Iowa

20090327
Iowa - North Dakota
"Senators Get Nasty: "You're Good" ... "Your Wife Said The Same Thing" (VIDEO)." ... "Budget Committee Chairman [and North Dakota Democratic Senator] Kent Conrad (D-N.D. [Democratic-North Dakota]) was on the receiving end of this one, after telling [Iowa Republican Senator] Sen. Charles Grassley (R [Republican]-Iowa), "Oh, you are good."... [Chuck Grassley responded:] "Well, your wife said the same thing," Grassley responded. " -By Ryan Grim -HuffingtonPost.com

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WATCH: Iowa Republican Senator Grassley say "Well, your wife said the same thing," in response to North Dakota Democratic Senator Conrad saying "Oh, you are good."

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20090326
Government - Money - Accounting - Politics - Jobs - Deficit - Iowa
"Republican Budget Plan: ‘Undo’ The Stimulus, Cut Taxes For The Rich." ... "Today, House Republicans released their budget plan, entitled “The Republican Road To Recovery.” They claim the plan “curbs spending, creates jobs and lowers taxes, and controls the debt; and it will soon have our economy growing again.”" ... "For an “alternative budget,” however, it is very short on numbers, including no mention of deficit implications. And the plan for creating jobs and sparking economic growth is actually undoing the stimulus and then cutting additional spending[.]" ... "Of course, stimulus dollars are already on their way out the door, so it’s difficult to envision how one would “undo” the bill. But even if it could be done, it would be an act of neo-Hooverism that would make [Iowa Republican Senator] Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA [Republican-Iowa]) insane three-year spending freeze look wise and prudent." ... "As Matthew Yglesias noted, “It’s strange that the Republicans railing about long-term deficits seem to love long-term deficits when the point of the deficits is to further enrich the rich.”" -By Pat Garofalo -ThinkProgress.org/Wonk Room

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20090108
Barack Obama - Economic - Jobs - Politics - Government - History - Iowa
"Harkin Fears "Trickle-Down" Stimulus." ... "Democratic senators are still emerging from their closed-door briefing with [Democratic President Elect] Obama economic adviser Larry Summers ... but a senior Democratic senator, Iowa progressive Tom Harkin, just gave me a dire buzzword: trickle-down." ... ""There's only one thing we've got to do in this stimulus, and that's create jobs," Harkin told me. "I'm a little concerned by the way Mr. Summers and others are going on this ... it still looks a little more to me like trickle-down."" ... "Likening Barack Obama's economic recovery plan to the failed supply-side excesses of the [Republican Presidents] Reagan and Bush years is a bit of a Cassandra moment. But Harkin didn't back down. "What I'm hearing from Mr. Summers is that they've got a different approach -- tax breaks, and this and that," he said. Harkin warned that, much like the outcome of George Bush's $600 stimulus package last year, recipients of quick tax cuts "are going to be salting it away, not spending it."" ... "When I asked if he felt his concerns were heard during the meeting, he looked to the floor and slowly shook his head. It was almost forlorn." -By Elana Schor -TPMElectionCentral .TalkingPointsMemo

