It Ain't Rudy McRomney, But the Crowd

"Hillarycare, Obamacare" Mitt Romney's coined his own phrase (at least I haven't heard anyone else use it yet) during his luncheon with the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Romney pushed through his "universal health care plan" while he was Gov in Massachusetts. But he says he won't try to push it nationwide. While he says he's not opposed to other states doing what he did, he wants states to have the flexibility to change what they think is best to cover the uninsured.

Obama's campaign released this statement:

“What Mitt Romney doesn’t get is that the skyrocketing cost of health care is a national crisis in need of a bold solution, which is why Senator Obama has introduced a plan that would cut costs for every family by up to $2,500 and cover every single American. But, make no mistake, his plan would allow state-based efforts to continue.”

Romney can apparently draw a crowd. The Partnership originally booked the luncheon at the Embassy Club downtown. But too many RSVP's forced a change to a bigger room inside the downtown Des Moines Marriott. I'd say 125 or so showed up.

In other news...

It's time to give up on my Cardinals. Yadier Molina's now out with a fractured left wrist. What else can go wrong?

Universal Health Care? Obama says Maybe Not at First

Illinois Senator Barack Obama, a democratic candidate for President, chose the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City to unveil his plan to make sure all Americans have health care. Pledging universal health care has been one of the most-spoken promises from some of the democrats during their stops in Iowa. During his speech, Obama said, "I will sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office." But after his speech today, Obama told me his plan may not be really "universal. " He said it's "virtually universal". What's the difference?

His plan doesn't mandate coverage, except for children. Uninsured adults are encouraged to participate, so are small businesses. But no one is forced to participate. Obama says people will want to take part in this, though. He believes people will sign up for the plan, since coverage will be far cheaper. And businesses, he says, when it comes down to it, want to be able to offer health insurance. They just haven't been able to afford it in the past. So he admits not everyone may do this. He says if we get "3,4 or 5 years down the road.." and he finds 5% or so are still not covered, then he'll adjust to make sure everyone's covered. Mandates?

Obama told me rolling back President George W Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans will provide most of the money to make his plan work (people who make 250k plus). The rest of the savings will come from switching to electronic record-keeping (although, there are obvious start up costs for that), as well as reduced bills for emergency room visits, because people, in theory, would take better care of themselves since they have access to health care.

The feds would also pick up the cost of the most expensive illnesses and conditions. That will lower annual premiums overall for families, Obama said, by up to $2500.

John Edwards folks had this to say...

"John Edwards has a detailed plan to make health care coverage more affordable and truly universal. He believes that incremental measures are not enough. Any plan that does not cover all Americans is simply inadequate." - Mark Kornblau, spokesperson

Hillary Clinton's camp just weighed in, too...

Clinton Campaign Policy Director Neera Tanden today released the following statement:

"We commend Senator Obama for entering the healthcare debate and supporting incentives to make healthcare more affordable; Senator Clinton has long fought to expand healthcare coverage and initiated the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that now covers 6 million children and has led the fight in the Senate to pass health information technology.

"Senator Clinton believes that in addition to making healthcare more accessible, we have to achieve true universal healthcare so that every American has health care coverage."

I Was Wrong: Apparently No Smack from Brownback

A followup to an earlier blog post. Apparently, Sam Brownback didn't really come after Rudy G



Brownback: He didn't know about 'Rudy is wrong' e-mail, but nominee will be 'pro-life'

USA TODAY’S ON POLITICS


By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence


Justin Miller at The Real Clear Politics Blog has followed up on the story about a statement from the presidential campaign of Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback that fellow Republican Rudy Giuliani "is wrong" about abortion (see our Thursday post about that).


Brownback tells Miller that he didn't know his staff was going to send out the "Rudy is wrong" statement. All the same, says the strongly "pro-life" senator, it doesn't reverse his earlier position that he could support a "pro-choice" Republican candidate if that person is conservative enough on other key issues.

"I do think it's important that the party be pro-life," Brownback says. But, "we need to be a big tent party." And he said it is important to embrace the pro-choice wing, Miller writes.
But Brownback also added, according to Miller, that he believes the eventual GOP nominee will be an abortion opponent.

Here's my original post....

