Watch for 2015 Watch
Publisher’s Note: My business, the Exoro Group, is quite involved with consulting in the transportation industry, and is supporting the business-led 2015 Transportation Alliance. I intend to use Utah Policy Daily to communicate messages on behalf of the Alliance (see Message Center above). These advocacy essays will be labeled as such and will be easily distinguishable from UPD’s regular features. If you get tired of reading about transportation, just skip over those items.
Shorter Days, Longer Nights
Sorry, but it’s all downhill from here. With the passing of the Summer Solstice yesterday, the year’s longest day is behind us and days now get shorter. We’ll be shoveling snow before you know it.
Mitt Watch
Romney is No. 2 on GOP Side
Mitt Romney is still a “comfortable No. 2” in the Republican presidential candidate rankings according to NationalJournal.com’s Hotline 2008 White House race ranking. Romney ranks behind No. 1 John McCain, but ahead of George Allen, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Bill Frist, Chuck Hagel, George Pataki, and Michael Bloomberg.
On the Democratic side, the top five are Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mark Warner, Evan Bayh and John Kerry.
Says NationalJournal.com’s blurb about Romney: “His whopping 50-person Iowa roll-out is a testament to his personal magnetism. But he's also a lightning rod, whether it's from Republicans who worry he'll be inattentive to his state or conservative activists who fret about his whiplash turnarounds on gay marriage and abortion. (We're hearing whispers among his opponents of the nickname ‘Mitt Clinton.’) Also, as Protestant pastors to consider the race, will the denominational threat posed by Mormonism be a factor?”
Romney is positioned quite nicely. Being No. 2 right now is probably better than being No. 1. The frontrunner has more pressure, higher expectations, and the news media are looking for a slip. But it’s still awfully early.
Utah Degree Rankings Slipping
The Utah Foundation has released an interesting research report showing Utah’s educational attainment, historically far ahead of the national average, has been slipping.
Says the report: “Since 1940, Utah has consistently surpassed the national average in the percent of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. However, particularly in the last two decades, Utah has slid down in the rankings. In 1940, Utah ranked 5th highest in the nation for the percent of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. By 2000, Utah had fallen to 16th place in the national rankings. While male adults in Utah slipped from 3rd place in 1940 down to 9th place in 2000, female adults in Utah fell much further in the rankings: from 9th place down to 25th place.”
National Politics
In his NationalJournal.com column Chuck Todd says 2004 elections will be determined by independent voters, and Democrats have yet to figure out how to capitalize on the Iraq situation, the biggest issue of all.
Washington Watch
No to Hatch Amendment
Editorial opposes Sen. Orrin Hatch's proposed flag desecration amendment (The Tennessean).
Bennett Wins Internet Watchdog Award
Sen. Bob Bennett receives the 2006 Internet Keep Safe Award from the Internet Keep Safe Coalition (which was founded by HHS Sec. Mike Leavitt's wife Jacalyn Leavitt) for his "exceptional contribution to protecting the children of America online. This award is given annually to public figures who have shown an extraordinary commitment to protecting children from the growing, and often lethal, threats they face on the Internet and through other connected technologies" (see press release).
Matheson Supports Defense Funding Bill
Rep. Jim Matheson hails Tuesday's passage of the FY '07 Defense Appropriations bill, which provides "more funding to replace armored Humvees and other equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan and to counter improvised bombs in Iraq" (see press release).
Blog Watch
Right Wing News conducted an "exclusive mini-interview" with 3rd Congressional District candidate John Jacob (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, and here)... Jeremy's Jeremiad says "Utah Democrats are doing a better job reflecting the beliefs and ideals of most Utahns than their clueless Republican counterparts"... Wilf Sommerkorn says of the 2015 Transportation Alliance: "It is interesting to me to see the business community lead such a push for transit. Not that long ago, transit was a dirty word, something most politicians and business leaders stayed away from. I've always thought that the transportation system is the 'skeleton' on which we build our regional character"... Mercury Rising posts a DNC email that says Howard Dean's "50-state strategy" is bearing fruit in Utah: "Already, 2006 marks the best candidate recruitment for the Utah Democratic Party in over 15 years. Democrats have recruited candidates for every single State Senate race, and Democrats have challengers running in ten State House races that went unopposed in 2004. The recruitment efforts, led by new staff deployed as part of the 50-state strategy, include not only life-long Democrats but also six Republicans who have switched parties"... PBS's MediaShift says that if Senate candidate Pete Ashdown beats Sen. Orrin Hatch this fall, "you'll be able to mark 2006 as the year that blogs really did make an electoral difference"... AgWired interviewed Gov. Huntsman about the use of renewable fuels like ethanol, and posts a short MP3 audio clip.
-- Compiled by Golden Webb
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