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20081110
Child - Labor - Safety - Enforcement - Employers - Politics - Food - Agriculture - Plants - Construction - People - Federal - Immigration - North Carolina - South Carolina - Iowa
"Child labor going largely unchecked." ... "Nery Castañeda tackled a job that was never intended for kids his age." ... "One afternoon last fall, the 17-year-old Guatemala native ran a machine to grind damaged pallets into mulch. When a co-worker at the Greensboro [North Carolina] plant returned from another task, he didn't see Nery – until he looked inside the shredder." ... "“A person shouldn't die like this,” said older brother Luis. “…He came with a dream and found death.”" ... "Decades after the enactment of regulations designed to prevent such tragedies, thousands of youths still get hurt on American jobs deemed unsafe for young workers. On a typical day, more than 400 juvenile workers are injured on the job. Once every 10 days, on average, a worker under the age of 18 is killed, federal statistics show." ... "Enforcement has waned, despite new evidence that many employers are ignoring child labor laws. U.S. [United States] Department of Labor investigations have dropped by nearly half since fiscal year 2000." ... "“There are lots of kids being asked to do work that's been prohibited for them – and it's been prohibited because it's dangerous,” said Carol Runyan, who heads UNC's Injury Prevention Research Center. “…Our system is failing them.”" ... "More than 3 million youths under age 18 have jobs. Regulations prohibit them from doing a variety of hazardous jobs, including most meat-processing work." ... "But last month, at an immigration raid at a House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville, S.C. [South Carolina], six juveniles were among the workers detained. Three young workers told the Observer they were under 18 when they held jobs at House of Raeford plants requiring them to make thousands of cuts a day with sharp knives. The company says it requires job applicants to present identification showing their age, but not all the documentation is accurate." ... "At Agriprocessors, a large meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, authorities recently charged owners with thousands of child-labor violations after finding that teenage employees were asked to use circular saws, clean floors with powerful chemicals and perform other dangerous tasks." ... "“The raids in Postville and Greenville show that 15- and 16-year-old kids are doing some of the most dangerous jobs in America,” says Reid Maki of the National Consumers League. “ … It's time for the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate slaughterhouses and poultry plants.”" ... "A study of 16- and 17-year-old construction workers in North Carolina, published in 2006, found that more than 80 percent did tasks that were clearly prohibited. A national survey of young retail and service workers, published in 2007, found that more than half of males and more than 40 percent of females performed prohibited tasks." ... "Runyan, who co-authored both studies, says much of the blame lies with employers." ... "“I suspect there are employers who flagrantly disregard the law,” she said. “And I suspect there are others who are clueless.”" ... "Total federal penalties for child labor violations dropped 29 percent from 2000 to 2007." -By Ames Alexander and Franco Ordonez -Observer

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20081020
Barack Obama - Madelyn Dunham - Grandmother - Hawaii - Indiana - Wisconsin - Des-Moines - Iowa - Politics - 2008 Election
"Obama will make emergency trip to Hawaii to visit his Grandmother." ... "[2008 Election Democratic] Presidential hopeful Barack Obama will make an emergency trip back to the [Hawaii] islands this week to visit his grandmother." ... "A campaign spokesman says 86-year old Madelyn Dunham is very ill." ... "Obama plans to leave Indianapolis [Indiania's capital] on Thursday afternoon." ... "His grandmother has always been one of the most important people in his life." ... ""She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me," said Obama on August 28." ... "Obama will be stepping off the campaign trail for a couple days to be at his grandmother's side." ... "He cancelled his appearances in Madison, Wisconsin, and Des Moines, Iowa to make the trip." -By Marisa Yamane -KHON2.com

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20080825
WATCH - 2008 Election - Politics - Noteworthy - US - Iraq - Military - Global - Climate - Environment - Fiscal - History - Iowa
"Full Text: Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach Speech to Democratic National Convention." ... [Speech by Iowa Republican Representative Jim Leach:] "In troubled times, it was understood that country comes before party, that in perilous moments mutual concern for the national interest must be the only factor in political judgments. This does not mean that debate within and between the political parties should not be vibrant. Yet what frustrates so many citizens is the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and the way today’s Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage." ... "The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts." ... "America has seldom faced more critical choices: whether we should maintain an occupational force for decades in a country and region that resents western intervention or elect a leader who, in a carefully structured way, will bring our troops home from Iraq as the heroes they are. Whether it is wise to continue to project power largely alone with flickering support around the world or elect a leader who will follow the model of General Eisenhower and this president’s father and lead in concert with allies." ... "Whether it is prudent to borrow from future generations to pay for today’s reckless fiscal policies or elect a leader who will shore up our budgets and return to a strong dollar. Whether it is preferable to continue the policies that have weakened our position in the world, deepened our debt and widened social divisions or elect a leader who will emulate John F. Kennedy and relight a lamp of fairness at home and reassert an energizing mix of realism and idealism abroad." ... "The portfolio of challenges passed on to the next president will be as daunting as any since the Great Depression and World War II. This is not a time for politics as usual or for run-of-the-mill politicians. Little is riskier to the national interest than more of the same. America needs new ideas, new energy and a new generation of leadership." ... "Hence, I stand before you proud of my party’s contributions to American history but, as a citizen, proud as well of the good judgment of good people in this good party, in nominating a transcending candidate, an individual whom I am convinced will recapture the American dream and be a truly great president: the senator from Abraham Lincoln’s state—Barack Obama. Thank you." -By Jim Leach via -Clips&Comment

