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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (414915)	6/13/2003 11:03:12 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Democratic candidate buys first ads of presidential campaign By Ron Fournier, Associated Press, 6/13/2003 17:48 WASHINGTON (AP) Breaking the political ice, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean will air the first ad of the 2004 presidential campaign next week, party officials said Friday. The 30-second ad, scheduled to run in most Iowa markets beginning Tuesday and ending July 2, will cost the campaign more than $300,000, according to Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. It is an unusually large ad campaign for this early in the election cycle, a risky move for a little-known, low-financed candidate trying to seize the initiative. The ad features the former Vermont governor looking into the camera while he delivers an abridged version of his stump speech, including criticism of President Bush's foreign policies, a brief description of his health care plan and his assessment that the Democratic Party has abandoned its traditional values, the officials said. The ad campaign coincides with Dean's formal announcement of his candidacy June 23 in Burlington, Vt. Both the ad and announcement are designed to create a sense of momentum and help raise money before the year's second fund-raising period ends June 30. All nine candidates are in a race for cash, hoping to show their viability with the second quarter fund-raising reports. The broadcast purchase is large enough to ensure that the average Iowan will see Dean's ad nine times a week through July 2, officials said, adding that the campaign may pour more money into the buy in the next two weeks. The $300,000 is more than 10 percent of the $2.5 million he is allowed to spend in Iowa under rules for candidates such as Dean who plan to take public financing for the primaries. ''It's an unconventional strategy for an unconventional candidate,'' said Jim Jordan, campaign manager for Dean rival Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. The goal is to introduce Dean and his message to Iowans before better-funded candidates get a chance to define themselves or borrow from his campaign themes, said the officials who have seen the ad and were familiar with Dean's strategy. Dean has had a surprisingly strong start to his campaign, first with his opposition to the U.S.-led war against Iraq and, in recent weeks, accusing Democratic leaders of kowtowing to Bush. He has begun to build a deep grass-roots operation through the Internet. While Dean lags in national polls, he is evenly matched with Kerry in New Hampshire, site of the first primary. In Iowa, where the nation's first caucuses will be held, Dean, Kerry and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut are running second to Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who leads in state polls. Dean has beat Sen. John Edwards to the punch. The North Carolina senator, who led in first-quarter fund-raising, plans to air his first ad as early as July or August. Despite his fund-raising success, Edwards has not gained much if any ground in most national and state polls. Kerry is not likely to respond to the Dean ad in Iowa, said a campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Massachusetts lawmaker is more likely to focus money on New Hampshire, a must-win state for him because it borders his own. Gephardt, who concedes he must win Iowa, will be closely watching whether Dean gains ground there but does not intend to air ads this early, a campaign official said. In summer 1987, Democratic presidential candidate Bruce Babbitt bought ads. He received some attention for the early move, but his Iowa campaign eventually fizzled. Dean raised $2.6 million in the first fund-raising quarter, while Edwards and Kerry led the field with more than $7 million. Sources said Dean's ability to make a large ad buy suggests he is confident that his fiscal prospects have picked up in the second quarter, which ends June 30. Associated Press Writer Mike Glover of Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report

To: calgal who wrote (414915)	6/13/2003 11:17:30 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769670

Poll: Sen. Clinton's book not helping her image By Marc Humbert, Associated Press, 6/11/2003 17:11 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Three-quarters of Americans say they have read or heard about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book and almost one-in-five of them say they have a less favorable opinion of her as a result, a poll out Wednesday reported. Of those polled by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, 67 percent said ''Living History'' makes no difference in their opinion of the former first lady while 8 percent of voters said it made them view her more favorably. Eighteen percent said their view of Clinton was less favorable as a result of the book. The nationwide poll also found President Bush well ahead of his potential Democratic challengers for next year's election including Sen. Clinton. ''Write a book, give a speech, campaign relentlessly in Iowa and New Hampshire it doesn't seem to make any difference,'' said Maurice Carroll, head of the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute. ''President Bush easily beats the new author and the big-three declared Democratic candidates.'' The poll did find Bush's approval rating slipping 57 percent in the new poll, down from 73 percent in an April poll from Quinnipiac due largely to concerns about the economy, according to Carroll. A separate poll by CNN/USA Today/Gallup released Wednesday afternoon found her favorable numbers increasing among Americans compared to three months ago. The phone survey, conducted June 9 and 10, found 53 percent viewed her favorably, compared to 46 percent in mid-March. The same poll found 44 percent of adults said it was ''not at all likely'' that they would vote for Clinton if she ran for president in 2008. The sampling of 1,029 people has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ''Living History,'' the New York Democrat's memoir, sold more than 200,000 copies during its first day on bookstore shelves. Publisher Simon & Schuster, which paid $8 million for the tome, announced it would print an additional 300,000 copies, on top of an extraordinary initial printing of 1 million copies. In the book, Clinton discusses her husband's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, concluding that what her husband did was morally wrong but not a betrayal of the public. The Quinnipiac poll found Clinton leading all Democrats considering a bid for the White House, but she trails President Bush. Bush was favored by 53 percent of those surveyed, while Clinton garnered 40 percent support among voters. Clinton, appearing on NBC's ''Today'' show Wednesday, said again that she will not run for president in 2004. ''I've said I am not running,'' she said. Once again, she did not flatly rule out a run for president in 2008, but said she had no intention of doing so. Forty percent of the Democratic voters surveyed by Quinnipiac picked Clinton over other potential Democratic candidates for president. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut received 16 percent of the support, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri had 10 percent and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was favored by 8 percent. Quinnipiac's telephone poll of 865 registered voters was conducted June 4-9 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The sampling based on the opinions of 331 Democrats polled had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points. AP Writer Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report.