 |
|
The Morning Grind / Political Hot Topics |
Dean's next big endorsement
 |
Howard Dean campaigns with actor Martin Sheen, left, and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, right, in Iowa on Wednesday.
Story Tools
| ON CNN TV |
With the Iowa caucuses scheduled for Monday, "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics" comes to you from the CNN Election Express in the Hawkeye State at 3:30 p.m. ET today.
|
VIDEO
|
CNN's Candy Crowley on the escalating rhetoric in the push to Iowa.
CNN's Bill Schneider on political similarities between Kosovo and Iraq.
KCCI's Todd Magel on the system that will provide results from Iowa.
|
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
| UPCOMING PRIMARIES |
• Monday, January 19: Iowa caucuses • Tuesday, January 27: New Hampshire primary • Tuesday, February 3: Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina primaries; New Mexico Democratic caucus; Virginia Republican caucus When is your primary? For more key dates in the 2004 election season, see our special America Votes 2004 Election Calendar |
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Check out the links below to hot political stories around the country this morning.
• BRAUN OUT: Carol Moseley Braun intends to abandon her long-shot presidential bid and is scheduled to endorse Howard Dean on Thursday in Iowa. In recent months, the relationship between Dean and Braun has grown close, according to sources within both campaigns.
The Chicago Tribune: Braun to end her campaign, endorse Dean
• BRAUN ENDORSING DEAN: The Dean campaign is flying Braun to Iowa for an endorsement that a source said Dean had been working on for some time. It's not known yet what role Braun will play in the Dean campaign, or if the former Vermont governor will ask his supporters to help pay her campaign debt.
The Chicago Sun-Times: Braun will drop out of race, endorse Dean
• GEPHARDT LASHES OUT: Dick Gephardt questioned chief rival Howard Dean's integrity Wednesday. Gephardt bashed Dean's changes in position on trade and guns, statements on terrorism and foreign policy, and unflattering comments he made four years ago about the caucuses. Dean called Gephardt "part of the old problem" and attributed them to Dean's narrow lead over the Missouri congressman.
The Des Moines Register: Gephardt calls Dean integrity into question
• KERRY'S CONFIDENCE: With Kerry moving up in Iowa opinion polls -- including a Zogby poll published yesterday that showed Kerry in a second-place tie with Gephardt -- he is projecting hardy confidence, so much so that some advisers worry he is too keyed up.
The Boston Globe: Kerry escalates pace, message in Iowa
• LABOR FACTIONS: Dean and Gephardt have split the labor movement in Iowa into two factions, each with millions of dollars, hundreds of organizers and the conviction that these two men understand their lives like no candidates in recent memory.
USA Today: Dean, Gephardt toiling hard for labor vote
• SANTORUM'S TAKE: Senator Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania, delivered a blistering attack yesterday against John Edwards, describing North Carolina's junior senator as an "empty suit" who lacks understanding of how government works.
The Manchester Union Leader: Sen. Santorum derides Edwards
• BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Like Dean, Wesley Clark stirs audiences with raw-throated challenges to entrenched power in Washington. But also like Dean, Clark has found himself forced to explain and even clarify his words, a task that has persisted since the campaign's first days when he said he "probably" would have voted for a congressional resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
The Washington Post: Clark tries to shake earlier comments
• BALMY SOUTH CAROLINA: Clark and Joe Lieberman have balmy South Carolina pretty much to themselves these days, as the other Democratic presidential candidates trudge around frozen Iowa. Clark and Lieberman's decisions to bypass stumping for Monday's Iowa caucuses frees them up to concentrate on the January 27 New Hampshire primary and the February 3 contest in South Carolina.
The Columbia State: Clark, Lieberman take S.C. personally
• REPORTING THE RESULTS: Officials of the Democratic presidential campaigns and the Iowa Democratic Party say they are worried that the major television networks will unduly influence next Monday's caucuses by reporting poll results before the voting is over. At issue are polls, conducted jointly by the networks and the Associated Press, of voters entering the caucuses. In letters to the networks this week, the state party asked that they not report any of the results until at least a half-hour after the deliberative voting process starts at 7 p.m., Central time.
The New York Times: Democrats and networks are at odds over polling
• PAYBACK: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will back former Secretary of State Bill Jones for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, repaying an ally with a prized endorsement that would strike a major blow to rival GOP candidates, sources said Wednesday. Schwarzenegger and Jones plan to announce the endorsement Friday in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times: Schwarzenegger to back Jones
Compiled by Mark H. Rodeffer