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WATCH: Jim Leach, Republican of Iowa at the Democratic National Convention

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20080619
John McCain - Barack Obama - Iowa - Flood - Disaster - Law - Enforcement - 2008 Election
"Culver aides: McCain ignored request to cancel Iowa visit." ... "An aide to [Iowa Democratic Governor] Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday that [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate John McCain ignored the governor's request to cancel a campaign visit amid a massive flood recovery effort in the state." ... "Patrick Dillon, Culver's chief of staff, said the governor was concerned that McCain's trip would divert local law enforcement from the flood recovery effort to provide security for McCain." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama canceled a scheduled visit to eastern Iowa last week at the request of state officials." -By Mike Glover -AP via -Google

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Disaster - Environment - Human - Agriculture - Land - Science - Iowa - History - Weather
"Iowa Flooding Could Be An Act of Man, Experts Say." ... "[Cedar Falls, Iowa college professor and City Council member Kamyar] Enshayan, director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa, suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed." ... ""We've done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions," he said. "Agriculture must respect the limits of nature."" ... "Officials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding, and not everyone has the same suspicions as Enshayan. For them, the cause was obvious: It rained buckets and buckets for days on end. They say the changes in land use were lesser factors in what was really just a case of meteorological bad luck." ... "But some Iowans who study the environment suspect that changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable to flooding." ... "" (1, 2) -By Joel Achenbach with contributions by Kari Lydersen -WashingtonPost

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20080614
Flood - Iowa -Des-Moines - Illinois - History - Health
"Thousands Flee Rising Waters In Iowa, Ill.: Breaking Levees Flood Des Moines [Iowa's capital], Western Ill. [Illinois]; Streets In Cedar Rapids [Iowa] May Be Underwater For Two Weeks." ... "Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said Saturday." ... "The bleak news came as swollen rivers breached levees in the state capital, Des Moines, and in far western Illinois, leading to the evacuation of hundreds more homes." ... "Officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged at least 438 blocks, threatened the Cedar Rapids drinking water supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital." ... "The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929." (1, 2) -AP -CBSNews

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20080602
Hillary Clinton - Accounting - Politics - Florida - Michigan - Iowa - Puerto Rico - Nevada - Washington - Maine - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - "Hillary: Peddling pop vote canards to the end." ... "The facts, which must be repeated:" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary [Clinton] does not lead in the popular vote by any measure other than her own idiosyncratic belief that Florida should count even though it didn't and hundreds of thousands of Floridians didn't vote because they were told it wouldn't; that Puerto Rico should count even though Puerto Ricans can't vote in the general election ("lead us to victory in November"???); that Michigan should also count even though it didn't and thousands of Michiganders didn't vote because they were told it wouldn't and she was the only person on the ballot; that Obama should get zero votes -- Zero!!! -- from Michigan ["Uncommited" received 238,168 votes, Clinton received 328,309 votes]; and that Obama also should get no votes from four states that he won [Iowa, Nevada, Washington, and Maine], because they held caucuses and didn't count the popular vote." -By John Riley -Newsday.com

