Monday, November 01, 2004
Bush, Kerry Sprint Toward Finish Line
18 minutes ago
By DAVID ESPO and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers
MILWAUKEE - President Bush (news - web sites) and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) reached for the finish line Tuesday in a campaign for the ages, each claiming to be the strong, steady leader needed in a time of terrorism. "The world is watching," said the Democratic challenger in a race that defied safe prediction.
AP Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Elections
Latest Headlines:
·
First Election Day Votes Cast in N.H. AP - 1 minute ago
·
Partisan Lawyers Ready Amid Rule Changes AP - 8 minutes ago
·
Asian press slams "reckless" Bush, but doubts Kerry offers real change AFP - 9 minutes ago
All Election Coverage
"This election comes down to who do you trust," Bush said as Air Force One carried him to a half-dozen states on a final full day of campaigning.
By election eve, uncounted millions of Americans had voted early in 32 states, including more than 1.8 million in Florida alone. Both campaigns primed Election Day turnout programs in battleground states from New Hampshire to Nevada.
Democrats, claiming Republicans were seeking to discourage minority voters, won a pair of court rulings Monday in Ohio that barred party representatives from challenging voters at their polling places — only to see both decisions overturned by a federal appeals court just hours before polls opened at 6:30 a.m. on Election Day.
Just after midnight, votes were cast and tallied in Hart's Location, N.H., and in nearby Dixville Notch, giving Bush 34 votes to 22 for Kerry. Ralph Nader (news - web sites) received one vote.
The nation's terror alert — a constant reminder of the attacks of 2001 — remained at yellow for most of the country, despite the emergence late last week of a videotape of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) taunting Bush.
The war on terror aside, there were fresh reminders of the election's stakes. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80 and the cornerstone of a conservative Supreme Court, disclosed he was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for his thyroid cancer, a sign that he had a potentially grave form of the disease.
After nearly eight months of head-to-head campaigning between the president and the Massachusetts senator, the final pre-election polls turned up tied — 49-49 in one CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey, with Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Tight surveys in Florida as well as Ohio and other Midwestern states added to the uncertainty of the competition for 270 electoral votes.
Both rivals campaigned well into the wee hours Tuesday — Bush in Dallas, Kerry in La Crosse, Wis.
About 8,000 Bush supporters jammed into an arena at Southern Methodist University at midnight, waving large cutout "Ws" and signs that said "First Cowboy" and "Jenna Rocks." The president was joined by his wife, Laura, and their twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, who blew kisses to the crowd.
With the nation divided, Democrats needed ticket-splitters to help them gain seats in Congress. Only nine of 34 Senate races on the ballot appeared competitive, seven of them in states where Kerry had not seriously contested Bush.
Texas, the president's home state, figured to have an outsized influence on the battle for the House. There, five Democratic incumbents with 82 years seniority combined faced difficult challenges as the result of GOP-engineered redistricting.
Kerry made six stops in four states on Monday — two each in Ohio and Wisconsin — pledging to be an advocate for the middle class and those struggling to join it. "I've heard your struggles. I share your hopes. And together, tomorrow we have a chance to make a difference," he said, casting Bush as a friend of the rich and powerful.
In Florida, Kerry said he stood ready to assume national command in a time of terrorism. "I believe we can bring the world back to the side of America. I believe that we can regain America's respect and influence in the world, and I believe we deserve a president who knows how to fight a more effective war on terror and make America safe," he said.
In Milwaukee several hours later, he pledged a "fresh start to Iraq (news - web sites)."
"I know what we need to do and so do you. It is inexcusable that American troops have been sent to war without the armor they need, without the number of troops that they need, without the ability to have allies at their side, making America stronger. This president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace, and we need a commander in chief who knows how to get the job done."
Bush campaigned across five states before heading home to Texas to vote on Election Day. At one point, the two men and their entourages nearly crossed paths, the president preparing to leave Milwaukee aboard Air Force One in early afternoon as Kerry's chartered jet was arriving.
"There have been some tough times in Ohio," Bush conceded as he began his day in a state that has lost 232,000 jobs since he took office. But he said the state has 5,500 new jobs since last month, and added, "We are moving in the right direction."
He said his rival belongs in the "flip-flop hall of fame" for saying he voted for and against legislation providing $87 billion for troops in Iraq, but for the most part, the criticism was muted.
"The American president must lead with clarity and purpose. As presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated, a president must not shift with the wind," Bush said. "A president has to make the tough decisions and stand by them."
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) was far more pointed. "The clearest, most important difference in this campaign is simple to state: President Bush understands the war on terror and has a strategy for winning it. John Kerry does not," he said in Hawaii, a traditionally Democratic state where Republicans hoped to spring an Election Day surprise.
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), was in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio and Florida, forecasting victory for the Democrats at every opportunity. "Tomorrow, hope will arrive," he said in Iowa, the state where precinct caucuses provided the first returns in the race for the White House more than nine months ago.
With the polls so tight, the biggest imponderable was turnout.
Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, estimated that as many as 117.5 million to 121 million voters would cast ballots, 58 percent to 60 percent of those eligible.
The more the better, said the Democrats, knowing that Kerry couldn't win without carrying at least one state Bush claimed in 2000. They argued that get-out-the-vote operations financed by organized labor and other organizations would help them hold Pennsylvania, where Al Gore (news - web sites) won in 2000, and take Ohio, where Bush won.
Republicans counted on their own nationwide effort to mobilize, particularly in small towns and distant suburbs where they hope the president's opposition to gay marriage, abortion and gun control give him an opening with conservative Democrats.
Thus, while Bush was struggling in Ohio, Kerry was forced to defend Michigan in the campaign's final hours, as well as Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Gore carried all four states in 2000.
___
AP writers Scott Lindlaw, traveling with Bush; Pete Yost, traveling with Cheney; and Liz Sidoti, traveling with Edwards, contributed to this report; David Espo wrote from Washington.
18 minutes ago
By DAVID ESPO and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers
MILWAUKEE - President Bush (news - web sites) and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) reached for the finish line Tuesday in a campaign for the ages, each claiming to be the strong, steady leader needed in a time of terrorism. "The world is watching," said the Democratic challenger in a race that defied safe prediction.
AP Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Elections
Latest Headlines:
·
First Election Day Votes Cast in N.H. AP - 1 minute ago
·
Partisan Lawyers Ready Amid Rule Changes AP - 8 minutes ago
·
Asian press slams "reckless" Bush, but doubts Kerry offers real change AFP - 9 minutes ago
All Election Coverage
"This election comes down to who do you trust," Bush said as Air Force One carried him to a half-dozen states on a final full day of campaigning.
By election eve, uncounted millions of Americans had voted early in 32 states, including more than 1.8 million in Florida alone. Both campaigns primed Election Day turnout programs in battleground states from New Hampshire to Nevada.
Democrats, claiming Republicans were seeking to discourage minority voters, won a pair of court rulings Monday in Ohio that barred party representatives from challenging voters at their polling places — only to see both decisions overturned by a federal appeals court just hours before polls opened at 6:30 a.m. on Election Day.
Just after midnight, votes were cast and tallied in Hart's Location, N.H., and in nearby Dixville Notch, giving Bush 34 votes to 22 for Kerry. Ralph Nader (news - web sites) received one vote.
The nation's terror alert — a constant reminder of the attacks of 2001 — remained at yellow for most of the country, despite the emergence late last week of a videotape of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) taunting Bush.
The war on terror aside, there were fresh reminders of the election's stakes. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80 and the cornerstone of a conservative Supreme Court, disclosed he was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for his thyroid cancer, a sign that he had a potentially grave form of the disease.
After nearly eight months of head-to-head campaigning between the president and the Massachusetts senator, the final pre-election polls turned up tied — 49-49 in one CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey, with Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Tight surveys in Florida as well as Ohio and other Midwestern states added to the uncertainty of the competition for 270 electoral votes.
Both rivals campaigned well into the wee hours Tuesday — Bush in Dallas, Kerry in La Crosse, Wis.
About 8,000 Bush supporters jammed into an arena at Southern Methodist University at midnight, waving large cutout "Ws" and signs that said "First Cowboy" and "Jenna Rocks." The president was joined by his wife, Laura, and their twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, who blew kisses to the crowd.