The debate's finished, but apparently the smack talk isn't. Apparently Sam Brownback couldn't get these in while the debate was still going on. I got this release from Brownback's campaign... Rudy is Wrong"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... life comes first. "Dear Friend,Like you, I am proud that the Republican Party has long stood for protecting innocent human life in our party's platform.Unfortunately one of the current front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani, is a vocal and unapologetic supporter of the "right" to abortion. He made this clear once again in the South Carolina debate last night."It's best for us to respect each other's differences and allow for choice," said Giuliani, in an interview with Fox News this past Sunday."If we don't find a way of uniting around broad principles that will appeal to a large segment of this country, if we can't figure that out, we are going to lose this election," Giuliani said in a Houston speech last week.My friend, Rudy is wrong. Like you and me, Senator Brownback is a true believer that there is no "choice" involved in life-or-death matters - we must always stand up for protecting innocent human life.Senator Brownback believes that the next Republican nominee for President must be pro-life in order to win - we must stand by our principles and bedrock foundation as a party.Giuliani's comments have been praised by Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards."It's encouraging to see that the front runner for the Republican nomination for president supports the right to make personal private health care decisions free from government intrusion," said Richards."

Giuliani is pro-choice and at the front of the pack - the days of the anti-choice strangle-hold on the Republican Party are numbered," Richards adds. It is a sad statement when the President of Planned Parenthood-the largest abortion provider in America-is praising the leading Republican candidate. This is NOT the direction our party needs to take. What Rudy doesn't seem to understand is that among the hallowed rights of the Declaration of Independence-"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"- life comes first.The pro-life movement has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Public opinion is turning to our side, the Supreme Court recently upheld a national ban on an abortion procedure, and the Republican Party has grown increasingly pro-life, as have the candidates it nominates for public office. This is NOT the time to turn back in our efforts to make America a country that respects life.

As Republicans, we should not compromise or apologize for that.Please visit our campaign website to sign up for Team Brownback. Together, we will keep our Republican Party proudly pro-life." Sincerely, David Barron South Carolina Chairman Brownback for President

A New Candidate, a New Issue & Some Awesome Women

Congrats to the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Cougars Softball Team! The women at my alma mater just won the longest championship game in NCAA Division II history (12 innings)

O.K. back to politics...

Bill Richardson officially entered the race today. So that's why he's been airing those commercials here about running for President (too bad this computer doesn't have a font for sarcasm:)



BTW, no Iowa love from Richardson. Unlike many of the other candidates' announcement tours (or should we say "pre-announcement", "announcement" and "re-announcement" tours), Richardson has not put Iowa on his list of first stops. Although, he was here last week.



30 % for Mitt Romney in the Des Moines Register's latest poll. Looks like all those tv ads raised the bar for the rest of his campaign, huh?



Sam Brownback has decided to add his thoughts to an issue I'm not sure I've heard any other candidate address so far... I think the campaign release explains what's going on (and probably gives you an idea just how much he's working to get that conservative vote)


Brownback Alarmed by Tenure Denial in Iowa

"Such an assault on academic freedom does not bode well for the advancement of true science."


DES MOINES, Ia— U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, Republican candidate for President, today commented on the denial of tenure to Iowa State University Professor Guillermo Gonzales.
"When I was informed that Professor Guillermo Gonzalez was denied tenure, I was puzzled given his excellent academic record of achievement and faithful service. I understand that now two of Dr. Gonzalez's colleagues have indicated that Gonzalez's interest in intelligent design theory was, at least in part, responsible for this denial of tenure. This is rather alarming."


Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez is currently an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Iowa State University and author of more than 65 scientific papers and journal articles. Dr. Gonzales also co-authored "The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery", which provides scientific evidence for intelligent design theory and challenges neo-Darwinism's claim that the development of the universe is the result of an unpredictable and purposeless process.


Brownback continued, "Observation, testing, and the development of reasonable hypotheses have long been integral to good science. Scholars, such as Professor Guillermo Gonzales, ought not to be intimidated nor silenced by those in the academic community who would rather dismiss a well-reasoned hypothesis than debate it on its merits. Such an assault on academic freedom does not bode well for the advancement of true science."


Intelligent design theory explores recent discoveries in the fields of physics, cosmology, biochemistry, genetics, and paleontology that logically point to an intelligent cause in the development of life and the cosmos."

