Rep. Kucinich goes head to head with Richard Perle, one of TW’s chief architects of war in Iraq. Kucinich directly confronts Perle that Saddam poses no immediate threat to the US and that war is not justified. – Meet the Press [Junkie: Great to see a Dem standing up and making the case.]
HELEN THOMAS
Thomas is the “dean” of the White House press corps and a member of TW’s hit list for her comment that TW was the worst POTUS in the history of the US. Now, Thomas fires at the Dems. “The Democratic presidential aspirants have been pussyfooting around the Iraq question, wanting to have it both ways on whether to support President Bush's rush-to-war. The time has come for them to show some backbone. They should declare their position clearly and point to peaceful options that the president has no time for. Speaking of clarity, I salute Bush for his laser-focused campaign against Saddam Hussein, even if he ignores facts and history. Also getting strong marks for clarity would be Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who is just as hawkish as Bush. It's disappointing that the Democrats don't have a leading candidate to challenge that point of view with the force of moral clarity. Most of the leading candidates are straddling the fence, reluctant to take a firm stand one way or another. . . . At a time when the Democrats need giants to challenge the incumbent president, they are surrounded by "me too" candidates. -- SeattlePI
SENATOR GRAHAM
It is official. Senator Graham is in the Dem race for POTUS. -- Washington Post
IN SEARCH OF POTUS
Dem POTUS hopefuls were in Iowa this past week. On reviewer describes Edwards as great on attacking TW but as “stumbling” because most people in Iowa are opposed to TW’s war. Dean gets rave reviews not only because of his stance on issues but because he is against the war. -- TNR [This article is a must read for all Junkies as it clearly analyzes the effect TW’s war is having on Dem politics.]
Edwards calls TW’s administration a failure. – N&O
DOLLARS FOR DEMOCRATS
“Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe vowed yesterday to raise enough money for the party's presidential campaign in 2004, but said it will be impossible to match the Republicans' fund-raising skills dollar for dollar. . . . In a briefing for reporters at the opening of the Democratic National Committee's three-day winter meeting here, Mr. McAuliffe laid out an elaborate high-tech campaign plan for the next two years in a bid to deny Mr. Bush a second term. At the heart of the DNC campaign plan is an elaborate database initiative called "DataMart" that will be able to identify and send campaign messages to millions of voters selected on the basis of their demographic and consumer profiles from a storehouse of 158 million names. The DNC showed how their computer programs have been fashioned to identify prospective Democratic voters such as single and working women and environmentalists in key states and districts, even precincts, where an election can be decided by a few thousand or even a few hundred additional voters.” – Washington Times