With the nation divided, Democrats needed ticket-splitters to help them gain seats in Congress. Only nine of 34 Senate races on the ballot appeared competitive, seven of them in states where Kerry had not seriously contested Bush.
Texas, the president's home state, figured to have an outsized influence on the battle for the House. There, five Democratic incumbents with 82 years seniority combined faced difficult challenges as the result of GOP-engineered redistricting.
Kerry made six stops in four states on Monday — two each in Ohio and Wisconsin — pledging to be an advocate for the middle class and those struggling to join it. "I've heard your struggles. I share your hopes. And together, tomorrow we have a chance to make a difference," he said, casting Bush as a friend of the rich and powerful.
In Florida, Kerry said he stood ready to assume national command in a time of terrorism. "I believe we can bring the world back to the side of America. I believe that we can regain America's respect and influence in the world, and I believe we deserve a president who knows how to fight a more effective war on terror and make America safe," he said.
In Milwaukee several hours later, he pledged a "fresh start to Iraq (news - web sites)."
"I know what we need to do and so do you. It is inexcusable that American troops have been sent to war without the armor they need, without the number of troops that they need, without the ability to have allies at their side, making America stronger. This president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace, and we need a commander in chief who knows how to get the job done."
Bush campaigned across five states before heading home to Texas to vote on Election Day. At one point, the two men and their entourages nearly crossed paths, the president preparing to leave Milwaukee aboard Air Force One in early afternoon as Kerry's chartered jet was arriving.
"There have been some tough times in Ohio," Bush conceded as he began his day in a state that has lost 232,000 jobs since he took office. But he said the state has 5,500 new jobs since last month, and added, "We are moving in the right direction."
He said his rival belongs in the "flip-flop hall of fame" for saying he voted for and against legislation providing $87 billion for troops in Iraq, but for the most part, the criticism was muted.
"The American president must lead with clarity and purpose. As presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated, a president must not shift with the wind," Bush said. "A president has to make the tough decisions and stand by them."
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) was far more pointed. "The clearest, most important difference in this campaign is simple to state: President Bush understands the war on terror and has a strategy for winning it. John Kerry does not," he said in Hawaii, a traditionally Democratic state where Republicans hoped to spring an Election Day surprise.
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), was in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio and Florida, forecasting victory for the Democrats at every opportunity. "Tomorrow, hope will arrive," he said in Iowa, the state where precinct caucuses provided the first returns in the race for the White House more than nine months ago.
With the polls so tight, the biggest imponderable was turnout.
Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, estimated that as many as 117.5 million to 121 million voters would cast ballots, 58 percent to 60 percent of those eligible.
The more the better, said the Democrats, knowing that Kerry couldn't win without carrying at least one state Bush claimed in 2000. They argued that get-out-the-vote operations financed by organized labor and other organizations would help them hold Pennsylvania, where Al Gore (news - web sites) won in 2000, and take Ohio, where Bush won.
Republicans counted on their own nationwide effort to mobilize, particularly in small towns and distant suburbs where they hope the president's opposition to gay marriage, abortion and gun control give him an opening with conservative Democrats.
Thus, while Bush was struggling in Ohio, Kerry was forced to defend Michigan in the campaign's final hours, as well as Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Gore carried all four states in 2000.
___
AP writers Scott Lindlaw, traveling with Bush; Pete Yost, traveling with Cheney; and Liz Sidoti, traveling with Edwards, contributed to this report; David Espo wrote from Washington.
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Days of ShameBy BOB HERBERT
verseas, our troops are being mauled in the long dark night of Iraq - a war with no end in sight that has already claimed the lives of more than 1,100 American troops and thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of innocent Iraqis.
At home, the party of the sitting president is systematically stomping on the right of black Americans to vote, a vile and racist practice that makes a mockery of the president's claim to favor real democracy anywhere.
This will never be seen as a shining moment in U.S. history.
There is a hallucinatory quality to the news as Americans prepare to vote tomorrow in what is probably the most critical election the country has faced since 1932. Osama bin Laden made his bizarre cameo appearance on Friday, taunting the president who once promised to get him dead or alive. Commentators have been compulsively reading the tea leaves ever since, trying to determine who was helped by the video, George W. Bush or John Kerry.
On Saturday, as if to take our minds off the sideshow, nine more American marines were killed in the Iraq slaughterhouse. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in six months. The death toll for Iraqis, which the U.S. government has tried mightily to keep from the American people, is flat out horrifying. Unofficial estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the war have ranged from 10,000 to 30,000. But a survey conducted by scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad compared the death rates of Iraqis before and after the American invasion. They estimated that 100,000 more Iraqis have died in the 18 months since the invasion than would have been expected based on Iraqi death rates before the war.
The scientists acknowledged that the survey was difficult to compile and that their findings represent a rough estimate. But even if they were off by as many as 20,000 or 40,000 deaths, their findings would still be chilling.
Most of the widespread violent deaths, the scientists reported, were attributed to coalition forces. "Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces," the report said, "were women and children."
That people are dying by the tens of thousands in a war that did not have to be fought - a war that was launched by the United States - is mind-boggling.
Also mind-boggling is the attempt by Republican Party elements to return the U.S. to the wretched days of the mid-20th century when many black Americans faced harassment, intimidation and worse for daring to exercise their fundamental right to vote. A flier circulating extensively in black neighborhoods in Wisconsin carries the heading "Milwaukee Black Voters League." It asserts that people are not eligible to vote if they have voted in any previous election this year; if they have ever been found guilty of anything, even a traffic violation; or if anyone in their family has ever been found guilty of anything.
"If you violate any of these laws," the flier says, "you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."
In Philadelphia, where a large black vote is essential to a Kerry victory in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House, John Perzel, is hard at work challenging Democratic voters. He makes no bones about his intent, telling U.S. News & World Report:
"The Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down."
That's called voter suppression, folks, and the G.O.P. concentrates its voter-suppression efforts in the precincts where there are large numbers of African-Americans. And that's called racism.
These are days of shame for the United States. No one writing a civics text for American high school students would recommend this kind of behavior for a great and mighty nation. We have to figure out a way to extricate ourselves from Iraq and rebuild a truly representative democracy here at home. Right now we have a mess on both fronts.
It was Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, who said that "America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment."
That's as good a thought as any to carry with you into the voting booth tomorrow.
E-mail: bobherb@nytimes.com
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS Help Back to Top
Days of ShameBy BOB HERBERT
verseas, our troops are being mauled in the long dark night of Iraq - a war with no end in sight that has already claimed the lives of more than 1,100 American troops and thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of innocent Iraqis.
At home, the party of the sitting president is systematically stomping on the right of black Americans to vote, a vile and racist practice that makes a mockery of the president's claim to favor real democracy anywhere.
This will never be seen as a shining moment in U.S. history.
There is a hallucinatory quality to the news as Americans prepare to vote tomorrow in what is probably the most critical election the country has faced since 1932. Osama bin Laden made his bizarre cameo appearance on Friday, taunting the president who once promised to get him dead or alive. Commentators have been compulsively reading the tea leaves ever since, trying to determine who was helped by the video, George W. Bush or John Kerry.
On Saturday, as if to take our minds off the sideshow, nine more American marines were killed in the Iraq slaughterhouse. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in six months. The death toll for Iraqis, which the U.S. government has tried mightily to keep from the American people, is flat out horrifying. Unofficial estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the war have ranged from 10,000 to 30,000. But a survey conducted by scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad compared the death rates of Iraqis before and after the American invasion. They estimated that 100,000 more Iraqis have died in the 18 months since the invasion than would have been expected based on Iraqi death rates before the war.
The scientists acknowledged that the survey was difficult to compile and that their findings represent a rough estimate. But even if they were off by as many as 20,000 or 40,000 deaths, their findings would still be chilling.
Most of the widespread violent deaths, the scientists reported, were attributed to coalition forces. "Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces," the report said, "were women and children."
That people are dying by the tens of thousands in a war that did not have to be fought - a war that was launched by the United States - is mind-boggling.
