As Michael Bloomberg weighs White House run, Iowa voters ask, ‘Who?’
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s latest flirtation with a White House run set the political world aflutter Saturday. But in Iowa, some people wondered, who? “I don’t know anything about him,” said Leslie McCreery, a 70-year-old Hillary Clinton supporter. Asked whether she was familiar with the three-term New York mayor, Clinton supporter Beverly Williams, 55, said, “No, I’m not.” Bloomberg’s standing with politically savvy Iowans, who are used to getting attention from presidential candidates during both the primaries and general election — underscore one of his biggest challenges if he were to make a late entrance into the race. While the prospect of Bloomberg launching a third-party presidential campaign has been speculated about for years, he’s largely unknown to many Americans and would be entering the race well after his rivals started introducing themselves to voters. “Eighty percent of us in Iowa have probably made up our minds,” said Angela Lambertz, a 42-year-old from Iowa City, who attended an event Saturday for Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate. Bloomberg, a longtime Democrat who became a Republican, then switched to independent, is said to be strongly considering a bid if the general election becomes a contest between Sanders and Donald Trump. Among Iowa voters attending campaign events Saturday, there were few Bloomberg fans. “The communist? The anti-2nd Amendment mayor?” asked Claudia Springer, 63, of Bloomfield, Iowa, who was attending a rally for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a leading candidate in the Republican race. Among those who identify with the Democratic race, Jeff Mussman, 59, of Camanche, Iowa, said he was aware of Bloomberg’s post-mayoral efforts to promote tighter gun control laws, an effort he opposes. “You can live in a big city and yeah, you might have to have gun control, but we’re living here in the country,” said Mussman, who plans to vote either for Clinton or Sanders (despite their support for stricter gun laws). Bloomberg took hits from small-government conservatives when he tried to ban sales of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin mocked him at a conservative forum in 2013, taking the stage with a “Big Gulp” soda. “He’s the Big Gulp guy,” said Garren Bugh, 42, of Ankeny, Iowa, who also attended the Cruz event. “He’s all about, ‘I know better than you do.’ It’s the antithesis of America when we get down to micromanaging what people are drinking.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Jeb Bush upbraids Donald Trump at New Hampshire Republican forum
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush unleashed a fury of criticism against Donald Trump on Saturday before imploring New Hampshire voters to forgo the billionaire businessman in the state’s Feb. 9 primary. “You have a chance to reshape this whole primary,” Bush told hundreds of voters at a state Republican Party presidential candidate forum. Trump, who continues to dominate polling in the first primary state, did not attend the event. Nor did Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is neck-and-neck with Trump in first-to-nominate Iowa and rising in New Hampshire. A host of candidates fighting for survival in the 2016 race appeared alongside Bush. Among them: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former CEO Carly Fiorina and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. But only Bush delivered harsh words for Trump. “He’s a gifted entertainer, but he’s not a conservative,” Bush said, citing Trump’s past support for Democrats, including the Clintons, past stances on social issues and previous support for a single-payer health care system, noting “that’s Bernie Sanders’ position.” He slammed Trump for saying Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war and two-time New Hampshire presidential primary winner, is not a “war hero” because he was captured. Bush also reminded voters of Trump’s remarks about women and immigrants. “It is not strong to insult women; it is not a sign of strength when you insult Hispanics,” Bush said. “(Or) when you say that a prisoner of war is a loser because they got caught.” Rubio and Kasich, meanwhile, largely stayed away from attacking fellow Republicans. Rubio offered only veiled attacks against Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over taxes. Instead, he stuck largely to his campaign speech and focused his criticism on President Barack Obama and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “We are on the road to decline right now, and the reason is because in 2008 America elected a president who wasn’t interested in fixing the problems of America,” Rubio said. He criticized Obama for his stance on gun rights, immigration, education, military and foreign policy. “The result is the anger and frustration that people are feeling now,” the Florida senator said, echoing the feelings of Trump’s supporters and populist message. But, without naming rivals Trump and Cruz, the Rubio said voters cannot “just elect any Republican.” Kasich, by contrast, said it’s pointless to spend time focusing on Obama, who has only months left in office. Kasich in recent days has said he plans to keep his focus on what’s ahead. But, he noted he’s excited about the prospect of challenging Clinton in a general election. “She’s a fragile candidate,” he said. “In the general, I’m gonna have a ball.” Paul criticized rival Rubio and other Republican senators for pushing to raise military spending, which he said would add to the $19 trillion national debt. The Kentucky senator, whose campaign is struggling to gain traction, also said that Rubio, Bush and other Republicans are eroding Americans’ civil liberties in the fight against terror. They “want more surveillance of you,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump welcomes a senator, bashes Glenn Beck’s support of Ted Cruz
