A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that Bush's re-election support has dropped to 50%.

In a recent CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, 50 percent said they would vote for Bush and 38 percent backed the unknown Democratic candidate, with the rest undecided. Those numbers aren't very different from those garnered by Bush's father in June 1991, when the commander in chief was praised for the U.S. success in the Persian Gulf War and the Democrats were scrambling for a candidate. Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush in the 1992 election.

Expert consensus on the reason for the drop: the Economy.

We can't vouch for the accuracy of this information, but Bob Harris has a chart contrasting Howard Dean's and Dennic Kucinich's positions on issues. He lists his sources as the candidates' own websites and searching via Google. He offers to make any corrections, so if you know of any, let him know.

As to crime, Harris reports that Dean opposes all use of medical marijuana. We didn't know that. Kucinich supports "compassionate use." Harris says Dean supports more federal funding for all aspects of the drug war.

We did know that Dean favors the death penalty for "extreme" crimes like terrorism or the killing of a police officer, although he is critical of Bush administration's "careless" approach to executions. We'd add that Dean has promised to direct his Attorney General to study the death penalty and any need for a moratorium to protect the innocent the day he takes office. Kucinich opposes the death penalty.

On the Patriot Act, Harris says Dean would repeal parts of it, but he also wants to expand intelligence agencies. Dean has praised Russ Feingold as the only Senator who opposed the act. Harris points out Kucinich voted against the Patriot Act.

Harris says,

Finally, Dean is basically a good guy, and if he's nominated I'll vote for him in a heartbeat. It's just that it's simply not accurate to refer to him as a progressive candidate. I'm also not saying that Kucinich's positions are the "right" ones on every issue; I just personally agree with him on most of them, and I think other progressives will, too.

If nominated, we'll support Dean as well. We think his criminal justice positions could use a progressive jolt, and since those are our primary concern, we're holding off declaring a favorite candidate at this point. But if anyone from his campaign is reading, we recommend going here to print out the Legislative Priorities and views on criminal justice issues of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and putting them in Mr. Dean's briefcase.

Update: Ezra Klein writes in the following correction to Harris's chart:

Dean's position on medical marijuana is neither for nor against, his stated position is that we have processes set up to evaluate the worth of new drugs, they should not be brought in a political decision. Dean would send medical marijuana to the FDA and abide by whatever they said.

Don't forget to vote today over at MoveOn.org for your favorite Democratic Contender for the White House. 1.4 million are expected to vote and Howard Dean is expected to win. Registration is now closed, so this is just a reminder for those who did register or who are MoveOn members.

While we have not yet committed to a Democratic favorite, we are very impressed with Howard Dean's weblog have added it to our blogroll.

We know we said we'd be gone till Monday, but as soon as we got here to the Canadian Rockies, we saw on the news that former Governor Howard Dean's son had been arrested for burglary--trying to steal liquor along with three of his friends from a country club. Gov. Dean has issued this statement at his weblog.

We think this won't have any effect on Dean's campaign. The same thing happened to Colorado's Governor Owens before his re-election--his teenage son was arrested for burglary-- and it was a non issue--no one brought it up.

Everyone who has a teenager knows they get in trouble for dumb things. We've represented a bunch of them--mostly kids of our friends or kids of our friends' friends--they are not bad kids. They are young and use bad judgment from time to time. They don't fully appreciate consequences until they get caught. But they learn from these experiences and grow into productive adults.

We wish Governor Dean and his family well, and we hope he's not too hard on the kid. That would send the wrong message entirely.

OK, now we're off duty again. A great weekend to all.

Joe Conasen writes approvingly today about a Kerry-Clark ticket. He calls it a "one-two punch." We agree. So does Eric, over at Hamster.

Retired Nato chief Wesley Clark is considering a presidential run. Here are some of his positions:

He has objected to the use of truth serum on the Guantanamo Bay detainees:

William Webster, a former CIA and FBI director, said he would support the use of "truth" drugs like sodium pentothol to get information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, although retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark said the idea was "highly objectionable" and warned along with other officials that it would result in other countries acting similarly toward captured U.S. soldiers....."We've spent the last 60 years building up international law according to what Harry Truman said, that right makes might, not might makes right," Clark said.(The St. Petersburg Times, April 26, 2002)

From a Salon interview with Clark, Wesley Clark Unplugged (3/23/03):

One of the things about the war on terror that I am disturbed about is that we've essentially suspended habeas corpus. Which is something that's only been done once in American history and then only for a very brief period.

When I go back and think about the atmosphere in which the PATRIOT Act was passed, it begs for a reconsideration and review. And it should be done. Law enforcement agencies will always chafe at any restriction whatsoever when they're in the business of trying to get their job done. But in practice we've always balanced the need for law enforcement with our own protection of our constitutional rights and that's a balance that will need to be reviewed.

Daily Kos: "He's solid on national security, well-spoken, presidential, pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-affirmative action, anti-PATRIOT Act, and believes strongly that the government should provide for the less fortunate amongst us."

Here's Clark's Washington Monthly article, An Army of One?

Here's a slice of Clark's background:

A West Point graduate and former Rhodes Scholar, Clark saw combat in the Vietnam War as commander of a mechanized infantry company. He won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star (twice), the Purple Heart and other decorations for his heroism in combat. Clark served as Commander-in-Chief of US Southern Command ("SOUTHCOM") in 1996-97 and NATO Supreme Allied Commander in 1997-2000 (during the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia). He retired from the Army in 2000 and subsequently wrote a book on military-foreign policy entitled Waging Modern War (2001). Clark currently resides in DC, but considers Arkansas to be his home.