Also mind-boggling is the attempt by Republican Party elements to return the U.S. to the wretched days of the mid-20th century when many black Americans faced harassment, intimidation and worse for daring to exercise their fundamental right to vote. A flier circulating extensively in black neighborhoods in Wisconsin carries the heading "Milwaukee Black Voters League." It asserts that people are not eligible to vote if they have voted in any previous election this year; if they have ever been found guilty of anything, even a traffic violation; or if anyone in their family has ever been found guilty of anything.
"If you violate any of these laws," the flier says, "you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."
In Philadelphia, where a large black vote is essential to a Kerry victory in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House, John Perzel, is hard at work challenging Democratic voters. He makes no bones about his intent, telling U.S. News & World Report:
"The Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down."
That's called voter suppression, folks, and the G.O.P. concentrates its voter-suppression efforts in the precincts where there are large numbers of African-Americans. And that's called racism.
These are days of shame for the United States. No one writing a civics text for American high school students would recommend this kind of behavior for a great and mighty nation. We have to figure out a way to extricate ourselves from Iraq and rebuild a truly representative democracy here at home. Right now we have a mess on both fronts.
It was Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, who said that "America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment."
That's as good a thought as any to carry with you into the voting booth tomorrow.
E-mail: bobherb@nytimes.com
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS Help Back to Top
today's papersStrip TeaseBy Eric UmanskyPosted Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004, at 1:23 AM PT
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post all lead with the Israel's parliament narrowly approving Prime Minister Sharon's Gaza pullout plan, the first time Israel has agreed to dismantle settlements there. USA Today leads with the perennial shortage of poll workers—this year, there are 500,000 fewer than the government recommends. And in another evergreen revelation, USAT reminds that those who've made the cut are not exactly crackerjacks. "The people we hire for the most part are elderly, undereducated, and frequently unemployed," said one local director of elections. The Wall Street Journal tops its world-wide newsbox (at least online) with a campaign check-in highlighting President Bush's call to change the tax code. Bush didn't go into detail, but he's previously tossed around the idea of a flat tax or a national sales tax.
Nearly half of Sharon's own party voted against the plan, and four of his ministers have said they'll resign unless Sharon holds a national referendum on the proposal. The plan only passed with support from center and left parties.
As the NYT emphasizes, Sharon' victory doesn't ensure a pullout; but if the parliament had given a thumbs-down the plan would have died. During the vote, thousands of settlers protested outside parliament. Still, polls show about two-thirds of Israelis support the pullout.
So far as TP sees, only the Post checks in on what Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs think—and they don't seem to be cheering. "I cannot accept the evacuation of Gaza from the inside and the incarceration of Gaza from the outside," said one Israeli-Arab member of parliament.
The NYT teases and others go inside with interim Prime Minister Allawi saying "major negligence by the multinational forces" contributed to last weekend's massacre of 49 Iraqi soldiers. Occupation soldiers usually provide security for Iraqi soldiers who are on the move. And Polish troops oversee the region where the killings happened. Given that, and Allawi's oblique reference, the NYT's headline seems a stretch (aka wrong): "IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER FAULTS U.S. MILITARY IN MASSACRE." The Journal similarly fudges it. The Post gets it: "ALLAWI ACCUSES FOREIGN TROOPS OF NEGLIGENCE IN MASSACRE."
One former occupation official—an Aussie—gave the Post his theory about why coalition soldiers weren't around: The U.S. and allies don't have enough troops in Iraq to protect to the mushrooming numbers of Iraqi trainees.
While mentioning the suspect loyalty of Iraqi security forces—one official estimated that five percent are insurgents—the NYT says: "Western reporters also frequently encounter Iraqi security officers who say they are ready to take up arms against the occupation forces."
Everybody mentions that Al Jazeera aired a video of a Japanese hostage being held by gunmen claiming to be part of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group. They warned that Japan has 48 hours to withdraw its troops. Another insurgent group posted a video of 11 captured Iraqi soldiers.
USAT fronts a report from Afghanistan, which is expected to enjoy a record opium crop. The crop is "financing terrorism. It's financing warlordism," said the U.S.'s top narc in the country. "And if it's a threat to the government of Afghanistan, it's direct threat to the national security interests of the United States."
The LAT and WP tease the death of 78 Muslim protestors in Thailand who may have been suffocated after being arrested and stacked in trucks one on top of the other "They might have had something stuffed in their mouths or nostrils," a justice ministry official told the Post. The protests were happening in the restive south, where Islamic extremism has an increasing presence. The LAT says the arrestees were cuffed then forced to slither across the ground to trucks. Thailand's prime minister, long criticized for moving away from democracy, was quick to assess the police's actions. "They have done a great job," he said before the death toll was announced. Eric Umansky writes "Today's Papers" for Slate. He can be reached at todayspapers@hotmail.com.Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2108746/
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post all lead with the Israel's parliament narrowly approving Prime Minister Sharon's Gaza pullout plan, the first time Israel has agreed to dismantle settlements there. USA Today leads with the perennial shortage of poll workers—this year, there are 500,000 fewer than the government recommends. And in another evergreen revelation, USAT reminds that those who've made the cut are not exactly crackerjacks. "The people we hire for the most part are elderly, undereducated, and frequently unemployed," said one local director of elections. The Wall Street Journal tops its world-wide newsbox (at least online) with a campaign check-in highlighting President Bush's call to change the tax code. Bush didn't go into detail, but he's previously tossed around the idea of a flat tax or a national sales tax.
Nearly half of Sharon's own party voted against the plan, and four of his ministers have said they'll resign unless Sharon holds a national referendum on the proposal. The plan only passed with support from center and left parties.
As the NYT emphasizes, Sharon' victory doesn't ensure a pullout; but if the parliament had given a thumbs-down the plan would have died. During the vote, thousands of settlers protested outside parliament. Still, polls show about two-thirds of Israelis support the pullout.
So far as TP sees, only the Post checks in on what Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs think—and they don't seem to be cheering. "I cannot accept the evacuation of Gaza from the inside and the incarceration of Gaza from the outside," said one Israeli-Arab member of parliament.
The NYT teases and others go inside with interim Prime Minister Allawi saying "major negligence by the multinational forces" contributed to last weekend's massacre of 49 Iraqi soldiers. Occupation soldiers usually provide security for Iraqi soldiers who are on the move. And Polish troops oversee the region where the killings happened. Given that, and Allawi's oblique reference, the NYT's headline seems a stretch (aka wrong): "IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER FAULTS U.S. MILITARY IN MASSACRE." The Journal similarly fudges it. The Post gets it: "ALLAWI ACCUSES FOREIGN TROOPS OF NEGLIGENCE IN MASSACRE."
One former occupation official—an Aussie—gave the Post his theory about why coalition soldiers weren't around: The U.S. and allies don't have enough troops in Iraq to protect to the mushrooming numbers of Iraqi trainees.
While mentioning the suspect loyalty of Iraqi security forces—one official estimated that five percent are insurgents—the NYT says: "Western reporters also frequently encounter Iraqi security officers who say they are ready to take up arms against the occupation forces."
Everybody mentions that Al Jazeera aired a video of a Japanese hostage being held by gunmen claiming to be part of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group. They warned that Japan has 48 hours to withdraw its troops. Another insurgent group posted a video of 11 captured Iraqi soldiers.
USAT fronts a report from Afghanistan, which is expected to enjoy a record opium crop. The crop is "financing terrorism. It's financing warlordism," said the U.S.'s top narc in the country. "And if it's a threat to the government of Afghanistan, it's direct threat to the national security interests of the United States."
The LAT and WP tease the death of 78 Muslim protestors in Thailand who may have been suffocated after being arrested and stacked in trucks one on top of the other "They might have had something stuffed in their mouths or nostrils," a justice ministry official told the Post. The protests were happening in the restive south, where Islamic extremism has an increasing presence. The LAT says the arrestees were cuffed then forced to slither across the ground to trucks. Thailand's prime minister, long criticized for moving away from democracy, was quick to assess the police's actions. "They have done a great job," he said before the death toll was announced. Eric Umansky writes "Today's Papers" for Slate. He can be reached at todayspapers@hotmail.com.Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2108746/
'Final Blitz in Swing States
By Lois Romano and Mike AllenWashington Post Staff WritersMonday, November 1, 2004; Page A01
DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 31 -- Sen. John F. Kerry and President Bush began a final two-day blitz through the most competitive battlegrounds Sunday, with Kerry wooing his base at a black church, preaching a gospel of economic hope, and the president crisscrossing Florida, questioning his challenger's credentials to keep the nation safe from terrorists.