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20080403
• Global - Climate - Atmosphere - Science - Antarctic - Ice - History - UN - San Diego - California - Iowa - US - "Dust plays huge role in climate change: Tiny particles heat up the atmosphere faster than scientist once believed. The good news is this dust can be cleaned up fairly quickly." ... "Scientists know that dust affects climate. Tiny particles create veils that reflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere. Dark particles absorb sunshine and warm things up. But as scientists look deeper into the dust-climate connection, they find that they have underestimated its importance." ... "Research published April 3 in Nature reveals the tight linkage between atmospheric dust flows and Antarctic temperatures during ice ages over the past 800,000 years. A research review published March 23 in Nature Geoscience online shows that black carbon particles in the atmosphere have a more powerful global-warming effect than any of the greenhouse gases except carbon dioxide. And these particles are 60 percent as effective as CO2 itself. That's far more powerful than the estimate in last year's report of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." ... "The good news is that black carbon particles such as diesel soot or wood-stove smoke only stay airborne for weeks. (It takes a century to get rid of today's CO2 emissions.) This fact offers an opportunity for instant payback, say study authors V. Ramanathan at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego [California] and Gregory Carmichael at the University of Iowa in Iowa City [Iowa]. In an announcement from Scripps, the authors note that commercially available technologies exist to cut back soot emissions substantially. Using them would rapidly reduce black-carbon warming. " -By Robert C. Cowen -CSMonitor 

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20080314
• Hillary Clinton - Children - Healthcare - Legislation - History - 2008 Election - Mothers - Iowa - Massachusetts - Utah - "Clinton role in health program disputed." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton, who has frequently described herself on the campaign trail as playing a pivotal role in forging a children's health insurance plan, had little to do with crafting the landmark legislation or ushering it through Congress, according to several lawmakers, staffers, and healthcare advocates involved in the issue." ... "In campaign speeches, Clinton describes the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, as an initiative "I helped to start." Addressing Iowa voters in November, Clinton said, "in 1997, I joined forces with members of Congress and we passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program." Clinton regularly cites the number of children in each state who are covered by the program, and mothers of sick children have appeared at Clinton campaign rallies to thank her." ... "But the Clinton White House, while supportive of the idea of expanding children's health, fought the first SCHIP effort, spearheaded by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, because of fears that it would derail a bigger budget bill. And several current and former lawmakers and staff said Hillary Clinton had no role in helping to write the congressional legislation, which grew out of a similar program approved in Massachusetts in 1996." ... ""The White House wasn't for it. We really roughed them up" in trying to get it approved over the Clinton administration's objections, Hatch said in an interview. "She may have done some advocacy [privately] over at the White House, but I'm not aware of it."" ... ""I do like her," Hatch said of Hillary Clinton. "We all care about children. But does she deserve credit for SCHIP? No - Teddy does, but she doesn't."" -By Susan Milligan -BostonGlobe 

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20080216
• John McCain - Politics - 2008 Election - Texas - Iowa - New Mexico - New Hampshire - Domenici - Obama - Clinton - History - "McCain's temper may prove to be a liability in presidential campaign." ... "Temper, temper." ... "Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain is known for his." ... "The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication." ... ""F--- you," he shouted at Texas [Republican Senator] Sen. John Cornyn last year." ... ""Only an a------ would put together a budget like this," he told the former Budget Committee chairman, [New Mexico Republican Senator] Sen. Pete Domenici, in 1999." ... ""I'm calling you a f------ jerk!" he once retorted to Iowa [Republican Senator] Sen. Chuck Grassley." ... "McCain has even blown up at volunteers and, on occasion, the average guy." ... "He often pokes fun at his reputation: "Thanks for the question, you little jerk," he said last year to a New Hampshire high school student wondering if McCain, at 71, was too old to be president." ... "Other times, his ire is all too real. This has prompted questions about whether his temperament is suited to the office of commander-in-chief or whether it might handicap him in a presidential campaign against either [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates] Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are not known for such outbursts." ... ""I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger," Domenici told Newsweek in 2000 when McCain unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination against [Republican President] George W. Bush." (1, 2) -By Libby Quaid -AP via -IHT.com 

