Thursday, January 3, 2008

? for President? Political Wire: "According to a new AP/Yahoo survey, just over half of all American voters believe New Hampshire and Iowa "have an extraordinary amount of influence" over who wins the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. 'Fewer than one in five voters said they favor the current system that allows Iowa and New Hampshire to hold the first contests, while nearly 80 percent would rather see other states get their chance at the front of the line.'" Political Wire: "A new Franklin Pierce/WBZ survey in New Hampshire finds Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential race with 32%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 28%, John Edwards at 19% and Gov. Bill Richardson at 8%. Among likely Republican primary voters, Sen. John McCain leads with 37%, followed by Mitt Romney at 31%, Rudy Giuliani at 10%, Rep. Ron Paul at 6%, and Mike Huckabee at 5%. The margin of error for each survey is 4.9%." Captain's Quarters: "The final polling before the Iowa caucuses has come from a joint Reuters/Zogby/C-SPAN survey, and the news for Hillary looks bad. She now comes in third behind the inexperienced duo of Barack Obama and John Edwards." Political Wire: "The last Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby tracking poll before today's caucuses shows Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards gaining ground overnight with Sen. Hillary Clinton faling four points to third place -- 'a finish that, if it held, would deal a dramatic setback to the one-time Democratic front-runner.' Obama leads with 31%, followed by Edwards at 27% and Clinton 24%. In the Republican race, Mike Huckabee expanded his lead to six points, 31% to 25%, over Mitt Romney, who led in Iowa polls for most of last year. Fred Thompson is next at 11%, followed by Sen. John McCain at 10% and Rep. Ron Paul at 10%." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 6:29:53 AM

Healthcare Wash Park Prophet: "The federal tax law that applies to health insurance benefits and medical expenses is unnecessarily complex, and fixing the problems could be done fairly easily." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 6:28:45 AM

Iraq Juan Cole: "McClatchy reports on the dilemma of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis displaced from Baghdad to other Iraqi cities or abroad to Syria and Jordan. They are often facing straitened circumstances in their exile, but despite a reduction in violence in Baghdad, the situation is still not inviting in the capital. Plus, often somebody else is now living in their old home. Will the mostly Sunni Arab returnees have to fight hand to hand with the mostly Shiite squatters?" Category: 2008 Presidential Election 6:22:28 AM

Energy policy: Nuclear Here's a recap of a meeting abouth Powertech's proposed uranium mine held yesterday up in Fort Collins, from The Rocky Mountain News. From the article: Two sides in the debate over the Centennial Project mine met at a Fort Collins Rotary Club meeting Wednesday afternoon amid growing concerns from neighbors that a mine could harm northern Colorado's water and residents' health... Since the project was first introduced in August, residents have been staunchly against the project, collecting almost 6,000 signatures in oppostion. The Fort Collins City Council has adopted a resolution against the mine, and opponents are trying to get other cities and towns to follow suit. Local legislators have promised legislation this year to protect groundwater by raising mining safety standards. Richard Blaubaugh of Powertech said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said the method Powertech would use to get the uranium out of the ground poses no long-term negative health impacts for people or the environment. But Lilias Jones Jarding, with Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, said the mine will cause health risks to people living near the site. "It's highly unusual for a company to be mining in people's drinking water," said Jarding, who added that Texas environmental officials have found that water at uranium mine sites in that state has never returned to normal... Representatives from Power- tech Uranium Corp. and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction will attend a public hearing on the proposed uranium mine near Nunn at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Harmony Library, at the corner of Shields Street and Harmony Road in Fort Collins. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: 2008 Presidential Election 5:56:33 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 1/31/08; 8:58:28 AM.