Two days before the election, the candidates and their running mates were in a frenetic race, circling each other and pressing whatever advantage they have to make closing arguments.
New polls continued to paint a portrait of an extraordinarily close race and an electorate divided by the same fissures that have shaped the political landscape since the disputed election of 2000. Officials in both campaigns said they detected no significant trend in either direction since the release of a videotaped message by Osama bin Laden on Friday afternoon.
The latest Washington Post tracking poll showed Bush and Kerry each with 48 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Four other national polls released Sunday showed Bush leading Kerry by 1 to 3 percentage points -- in all cases within the margin of error.
State polls offered few clues to the outcome, with Ohio and Florida still the most significant and hotly contested states. Strategists on both sides expressed optimism Sunday about their candidate's chances of winning Florida and said Ohio remains too close to call.
Kerry, in Ohio, New Hampshire and Florida, looked to make his case in the homestretch with domestic issues. Polls show that voters see issues such as the economy and health care as the Democrat's strength.
Kerry never mentioned his opponent by name in his remarks from the pulpit at Shiloh Baptist Church here, but the references were unmistakable, as he quoted scriptures and recited "Amazing Grace." He spoke of diminished after-school care, expensive health care and job losses.
"There is a standard by which we have to live," Kerry said. "Coming to church on Sundays and talking about faith and professing faith isn't the whole deal. . . . I hear politicians talk about values, but I don't see them."
Bush and Vice President Cheney also moved to secure their base and stuck to their perceived strength, national security. Speaking to a rally filled with Cuban Americans in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood, Bush said Kerry "entered the flip-flop hall of fame" for his assertion that he had voted for, then against, an $87 billion package to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"If you believe America should fight the war on terror with all her might and lead with unwavering confidence, I ask you, come stand by me," Bush said to cries of "Viva Bush."
Bush also made a direct appeal to Cuban Americans, saying, "We will not rest. We will keep the pressure on, until the Cuban people enjoy the same freedoms in Havana they received here in America."
Although Bush's remarks continue to be aimed at the concerns of his most fervent supporters, his remarks Sunday included an extra bit of outreach. "If you are a Democrat who believes your great party has turned too far left in this year, I ask you, come stand with me," he said. "If you are a minority citizen and you believe in free enterprise and good schools and the enduring values of family and faith, if you're tired of your vote being taken for granted, I ask you, come stand with me."
Bush has courted churchgoers vigorously. Before the rally, he attended Mass at Church of the Epiphany, the home church of his younger brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The pastor, Monsignor Jude O'Doherty, all but endorsed Bush in remarks to the congregation. "Your belief in prayer and dependence on God has to be an example for all of us," O'Doherty said. "As president, your support for the many things of serious concern to us as Catholics is deeply appreciated, among them being your wholehearted support for human life from conception to natural death."
Cheney accused Kerry of turning his back on U.S. troops because of political ambition. Kerry "is not a steadfast leader. Our president is," Cheney told several hundred supporters at an airplane hangar in Toledo. He later referred to Kerry as "a wannabe commander in chief."
Cheney was the only one of the four candidates Sunday to bring up the tape of bin Laden. At a gathering of activists at GOP headquarters in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Cheney slammed Kerry's staff for telling reporters about results of a poll question about the tape.
"John Kerry's first response was to conduct a poll to find out what he should say about this tape of Osama bin Laden," Cheney said. "He didn't know what to say before he checked polls, he had to stick his finger in the air. . . . George Bush doesn't need a poll to say what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden." Cheney added that bin Laden is "obviously trying to have an impact on our elections . . . trying to frighten Americans."
Cheney was referring to a question in a poll taken by Democracy Corps, a Democratic group, in which voters said by more than 10 points that the reemergence of bin Laden made them "think that George Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and diverted resources to Iraq."
Kerry, however, made his comments about the bin Laden tape Friday afternoon. The poll was taken Friday night and Saturday.
More than 10,000 Kerry supporters showed up to greet the Massachusetts senator at a festive rally in Manchester, N.H., where Boston's new heroes, John Henry and Tom Werner, owners of World Series-winning Red Sox, introduced Kerry. On Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling endorsed Bush on a morning television show.
At Shiloh Baptist Church in Dayton, Kerry was greeted warmly by about 1,000 members of the congregation. The minister did his best to help Kerry excite the worshipers, mistakenly calling him Sen. Kennedy four times. The Rev. Selwyn Bachus also drew a parallel to Halloween.
"Certainly over these past few years we've experienced some nightmares here in the state of Ohio," he said. "We lost some 200,000 jobs, our seniors having to go to Canada to get prescription drugs . . . our young people's blood flowing in the streets . . . in this city and cities all across the country. It's been a nightmare, but we have the chance to help Senator Kerry bring the nightmare to an end."
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, sought to drive up Democratic turnout Sunday during stops in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa. He, too, started the day in an African American church, in Jacksonville, Fla., where he said his ticket is more in touch with everyday Americans. "They don't hear the voices of the people we grew up with," Edwards told a congregation of about 200 at Greater Grant AME Church. "John Kerry and I hear your voice. We're going to fight for you every day."
Later, Edwards, joined by former senator John Glenn, knocked on a half-dozen doors in a neighborhood in northeastern Columbus, Ohio, that is part of a ward that Bush won in 2000 by 12 votes. "You know, this is not all that complicated," Edwards said beforehand in a pep talk to volunteers working the neighborhood. "The bigger the voter turnout, the more likely that John Kerry will be president of the United States."
Senior Kerry adviser Mike McCurry told reporters Sunday that in the next 48 hours Kerry will focus less on national security and more on his domestic agenda for middle-income Americans, and the need for change. "We are confident; we are going to bring this home," McCurry said.
The candidates' schedules reflect their priorities, aides said. Kerry later held events in Ohio and Iowa, two states where the outcome is far from certain. While in Ohio, he made himself available for telephone interviews with reporters in Hawaii, a state once thought to be safely in the Democratic column that has become competitive enough to prompt a visit by Cheney.
Bush spent most of Sunday in Florida, appearing at three rallies before flying to Ohio for the night. He gave an interview in Florida to NBC's Tom Brokaw and predicted: "Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin -- these are all states I did not win last time that I believe I'm going to carry this time."
Allen is traveling with Bush. Staff writers John Wagner, traveling with Edwards, and Lyndsey Layton, traveling with Cheney, contributed to this report.
© 2004 The
By Lois Romano and Mike AllenWashington Post Staff WritersMonday, November 1, 2004; Page A01
DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 31 -- Sen. John F. Kerry and President Bush began a final two-day blitz through the most competitive battlegrounds Sunday, with Kerry wooing his base at a black church, preaching a gospel of economic hope, and the president crisscrossing Florida, questioning his challenger's credentials to keep the nation safe from terrorists.
Two days before the election, the candidates and their running mates were in a frenetic race, circling each other and pressing whatever advantage they have to make closing arguments.
New polls continued to paint a portrait of an extraordinarily close race and an electorate divided by the same fissures that have shaped the political landscape since the disputed election of 2000. Officials in both campaigns said they detected no significant trend in either direction since the release of a videotaped message by Osama bin Laden on Friday afternoon.
The latest Washington Post tracking poll showed Bush and Kerry each with 48 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Four other national polls released Sunday showed Bush leading Kerry by 1 to 3 percentage points -- in all cases within the margin of error.
State polls offered few clues to the outcome, with Ohio and Florida still the most significant and hotly contested states. Strategists on both sides expressed optimism Sunday about their candidate's chances of winning Florida and said Ohio remains too close to call.
Kerry, in Ohio, New Hampshire and Florida, looked to make his case in the homestretch with domestic issues. Polls show that voters see issues such as the economy and health care as the Democrat's strength.
