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Homeland Security to Review Nuke Waste Storage Sen. Orrin Hatch says that an information gathering move by the Department of Homeland Security could prove key to defeating the proposal by Private Fuel Storage to store high-level nuclear waste on the Skull Valley Goshute reservation.
“Homeland Security needs to see first-hand that placement of an above-ground nuclear storage facility over the entrance of the Utah Testing and Training Range is, by itself, a dangerous situation worthy of investigation by the Department,” said the Hatch press release. “However, combined with the threats that we now face in the War on Terrorism, the selection of this site – so close to major population centers and to an international airport – is an unacceptable risk.”
Blog Watch
Rep. Steve Urquhart talks about reducing the size and expense of the federal government. . . Charley Foster posts a number of items about Urquhart’s campaign for the Senate. . . .Wilf Sommerkorn writes about various planning issues. . . . Ethan Millard comments on Orrin Hatch and Jim Matheson. . . . Weber County Forum discusses Ogden’s gondola.
James Taranto's Newspulper Headlines....
"NASA's Next Mars Probe Takes Aim at Red Planet" --Yahoo! News
What Would We Do Without Experts?: "Expert Says Universe Hard to Understand" --PhysOrg.com
Usually He's in Reverse: "Howard Dean Will Be in Park Today" --Idaho Statesman
What Would We French Do Without Ad Chiefs?: "We French Are Pathetic Losers, Says Ad Chief" --Sunday Telegraph (London)
They're Called 'Californians': "Scientists Puzzled Over Oddities Along Pacific Coast" --CNN.com
Golf Is a Rough Sport: "Norman Shoots 76 at Senior British Open" --Associated Press
People You Ought to Know
Mike Clement
(From Sarah Nelson, of November, Inc.)
In response to your question of who is Utah’s biggest “political junkie” I would like to nominate Mike Clement. Mike ran Molonai Hola’s race for Salt Lake City Mayor in 2003, has been involved in a couple of Utah State Senate races and was part of the Bridgewater for Congress Team (I met him on Tim’s 2002 bid).
Anyone who has talked to Mike for more than a minute knows that this guy is a political GEEK to the core! In 1984, Mike’s first grade class in Pennsylvania held a mock presidential election – Mike voted for the Gipper and has been a “political junkie” since. He is the only person who has ever admitted to carrying around a pocket card in 1994 with Newt Gingrich’s “Contract for America” (he was a junior in high school)...that alone should give him the award!
While most men have thousands of baseball, football and basketball stats stored in their brains, Clement has a mind full of political trivia – he can rattle off stats, polling numbers, race details, political commercials and just about any other fun fact/useless trivia you’d like to know about national races taking place between the mid 80’s through 2005. Some of his hobbies include: reading “Campaigns and Elections” magazine and political bios, watching CSPAN, and collecting old political pins and buttons. He considers Dan Jones his “political father/mentor” and has been known to research national political races for Dan (again FOR FUN). In 1999 he took his college girlfriend to Stuart Reid’s election night party so he could meet Caroline Roemer (that probably explains why that relationship only lasted three weeks).
Although Mike has been working for November Inc., a Republican consulting firm in Las Vegas, for the last year, he stays abreast with Utah politics and reads Utah Daily Policy each morning. Ryan Erwin (a November Inc. partner) jokes that Clement is still single because he uses pick up lines like:
“I was watching CSPAN last night…..hey, where are you going?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you look like Olympia Snow?”
“I sure hope Roberts doesn’t get Borked”
I think Clement is single because his “dream date” involves talking politics over dinner with Dan Jones, Allyson Bell, Spencer Stokes, Caroline Roemer, John Maddox, Mark Emerson, Hugh Matheson, Jenny Wilson and LaVarr Webb. There are really too many stories about Mike to mention them all, but as you can see he is truly deserving of this award. He is by far the biggest political junkie/geek I have ever known!!!
Fundraising Queen
"[Hillary] Clinton is sitting at the fund-raising table and everyone else is like the family dog -- very well-liked but only getting the crumbs and some scraps that are covertly sneaked to them under the table." --Demo political strategist Chris Lehane on how Clinton’s fund-raising prowess is "intimidating" other Democrats.
Bush – and Opponents – Have Problems
"George W. Bush has big problems. Fortunately for him, his opponents have bigger problems. ... Saddam Hussein still is in jail. And many leading Bush antagonists on the world stage -- Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schroeder and Kofi Annan -- are on their last legs.... On the home front, Bush is again blessed with weak adversaries. ... [Senator Harry] Reid is canny enough as an inside pol to block many of Bush's programs, but he is not a strong national spokesman. As for [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi, she is simply a stereotypical liberal; the American people do not want to be led by a San Francisco Democrat. As for [Howard] Dean, he has been a disappointment as party leader. He is too strident for the party establishment -- fund-raising is down -- yet not strident enough for the activists. ... So yes, Bush has problems. But he's still president, leader of the majority party, and commander in chief -- that makes him one of a kind in this world." --James Pinkerton (Source: the Federalist Patriot)
Wise Words
"The deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting fatter. What they're ready to operate on is your wallet." -- Ronald Reagan
Now You Know
Utah is Most Republican State in the Union
"Utah has been the most Republican state in six of the last eight presidential elections. As far back as 1960, Richard Nixon carried Utah with just 55% of the vote; but by 1972 he won with 68%. Ronald Reagan won 73% here in 1980 and 75% in 1984; George Bush won 66% here in 1988 and George W. Bush 67% in 2000 and 72% in 2004. In 1992, this was also the least Democratic state: Ross Perot finished ahead of Bill Clinton, 27% to 25%."
Source: National Journal’s 2006 "Almanac of American Politics"
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