husband being burned alive in a building, I would have thought the president would have gotten up and told children: "Please excuse me, but I have something important to attend to." I would hope that we’d have somebody in office that would act like the commander in chief if, God forbid, we’re ever under attack again.
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
Lorie Van Auken, the mother of two children, now 17 and 15 years old, lost her husband Kenneth Van Auken in the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Lorie is one of the “Jersey Girls”who, along with Kristen Breitweiser, Mindy Kleinberg, and Patty Casazza, fought the Bush administration tooth and nail for a commission to investigate the September 11th terrorist attacks -- and won. Lorie’s continuing fight for the truth and seeking answers about the 9-11 attacks is as personal as it is about keeping Americans safe and preventing another attack. Lorie believes that until there is full disclosure and accountability from the Bush administration, the agencies and processes that need to be fixed to prevent another attack will be left broken and Americans less safe.
Lorie, along with the other “Jersey Girls,”has endorsed Senator John Kerry for President.
We were honored to speak with Lorie Van Auken about her ongoing battles with the Bush administration over the 9-11 Commission, George W. Bush’s failure on September 11th, how Bush has made America less secure since the attacks and why she thinks John Kerry is the right man for the job.
* * *
BuzzFlash: Your late husband, Kenneth Van Auken, was killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11. Tell me how you and other widows and families formed together to organize and advocate for the creation of the 9-11 Commission -- a commission that George W. Bush fought against every step of the way?
Lorie Van Auken: Well, at first we assumed that the government would launch a commission because of the sheer scope of the tragedy. We knew we needed an investigation as to what went wrong with every agency having failed on September 11.
Then we learned that the president and the vice president had not planned an investigation into September 11, which we were completely shocked by. From our point of view, hijackers defeated our entire military with four of our own airplanes and $400,000. We would have thought that the president, on September 12, 2001, would have said: What on earth happened here? We need an investigation and we need to have a good hard look at what went wrong and do what can we do to make sure it never happens again.
Of course, that’s exactly what didn’t happen. So we realized that the only way we were going to ever get any kind of investigation was to go to Washington and have a rally and begin to request that people hear us. We wanted to make everybody understand that it wasn’t just intelligence agencies that failed. The Bush administration had asked that there only be an investigation into intelligence gathering. We knew that that was not enough because every agency had actually contributed to the failure -- the INS, the FAA, NORAD, the Port Authority -- you name it. We needed to look at all of that to find out what needed to be fixed, so we could make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
BuzzFlash: You’ve endorsed Senator John Kerry for president. Tell us why you think Senator Kerry would be a better commander in chief in protecting our country.
Lorie Van Auken: I have many reasons. First of all, this president waited 14 months for an investigation. We think that there should have been an investigation right away. Then they fought funding it properly. Then they fought providing certain documents. Then we fought to have pertinent people appear before the commission, like Condoleezza Rice. And, of course, President Bush and Vice President Cheney walked hand in hand to see the commission for only an hour, behind closed doors, totally off the record, so nobody would really ever hear what they had to say. It ended up being longer than an hour, but still we don’t know what they testified to.
On September 11, I don’t think the president’s actions were very commander-in-chief-like. He was sitting and listening to children read a story to him. As I was watching the events on television, watching my husband being burned alive in a building, I would have thought the president would have gotten up and told children: "Please excuse me, but I have something important to attend to."
I would hope that we’d have somebody in office that would act like the commander in chief if, God forbid, we’re ever under attack again. I know that John Kerry has served in the armed forces and I know that he knows how to react in a crisis -–that’s first of all.
Second, he has pledged to enact all 41 of the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations, which this president is still fighting against. Also, Senator Kerry has said that he would like to work with our allies in the war on terrorism, which I think is the only way to actually combat what’s going on in the world. To find money lines to stop the funding of terrorists, and to share intelligence with other countries -- you need your allies to do that. I think this president has alienated our allies. I think that’s a really terrible thing.
BuzzFlash: How did you and Kristen Breitweiser and Mindy Kleinberg and Patty Casazza get to be known as the “Jersey Girls”? Was that a label you gave yourselves or did it come from the media?
