Stat of the Day
brought to you by ...The Bush Brothers

Number of votes G.W. Bush won the presidency by......1 (Scalia)
Number of votes G.W. Bush "won" Florida by
according to the Supreme Court..... 537

Number of primarily African American voters
illegally purged from the Florida voting rolls
in 2000, as ordered by Governor Jeb Bush ....... 91,000


Democratic candidates have won the popular vote for President in the last three elections. There are many good reasons that the Democratic candidate in 2004 should as well, with enough electoral votes to stop Bush from doing any more damage. But there is growing evidence of serious trouble in the electoral machinery, and growing suspicion that the subversion of the very process of voting successfully used in Florida will be repeated in various ways, in Florida again, but also in several other states. In particular, the new touch-screen voting systems, widely regarded as unreliable, adopted in several key states at the behest of the Pentagon, are coincidentally manufactured by companies with strong ties to Bush and the Republican party.

Now is the time for citizens to be aware of this, and to ensure the integrity of this last possibility for any semblance of democracy. If voting becomes corrupted on this scale, nothing can save the United States of America.

Stats of the Day

percentage of Americans without health
insurance who have jobs.........................80

Number of Californians without
health care coverage.............6.4 million

Number of Californians without
health coverage whose income
is over $50,000 a year...... 1.6 million

...over $70,000 a year.....640,000

Stat of the Day

Number of British troops on the ground in Iraq...... 9,900
Number of private military contractors
on the ground in Iraq...... 10,000

Proportion of the $87 billion for
Iraq and Afghanistan going to corporations...... 1/3

Amount of Halliburton Iraq contracts..... $5 billion+

Instant Analysis

The Iowa results: Kerry wins, electability a big factor. John Edwards a strong second, his "two Americas" theme resonating, along with positive campaign and attractive personality. Howard Dean a distant third, Dick Gephardt so far out that he is withdrawing from the race.

The spin: the same on every network, the animus against Howard Dean by the media came rushing out. They called him mean and unlikeable, and criticized him for not having his wife and children campaigning. The spite was not even disguised, it was blood in the water time.

The change: New Hampshire now becomes a Kerry (Mass.) v. Dean (Vermont) race. If either of them wins, it keeps them going---for Kerry it becomes confirmation, for Dean a comeback. But if Edwards or Wesley Clark wins, it throws the race into a turmoil because neither is a favorite son of a neighboring state. An Edwards win with South Carolina next would be a huge boost to his campaign, and would probably get him the money to play out the race to the end.

Here's hoping: We're anxious to see Kerry campaigning, for the results indicate he's starting to connect, which he hadn't done before. Whoever goes up against Bush has to be at the top of his game, and so far that's been Dean. But obviously Kerry and Edwards have made great strides in the past week or two.

A Kerry-Edwards ticket could be the strongest the Democrats could hope for.

Judging from an interchange W Clark had on CNN, he's not ready for prime time. Candidates with an edge do seem appealing---that is, ones that might self-destruct but don't. Clark seems like he could self-destruct completely. The one with the least risk of that is Edwards.

Howard Dean defined the race so far, and pushed these candidates to be strong against Bush, and to define a real vision. Even if he doesn't become the candidate, he's done a great service. So has Gephardt, who left his expediency back in Washington and became passionate on the campaign trail. He should still be looked at as a v.p. candidate.

There was some cooperation between the Edwards and Kucenic campaigns in Iowa. Look for Dennis, if he drops out soon, to support Edwards. We doubt Gephardt will endorse anyone when he drops out on 1/20.

The Quotegeist

"It's very hard to draw the line now between oil and the military."
--Kevin Phillips on C-Span

"Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction."
--Dr. James Forbes, Riverside Church NYC

Numbers of the Week


Total number of American soldiers killed in Iraq......... 500

Number of Americans who die each year
because they have no health insurance ........ 18,000