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20080205
• John McCain - Pat Robertson - Money - Religion - Immigrant - Workers - Women - Abortions - Illegal - Iowa - Ethanol - Air - Environment - US- Global - Climate - History - 2008 Election - "Top McCain Flip-Flops." ... "1. Taxes. [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain was one of two Republican senators to vote against [Republican] President Bush's tax cuts of 2001, saying that he could not support cuts that benefited the rich rather than the middle class. He now favors making the tax cuts permanent." ... "2. The religious right. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he attacked [Republican televangelists] Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." He withdrew that remark in a 2006 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," saying that the Christian right has a "major role to play in the Republican Party."" ... "3. Immigration. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would combine a temporary-worker program and a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants while also increasing border security. He now emphasizes securing the borders first." ... "4. Roe v. Wade. In August 1999, he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he would "not support repeal of Roe v. Wade" because it would force women to have illegal abortions. He has subsequently said that he was speaking about the need to change the "culture of America" and that he supports the repeal of Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide." ... "5. Ethanol. In 2003, he said that ethanol "does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." Campaigning in Iowa in August 2006, he described ethanol as a "vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependency on foreign oil, but its greenhouse-reduction effects."" -WashingtonPost

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20080118
• John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Radio - Ad - Nevada - Illinois - Iowa - North Carolina - "Edwards hits Obama on independent ads." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards said Friday that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama needs to “speak up, if he really means what he says” about ending divisive politics and denounce a Nevada ad funded by an independent group that supports the Illinois senator’s presidential bid." ... ""Everyone pledged that this kind of divisive politics that divides the Democratic Party, and could divide America, would come to an end. [Senator] Sen. Obama made that pledge, I was sitting five feet from him when he made it," Edwards told the crowd at a Nevada campaign event." ... "“And now it turns out that in the last 24 hours there's a radio ad, a malicious radio ad, attacking [Senator] Sen. Clinton. That is exactly the kind of divisive politics. It's being run right here, in Las Vegas [Nevada]. I denounce it. This kind of ad, I don't care who's doing it — in this case it's [Senator] Sen. Obama's supporters — but this sort of thing needs to stop.["]" ... "“And from what I've seen, [Senator] Sen. Obama has not said a single word about this. Nothing. When two days ago, three days ago, he said on a stage in front of America and said, 'This kind of politics has no place in America,’” said Edwards." ... "“He should speak up, if he really means what he says, and this is not just talk, he should speak up and denounce this type of divisive politics.”" ... "John Edwards was criticized by Obama in Iowa for not calling an independent group that supported the former North Carolina senator to demand they pull ads they were running in support of his candidacy." -By Rebecca Sinderbrand -CNN

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20080117
• Hillary Clinton - John Edwards - Barack Obama - Race - Language - Radio - Ads - Nevada - Union - Money - 2008 Election - Iowa - North Carolina - "Clinton, Edwards campaigns blast radio ads backing Obama." ... "The campaigns of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates] Hillary Clinton and John Edwards took aim at [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama Thursday over radio ads in Nevada funded by a third-party group that is backing his candidacy." ... "The buy is allegedly being funded by the Unite Here Campaign Committee on behalf of the Culinary Workers Union, which has endorsed Obama." ... "On a conference call with reporters late this afternoon, Hispanic supporters of Clinton’s presidential candidacy criticized the union for incorrectly implying that “Si Se Puede” – a slogan associated with the late activist Cesar Chavez – was also the Obama campaign’s official slogan." ... "John Edwards was criticized by Obama in Iowa for not calling an independent group that supported the former North Carolina senator to demand they pull ads they were running in support of his candidacy. “When Sen. Obama says ‘turn the page,’ he obviously means turn to whatever page is most convenient. He loudly and repeatedly attacked independent ads by unions in Iowa as the product of special interests,” said Edwards Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince." ... "“But when a different outside group starts running ads on his behalf in Nevada, there's not a peep from him or his campaign. It must be because he's burning up the phone lines calling the head of Unite Here personally to demand he pulls the ads down right away.”" -By Rebecca Sinderbrand -CNN