Lorie Van Auken: The four of us had gotten together relatively early on regarding 9-11 related issues. We supported each other. Patty Casazza was working with other families, trying to get information to them, and we were helping her. And then, when we had our rally on June 11, 2002, in Washington, D.C., there were other family members that said they would like to help us fight for the investigation. We became a group of around 12 family members that came from Connecticut and New York, and the four of us came from New Jersey, and to make it simple, we were coined the Jersey Girls. That was how this whole thing started. Because of the [Springsteen] song, it was already a known phrase, and it just stuck.
BuzzFlash: The Jersey Girls embody the power of grassroots organizing and advocacy, and you’ve had many successes. George W. Bush opposed the September 11th Commission and you won. The panel complained about a lack of money to get the job done, and you fought and got more money for it. The national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, refused to testify. You won on that. Of course, the fight is not over. As you said, the Bush administration has said it won’t implement all the recommendations if Bush gets reelected. There are still many pages and documents from the Commission that have not been declassified and released. Beyond November 2, what’s next for you and the families? What work do you still feel you have to do?
Lorie Van Auken: We don’t project forward. We generally just find the next roadblock that we have to somehow circumvent. I think the only reason we’ve been able to keep going is knowing that we have more work to do.
We still have the 28 pages that need to be declassified from the Joint Intelligence Committee Report. We really need to understand who funded the 9-11 attacks. I don’t think protecting anybody at this stage is a good idea. I think we all need to face the facts, and we need to keep it from happening again. Our theme is to just try to make the country safer, and we can’t do that by shrouding any of this in secrecy.
The Bush administration claims national security is the reason, but they’re actually protecting three-year-old sources. I would say classify anything that really has to do with our national security. But from what we’ve heard from people who have read the information, this isn’t about that. It’s because members of the Bush administration feel some kind of embarrassment that we’re protecting someone or something. That’s really not a good reason to keep information classified.
BuzzFlash: What is your response to Vice President Dick Cheney, who continues to lie on a daily basis, claiming that there was a connection between Iraq and the September 11 attacks, even though the commission itself said that it found no credible evidence of any link?
Lorie Van Auken: Vice President Cheney said in the debate with Senator Edwards that he never suggested that there was a connection between 9-11 and Iraq. But of course he previously suggested that there was a connection. He suggested it many times, and he more than suggested it. But now, in the debate, he said he never suggested a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. I don’t know what to think other than maybe he’s coming around with the findings from the commission.
BuzzFlash: I know you and the other Jersey Girls have been fighting so hard because you don’t want to see another family go through what you had to go through on that awful day. Do you feel that the Bush administration has made America at all safer since 9-11?
Lorie Van Auken: No. We feel that they have done the opposite and made Americans less safe. When we went into Afghanistan right after September 11, we had the support of our allies in the world because they were going to disrupt and destroy terrorist training camps. That would have been the right thing to do -- to try to find Osama bin Laden, who perpetrated the attack.
However, before that job was done, the Bush administration pulled our troops –- America’s sons and daughters –- and put them into Iraq, leaving Afghanistan to the warlords and drug dealers. Opium production is at all-time highs from what we understand, and that was one of the ways the terrorists got their funding. I think that’s certainly not making us any safer. We shouldn’t be enabling terrorists with funding and we shouldn’t have left the terrorist camps with the potential to regroup and reform.
From what I understand, Kabul may be taken care of, but the rest of Afghanistan is really falling by the wayside. They’re moving troops into Iraq without any planning, and they’re not protecting the antiquities of the cradles of civilization, which is not a way to win hearts and minds. We have inflamed the sentiments of the Iraqi people against Americans with the situation at Abu Ghraib. That does not make us any safer, and it might increase the recruitment of terrorists. I do not feel the Bush administration has done a good job on any of these fronts.
BuzzFlash: It has always surprised me that the administration put up so many roadblocks and opposed the 9-11 Commission just on purely political terms. It feels like the administration has a lot to hide. Did it surprise you that they set up roadblocks every step of the way?
Lorie Van Auken: Yes, it’s just been the height of hypocrisy to say that you’re trying to make the country safer, but not want to look at what went wrong on September 11. It always defied logic, because you’d think that they’d want to take a look at where the holes were, where the problems were, how did the terrorists get here, how did they accomplish what they accomplished on September 11. We would have thought that the most important thing would have been to take a good hard look at everything, examine it and then fix it and make sure that it couldn’t ever happen again. And that’s not how that went.