Thompson vs. McCain, Round 1

We had just finished interviewing Tommy Thompson inside a fitness center on the Des Moines University campus. The microphone was off. The camera was off. My photographer and I had turned our back...and THUD (o.k., I don't know how to spell the sound we heard). But there is Tommy Thompson ramming his right shoulder into one of those heavy bags boxers use. Each time hid did it, he'd yell "John McCain."



No, I'm not making this up. And, yes, I wish we would have had our camera rolling still! Thompson also told me he doesn't have time for the gym, so he starts his day with 60 push ups and 50 crunches. And then before he goes to bed, it's push ups and crunches, round 2.

Brownback Brings the Smack

The debate's finished, but apparently the smack talk isn't. Apparently Sam Brownback couldn't get these in while the debate was still going on. I got this release from Brownback's campaign...


Rudy is Wrong"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happines... life comes first.

"Dear Friend,Like you, I am proud that the Republican Party has long stood for protecting innocent human life in our party's platform.Unfortunately one of the current front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani, is a vocal and unapologetic supporter of the "right" to abortion.

He made this clear once again in the South Carolina debate last night."It's best for us to respect each other's differences and allow for choice," said Giuliani, in an interview with Fox News this past Sunday."If we don't find a way of uniting around broad proniples that will appeal to a large segment of this country, if we can't figure that out, we are going to lose this election," Giuliani said in a Houston speech last week.My friend, Rudy is wrong.

Like you and me, Senator Brownback is a true believer that there is no "choice" involved in life-or-death matters - we must always stand up for protecting innocent human life.Senator Brownback believes that the next Republican nominee for President must be pro-life in order to win - we must stand by our principles and bedrock foundation as a party.Giuliani's comments have been praised by Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards."It's encouraging to see that the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president supports the right to make personal private health care decisions free from government intrusion," said Richards."

Giuliani is pro-choice and at the front of the pack - the days of the anti-choice strangle-hold on the Republican Party are numbered," Richards adds. It is a sad statement when the President of Planned Parenthood-the largest abortion provider in America-is praising the leading Republican candidate. This is NOT the direction our party needs to take.

What Rudy doesn't seem to understand is that among the hallowed rights of the Declaration of Independence-"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"- life comes first.The pro-life movement has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Public opinion is turning to our side, the Supreme Court recently upheld a national ban on an abortion procedure, and the Republican Party has grown increasingly pro-life, as have the candidates it nominates for public office. This is NOT the time to turn back in our efforts to make America a country that respects life.

As Republicans, we should not compromise or apologize for that.Please visit our campaign website to signup for Team Brownback. Together, we will keep our Republican Party proudly pro-life."

Sincerely, David Barron South Carolina Chairman Brownback for President

Name That Tune

The Clinton camp wants you to help name her campaign tune. Although, it sounds like it might be a fight for the right (random, Beastie Boys reference). Here's the release below...

IN YOUTUBE VIDEO, CLINTON ASKS SUPPORTERS TO VOTE FOR OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN THEME SONG

Hillary Will Announce Winner After Internet Voting on Website

Hillary Clinton is getting the 2008 voting started early, posting a YouTube video on her website this afternoon in which she urges supporters to cast their vote for her official campaign theme song.
Coming on the heels of her text messaging effort launched earlier this week, Clinton continues to engage with Americans and encourage them to get involved in her campaign.

“I hope people from across the country will go to my website and vote for the song they feel best represents our message of change and their hopes for a better America,” Clinton said. “And I promise to leave the singing to the professionals.”

Clinton’s video will be featured on YouTube’s “You Choose ’08 Spotlight” over the next week.

Hillary’s list of potential campaign songs includes:
City of Blinding Lights - U2
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
I'm a Believer - Smash Mouth
Get Ready - The Temptations
Ready to Run - Dixie Chicks
Rock This Country! - Shania Twain
Beautiful Day - U2
Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers
Write-in Candidates

Perhaps, it's tough to pick an original tune. Obama just used "City of Blinding Lights" for his opener in Indianola last week. And is there any candidate who doesn't use "Beautiful Day"?

Please Pass the Pie, Pork, Chips and Cookies

Sugar, ham, tons of cheese and cookies...not a bad week, huh? No wonder I felt like I was carrying around a small child during my runs this weekend. Ah, life on the road. How do these presidential candidates do it? I'm going to guess that's why I don't see these folks on the cover of my Men's Health every month (BTW, in case you missed it, each day last week, we let viewers vote for the candidate we should follow the next day during their stops in Iowa.)