Kerry never mentioned his opponent by name in his remarks from the pulpit at Shiloh Baptist Church here, but the references were unmistakable, as he quoted scriptures and recited "Amazing Grace." He spoke of diminished after-school care, expensive health care and job losses.
"There is a standard by which we have to live," Kerry said. "Coming to church on Sundays and talking about faith and professing faith isn't the whole deal. . . . I hear politicians talk about values, but I don't see them."
Bush and Vice President Cheney also moved to secure their base and stuck to their perceived strength, national security. Speaking to a rally filled with Cuban Americans in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood, Bush said Kerry "entered the flip-flop hall of fame" for his assertion that he had voted for, then against, an $87 billion package to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"If you believe America should fight the war on terror with all her might and lead with unwavering confidence, I ask you, come stand by me," Bush said to cries of "Viva Bush."
Bush also made a direct appeal to Cuban Americans, saying, "We will not rest. We will keep the pressure on, until the Cuban people enjoy the same freedoms in Havana they received here in America."
Although Bush's remarks continue to be aimed at the concerns of his most fervent supporters, his remarks Sunday included an extra bit of outreach. "If you are a Democrat who believes your great party has turned too far left in this year, I ask you, come stand with me," he said. "If you are a minority citizen and you believe in free enterprise and good schools and the enduring values of family and faith, if you're tired of your vote being taken for granted, I ask you, come stand with me."
Bush has courted churchgoers vigorously. Before the rally, he attended Mass at Church of the Epiphany, the home church of his younger brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The pastor, Monsignor Jude O'Doherty, all but endorsed Bush in remarks to the congregation. "Your belief in prayer and dependence on God has to be an example for all of us," O'Doherty said. "As president, your support for the many things of serious concern to us as Catholics is deeply appreciated, among them being your wholehearted support for human life from conception to natural death."
Cheney accused Kerry of turning his back on U.S. troops because of political ambition. Kerry "is not a steadfast leader. Our president is," Cheney told several hundred supporters at an airplane hangar in Toledo. He later referred to Kerry as "a wannabe commander in chief."
Cheney was the only one of the four candidates Sunday to bring up the tape of bin Laden. At a gathering of activists at GOP headquarters in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Cheney slammed Kerry's staff for telling reporters about results of a poll question about the tape.
"John Kerry's first response was to conduct a poll to find out what he should say about this tape of Osama bin Laden," Cheney said. "He didn't know what to say before he checked polls, he had to stick his finger in the air. . . . George Bush doesn't need a poll to say what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden." Cheney added that bin Laden is "obviously trying to have an impact on our elections . . . trying to frighten Americans."
Cheney was referring to a question in a poll taken by Democracy Corps, a Democratic group, in which voters said by more than 10 points that the reemergence of bin Laden made them "think that George Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and diverted resources to Iraq."
Kerry, however, made his comments about the bin Laden tape Friday afternoon. The poll was taken Friday night and Saturday.
More than 10,000 Kerry supporters showed up to greet the Massachusetts senator at a festive rally in Manchester, N.H., where Boston's new heroes, John Henry and Tom Werner, owners of World Series-winning Red Sox, introduced Kerry. On Thursday, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling endorsed Bush on a morning television show.
At Shiloh Baptist Church in Dayton, Kerry was greeted warmly by about 1,000 members of the congregation. The minister did his best to help Kerry excite the worshipers, mistakenly calling him Sen. Kennedy four times. The Rev. Selwyn Bachus also drew a parallel to Halloween.
"Certainly over these past few years we've experienced some nightmares here in the state of Ohio," he said. "We lost some 200,000 jobs, our seniors having to go to Canada to get prescription drugs . . . our young people's blood flowing in the streets . . . in this city and cities all across the country. It's been a nightmare, but we have the chance to help Senator Kerry bring the nightmare to an end."
Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, sought to drive up Democratic turnout Sunday during stops in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa. He, too, started the day in an African American church, in Jacksonville, Fla., where he said his ticket is more in touch with everyday Americans. "They don't hear the voices of the people we grew up with," Edwards told a congregation of about 200 at Greater Grant AME Church. "John Kerry and I hear your voice. We're going to fight for you every day."
Later, Edwards, joined by former senator John Glenn, knocked on a half-dozen doors in a neighborhood in northeastern Columbus, Ohio, that is part of a ward that Bush won in 2000 by 12 votes. "You know, this is not all that complicated," Edwards said beforehand in a pep talk to volunteers working the neighborhood. "The bigger the voter turnout, the more likely that John Kerry will be president of the United States."
Senior Kerry adviser Mike McCurry told reporters Sunday that in the next 48 hours Kerry will focus less on national security and more on his domestic agenda for middle-income Americans, and the need for change. "We are confident; we are going to bring this home," McCurry said.
The candidates' schedules reflect their priorities, aides said. Kerry later held events in Ohio and Iowa, two states where the outcome is far from certain. While in Ohio, he made himself available for telephone interviews with reporters in Hawaii, a state once thought to be safely in the Democratic column that has become competitive enough to prompt a visit by Cheney.
Bush spent most of Sunday in Florida, appearing at three rallies before flying to Ohio for the night. He gave an interview in Florida to NBC's Tom Brokaw and predicted: "Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin -- these are all states I did not win last time that I believe I'm going to carry this time."
Allen is traveling with Bush. Staff writers John Wagner, traveling with Edwards, and Lyndsey Layton, traveling with Cheney, contributed to this report.
© 2004 The
Rehnquist Undergoing Radiation and Chemo
Email this StoryNov 1, 12:50 PM (ET)By GINA HOLLAND
(AP) Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist is seen in a file photo taken at the...Full Image
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Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist disclosed Monday that he's undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for thyroid cancer and said he is delaying his expected return to the Supreme Court, a sign he may have a more serious form of the illness.
Rehnquist had planned to join fellow justices when they were back on the bench after a two-week break. But instead he issued a statement saying "at the suggestion of my doctors, (I) am continuing to recuperate at home."
Rehnquist was released from a Maryland hospital last Friday after undergoing surgery to have a tube inserted in his throat to help his breathing.
The court has released no details about his weeklong stay at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, except to say that he had a tracheotomy. The type of thyroid cancer and its severity have not been disclosed.
Rehnquist, 80, revealed the cancer diagnosis a week ago, prompting speculation about a court vacancy for the first time in more than a decade. The winner of Tuesday's presidential election is expected to name one or more justices to a court that is deeply divided on issues like abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty.
Dr. Ann M. Gillenwater of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said that the combination of chemotherapy and radiation is the normal treatment for anaplastic thyroid cancer, a more serious type.
Rehnquist had been hoarse for several weeks before his hospitalization at the hospital in suburban Bethesda, Md. on Oct. 22. He had the tracheotomy a day later.
Rehnquist, a conservative who has been on the court since 1972 and chief justice since 1986, has had other health problems including chronic back pain and a torn leg tendon that required surgery.
In the statement, Rehnquist said he was receiving outpatient radiation and chemotherapy. Cancer of the thyroid, a gland in the neck that produces hormones to help regulate the body's use of energy, is generally treatable but can be more aggressive in older people.
"According to my doctors, my plan to return to the office today was too optimistic," he said. "While at home, I am working on court matters, including opinions for cases already argued. I am, and will, continue to be in close contact with my colleagues, my law clerks, and members of the Supreme Court staff.
In his absence Monday, Justice John Paul Stevens, 84, presided over the court. He said Rehnquist could still vote in cases being argued this week, after reviewing transcripts and briefs.
Rehnquist left his town house outside Washington in a wheelchair on Monday morning. Journalists were kept on the sidewalk and unable to see much as aides helped the chief justice into a limousine.
The combination of radiation and chemotherapy raises the suspicion that Rehnquist's cancer is not one of the common types that are usually easily treatable, said Dr. Joseph Geradts of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
The most common types are papillary and follicular cancer, and they are generally responsive to radioactive iodine, Geradts said. Chemotherapy could be needed if it is the more aggressive form, called anaplastic, he said.
He noted that the gland is often removed as part of cancer treatment, but in cases of anaplastic cancer the thyroid sometimes cannot be readily removed.