For more on Clark, visit the DraftClark website.

Don't count him out, particularly for the VP slot.

After we wrote our post this morning about the article in the Times-Argus asserting that Howard Dean had expanded his support for the death penalty and was aligned with Bush on the issue, his campaign clarified his position on his weblog, Blog for America. You can read his response here. Highlights include:

Governor Dean opposes the death penalty except in very limited circumstances involving extreme and heinous crimes.

...When he became governor in 1991, Howard Dean opposed the death penalty in all cases.

...In 1997, after a number of brutal crimes involving the murder of children, including the abduction, rape and murder of 12-year old Polly Klass in California, Dean spoke publicly about his reconsideration of his position on the death penalty.... After careful deliberation, Dean concluded that the death penalty may be an appropriate punishment in limited circumstances such as the murder of a child or a police officer.

...Finally, as a result of the mass murder that took place on September 11, 2001, he concluded that the death penalty should also be available in cases of terrorists who take human life.

...A Dean administration would administer the death penalty carefully and sparingly, unlike the Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department. Dean would instruct his Attorney General on day one to evaluate the federal death penalty system to ensure that it is applied fairly and reliably. He would also sign into law pending legislation, authored by Senator Leahy, that will strengthen protections against unjust imposition of the death penalty. (emphasis supplied)

Ok, that's a baby step, but a good start. We want to to see the Innocence Protection Act passed badly enough that we'll take it and put Gov. Dean back in our plus column. We do hope Governor Dean remains open to considering a moratorium, pending the outcome of the fairness evaluation he promises to have his Attorney General commence immediately upon taking office. As a society, we should not tolerate even one innocent person being put to death, when a moratorium an option.

[comments now closed]

Sen. Jim Jeffords delivered this speech at the National Press Club on June 5, 2003 to commemorate the second anniversary of his decision to leave the Republican Party and become the Senate's only Independent. Check it out, it's a speech we've been waiting to hear a Democrat give, and we've seen almost no media coverage of it. Here are some quotes:

The promises of candidate Bush, who pledged to bring a new tone to Washington and packaged himself as a compassionate conservative, are unmet. On issue after issue the Bush administration is not what it claims to be. Since coming into office, the president has dragged the Republican Party into short-sighted positions that maximize short-term gain while neglecting the long-term needs of families and the nation.

President Bush hasn't just over-reached, he has set a new standard for extreme partisan politics that on many occasions has been supported by the Republican-controlled Congress.

In place of thoughtful policy we now have superficial and cynical sound-bites. Instead of confronting pressing national problems, our president lands airplanes while Rome burns.

There are 40 millionaires in the U.S. Senate--22 Republicans, 18 Democrats, 6 women. Check out the list here.

As to presidential hopefuls, here's a partial breakdown:

Among the 2004 Democratic White House hopefuls who are serving in the Senate, Kerry reported the most holdings. But Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was not hurting. He reported a net worth ranging from $12.8 million to $60 million. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida reported holdings of $7.7 million to $31.6 million, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut had an estimated net worth of $482,000 to $1.8 million.

Update: Bill and Hillary did pretty well too. They deserve to....the groundless investigation into Whitewater by the Independent Counsel cost them over $7 million in legal fees already paid out and between $1.7 and $6 million more that they still owe. Under the independent counsel statute, they are entitled to be reimbursed by the Government for their legal fees because they weren't indicted.

The independent counsel statute in effect was 28 U.S.C. Section 553, which provided:

(f) Attorneys' fees.

(1) Award of fees. Upon the request of an individual who is the subject of an investigation conducted by an independent counsel pursuant to this chapter, the division of the court may, if no indictment is brought against such individual pursuant to that investigation, award reimbursement for those reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by that individual during that investigation which would not have been incurred but for the requirements of this chapter. The division of the court shall notify the independent counsel who conducted the investigation and the Attorney General of any request for attorneys' fees under this subsection.

We hope the Bill and Hillary and in particular, attorney David Kendall, get every last penny of their legal fees paid by the Government.

Another of Daily Kos's great ideas takes root--check out the DNC's new contribution page ePatriots--Kos says over $1,000 has been contributed in the past 40 minutes since he posted it on Daily Kos.

Daily Kos has worked with the Democratic Party to help narrow the GOP's massive cash advantage. Our nominee will emerge from the primaries bloodied and broke, only to run smack head into $200 million in GOP attack ads. The DNC recognizes the increasing power of the blogosphere, and was receptive when I approached them with a request -- give us the tools to help the party and our nominee defeat Bush. The end result? ePatriots. So donate now and help us retake our nation from Bush and his cabal. Your donations will be crucial to this effort.

Markos Moulitsas.

Hillary Clinton says she will not run for the Presidency in 2004 or 2008. Her book, Living History, hits the stores tomorrow.

Denver, the nation's 25th largest city, elected a new mayor today--John Hickenlooper --a brew pub owner with little experience in politics. We had the opportunity to meet him last week at a local tv station when his show was ending as our's was beginnng. He was charming. He charmed us. He won easily, with 65% of the vote.

Hickenlooper, 51, who owns eight restaurants, touted his experience in business and inexperience in politics, saying he will bring fresh new approaches to governing and leading the city out of an economic slump. Recent surveys showed his message appealed to voters across all geographic, ethnic and political lines.

The new mayor will have to deal with an economic slump that has cost residents 35,000 jobs over the past 18 months. He also will have to find a way to cope with a $50 million budget gap predicted for next year.

Congrats to Mayor-elect Hickenlooper, we wish you well.