Donald Trump is so confident about the loyalty of his supporters that he predicted Saturday they would stick with him even if he shot someone. The Republican presidential front-runner bashed conservative commentator Glenn Beck‘s support of rival Ted Cruz and welcomed a figure from the GOP establishment, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in rallies nine days before the Iowa caucuses open voting in the 2016 campaign. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Trump told an enthusiastic audience at a Christian school, Dordt College. “It’s like incredible.” Beck campaigned for Ted Cruz and held little back in going after Trump. “The time for silliness and reality show tactics has passed,” Beck charged at a Cruz rally. He warned that a Trump victory in the Feb. 1 caucuses could have lasting consequences: “If Donald Trump wins, it’s going to be a snowball to hell.” Trump demonstrated the extent to which some in the Republican establishment have begun to accept a potential Trump nomination when Grassley introduced him at a later event in Pella. Grassley did not offer an endorsement, but his presence underscored Trump’s enduring positions at the top of the polls as voting approaches. Alex Conant, speaking for Marco Rubio‘s campaign, was quick to note, however, that Grassley will introduce Rubio at an Iowa rally in a week. Days after Trump was endorsed by tea party favorite Sarah Palin, Cruz flashed his own conservative muscle during a rally in Ankeny, Iowa. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican and conservative firebrand, and Iowa social conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats encouraged local Republicans to unite behind Cruz. Beck praised the Texas senator’s commitment to principles of the right and repeatedly jabbed Trump from afar. The same headliners were to appear at an evening rally in eastern Iowa. At his Sioux Center event, Trump called Beck a “loser” and “sad sack.” Beck was one of nearly two dozen conservative thinkers who penned anti-Trump essays for National Review magazine — a hit Trump referred to repeatedly at the rally. Cruz, running close with Trump in Iowa polls, was almost entirely focused on the billionaire in his Ankeny event, as he professed core conservative values and drew a sharp contrast with Trump on issue after issue, without using his name. With obvious exaggeration, he charged that one Republican candidate, “for over 60 years of his life,” supported so-called partial-birth abortion and a “Bernie Sanders-style socialized medicine for all.” Trump is 69 and unlikely to have had positions on abortion and health care as a child. He blasted Trump’s past reluctance to strip federal money from Planned Parenthood and cast the billionaire’s plan to deport more than 11 million people who are in country illegally as “amnesty” because he would then let many of them return. But Cruz shrugged off Trump’s shooting comment when asked. “I will let Donald speak for himself. I can say I have no intention of shooting anybody in this campaign,” he told reporters, adding that he would keep his criticism focused on issues. “I don’t intend to go into the gutter,” Cruz said. Elsewhere in Iowa, Rubio stressed that he represents the next generation of conservative leadership as he started the dash to the caucuses at Iowa State University in Ames. “Complaining and being frustrated alone will not be enough,” Rubio said. “It has to be someone who tells you exactly what they are going to do as president.” Rubio recently stepped up his Iowa campaign appearances in hopes of breaking Cruz and Trump’s hold on the state in an effort to put himself in a stronger position leading into New Hampshire’s Feb. 9 primary. The Des Moines Register endorsed him Saturday as its choice in the Republican race, backing Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
A roundup of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A roundup of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – From Flint, a message to heed Government matters, from the smallest of city halls to’ the wings of the White House. If you scoff at that notion, then consider what’s going on in Flint, Mich. Since 2014, Flint residents have suffered because government has failed them. The water that flows into their homes and businesses is brown and contaminated with lead. City Hall, which switched Flint’s water supplier as a cost-saving measure, virtually ignored their initial complaints. What actions government did take — telling residents to boil water before using it, for instance — didn’t solve the problem, it only prolonged it. Now this majority-minority city with a large population of low-income residents is in full-on disaster mode. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican heavily criticized for his slow response, has apologized and issued a state of emergency for Flint’s county. President Barack Obama has sent $5 million in federal aid and the National Guard to help distribute bottled water. Lawsuits have been filed. Residents, meanwhile, want answers and accountability as much as the clean water they used to have. The Birmingham News – A modest proposal to fix health care: Use fake medicine Before I go about solving the financial problems of America’s health care system, it’s only fair to give a shout-out to Dr. Elisha Perkins, who should probably get the real credit. Dr. Perkins invented the famous “Perkins Tractors,” which he patented after years of research in 1796. Retailing for $25 per pair (equivalent to about $700 today), his original tractors were a pair of 3-inch pointed metal rods, which when passed over painful body parts relieved pain and inflammation by drawing off “noxious electrical fluid,” whatever that is. Dr. Perkins attributed their effectiveness to the combination of exotic metal alloys he used. Personal testimonies of the Tractors’ ability to relieve the pain of arthritis, gout, and headaches poured in. The Tractors attracted some high profile clients, including President George Washington, and their popularity soon spread to England. However, before long, some humorless British doctors started doing their own experiments, finding that wooden rods painted to look like Tractors or iron nails coated with sealing wax were just as effective at relieving pain, so long as the patients thought they were the real thing. Presto! The placebo effect was discovered. The placebo effect, of course, is the ability of fake therapies, sugar pills or colored water, for instance, to have a medical benefit if the patient thinks they are real medicine. The Decatur Daily – Reading is still fundamental No one disputes reading is important; one might even say fundamental. So when test scores show students lagging in reading, educators and parents worry. Everyone should worry; students who can’t read at their grade level are likely to graduate — if they do graduate — at a significant disadvantage. There is no shortage of ideas for how to improve reading, but there is a shortage of funding, and not all ideas are created equal, anyway. When the state Legislature cut funding to local school systems, many of those systems cut reading specialists upon whom they relied to help boost reading scores. Cedar Ridge Middle School, however, has instituted a program that costs nothing, at least in terms of money. Each morning at 9:30, students — as well as teachers, counselors and administrators — drop everything else and spend the next 20 minutes reading. It’s largely self-directed. Students can read pretty much whatever they like, be it a book, magazine or newspaper. All the school does is provide the dedicated time. It may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Students have lots of things competing for their time: homework, sports and extracurricular activities. That’s just what school demands of them. It doesn’t take into account video games, movies, TV, spending time with friends and family, household chores and all the other demands on a busy student’s life. Heaven help the student who also takes piano lessons or dance classes. With so many things vying for kids’ time and so much of that time structured, a block of time where the only requirement is to read must seem like a calm in the storm for many students. Dothan Eagle – Cat videos and criminal investigation The Internet – social media in particular – is certainly a fount of cute animal videos and aggravating political vitriol, but it’s clear that the depth of its potential hasn’t been reached. For instance, we imagine Mark Zuckerberg hadn’t considered the myriad uses of his software when he developed a program to connect fellow students at Harvard any more than the creator of the wheel imagined how it would alter the trajectory of mankind. But in Dothan in recent weeks, Facebook has become a crime-fighting tool that has led to arrests and, possibly, prevented some crimes. Facebook users who live in neighborhoods in the loosely defined northwest Dothan area called the Garden District established a Facebook group some time ago, and for a while, it was primarily used as a bulletin board for lost pets. However, parts of the area have been plagued with vehicle and home burglaries in recent weeks, and the online group has become a real-time message board for the neighborhood watch. Police officers monitor the group, which gives them a good picture of what sort of criminal activity is going on and where, and the forum can suggest patterns that may be useful in investigation. Several arrests have been made. This week, one local business owner posted a short video taken from their store’s surveillance system showing a customer putting on a shirt and jacket in the store and sauntering off. The owner said Eagle Eye Outfitters had been victimized by shoplifters and asked for help identifying the person in the video. Within a week, the clip had been viewed 135,000 times and shared by almost 2,000 Facebook users, leading to the identification and arrest of two Blountstown,