The presence of a tracheotomy to ease Rehnquist's breathing also might indicate anaplastic cancer, Geradts said, since that form can squeeze the trachea.
---
On the Net:
Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
Email this StoryNov 1, 12:50 PM (ET)By GINA HOLLAND
(AP) Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist is seen in a file photo taken at the...Full Image
Google sponsored links
U.S. Politics Today - Chief Justice W. H. Rehnquist News Service For Political Professionalswww.uspoliticstoday.com West Virginia CaseLaw $49 - Free training and phone support! 50 states & federal cases and codeswww.CaseClerk.com
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist disclosed Monday that he's undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for thyroid cancer and said he is delaying his expected return to the Supreme Court, a sign he may have a more serious form of the illness.
Rehnquist had planned to join fellow justices when they were back on the bench after a two-week break. But instead he issued a statement saying "at the suggestion of my doctors, (I) am continuing to recuperate at home."
Rehnquist was released from a Maryland hospital last Friday after undergoing surgery to have a tube inserted in his throat to help his breathing.
The court has released no details about his weeklong stay at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, except to say that he had a tracheotomy. The type of thyroid cancer and its severity have not been disclosed.
Rehnquist, 80, revealed the cancer diagnosis a week ago, prompting speculation about a court vacancy for the first time in more than a decade. The winner of Tuesday's presidential election is expected to name one or more justices to a court that is deeply divided on issues like abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty.
Dr. Ann M. Gillenwater of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said that the combination of chemotherapy and radiation is the normal treatment for anaplastic thyroid cancer, a more serious type.
Rehnquist had been hoarse for several weeks before his hospitalization at the hospital in suburban Bethesda, Md. on Oct. 22. He had the tracheotomy a day later.
Rehnquist, a conservative who has been on the court since 1972 and chief justice since 1986, has had other health problems including chronic back pain and a torn leg tendon that required surgery.
In the statement, Rehnquist said he was receiving outpatient radiation and chemotherapy. Cancer of the thyroid, a gland in the neck that produces hormones to help regulate the body's use of energy, is generally treatable but can be more aggressive in older people.
"According to my doctors, my plan to return to the office today was too optimistic," he said. "While at home, I am working on court matters, including opinions for cases already argued. I am, and will, continue to be in close contact with my colleagues, my law clerks, and members of the Supreme Court staff.
In his absence Monday, Justice John Paul Stevens, 84, presided over the court. He said Rehnquist could still vote in cases being argued this week, after reviewing transcripts and briefs.
Rehnquist left his town house outside Washington in a wheelchair on Monday morning. Journalists were kept on the sidewalk and unable to see much as aides helped the chief justice into a limousine.
The combination of radiation and chemotherapy raises the suspicion that Rehnquist's cancer is not one of the common types that are usually easily treatable, said Dr. Joseph Geradts of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
The most common types are papillary and follicular cancer, and they are generally responsive to radioactive iodine, Geradts said. Chemotherapy could be needed if it is the more aggressive form, called anaplastic, he said.
He noted that the gland is often removed as part of cancer treatment, but in cases of anaplastic cancer the thyroid sometimes cannot be readily removed.
The presence of a tracheotomy to ease Rehnquist's breathing also might indicate anaplastic cancer, Geradts said, since that form can squeeze the trachea.
---
On the Net:
Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
Yahoo! Picks
Frontline: The Choice 2004In this tight election year, you've probably heard more than you want about both candidates for U.S. president. But PBS' Frontline puts a fresh spin on the topic by grounding their analyses of Bush and Kerry in historical introspection. With the help of countless presidential scholars, Frontline looks at the job specs for the commander in chief and what qualities help a person succeed in the Oval Office. Historians even rate all the presidents from Washington to Clinton. Who would have thought Polk rated so high? Of course, if you're still rating the two contenders for 2004, check out the interviews with their childhood friends, speechwriters, and various journalists to get the inside scoop. And someday, pundits and scholars will add this year's winner to their rankings. (in Politics > U.S. Elections)
Frontline: The Choice 2004In this tight election year, you've probably heard more than you want about both candidates for U.S. president. But PBS' Frontline puts a fresh spin on the topic by grounding their analyses of Bush and Kerry in historical introspection. With the help of countless presidential scholars, Frontline looks at the job specs for the commander in chief and what qualities help a person succeed in the Oval Office. Historians even rate all the presidents from Washington to Clinton. Who would have thought Polk rated so high? Of course, if you're still rating the two contenders for 2004, check out the interviews with their childhood friends, speechwriters, and various journalists to get the inside scoop. And someday, pundits and scholars will add this year's winner to their rankings. (in Politics > U.S. Elections)
The papers all lead with relatively neutral stories pegged to the last day before the election. USA Today stakes the most decisive claim, leading with its own Gallup/CNN poll in a story headlined, "SWING STATES LEAN TO KERRY." The Wall Street Journal's world-side newsbox calls it a "photo finish" but says that the "Electoral College chessboard remains more complicated for Kerry than for the president." The New York Times goes with a catch-all that touts record spending on television ads--some $60 million in the last week--saying that neither candidate can afford to miss a single a swing-state single commercial break. The Washington Post leads the unprecedented, $200 million GOTV effort being mounted by both sides; of course, its studiously even-handed approach doesn't give much insight into who might be winning that battle. The Los Angeles Times leads with a by-the-book trail piece, as both candidates lavish attention on Florida and Ohio.
BYO salt regarding the USAT headline: Plenty of other polls offer minutely different, and often contradictory, state-by-state results, although it does seem that, on balance, Kerry is surging a little in battleground polls. Nationally, Gallup has the race tied at 49%, a five-point net jump for Kerry in a week. But some conservatives are already crying foul about Gallup's application of the much-discussed "Incumbent Rule" by allocating 9 of 10 undecided voters to Kerry, a ratio the paper attributes to "analyses of previous presidential races involving an incumbent." Without allocating those voters (which CNN does not do), Bush leads 49% to 47% among likely voters and Kerry leads 48% to 46% among registered voters.
Speaking of today's crop of final polls: NYT/CBS poll is more bullish on Bush, showing him ahead 49% to 46%, with job approval and right track/wrong track up slightly. WSJ/NBC, however, has the race pretty much tied, at 48% to 47%, advantage Bush (subscription required). Interestingly, the poll, which ran Friday to Sunday, indicates that Osama Bin Laden's campaign ad has had little effect. And even as the Journal agrees that some trends are moving ever-so-slightly in Kerry's favor, it quotes both sides playing the confidence card. "I like our position a heck of a lot more than theirs heading into Election Day," said Bush strategist Matthew Dowd.
Given how much attention GOTV has received lately, the Post's lead does an admirable job conveying actual data but reads a little too he-said-she-said (i.e., Dems made 399,466 calls in Ohio on Saturday, but Bush officials say they also make about 400,000 calls a day in Ohio). Better is the WSJ's Page One story, which takes the same raw materials and adds an anecdotal element--following the political directors of both ACT and the RNC (sub. req.). For one thing, this TPer sympathizes with the RNC vote mobilization czar's feelings about E-Day. "What can I do," she asks, "except watch returns and throw up?"
Speaking of polls and GOTV: In its more focused piece on the massive, dueling GOTV efforts in Ohio, the NYT also notes that, in a Columbus Dispatch poll yesterday, out of 2,880 likely Ohio voters, Kerry led Bush by eight. Not percent--eight people.
And just as the race in Florida seems to be getting close again, the papers revisit old wounds there--and find them festering. The Post earns points for colorful reporting, such as voters ordering pizza deliveries while waiting on hours-long early voting lines. USAT notes that Gallup says some 30% of Floridians have already voted, with Kerry leading among them 51% to 43%.
In addition to the LAT's lead, both the Post and USAT run ho-hum trail pieces that use the word "whirlwind" to describe the elaborate and frenzied travels of the candidates. Somehow, improbably, the NYT manages to avoid it in its two thoroughly programmed "behind-the-scenes" portraits of the candidates in the closing days of the election, with Bush really "enjoying himself" and Kerry "loosening up" enough to watch the whole Indiana Jones trilogy on his campaign plane.
