Dubya will be in Pensacola today.
WHY????????
"President Bush will hear nothing but praise today in a Republican stronghold, a region he easily won in 2000"
More of this "shoring up the base" bushwa, while he's failing with moderates. Missouri, Virginia and now this? He may be doing worse than the polls show.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is on the WaPo's Front Page:
Registration Req.
A formidable obstacle stands between Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and winning the fall election.
Her father.
Frank Murkowski, a barrel-chested conservative fixture in this Republican-dominated state, held Lisa's job for two decades until he was elected governor in 2002. Then, to the disgust of many Alaskans, he selected his daughter, an obscure state legislator, to serve out his Senate term.
The father, thanks to the unpopular appointment and even more unpopular cuts in the state budget, has since become the most disliked governor in this state's short history, several pollsters say. The daughter, while garnering positive reviews for her brief season in Washington, has been unable to shake the taint of nepotism. And that taint, depending on results in a few tight contests in the lower 48, could end up tipping the U.S. Senate back to the Democrats.
The Credit Where Credit Is Due Dept:
Bill Frist is in the Sudan
He's there as both a doctor
and senator. There is a picture of him examining a patient in a small hospital. It's not in the WaPo, but in the cheapie Express Version they hand out for free to commuters.
You might be able to download the picture from here.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist also said the threat of U.N. sanctions against Sudan was not enough to end the violence.
The Tennessee Republican said he planned to talk with other U.S. lawmakers about remedying that, but he did not elaborate.
Question: Why don't the Repubs publicize something like this more? This is the sort of thing that could actually help their image, seeing as how it shows them acting, you know, human and stuff...
Kerry at the Grand Canyon.
Of course we know what got all the attention, but what he reall wanted to talk about was the environment. (Reg req.)
So at an altitude of 7,200 feet, Kerry held one of the most picturesque news conferences in memory, briefly discussing Iraq, stem cell research and his intended theme of the day -- conservation -- before a backdrop of billowing white clouds and sheer cliffs.
Kerry pledged that as president, he would increase the national parks budget by $600 million over the next five years to pay for a backlog in maintenance. He said he would finance the increase with a portion of the revenues from a partial rollback of President Bush's tax cuts, by increasing the fees that private companies pay for mining public lands and possibly raising some park fees.
He accused Bush of neglecting the national park system and essentially letting America's natural wonders go to seed.
Last but not least
The Boondocks is fantastic today. Huey's yuppie neighbor (the same one who kidnapped Nader) has a huge plastered grin on his face:
"You see, we Democrats are now CAN DO optimists! It's very exciting and positive!"
Huey:"Does it hurt your face when you do that all day?"