Coyote Gulch

Monday, January 19, 2004

2004 Presidential Election
Mike Littwin writes about the surge of support for John Kerry in Iowa, in his column in today's Rocky Mountain News [January 19, 2004, "Littwin: Kerry suddenly out of the shadows and into the lead"]. Says Littwin, "Let's see. The last time we checked in on John Kerry, he was still being dismissed as - and I don't want to leave anything out - too long-winded, too cerebral, too aloof, too Washington, too little, too late to become the Democratic nominee for president. And those were the nicest things anyone had to say. I read one pundit who said, maybe ungenerously in retrospect, that Kerry had run the worst campaign of all time. Have people already forgotten Michael Dukakis? But you can understand the sentiment. After all, the Massachusetts senator, who came into the race as the front-runner, had been chased out of neighboring New Hampshire by Howard Dean, who forced him to go to Iowa - west of Elba - to revive his candidacy. Meanwhile, Democratic stalwarts - Gore, Bradley, Harkin - who each might conceivably have endorsed Kerry, had all come out for Dean, who is attempting to become the first-ever insurgent/establishment hybrid candidate. And Kerry was left insisting he had found energy in his campaign that no one else seemed to be able to locate."
The last Zogby Tracking poll before tonight's Iowa caucuses has John Kerry leading Howard Dean 25% to 22% with John Edwards third at 21% and Dick Gephardt fourth with 18%. Now it's up to Iowans to give us the final tallies this evening. The Iowa caucuses are interesting in that if your candidate does not get 15% at a particular caucus location you are able to switch your support over the evening. The whole process can last 2 hours or more.
No matter the outcome of this year's Presidential election, Howard Dean's campaign will emerge as using Internet technologies in the most innovative manner in history. They've introduced new concepts at a dizzying rate, forcing all other campaigns, including President Bush's, to follow suit. Working with Dave Winer they've created a new RSS feed called channel Dean. The link is to their RSS feed so you need an RSS aggregator to read it (or an editor that displays XML). Here's an FAQ about the project and here's Dave Winer's post today about the effort. Dave Winer's writing inspired me to create Coyote Gulch. You go Dave.
Howard Dean is still on top in New Hampshire according to the latest American Research Group tracking poll. The top three candidates in the poll are Dean with 28%, Wesley Clark, 20%, and John Kerry, 19%. John Edwards is in fourth with 8% with Undecided coming in at 15%.
Update: Our own Govenor Owens is blogging from Iowa.
Update: Caucus day post from Howard Dean.
Update: John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, John Edwards came in second with Howard Dean third. Dick Gephardt finished fourth. Here are the numbers from the Des Moines Register.
8:32:21 AM

Colorado Water
Fees for water taps are rising dramtically in the Metro area, according to the Rocky Mountain News [January 19, 2004, "Fees for water taps surge in metro area"]. Well that's how free markets work. Here in the west there is no guarantee that you will have cheap water or any water at all for that matter. From the article, "Water tap fees have nearly doubled in many parts of the Denver metro area in the past five years and likely will continue to climb. Tap fees are charges assessed by a municipality or water district for new developments to hook into the existing delivery system. The fees pay, in part, for the purchase of water rights, pipeline construction and additional water treatment plants. As those costs continue to rise, the tap fees do the same. In Broomfield, for example, tap fees are nearly $20,000 for each single-family home, up from $9,241 in 1998. Home builders pay the fee and generally pass the cost along to the home buyer. Scott Miller is vice president of Amber Homes, which specializes in building affordable, 'entry-level' homes. For some first-time home buyers, even a $1,000 increase could make it impossible for them to come up with a down payment or qualify for a loan, Miller said. Generally, older, more established cities can charge less for tap fees because their delivery systems have been in place for years. Denver, for example, has one of the metro area's cheapest water tap fees, charging about $4,390 for an 8,500-square-foot lot in the city limits."
8:15:14 AM

Martin Luther King Day
The Martin Luther King Day marade starts at 10:00AM at the southwest corner of City Park. Here's a map of the parade route from the Denver Post. The Denver Parade should have a huge turnout, according to the Post [January 19, 2004, "30,000 expected for MLK celebration"]. From the article, "Today's 'Marade' - a combination of march and parade - is expected to draw 30,000 walkers, which qualifies it as the largest celebration of its kind in the country, according to the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver."
Jeralyn Merritt: "Don't miss watching Honor the Memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Get Active from BushFlash and United for Peace:"
7:53:14 AM

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