USAT fronts Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warning that he's prepared to launch the long-awaited assault on Fallujah if negotiations do not bear fruit soon. "The window for such peaceful settlement is closing," he said. Meanwhile, the papers report that in insurgents fired a rocket into a hotel in Tikrit last night, killing 15 Iraqis. Early reports say that the deputy governor of Baghdad was killed in a drive-by shooting this morning.
In Afghanistan, militants released a video of three kidnapped U.N. workers and threatened to kill them in 72 hours unless U.N. and British troops leave the country and the U.S. frees its Muslim prisoners.
Kerry may have made an ill-advised boast about his support among foreign leaders, but the WSJ says inside that the leaders of several countries--such as Japan, Russia, Iran, China, India and Italy--are quietly hoping for a Bush victory, generally for economic reasons (sub. req.) Some speculate that he may even have the support of Jacques Chirac: Said one analyst, "Four more years of Bush, and I suspect there will be a lot more unity in Europe."
Attn. prognostication dept.: Dems are happy the Redskins lost yesterday, but does it bode well for anyone that they might have won were it not for a controversial call that reversed a spectacular touchdown? And the WP has tomorrow's all-important swing state weather report (second item). It's looking nice everywhere, with the notable exception of Democratic stronghold Cleveland, Ohio, which has a 60 percent chance of rain.Sam Schechner is a freelance writer in New York.Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2108961/
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BYO salt regarding the USAT headline: Plenty of other polls offer minutely different, and often contradictory, state-by-state results, although it does seem that, on balance, Kerry is surging a little in battleground polls. Nationally, Gallup has the race tied at 49%, a five-point net jump for Kerry in a week. But some conservatives are already crying foul about Gallup's application of the much-discussed "Incumbent Rule" by allocating 9 of 10 undecided voters to Kerry, a ratio the paper attributes to "analyses of previous presidential races involving an incumbent." Without allocating those voters (which CNN does not do), Bush leads 49% to 47% among likely voters and Kerry leads 48% to 46% among registered voters.
Speaking of today's crop of final polls: NYT/CBS poll is more bullish on Bush, showing him ahead 49% to 46%, with job approval and right track/wrong track up slightly. WSJ/NBC, however, has the race pretty much tied, at 48% to 47%, advantage Bush (subscription required). Interestingly, the poll, which ran Friday to Sunday, indicates that Osama Bin Laden's campaign ad has had little effect. And even as the Journal agrees that some trends are moving ever-so-slightly in Kerry's favor, it quotes both sides playing the confidence card. "I like our position a heck of a lot more than theirs heading into Election Day," said Bush strategist Matthew Dowd.
Given how much attention GOTV has received lately, the Post's lead does an admirable job conveying actual data but reads a little too he-said-she-said (i.e., Dems made 399,466 calls in Ohio on Saturday, but Bush officials say they also make about 400,000 calls a day in Ohio). Better is the WSJ's Page One story, which takes the same raw materials and adds an anecdotal element--following the political directors of both ACT and the RNC (sub. req.). For one thing, this TPer sympathizes with the RNC vote mobilization czar's feelings about E-Day. "What can I do," she asks, "except watch returns and throw up?"
Speaking of polls and GOTV: In its more focused piece on the massive, dueling GOTV efforts in Ohio, the NYT also notes that, in a Columbus Dispatch poll yesterday, out of 2,880 likely Ohio voters, Kerry led Bush by eight. Not percent--eight people.
And just as the race in Florida seems to be getting close again, the papers revisit old wounds there--and find them festering. The Post earns points for colorful reporting, such as voters ordering pizza deliveries while waiting on hours-long early voting lines. USAT notes that Gallup says some 30% of Floridians have already voted, with Kerry leading among them 51% to 43%.
In addition to the LAT's lead, both the Post and USAT run ho-hum trail pieces that use the word "whirlwind" to describe the elaborate and frenzied travels of the candidates. Somehow, improbably, the NYT manages to avoid it in its two thoroughly programmed "behind-the-scenes" portraits of the candidates in the closing days of the election, with Bush really "enjoying himself" and Kerry "loosening up" enough to watch the whole Indiana Jones trilogy on his campaign plane.
USAT fronts Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warning that he's prepared to launch the long-awaited assault on Fallujah if negotiations do not bear fruit soon. "The window for such peaceful settlement is closing," he said. Meanwhile, the papers report that in insurgents fired a rocket into a hotel in Tikrit last night, killing 15 Iraqis. Early reports say that the deputy governor of Baghdad was killed in a drive-by shooting this morning.
In Afghanistan, militants released a video of three kidnapped U.N. workers and threatened to kill them in 72 hours unless U.N. and British troops leave the country and the U.S. frees its Muslim prisoners.
Kerry may have made an ill-advised boast about his support among foreign leaders, but the WSJ says inside that the leaders of several countries--such as Japan, Russia, Iran, China, India and Italy--are quietly hoping for a Bush victory, generally for economic reasons (sub. req.) Some speculate that he may even have the support of Jacques Chirac: Said one analyst, "Four more years of Bush, and I suspect there will be a lot more unity in Europe."
Attn. prognostication dept.: Dems are happy the Redskins lost yesterday, but does it bode well for anyone that they might have won were it not for a controversial call that reversed a spectacular touchdown? And the WP has tomorrow's all-important swing state weather report (second item). It's looking nice everywhere, with the notable exception of Democratic stronghold Cleveland, Ohio, which has a 60 percent chance of rain.Sam Schechner is a freelance writer in New York.Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2108961/
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Hello Moria,
I am sending you this note on the last days before the Presidential election, and I will admit that I harbor a certain amount of apprehension about what is in store for our country regardless of who should be our leader on Wednesday morning. This of course assuming that the vote is not so close as to be inconclusive in some even more daunting reality check pointing to the arcane Electoral College which I do not understand, although I was a political science major in college. I have really not been coming to this fraudster site as much as I did in the very beginning, and that makes me wonder why. Tonight I received like an update from the friendster people, and so I clicked on and I noticed that you had been here today, which indicated that you are a regular user of this site, and (hopefully) you would see this note before the entire course of world history has taken off in another completely different direction.I really like the concept of this type of web community, and I was originally drawn to friendster by the "HYPE" that was inescapable in the earlier part of this year. But I guess what threw me off was that I would contact people, exchange notes or whatever, and then somehow the frequency or the reliability of the contacts would falter. And then recently I noticed that certain individuals, one in particular who had kind of tipped me off to this had not been to the site in quite some time... So I suppose I was a little discouraged...when I came up to this page(s) tonight and I checked to see who if anyone I knew had been frequenting friendster you were the first person I noticed because you were the last person I had received a note from, hence you are at the top of the INBOX list. Remembering your interest in Edith Wharton, not one of your more widely read or generally known authors, caused me to stop and say hi and let you know a little bit about what has me concerned at this time.
Mind you, not panicked, I could never panic, but just looking at the situation and wondering which way it will develop...Ok. The first thing is the bitter and very personal way the entire Presidential campaign has taken place. Personal attacks and a complete disregard for the facts as they stand, misquotes and out and out determined misrepresentation of the words of each candidate by the other. People are much divided, and the general feeling seems to be a great emotional sensitivity to disagreement or counterpoint that someone might introduce.This is disturbing to me because I think of the election process as very much a learning experience, and an opportunity for people to examine their ideas and positions, in contrast to others who may hold opposing points of view.
At the very same time I am reminded that this is the very opportunity to exercise our freedoms and participate in the Democratic process that gives us our sense of liberty and freedom. I say sense of liberty, because there are some rather frightening developments taking place within the Government which I believe are going to be even more insidious if the current Administration is returned to office.Homeland Security can be a very wide catch phrase, and I noticed that in your Bio for friendster you listed "Repeat Offender" as an occupation. Now for a person in your line of work, (which being a recidivist at least gains you a wide network of others, as we have incarcerated more people in this country in recent times, than ever before in the history of incarceration. Which is not a very long history, by the way, alas, I digress.)
Here is the matter, unless you are very careful, these "Powers" that we legislated under the pressure to react to the attacks in Sept. 01, can become solidly enmeshed in the overall attempt to subvert our system of justice
Terrorists are one matter, but there is so much potential for abuse, and so much reluctance to confront the agencies at the heart of the juggernaut attempting to make some sense of the entire conundrum can become a nightmare.