BuzzFlash: If you could meet face to face with President Bush, what would you say to him?
Lorie Van Auken: I would say that we’ve had four years of leadership that really has not been good for our country. You’ve taken us down a path where I just don’t think we’re respected in the world anymore. For the good of the country, you should step down.
BuzzFlash: Laurie, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Lorie Van Auken: You’re welcome. Thank you.
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
* * *
Resources:
New York Times: 9-11 Widows Skillfully Applied the Power of a Question: Why?
Newsday: 9-11 wives take on government and win
Washington Post: Driven by Their 9-11 Fears, Widows Pin Hopes on Kerry
Bucks County Courier Times: Sept. 11 widows bash Bush
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1332231,00.html
America's hidden vote
Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday October 21, 2004
The Guardian
Passing almost without notice earlier this month, the public release of The Civil Rights Record of the George W Bush Administration - the official staff report prepared by the US Civil Rights Commission - whose submission is required by federal law, was blocked by the Republican commissioners. None the less, it was posted on the commission's website: "This report finds that President Bush has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues, nor taken actions that matched his words."
Bush has held the Civil Rights Commission in contempt since its June 2001 report on Election Practices in Florida During the 2000 Campaign. Then it concluded: "The commission's findings make one thing clear: widespread voter disenfranchisement - not the dead-heat contest - was the extraordinary feature in the Florida election ... The disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of black voters."
Vast efforts to mobilise or suppress African-American, Hispanic and Democratic voters have already reached a greater level of intensity than in any modern campaign. The Republicans in Ohio, for example, have attempted to toss out new Democratregistrations because it was claimed they were written on the wrong weight of paper, a gambit overruled by a federal court. From Pennsylvania to Arizona, a Republican consulting firm is discouraging new Democratic voters from getting on the rolls.
Meanwhile, the Democratic party has more than 10,000 lawyers deployed to defend against voter suppression, 2,000 stationed in Florida; civil rights groups are sending out more than 6,000 lawyers. Bush v Gore remains an open wound; and now the battle over voting rights, over democracy itself, is being fought again.
Since 2002, when Republicans exploited terrorism to besmirch the patriotism of Democrats in the midterm elections, what can only be called a new Democratic party has been summoned into existence by extra-party groups. More than 100,000 activists are tramping through the precincts. In Ohio alone, more than 300,000 new Democratic voters have been added, Cecile Richards, director of America Votes, told me. These registrations of literally millions of new voters did not just happen; they were organised.
The polls, nearly all showing a dead-even race, fail to account for the new voters, who have no past records. They do not measure those for whom a mobile is their main phone - 6% of the population - who will vote Democrat by a margin of two-and-a-half to one.
The Democracy Corps poll, however, filters in newly registered voters. Four months ago, the newly registered made up only 1% of the sample. One month ago, they comprised 4%. Now they are at 7% and rising. And they will vote for Kerry over Bush by 61% to 37%.
Bush's job approval has fallen now to 47 in this poll; presidents below 50 always lose. Bush has not campaigned in Ohio for three weeks, though he plans to stop there this week. Unemployment continues to rise in the state. "There is no other explanation for his absence," says Stanley Greenberg, Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign pollster, "other than his numbers go down when he's there. His position on jobs is implausible."
Democracy Corps research shows that best-case arguments for either candidate shift no voters. The deciding factor will be turnout: the higher the turnout the larger the vote for Democrats.
Since September 11 infused Bush with a mission, he has evoked hovering angels, crusades, mushroom clouds, evildoers, shades of a universe of death. His imagery induces a dynamic of paralysis before the threat and fervour in embrace of his absolute reassurance and power. Dread without end requires faith without limit.
Yet Bush found himself on the defensive when the New York Times reported on the closed gathering of his campaign contributors, where he revealed his radical programme for his second term - rightwing capture of the supreme court, privatising social security, turning over national land to the oil companies, more tax cuts. Kerry was prompted to raise these issues. And Bush whined that Kerry was practising "the politics of fear". The next day Dick Cheney projected terrorists exploding nuclear weapons within the US, and offered Bush as saviour from looming apocalypse.
"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as terror," wrote Edmund Burke. But not even the eve of destruction will stifle turnout.
• Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Clinton, is Washington bureau chief of salon.com
sidney_blumenthal@yahoo.com
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Oct-20-Wed-2004/news/25041088.html
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
EARLY VOTING: Democrats grab turnout lead
Party says kickoff to election in Nevada bodes well for Kerry win
By ERIN NEFF
REVIEW-JOURNAL
If three days of early voting can constitute a trend, Democrats think the beginning of the election in Nevada bodes well for a John Kerry victory.
In Clark County, Democrats voted in greater numbers than Republicans on each of the first three days of the 14-day early voting period. Overall, Democrats had a lead of 2,104 voters.
Democrats increased turnout on each of the days, edging Republicans 45 to 41 percent Saturday, 45 to 40 percent Sunday and 46 to 40 percent Monday.
"We don't traditionally vote early," Kerry campaign spokesman Sean Smith said of Democrats. "Our internal polling showed that we would do better with voters on Election Day, so we think this is a very good start for us."
Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 57,000 in Clark County, according to registration for all eligible voters. Among active voters, the edge for Democrats is 43,000.
The Kerry campaign strategy aims at winning Clark County by 9 percent in order to offset the huge Republican advantage throughout 15 rural Nevada counties and a sizable advantage for the GOP in Washoe County.
Washoe County records also showed a good turnout by Democrats. At the county's only early-vote site, Democrats outnumbered Republican voters 387 to 312, according to Saturday totals.
Democrats said they believe nonpartisan voters are going to vote in greater numbers for Kerry.
"We think the nonpartisans or independent voters are going to be breaking for us," Smith said, citing internal polls.
But Republicans said they like the position they're in with the early-vote numbers because they believe Democrats need to have an even larger turnout advantage in Clark County to carry the state.
"We're pleased with where we are at this point," said Bush-Cheney spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.
Tuesday night, Democrats launched a national get-out-the-vote campaign in Las Vegas with Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, and a performance by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters rock band.
"We've seen energy for months and months now," said state Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers. "People have been excited for months; they're voting for change."
Unlike in past years, Democrats and numerous left-leaning tax-exempt advocacy groups -- known as 527s -- in Nevada are actively working to get voters to the polls early.
In interviews at the Meadows mall early voting site Monday and Tuesday, a majority of voters said they had voted for Kerry.
"I view this as a choice between a poor president and a fair senator," said Lois Estoque, a registered Democrat voting for Kerry. "But this is an important election year, and the presidential race is the most important."
Sharon Mitchell voted for Kerry on Tuesday at Meadows mall because she said she worries about health insurance and about her son serving in the military.
Republican George Melendrez said he voted early because he wanted to beat the rush on Election Day to vote for president.
"We just moved here, and we don't know any of the state issues, but being Republicans, we are morally speaking that we cannot vote for someone who is for abortion, like Kerry," Melendrez said. "Abortion is murder."
Out of 45 interviews at the mall Monday and Tuesday, 26 voters said they were voting for Kerry, 12 said they were voting for Bush, six declined to offer their selection and one voted for Libertarian Michael Badnarik.
Republicans have focused considerable efforts on mail-in voting, contacting thousands of voters to offer them a mail ballot. Roughly 11,000 mail ballots were turned in through the first three days, compared with 54,000 early votes through 5 p.m. Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Condoleezza-Rice-Politics.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position
October 20, 2004
Edwards Chides Rice Over State Speeches
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:49 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Condoleezza Rice, the White House national security adviser, is giving a flurry of speeches in political battleground states in the closing days of the campaign, bringing allegations from Sen. John Kerry's camp that she is injecting herself into the presidential race.
``George Bush will go to any length to cling to power, even if it means diverting his national security adviser from doing her job,'' Sen. John Edwards, Kerry's running mate, said Wednesday. ``It's time for a fresh start with a White House whose priority will be to focus on doing everything to make our country safer -- period.''
Rice is scheduled to give speeches in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida over the next week. In recent days, she has appeared in Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington state. Until May, Rice had not made any speeches in states considered political battlegrounds.
The White House defended her appearances.
``She doesn't involve herself in the political campaign,'' said communications director Dan Bartlett. ``But we're a nation at war, we're a nation that has troops in harm's way and the president has a foreign policy staff that helps explain the actions we are taking. And it's a totally appropriate role.''
Added James Wilkinson, deputy national security adviser, ``Only those who think nothing worthwhile happens outside of Washington would attack the national security adviser for accepting invitations to discuss national security policy with nonpartisan audiences in America's heartland.''
Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, speaking to reporters during a conference call arranged by the Kerry campaign, said Wednesday he was surprised to see Rice giving so many speeches ``which are obviously timed to coincide with the national elections.''
``I'm afraid that represents, at least in my book, excessive politicization of an office which is unusually sensitive,'' said Brzezinski, who served in the Carter administration.
Records provided by the White House show Rice has given 68 speeches since the beginning of the administration four years ago and that most of them were in the Washington, D.C., area. Traditionally, the national security adviser does not become involved in politics in an overt way.
``For all its fearmongering on the war on terror, this White House has a greater commitment to its political security than to our national security,'' Edwards said in Canton, Ohio. ``The fact is that the violence in Iraq is spiraling out of control, Osama bin Laden remains at large and North Korea and Iran have increased their nuclear capabilities. With all this going on, Condi Rice shouldn't take the time to go on a campaign trip for George Bush.''
Daily Endorsement Tally:
Kerry Carries Louisville, Bush Gets Riverside
By Greg Mitchell
Editor & Publisher
Tuesday 19 October 2004
New York - Sen. John Kerry has widened his lead in daily newspaper endorsements, landing five of the seven new additions to E&P's exclusive tally. He holds a 53-36 edge over President Bush.
It also pushes the Democrat past the 9 million mark in circulation total for backing papers. Bush trails with about 5 million.
Each candidate picked up one major paper. Kerry nabbed the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., while Bush secured The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif.
Others going for Kerry: Merced Sun-Star (Calif.), The Standard-Times (New Bedford, Mass.), The Daily Astorian (Astoria, Ore.), and the East Oregonian (Pendleton, Ore.). In addition to the Riverside paper, Bush picked up The News-Review (Roseburg, Ore.).
Several major papers have yet to be heard from, including: The Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Columbus Dispatch, New York Post, Boston Herald, New York Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, Saint Paul Pioneer-Press, and Denver Post, among others.
Kerry has now gained at least nine "switches" - papers that backed Bush and now support the challenger. (See chart below.) At least three other papers that endorsed Bush in 2000 have declined to back either candidate this year. Bush has picked up one "switch" from a paper that supported Gore in 2000.
Among the latest editorials, the Sun-Star wrote that Kerry "offers an experienced, steady choice to lead the nation in a different direction." The News-Review backed Bush, "with reservation," but explaining that his "conservative agenda is more attuned" than Kerry's to local residents.
Our complete tally follows, with notes on who the paper backed in 2000, if known (B for Bush and G for Gore):
John Kerry
53 newspapers total
9,223,340 daily circulation
Arizona
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) (G): 109,592
California
San Francisco Chronicle (G): 501,135
The Sacramento Bee (G): 303,841
San Jose Mercury News (G): 279,539
The Fresno Bee (G): 166,531
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) (G): 89,384
The Modesto Bee (G): 87,366
Merced Sun-Star: 17,247
Colorado
Daily Camera (Boulder) (B): 33,419
Connecticut
The Day (New London) (B): 39,553
Florida
St. Petersburg Times (G): 358,502
The Miami Herald (G): 325,032
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale) (G): 268,927
The Palm Beach Post (G): 181,727
Daytona Beach News-Journal (G): 112,945
Florida Today (Melbourne) (G): 90,877
Bradenton Herald (B): 52,163
Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : 418,323
Illinois
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights) (B): 150,794
Iowa
The Hawk Eye (Burlington) (G): 19,000
Kentucky
The Courier-Journal (Louisville) (G): 216,934
Lexington Herald-Leader (G): 122,748
Maine
Portland Press Herald (G): 73,211
Massachusetts
The Boston Globe (G): 452,109
The Standard-Times (New Bedford): 35,299
Michigan
Detroit Free Press (G): 354,581
The Muskegon Chronicle (B): 46,505
The Argus-Press (Owosso): 11,438
Minnesota
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (G): 377,058
Duluth News Tribune: 45,688
The Free Press (Mankato): 21,591
Missouri
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (G): 281,198
The Kansas City Star (G): 269,188
Columbia Daily Tribune (B): 18,874
Nevada
Nevada Appeal (Carson City): 15,296
New Mexico
The Albuquerque Tribune (B): 13,536
New York
The New York Times (G): 1,133,763
North Carolina
The Charlotte Observer (G): 231,369
The Daily Reflector (Greenville): 25,777
North Dakota
Grand Forks Herald (G): 32,385
Ohio
Dayton Daily News (G): 183,175
Akron Beacon Journal (G): 139,220
Oregon
The Oregonian (Portland) (B): 342,040
Mail Tribune (Medford): 35,524
The Register-Guard (Eugene) (G): 72,411
East Oregonian (Pendleton): 10,236
The Daily Astorian (Astoria): 8,429
Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Inquirer (G): 387,692
The Philadelphia Daily News (G): 139,983
Tennessee
The Jackson Sun (G): 35,561
Virginia
The Roanoke Times: 100,447
Washington
The Seattle Times (B): 237,303
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (G): 150,901
The Star (Grand Coulee): no circ available ________________________________________
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102104L.shtml
Kerry Aims to Avoid Gore Recount Mistakes
The Associated Press
Wednesday 20 October 2004
Washington - Sen. John Kerry has a simple strategy if the presidential race is in doubt on Nov. 3, the day after the election: Do not repeat Al Gore's mistakes.
