2004 Presidential Election
Today the Super Seven states vote. Among them are New Mexico and Arizona which will give an indication of how the Presidential election will play out here in Colorado.
Here's a story from the Albuquerque Journal [February 3, 2004, "Dems Give N.M. Final Whirl"]. From the article, "Kerry, the winner in Iowa and New Hampshire and the favorite among likely Democratic voters in New Mexico, according to a Journal's poll last week, sounded at a morning rally in Albuquerque like a man who had already won the nomination and was campaigning against the Republican incumbent...Dean, Kerry's closest rival in New Mexico, according to the Journal poll, bounded onto a ballroom stage at La Fonda in Santa Fe to a blaring, remixed version of Elvis (Presley's) 'A Little Less Conversation.' Dean, feeding off a boisterous crowd of roughly 300 supporters, allowed himself to get fired up, although he never took off his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves as he did in his now-infamous Iowa concession speech. His voice rising, the former Vermont governor took several swipes at front-runner Kerry, painting him as a creature of Washington beholden to special interests. Dean referred to data from the Center for Responsive Politics that showed that Kerry has accepted more lobbyist money than any senator since 1989...Clark, a retired Army general, tried to woo Hispanic voters during a morning rally at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque's South Valley. Spanish music played in the background, the waiting crowd of more than 150 people was plied with bizcochitos and Clark peppered his speech with Spanish...Lieberman flew into Albuquerque late Sunday night after campaigning in Oklahoma. He spoke to a crowd of students, parents and teachers here Monday before catching a plane to Arizona...The other active major candidates on the ballot - Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards - both had been in the state over the weekend."
Republicans were in New Mexico in force to campaign for President Bush, according to the Albuquerque Journal [February 3, 2004, "GOP Leaders Campaign for Bush"]. From the article, "Marc Racicot, a former Montana governor, touted the GOP's candidate on the eve of today's Democratic presidential caucus. 'We felt like it was an entirely appropriate moment in this very important political moment for the state for us to also remind people that we are very active and strong in our presence in New Mexico,' Racicot said. Racicot noted that Democrat Al Gore edged out Bush by just 366 votes in New Mexico in 2000. Republicans hope to reverse that result this year, he said."
Taegan Goddard is still tracking the tracking polls for today's primaries and caucuses.
Here's a recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup national poll. Thanks to the Arizona Central for the link.
On the campaign front most of the Democratic candidates have attacked President Bush for cherry-picking intelligence prior to taking us to war. David Kay's resignation last week has only fueled the debate. Over the weekend the President said he favors an indepedent commission studying the issue. Here's an article from the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau calling for the inclusion of Vice President Cheney's office in the investigation. From the article, "The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity (ed. of course) because of the sensitivity of the issue, didn't dispute that the CIA failed to accurately assess the state of Iraq's weapons programs. But they said that the intelligence efforts led by Cheney magnified the errors through exaggeration, oversights and mistaken deductions. Those efforts bypassed normal channels, used Iraqi exiles and defectors of questionable reliability, and produced findings on former dictator Saddam Hussein's links to al Qaida and his illicit arms programs that were disputed by analysts at the CIA, the State Department and other agencies, the officials said. 'There were more agencies than CIA providing intelligence . . . that are worth scrutiny, including the (Pentagons now-disbanded) Office of Special Plans and the office of the vice president,' said a former senior military official who was involved in planning the Iraq invasion. Some of the disputed findings were presented as facts to Americans as Bush drummed up his case for war." Thanks to Juan Cole for the link.
Here's an article arguing that the President was a victim of flawed intelligence. From the article, "The truth in Machiavellian terms is worse: Bush and Blair accepted and actually believed the flawed intelligence that their spy bosses and senior aides provided, and then inflated it in their public speeches. Credulity, not chicanery, would be the plea, your honor. The CIA's failure on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is only one strand, and a somewhat understandable one. Analysts are rewarded for gravitating toward worst-case scenarios. Predicting what could go right -- that U.S. forces would not need chemical protection suits in the desert, or that Saddam might have been fooled by his scientists, who were stealing money for nonexistent programs, as Kay speculates happened -- is an art that does not flourish in Langley or at the Pentagon. If yet another investigation of the CIA is needed, it must be broad and not limited to weapons of mass destruction. Why did the agency fail to predict before the war the deadly insurgency that American troops now face? That will lead to examination of the fruitless 'decapitation' strategy the agency pursued in Iraq for 15 years, to the detriment of other, more promising approaches." Thanks to Josh Marshall for the link.
Update: From e-mail from Joe Lieberman's campaign, "Tonight our journey comes to an end. I want to first and foremost thank everyone that has supported me over the past months. Without you we never would have been able to take part in this amazing adventure."
Update: Exit poll results from Taegan Goddard.
6:40:45 AM 
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