Here's a lowdown on the candidate, city and food served...

Hillary Clinton--Red Oak--pie

John McCain--Ft. Dodge--ham sandwich, chips, cookie

Tommy Thompson--Anamosa, then West Des Moines--pizza buffet, then just pizza

Barack Obama--Indianola--not a dang thing

John Cox--his West Des Moines campaign headquarters--Jay's Potato Chips

I wonder what I'll think the next time I hear one of these people talk about tackling the obesity problem?


When we weren't eating, we were looking around at the faces in the crowds. It seemed like they looked a lot like the candidate speaking to them.

Hillary Clinton--Red Oak--a lot of women, probably more than half the crowd, a few non-whites

John McCain--Ft. Dodge--nearly all senior citizens, many of them veterans, nearly everyone, if not all, white

Tommy Thompson--Anamosa, then West Des Moines--folks over 50, few, if any, minorities

Barack Obama--Indianola--(this was at Simpson College) far younger than the others, far more diverse

John Cox--WDM campaign HQ--one middle-aged white woman

Just a few random observations...gotta go work out (again).

Richardson Goes for funny TV

Bill Richardson's hoping some laughs will get him some attention. He's started running a new series of ads across Iowa. Check them out...funny or not funny?

http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/page/content/jobinterview/

Barack on Clinton Avenue

7:22pm. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this won't start on time. Barack Obama was scheduled to start his "Meet and Greet" here at Simpson College in Indianola at 7:15pm.

Wouldn't you know it...as soon as I start writing this, the event has now started. I'm guessing about 250 people are here, although two different times before the crowd got here, staffers took away chairs...probably several dozen in all. Not sure why the crowd isn't as high as the original setup would allow.

I guess this is now an official political event. Two women just held out their babies so he Obama kiss them. I don't recognize the song that's playing. Sounds like U2. Hold on...

Yep, it's U2. I had to go and ask the audio guy. He actually played it from a staffer's iPod. It's called "City of Blinding Lights", he tells me.

Sure wish we would have eaten dinner before we came.

I met a woman who runs a business out of Kansas City selling political buttons. There's a whole table of them out front. She said Obama and Clinton run neck-and-neck on-line. But Obama sells better at the actual event. Who's the best seller for Republicans? Fred Thompson, she told. He sells more than all other Republicans combined. Gee, I wonder if he'll run.

One last random bit of trivia...the street Obama had to use before he pulled into the gymnasium here....West Clinton Avenue. Hmmm....

Pizza, Easy Rider, but no Shake

Fueled by some pizza (o.k., more than some pizza, but whatever) we're back on the road. I've never blogged in the car (no, Mom, I'm not driving. She actually won't really talk to me while I'm on my cellphone in the car. She'd pass out if I told her I was blogging. Actually, I'm not so sure Mom understands his blogging stuff anyway. So maybe she wouldn't care).

As we stuck around to eat at the Pizza Ranch in Anamosa, we overheard a pretty interesting conversation. About 4 or 5 people were talking about Tommy Thompson's visit there earlier. No one in the bunch thought Thompson could win. One woman wants Obama to be Prez. But another man was dead sure Obama wouldn't win. He did say Hillary Clinton would pick him as her runningmate and that they would win the nomination. He was sure of it.

BTW, before pizza we did follow around Thompson in the National Motorcycle Museum. Thompson's a big motorcycle buff. He likes to tell the story how he's in the Hall of Fame in Sturgis. In case you hadn't heard, he's a Harley rider.

We're passing through Iowa City now. It just doesn't seem right not to stop at the Steak 'N Shake. Those are big back home in St. Louis. I usually stop at the one here in Iowa City, but not today. Stupid pizza.

In the Land of Cheese

So I'm sitting outside the ladies' room with my laptop and my digital camera... Yes, officer, that's the truth.

The crowd's a little too big for this gathering here at the Pizza Ranch in downtown Anamosa. Tommy Thompson's staff has been scurrying around trying to get more chairs in the room set aside for his noontime town hall gathering.