Unlike the former vice president, who lost a recount fight and the 2000 election, Kerry will be quick to declare victory on election night and begin defending it. He also will be prepared to name a national security team before knowing whether he's secured the presidency.
"The first thing we will do is make sure everybody has an opportunity to vote and every vote is counted," said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "We will be ready to hit the ground running and begin a fresh start in this country, given that so many critical issues are before us."
The prospects for another contested election grow with every poll showing the race neck and neck.
Gore prematurely conceded the 2000 race to George W. Bush, then had to retract his concession after aides said Florida wasn't lost. He never declared victory, an omission Kerry's advisers - many of whom worked for Gore - now believe created a sense of inevitability in voters' minds about Bush's presidency.
Gore didn't plan for the legal showdown, though few could have predicted it before Election Day. And he watched as Bush seized political advantage during the 36-day recount by publicly discussing a transition to the White House.
Not this time, promise Kerry's advisers. If there is doubt about the results, they will fight without delay.
Six so-called "SWAT teams" of lawyers and political operatives will be situated around the country with fueled-up jets awaiting Kerry's orders to speed to a battleground state. The teams have been told to be ready to fly on the evening of the election to begin mounting legal and political fights. No team will be more than an hour from a battleground.
The Kerry campaign has office space in every battleground state, with plans so detailed they include the number of staplers and coffee machines needed to mount legal challenges.
"Right now, we have 10,000 lawyers out in the battleground states on Election Day, and that number is growing by the day," said Michael Whouley, a Kerry confidant who is running election operations at the Democratic National Committee.
While the lawyers litigate, political operatives will try to shape public perception. Their goal would be to persuade voters that Kerry has the best claim to the presidency and that Republicans are trying to steal it.
Democrats are already laying the public relations groundwork by pointing to every possible voting irregularity before the Nov. 2 election and accusing Republicans of wrongdoing.
On Election Day, Whouley will head the so-called "boiler room," probably in Washington, that tracks vote counts and ensures Kerry doesn't concede too soon. Whouley was the aide who, after noticing Florida was too close to call in 2000, called Gore's team in Tennessee and told them to put the brakes on the concession speech.
Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill will be with Kerry in Boston, where they will field Whouley's calls.
Jim Johnson, who headed Kerry's vice presidential search team, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and longtime Kerry aide David McKean lead the team planning Kerry's transition to the White House.
Aides say the transition process is behind schedule, but Kerry will be ready to name a national security team shortly after the election. They say he has candidates in mind, but is reluctant to discuss the transition while campaigning.
The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because Kerry wants the focus to be on his campaign for now.
The plan to quickly name a national security team is partly practical (at a time of war, continuity is necessary) and political, aides said, because if there is another recount Kerry will want to show he's ready to take power.
Amid the tumult of the 2000 recount, Bush sought to make his presidency appear as a matter of time by leaking word of his national security team and bringing news cameras into his transition meetings. Gore and his staff were more reluctant to talk about the appointment process.
Kerry's advisers say Bush would have a natural political advantage in a recount in this election because he is the president, with a national security team in place and a public relations spotlight that comes with the White House.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
Article licensing and reprint options