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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (4052)	8/12/2003 11:07:10 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 10965

Muslim-American Group to Mobilize Voters Tuesday, August 12, 2003 WASHINGTON — The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (search) said Monday it is launching a national drive to register Muslims, give them a crash course on American civics and mobilize them for the 2004 election cycle. "Campaign V.I.P: Voting is Power" is aimed at registering some 2.5 million Muslim-Americans, said Mahdi Bray, the group's executive director. Mosque surveys estimate 750,000 Muslim-Americans are currently registered, he said on the eve of the campaign's start. "Many, when they come to this country, tend to become insular," Bray said. "We're trying to get people out in the communities and active in the civic process. We want them in parent-teacher associations, rotary clubs, public service organizations." He said there are 7 million Muslim-Americans. Bray said the timing of the campaign has a lot to do with a backlash that many Muslim-Americans have experienced since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "There are those who want to portray the Muslim community as not part and parcel of society, incompatible with American life, or suspicious," Bray said. "The only way to combat this situation, or civil liberties erosion of Muslims, is to get Muslims engaged and active." The program includes online voter registration through the group's Web site, canvassing at grocery stores, malls and mosques around the country and offering seminars on American government, civics and coalition-building, Bray said. Other groups have announced similar campaigns in the past, including one in February 2002 by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (search) which sought to register more than 100,000 Muslim voters before the November 2002 elections. Legal secretary Aishah Schwartz, 42, a Muslim-American born and reared in America, has not registered to vote in Washington since she moved to the capital three years ago from Virginia. She planned to do so during the launch of the voter registration campaign. "The more visible we are, the more we'll get those people out there, who are just sitting at home, the way I was, active," Schwartz said. "It's important for people to see us. It's important to vote, stand up and speak," she said. "It'll help relieve some of the misperceptions the general public has of us." URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94470,00.html

To: calgal who wrote (4052)	8/13/2003 10:55:16 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

GOP sees Democrats lurching left By Bill Sammon THE WASHINGTON TIMES President Bush's re-election campaign views Howard Dean as pulling fellow Democratic presidential hopefuls leftward and prompting them to contradict themselves on the Iraq war. "The entire Democratic field is playing follow the leader with Dean," said a source close to the Bush campaign. "I don't think that's a healthy thing for a party." Bush backers are confident the leftward lurch and resulting policy contradictions will hurt Democratic candidates like Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who has been criticizing the Iraq war even though he voted for it. "Now they've changed their position because Howard Dean has raised so much money," the Bush source said. "If you're willing to change your position on that, what aren't you willing to change your position on? There's a huge credibility issue." By making credibility an issue, the Bush campaign is trying to counter efforts by Democrats who have gone after what they see as the president's greatest strength — his veracity. Earlier this summer, Democrats pounced on Mr. Bush for a questionable claim in his State of the Union address. Bush supporters acknowledge that one of the Democratic candidates, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, has consistently supported the war effort. At a Democratic debate on Monday, Mr. Lieberman said "some of my opponents have been ambivalent" on the war and even singled out Mr. Kerry. But Mr. Lieberman is trailing Mr. Dean, who recently emerged as the front-runner in both Iowa and New Hampshire, sites of the nation's first caucuses and primary. The former Vermont governor has also been consistent in his position on Iraq — he vehemently opposed the war. And even the president's supporters concede that Mr. Dean has the gutsy, straight-shooting style that has served Mr. Bush well since the terrorist attacks of September 11. Dean spokesman Eric Schmeltzer said that is one trait that his boss admires in Mr. Bush. "Governor Dean has been very, very honest about what he thinks the appeal of President Bush is — and it's not that people agree with his policies," he said. "But they do absolutely see him as somebody who never wavers in what he says. "They tend to believe what he says because he's perceived as a straight shooter," he added. "And the only way you're going to beat President Bush is to run a campaign where you're equally straight and honest with the American people." Instead of attacking Mr. Dean on credibility or style, Bush supporters plan to criticize the substance of his platform. For example, they are prepared to make the argument that Mr. Dean's call to repeal the Bush tax cuts amounts to a huge tax increase just when many Americans are trying to find jobs. But for now, the Bush campaign plans to avoid getting drawn into reacting to Democratic developments like the recent Dean surge. Republicans believe the worst thing the president could do at this early stage is utter Mr. Dean's name in public. "That would elevate Dean and people would start to say, 'Look, the president's focused on Dean,'" GOP strategist Rich Galen said. "It's too early to focus on him to the exclusion of anybody else or even to draw more attention to him." Republican strategist Scott Reed agreed. "I think this recent Dean phenomenon won't change the White House political strategy until there is a nominee — it's awful early," he said. "Dean is peaking here about six months before things matter." Mr. Dean's emergence as the front-runner months before the primary voting begins has prompted some supporters to attempt to reposition their candidate as a moderate. In recent weeks, they have emphasized that when he was governor of Vermont, Mr. Dean balanced the budget, supported the death penalty and defended the right to bear arms. That has forced Republicans to counter this centrist image by pointing out that Mr. Dean raised taxes in Vermont and supports homosexual civil unions. Mr. Schmeltzer said his boss would continue to defy ideological classification. "I think it's a mistake for the media or pundits or the White House or any other politician to try to categorize him and put him in a box," he said. "You can't put him in a box. "You can say he's liberal, but frankly he's balanced budgets in Vermont and done so year after year after year," he added. "For him, you can't do anything else for people until you can manage your own budget — and that's frankly more of a moderate-to-conservative position." Mr. Galen said the White House is wise to monitor the Dean boomlet without getting entangled in it. "The White House is perfectly happy to let the Democrats duke this out all the way to next March because that's seven months of the Democrats fussing and feuding," he said. "After all, the White House doesn't know who they're going to run against.