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20080108
• Corporate Money - Politics - Ads - 2008 Election - 2004 Election - Workers - Homes - John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Mike Huckabee - North Carolina - New York - Illinois - Arkansas - Iowa - US - Consumer - Litigation - Globalization - "Chamber of Commerce vows to punish anti-business candidates: The group indicates it will spend in excess of the approximately $60 million it put out in the last [2004 Election] presidential cycle." ... "Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 [Election] political campaign, the president of the U.S. [United States] Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business." ... ""We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed," chamber President Tom Donohue said." ... "The warning from the nation's largest trade association came against a background of mounting popular concern over the condition of the economy. A weak record of job creation, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, declining home values and other problems have all helped make the economy a major campaign issue." ... "Presidential candidates in particular have responded to the public concern. Former [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Senator] Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has been the bluntest populist voice, but other front-running Democrats, including [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Senator] Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Senator] Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have also called for change on behalf of middle-class voters." ... "On the Republican side, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and] former Arkansas Gov. [Governor] Mike Huckabee -- emerging as an unexpected front-runner after winning the Iowa caucuses -- has used populist themes in his effort to woo independent voters, blasting bonus pay for corporate chief executives and the effect of unfettered globalization on workers." ... "Reacting to what it sees as a potentially hostile political climate, Donohue said, the chamber will seek to punish candidates who target business interests with their rhetoric or policy proposals, including congressional and state-level candidates." ... "In advance of today's news conference, Donohue told The Times of his plans to be active in 140 congressional districts this year, as well as the presidential contest." ... "At the state level, Donohue said his organization would be active in nearly four dozen contests for attorney general and state supreme courts. Both state courts and attorneys general are involved in decisions affecting business, including consumer protection and a wide range of litigation." ... "Under Donohue, the organization has also frequently aligned itself with GOP [Grand Old Party=Republican] priorities." ... "Under a system Donohue pioneered, corporations contribute money to the chamber, which then finances attack ads targeting individual candidates without revealing the name of the businesses involved in the ads." -By Tom Hamburger -LAtimes 

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20080107
• John Edwards - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - California - Teenager - Health - Company - Drug - Christmas - Working - People - 2008 Election - "Underdog Edwards says he won't give up the fight for the White House." ... "The former senator from North Carolina [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards] sought to bring added emotional wallop to his message before Tuesday's primary by campaigning with the family of a Northridge [California] teenager who died after her insurance company delayed approval for a liver transplant." ... "The newest participants in the Edwards campaign were the Sarkisyans of the San Fernando Valley [California], whose 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, died just before Christmas of complications from leukemia. After much debate, the family's insurance company had approved a liver transplant, but she died hours later." ... ""When I talk about what insurance companies and drug companies are doing to America, this is what I mean," Edwards said to a crowd of about 500 in Manchester [New Hampshire], where some were moved to tears by the family's story. "This has real effects on real people's lives."" ... "Grigor Sarkisyan told the audience how he had promised to buy his daughter a white car after she got out of the hospital, but had to buy a white coffin instead. He said he thought he had done everything he was supposed to as a father: working hard, supporting his family and buying health insurance he thought would take care of them if they got sick." ... "His wife, Hilda Sarkisyan, had heard Edwards' speech Thursday after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and called the candidate's campaign. The family arrived in New Hampshire on Sunday morning." ... "The couple urged voters to support Edwards, saying he is the lone candidate who will fight for Americans against such powerful interests as insurance companies." ... ""They cannot tell us who's going to live and who's going to die," Hilda Sarkisyan said." -By Seema Mehta and James Rainey -LAtimes 

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20080105
• John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Health-Care - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - New York - 2008 Election - "Edwards rebukes Clinton in Democratic debate." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Democrat Hillary Clinton, attempting to slow [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama's surging campaign, went on the attack on Saturday and drew a sharp rebuke from [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards for defending the status quo." ... "In a combative debate three days before a too-close-to-call New Hampshire primary, Clinton questioned Obama's health-care plan and cast doubt on his ability to deliver on his calls for change in Washington." ... "Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, upbraided the New York senator for criticizing Obama and noted her third-place finish in Iowa on Thursday, when Obama captured the first big prize of the presidential campaign and Edwards finished second." ... ""I didn't hear these kinds of attacks from Senator Clinton when she was ahead," Edwards said. "Every time he speaks out for change, every time I fight for change, the forces of status quo are going to attack -- every single time."" ... "Clinton criticized Obama for shifting in recent years from supporting a single-payer, government-run health-care plan to one that does not mandate insurance coverage for all Americans." (1, 2, 3) -By John Whitesides with contributions by Peter Cooney -Reuters 

