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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (47794)	2/13/2005 4:23:41 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Democrats' Civil War: Clintons vs. Kennedy The Dean ascension also indicates that when it comes to grassroots Democrats, it's the liberalism of Dean, Kerry and Ted Kennedy that still holds sway among party cadres. The apparent selection of Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic Party indicates the party does not want to learn from its ways. That's good news for Republicans. The Dean ascension also indicates that when it comes to grassroots Democrats, it's the liberalism of Dean, Kerry and Ted Kennedy that still holds sway among party cadres. For some time, NewsMax has reported that Hillary Clinton has long had her guns set on Dean. During the bitter primary campaign last year, we noted that a source close to Dean's mother blamed Hillary and Bill for all of her son's campaign woes. Now it is no longer an open secret that Hillary dislikes Dean. But it is clear that a larger civil war has long been under way in the Democratic Party that ironically has pitted Hillary and Bill as the "moderates" against Dean and his faction -- which is still controlled by the Kennedy-Kerry circle. Kennedy's recent bellicose speech to the National Press Club spit in the face of moderation and said the party should stick to its core positions: pacifism, higher taxes, more abortion rights, more gay rights, etc. The reasoning for this positioning is that the Kennedy faction does not believe the Democrats have lost elections because of their liberal views. They believe that the 2004 election was lost solely on national security and the "war on terror." An associate of Kennedy recently told NewsMax the view is simple: "Stand firm, and the Iraq war will turn into such a disaster, the Democrats will win big in 2006." The source added, "The Democrats won't have to do a thing but remain opposed to the war." The war and growing body count will feed angst, the source said, among the right wing, who will soon demand an end to the war. Perhaps so. But the recent relatively calm elections in Iraq suggest the insurgency may be abating rather than increasing.

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (47794)	2/13/2005 7:36:26 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Results and turnout Provisional results released on February 13 show that the United Iraqi Alliance, generally believed to be backed by Shi'a leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, leads with some 48% of the vote. The Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan is in second place with some 26% of the vote. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, the Iraqi List, is coming a distant third with some 14%.In total some 8.4 million votes were cast, a 58% turnout. On 11 February the IECI released turnout figures for the elections to the Governorate Councils in 12 of Iraq's Governorates - it is likely that these figures will be almost identical to the turnout for the National Assembly elections. They show turnout ranging from 89 percent in Dohuk, in the Kurdish north, to 34 percent in Diyala, in the Sunni areas north-east of Baghdad. In the Shi'a heartland governorates of Karbala and Najaf, turnout was reported to be 73 percent, while in Baghdad, which has a mixed population, it was 48 percent. In Al Anbar, the governorate with the largest area in Iraq, only 3775 valid votes were cast in the Governorate Council Election and 13,753 in the national election. The vast majority of the 111 lists that competed in the election did not win seats. The most prominent party to be excluded was the moderate Sunni Independent Democrats Movement led by former exile Adnan Pachachi. It only recieved some 12,000 votes. Other prominent parties that failed to win seats include the monarchist Constitutional Monarchy Movement, and the martial Movement of Free Military Officers and Civilians. Organized Sunni Arab groups (including the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Association of Muslim Scholars, and the banned Ba‘ath Arab Socialist Party) boycotted the elections. In total eleven parties received enough votes to win a seat in the assembly: Party Votes Leaders Total count Percent United Iraqi Alliance 4,075,292 48.19% Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Hussain al-Shahristani Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan 2,175,551 25.73% Jalal Talabani, Masoud Barzani Iraqi List 1,168,943 13.8% Iyad Allawi The Iraqis 150,680 1.78% Ghazi al-Yawer Iraqi Turkmen Front 93,480 1.11% National Independent Cadres and Elites 69,938 0.83% People's Union 69,920 0.83% Islamic Group of Kurdistan 60,592 0.72% Islamic Action Organization In Iraq 43,205 0.51% National Democratic Alliance 36,795 0.44% National Rafidain List 36,255 0.43% Other 475,615 5.62% Total valid votes 8,456,266 100.00% Invalid votes 94,305 — Total votes cast 8,550,871 —