Thompson started by giving props to our station. He told the group how his supporters flooded our on-line poll last night, overmatching the efforts of the Romney and Biden folks. We had something like 19,000 votes for this contest to see which candidate we would follow today. I never imagined this idea would get so much attention. No wonder I don't do predictions.

The food here smells awesome. For those of you who haven't tasted the spread at this chain...it's a mix of all kinds of types of pizza, fried chicken, salad, fruit, dessert, etc. Really healthy, I'm sure. I gave up my seat in the Thompson room, because it was so packed. Well, and because the older lady spoke really kindly of us being here today. So I can hardly even hear what Thompson is saying. Man, this pizza smells good.

Calling the Hulkster

They played Hulk Hogan's song. I'm pretty sure that's a first for me on this Prez campaign trail this cycle. In true Republican form, they played a lot of country here (no, I'm not complaining. I'm actually a big country fan). But they added a twist...I have no idea if the Hulkster's song actually has a name. And, no, John McCain didn't rip off his shirt (actually the song played before McCain arrived). But thanks to the always in-tune ear of my photographer and Carroll native, Dave Olson, I'm pretty sure it was Hogan's song.

We're here in Ft. Dodge at the Opera House. There are probably about 150 people here, mostly seniors, it appears, and quite a few veterans. McCain got here about 20 minutes late after a stop in Council Bluffs this morning. McCain's usually on-time. I actually don't recall him being late.

He told the crowd he likes these town hall settings. He starts with some jokes, then his thoughts on where Republicans went wrong and what should happen in Iraq. No surprises so far. He thinks Republicans got smacked around in November because they spent too much...like a drunken sailor, he says. Although, he said he received a letter from a drunken sailor, who says he's offended by the joke. I think he was kidding. He also, to no real surprise, continues to stand behind the surge in Iraq, which he says still needs time to work.

McCain called Medicare the "elephant in the room". He wants to work with Dems on securing Medicare. I don't think he offered anything specific about what he'd do to fix things. I think Ronald Reagan is the biggest elephant in this room though. McCain's used his name twice already during this speech.

Peach or Strawberry-Rhubarb?

The pies were store bought, but no one seemed to complain. "The Pie Lady" at the end of the table said Hillary Clinton's too big a draw for the local ladies here in Red Oak, so they used Hy-Vee to come up with the 25 apple, strawberry-rhubarb, cherry and peach pies they would need for the night.


They got ready for the "Conversation". That's the Clinton-campaign version of the town hall meetings other candidates are holding across the state. A woman told me the Montgomery County Historical Society's new building holds about 125 or so. But there were nearly three times that many people here. They even had to push away some people into an overflow room.


A nice older woman named Peggy handled bathroom duties. Men and women had to share the same room. So she made sure I didn't sneak in while a lady did her business inside. When all was clear, she did let two men at a time go in. I thought it was always women who went to the restrooms in pairs???






BTW, Clinton's opening song for the night..."Right here, right now." I remembered somebody Jones used to sing that. Turns out it was Jesus Jones. Also turns out, they still sing it. Who knew?

All Global Politics is Local

(Courtesy: theEcoEnquirer)

Global warming, climate change, environmental awareness...the name really doesn't matter to him. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie told me he just wants to get people involved in thinking about their environment. Walk or ride your bike where you can, carpool, don't drink bottled water, turn up/down the thermostat, plant grass on your roof, do as little or as much as you want. He just wants Iowans to do something.

Global warming is probably not heating up business at Cownie Furs. But Cownie says his efforts at awareness have nothing to do with his business. He thinks each person can make a difference in this fight. And he plans on finding out just how much that's true.

Cownie believes this whole discussion has moved from just the far left folks to the mainstream. He proudly points out he's been able to unite the Sierra Club with some faith-based groups (btw, his work's been profiled with some big city mayors in a Newsweek article. He's also a prominent part of http://www.coolmayors.org/).

Cownie's also figured out that as the mayor right in the middle of Iowa, he might be able to attract a little national attention. So he's putting together a summit, of sorts, on warming/change/awareness/whatever you want to call it. He'll invite the Presidential candidates from both parties to come in for it sometime after the State Fair (that's in mid-August, for all you non-fried-everything-on-a-stick-eaters, who don't know). He's still working on a format, but don't look for one of those all-day long panels (It's not likely the Presidentials will go for it. They're busy, you know).