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• John Edwards - Barack Obama - Politics - 2008 Election - 2004 Election - Iowa - New Hampshire - Working - People - Investment - Civil Rights - Lawyer - Drug - Oil - "Obama borrows from Edwards." ... "After beating [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards in Iowa on Thursday, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama has decided to join him -- repeatedly poaching his opponent's themes, language, and even jokes." ... ""We shouldn't just be respecting wealth in this country -- we should be respecting work," Obama told an overflow crowd in a [New Hampshire] high-school gym today." ... "Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign was centered around the idea that the [Republican President] Bush administration had launched a "war on work" through tax cuts that offer incentives for investment over labor. "Hard work should be valued in this country, so we're going to reward work, not just wealth," Edwards said in accepting his party’s vice-presidential nomination at the Democratic’ convention in Boston. In this campaign, he has sharpened his populist rhetoric, railing against greedy corporate CEOs who are waging war on working people and the middle class." ... "Since arriving in New Hampshire Friday, Obama has borrowed Edwards's favorite verb by bragging that he had "fought" as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer, and conceding that "insurance companies and drug companies will not give up their profits" -- which Edwards asserts repeatedly to ridicule Obama's talk of conciliation. Obama repeatedly invoked those interests, as well as "big oil and big insurance," common villains in Edwards speeches." -By Sasha Issenberg with contributions by Foon Rhee -Boston/Globe

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• John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Corporate - Media - Politics - Iowa - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - "Elizabeth Edwards To Chris Matthews And Rest Of Media: Ahem -- John And I Are Still Here." ... "One of the things I'd been wondering was whether [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards' slim victory over [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary [Clinton] for second-place in Iowa would shift the media dynamic of the race and get people to cover it as more of a three-way contest. In general terms, it's already obvious that the answer is No." ... "First, Elizabeth [Edwards] was asked whether John would be able to survive if [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama won both Iowa and New Hampshire. She observed that John had come in second in Iowa in 2004, that he had gotten short-shrifted in coverage then, and that this was happening again[.]" ... "Now, I recognize that news orgs have a dilemma on their hands in deciding whom to cover and how to apportion resources. And I also realize that the candidacies of Hillary and Obama are both historic in ways that Edwards' effort isn't. But in a general sense there's no question that the media's treatment of the Edwards campaign has really been an ugly failure on many levels." ... "Though Edwards had all along been very competitive with Hillary and Obama in Iowa -- a state in which victory is supposed to be hugely important, according to the pundits themselves -- Edwards's campaign was never treated with anywhere near the same scope or seriousness that the others were. The coverage has often been tinged with a snide dismissiveness. This hasn't palpably changed with Edwards' second-place finish in Iowa. " -By Greg Sargent -TalkingPointsMemo.com 

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• Ron Paul - Duncan Hunter - Rudolph W Giuliani - Corporate - TV - Politics - Censorship - New Hampshire - Iowa - Texas - California - 2008 Election - "New Hampshire G.O.P. Backs Out of Fox Forum." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Ron Paul raised nearly $20 million in the last quarter, likely more than any of his rivals. He garnered 10 percent of the Republican vote in the  Iowa Caucuses, surpassing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani. And he’s in New Hampshire this weekend on the airwaves and the campaign trail before the Jan. 8 primary." ... "But the Texas congressman and presidential contender won’t be getting a seat and the table at Sunday’s Fox News Republican candidate forum." ... "On Saturday the New Hampshire Republican party expressed its disappointment with the decision to exclude Mr. Paul and Representative Duncan Hunter of California by severing its partnership with Fox." ... "“We believe that it is inconsistent with the first in the nation primary tradition to be excluding candidates in a pre-primary setting,” said Fergus Cullen, chair of the state G.O.P. [Grand Old Party=Republican] party. “All candidates regardless of how well known they are or how much money they’ve raised should be treated equally here.”" -By Michael Falcone -NYTimes 

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