This concerns me now, as we head into the final days of this long and very unsettling political "war".This Bin Laden guy makes a tape and he is in so many words threatening the lives of Americans and leaning into the political process in some way.It is so hard for me to understand how this guy can get away with what he has up to now. We are always talking about the technology that can read your mail in your mail box from some satellite in outer space orbit, but we cannot locate this character as he produces video tapes and passes them to the media through intermediaries, and then sits back at the "Oasis" and waits until the next round of fireworks. It is so incredible that this world is such a way that there is no better way to solve conflict than to destroy human life.I detest violence of all kinds. I have worked in construction for many years, and one of the most disturbing aspects of that industry is the mindset that violence should be a tool in everyone's belt, to be wiped out to make a point on what are often very minor and inconsequential items.
There is nothing happening when the man in front of you is trying to kill you except the primal urge to survival and to deflect that attack by killing that person first. Horrible and insane, and yet that is where we will vote for John Kerry on Tuesday, and when I do so I will be saying a prayer that regardless of who occupies the White House that we as a people, and as a nation can try to collectively realize that we must be concerned for one another, for our mutual best interest and for the quality of life overall..
This is in part what I came to see as the potential in friendster, and I still believe that this and other sites like this can become a very potent galvanizing force for the recognition of what holds us together in a Democratic system, and what needs to be shared and exchanged and understood and appreciated so that our way of life which is so many things we can easily take for granted but we are seeing can also be quickly pulled out of our world before we even know what hit us!I had no intention of putting this all out on the note this evening, and I hope you don't find it completely boring, irrelevant, totally obvious, or intrusive.
I really don't believe that you would mind my taking this moment to kind of share with you a few things that are troubling to me in a general way, and maybe when you read this you will be able to tell me what you have experienced in these last months as this Presidential campaign has coexisted in the headlines with a war that continues on unabated with eight more Marines killed just hours ago.
How are we going to keep from falling apart as a nation unless we put soundly aside the divisiveness which I know is the driving force behind many people and their self serving decisions.God Bless You Moria, I hope you come to friendster soon and read my letter, and then you might be a calming influence, as you reply, "Michael, relax, there is a plan, I have it in front of me and I will share it with you if you promise not to speak but just listen as I explain it" You might have deduced from this "brief note" that I can talk allot, and it sometimes can get in the way of learning and the patience of those around me. Thank You for your patience, and I look forward to a great effort on all levels to patch up the mess we have at present and return to the path of hope, happiness, prosperity, peace, (fun, fun, and more fun, like summer weekends at the beach, and winter trips to the mountains to ski). All of this and more.
Your Friend, (ster).
Michael p. Whelan
I am sending you this note on the last days before the Presidential election, and I will admit that I harbor a certain amount of apprehension about what is in store for our country regardless of who should be our leader on Wednesday morning. This of course assuming that the vote is not so close as to be inconclusive in some even more daunting reality check pointing to the arcane Electoral College which I do not understand, although I was a political science major in college. I have really not been coming to this fraudster site as much as I did in the very beginning, and that makes me wonder why. Tonight I received like an update from the friendster people, and so I clicked on and I noticed that you had been here today, which indicated that you are a regular user of this site, and (hopefully) you would see this note before the entire course of world history has taken off in another completely different direction.I really like the concept of this type of web community, and I was originally drawn to friendster by the "HYPE" that was inescapable in the earlier part of this year. But I guess what threw me off was that I would contact people, exchange notes or whatever, and then somehow the frequency or the reliability of the contacts would falter. And then recently I noticed that certain individuals, one in particular who had kind of tipped me off to this had not been to the site in quite some time... So I suppose I was a little discouraged...when I came up to this page(s) tonight and I checked to see who if anyone I knew had been frequenting friendster you were the first person I noticed because you were the last person I had received a note from, hence you are at the top of the INBOX list. Remembering your interest in Edith Wharton, not one of your more widely read or generally known authors, caused me to stop and say hi and let you know a little bit about what has me concerned at this time.
Mind you, not panicked, I could never panic, but just looking at the situation and wondering which way it will develop...Ok. The first thing is the bitter and very personal way the entire Presidential campaign has taken place. Personal attacks and a complete disregard for the facts as they stand, misquotes and out and out determined misrepresentation of the words of each candidate by the other. People are much divided, and the general feeling seems to be a great emotional sensitivity to disagreement or counterpoint that someone might introduce.This is disturbing to me because I think of the election process as very much a learning experience, and an opportunity for people to examine their ideas and positions, in contrast to others who may hold opposing points of view.
At the very same time I am reminded that this is the very opportunity to exercise our freedoms and participate in the Democratic process that gives us our sense of liberty and freedom. I say sense of liberty, because there are some rather frightening developments taking place within the Government which I believe are going to be even more insidious if the current Administration is returned to office.Homeland Security can be a very wide catch phrase, and I noticed that in your Bio for friendster you listed "Repeat Offender" as an occupation. Now for a person in your line of work, (which being a recidivist at least gains you a wide network of others, as we have incarcerated more people in this country in recent times, than ever before in the history of incarceration. Which is not a very long history, by the way, alas, I digress.)
Here is the matter, unless you are very careful, these "Powers" that we legislated under the pressure to react to the attacks in Sept. 01, can become solidly enmeshed in the overall attempt to subvert our system of justice
Terrorists are one matter, but there is so much potential for abuse, and so much reluctance to confront the agencies at the heart of the juggernaut attempting to make some sense of the entire conundrum can become a nightmare.
This concerns me now, as we head into the final days of this long and very unsettling political "war".This Bin Laden guy makes a tape and he is in so many words threatening the lives of Americans and leaning into the political process in some way.It is so hard for me to understand how this guy can get away with what he has up to now. We are always talking about the technology that can read your mail in your mail box from some satellite in outer space orbit, but we cannot locate this character as he produces video tapes and passes them to the media through intermediaries, and then sits back at the "Oasis" and waits until the next round of fireworks. It is so incredible that this world is such a way that there is no better way to solve conflict than to destroy human life.I detest violence of all kinds. I have worked in construction for many years, and one of the most disturbing aspects of that industry is the mindset that violence should be a tool in everyone's belt, to be wiped out to make a point on what are often very minor and inconsequential items.
There is nothing happening when the man in front of you is trying to kill you except the primal urge to survival and to deflect that attack by killing that person first. Horrible and insane, and yet that is where we will vote for John Kerry on Tuesday, and when I do so I will be saying a prayer that regardless of who occupies the White House that we as a people, and as a nation can try to collectively realize that we must be concerned for one another, for our mutual best interest and for the quality of life overall..
This is in part what I came to see as the potential in friendster, and I still believe that this and other sites like this can become a very potent galvanizing force for the recognition of what holds us together in a Democratic system, and what needs to be shared and exchanged and understood and appreciated so that our way of life which is so many things we can easily take for granted but we are seeing can also be quickly pulled out of our world before we even know what hit us!I had no intention of putting this all out on the note this evening, and I hope you don't find it completely boring, irrelevant, totally obvious, or intrusive.
I really don't believe that you would mind my taking this moment to kind of share with you a few things that are troubling to me in a general way, and maybe when you read this you will be able to tell me what you have experienced in these last months as this Presidential campaign has coexisted in the headlines with a war that continues on unabated with eight more Marines killed just hours ago.
How are we going to keep from falling apart as a nation unless we put soundly aside the divisiveness which I know is the driving force behind many people and their self serving decisions.God Bless You Moria, I hope you come to friendster soon and read my letter, and then you might be a calming influence, as you reply, "Michael, relax, there is a plan, I have it in front of me and I will share it with you if you promise not to speak but just listen as I explain it" You might have deduced from this "brief note" that I can talk allot, and it sometimes can get in the way of learning and the patience of those around me. Thank You for your patience, and I look forward to a great effort on all levels to patch up the mess we have at present and return to the path of hope, happiness, prosperity, peace, (fun, fun, and more fun, like summer weekends at the beach, and winter trips to the mountains to ski). All of this and more.
Your Friend, (ster).
Michael p. Whelan
