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Urquhart's McCain Challenge
KVNU's Tom Grover recorded an interview yesterday with Rep. Steve Urquhart on his challenge to Gov. Huntsman and AG Mark Shurtleff to pressure John McCain to dismiss campaign staffer Chad Workman for attacking Mitt Romney's Mormonism. To listen to the interview, click here.
Washington Watch
Hatch: No to Immigration Bill
Sen. Orrin Hatch votes against the comprehensive immigration reform proposal, saying: "While there's a lot of good in this bill, it creates more problems than it tries to fix. I voted against the last immigration 'solution' in 1986. It failed, and this one, in some respects, is worse" (see press release); in op-ed, Hatch condemns the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which "would overturn a 72-year law that guarantees workers the right to cast private ballots in union organizing elections" (National Review Online).
Bennett Pushes Health Care Bill
In op-ed, Sens. Bob Bennett and Ron Wyden discuss their bipartisan Healthy American Act, which would "create a universal, market-driven health-care system that all Americans can afford" (Wall Street Journal) (see also related press release).
Cannon: Limit Oil Shale Restrictions
Rep. Chris Cannon introduces an amendment to limit oil shale restrictions in the Interior Department Appropriations bill (see press release).
Today in Political History
June 27, 1844: Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, are killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill.
June 27, 1969: Patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, clash with policy in an incident considered to be the birth of the gay rights movement. (Source: National Journal 2007 political calendar)
June 27, 1980: President Jimmy Carter signs a measure that requiring 4 million U.S. men aged 19 to 20 to register for the draft. Women were excluded by Congress. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“An honorable Peace is and always was my first wish! I can take no delight in the effusion of human Blood; but, if this War should continue, I wish to have the most active part in it.”
-- John Paul Jones, 1782 letter to Governor Morris (Source: PatriotPost)
Campaign Tip
100-Day Action Plan
Voters want to know what a candidate will do once he or she has taken office. Thus, it makes sense to make some campaign promises. The most effective way to communicate priorities and promises to voters is to create and release, in the last months of the campaign, a bold 100-day action plan or something of a similar nature.
Such a plan outlining an aggressive set of goals for the first few months in office will convey a sense of action and momentum. It can also generate some news media coverage and give a candidate something concrete to campaign on in the last weeks before the election.
Such a plan should be aggressive and forthright, but it also shouldn’t make promises that are impossible to carry out. It’s better to keep expectations in check and overachieve than to make big promises and fail to deliver. The action plan should encapsulate the priorities the candidate has outlined during the campaign, be as bold as possible, but still be realistic.
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- The Hill: "The Supreme Court [Monday] weakened a campaign-finance provision in a ruling that could disadvantage the 2008 campaigns of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.): Officeholders now will be subject to corporate-and union-funded ads targeting their positions just before Election Day" (see also related Politico story).
-- Creators: Columnist Pat Buchanan says Michael Bloomberg's presidential candidacy could sink Hillary Clinton: "[T]he more popular [Bloomberg] makes himself with his media buys, the more votes his candidacy attracts, the more certain it is that he does for the Democratic Party what Ross Perot did for the GOP in '92."
-- City Journal: Columnist John Leo: "Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about [how] his new research [will affect the immigration debate]. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities."
-- Los Angeles Times: Columnist Jonah Goldberg: "I'm a longtime member of a pretty select group: the Dick Cheney Fan Club. Chapters gather in phone booths, refrigerator boxes and, at the annual convention, we take up three whole booths in the back of a nearby Arby's. Why do I like Dick Cheney? Because at a time when everybody talks a big game about how they don't like people-pleasing politicians who live by the polls, Cheney is pretty much the only guy out there who walks the walk. ... In particular, I like his stance toward the media. His view of the Fourth Estate is a bit like that of a bull elephant annoyed by varmints shnuffling around his feet: He's not bothered enough to squish 'em ... yet."
Mero Calls for Voucher Debate
The Sutherland Insitute's Paul Mero calls for "an open televised public dialogue regarding the voucher law referendum" with Salt Lake NAACP president Jeanetta Williams, who criticized Mero in a May 28 Salt Lake Tribune op-ed (see press release).
Lighter Side
“Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your hands…and then eat just one of the pieces.”
-- Judith Viorst (Tea Leaf)
"The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he's a baby."
-- Natalie Wood (Salt Lake Tribune Cryptoquote) |
