Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Delivers Weekly Republican Address

"I'm Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. I serve as the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which handles all tax legislation.

"The President of the United States has the pleasure of leading the country in the best of times, but the responsibility for digging us out of the worst.

"He has to govern in the present and build confidence for the future.

"Right now, Americans need jobs. They want Washington to fix only what it can, without destroying opportunities for the next generation.

"The President's programs don't connect all the dots.

"His plans fail to recognize that Americans are not an endless source of tax dollars to pay for government spending.

"The President's proposed budget raises taxes. For the vast majority of people who earn less than $200,000, raising taxes on higher earners might not sound so bad.

"Yet a lot of small businesses are in that category. The landscaper or the general contractor with a dozen employees could land in the bull's eye.

"Tell these business owners their taxes will go up. Odds are, they'll cut spending. They'll cancel orders for new equipment, cut health insurance for their employees, stop hiring, and lay people off.

"These small businesses happen to create 74 percent of all new private sector jobs in the United States.

"Meanwhile, the President's budget includes a tax increase on more than half of small businesses with 20 or more employees. Businesses of that size account for two-thirds of the small business workforce. The tax increase is equal to 20 percent of the marginal tax rate paid by those small businesses.

"Ask people what number of jobs they're willing to sacrifice right now. To a person, they'll tell you zero.

"The Administration also wants to cut the tax deduction for giving to charity. Even the Tax Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, says this would mean $9 billion less for philanthropy.

"The Administration's proposal to reduce the carbon production could amount to an average hidden tax increase of around $3,000 per household a year. In effect it's a national sales tax on energy.

"All of these tax increases would be the biggest tax increase in history.

"That's not all: Even if every one of these tax increases goes on the books, this budget still nearly triples the national debt by 2019.

"The President and his allies in Congress want to spend too much, tax too much, and borrow too much.

"Somebody has to pay -- if not the middle class now, then later. Eventually the middle class gets hit.

"Meanwhile, if taxes get too high, people drop out of the workforce and pay less taxes.

"So higher taxes don't bring in more money.

"Government spending is a pretty inefficient way to create jobs anyway. Economists say the new stimulus bill will cost $787 billion to create or save 2.5 million jobs -- one million fewer than promoted by the Administration and congressional supporters. It amounts to $315,000 for each job created or saved.

"It's very simple. The government doesn't create wealth. It expends wealth.

"No wonder then the public is skeptical about Washington trying to fix the economy with one massive spending bill after another. It's hard to convince taxpayers that more deficit spending is the answer.

"There's evidence that the President and his people understand this, even if their budget doesn't show it. They say they don't want to raise taxes until 2011 because the economy is too weak.

"Well, if the President admits that tax increases hurt the economy, that will be true in two years as it is true today. Americans need leadership, and they need confidence now. They need their President and their elected representatives to connect all the dots. Jobs are hard-won. The government should first, do no harm. Thank you for listening."

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Dean: Large turnout good for Democrats

WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Saturday the large turnout for the Iowa caucuses indicates Americans are looking for a Democrat to run the White House in 2008, but he added that the party still has to work to make that happen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_on_el_pr/democrats2008

Note to Republicans: It's time to fire up and get working!!!

Iowa GOP refuses to report Keyes votes

The Iowa Republican Party has neither counted nor reported the number of votes for Alan Keyes in the GOP caucuses held Jan. 3.

"We didn't have the electronic means to record the tallies for Keyes, so we can't yet report to the public how many votes Keyes got," said John Lund at the Iowa GOP headquarters in Des Moines. "We can't report the Keyes votes until we've double-checked each individual paper ballot."

Meanwhile, the Iowa GOP widely reported the vote tallies of all other candidates, including Tom Tancredo, who got 5 votes despite having quit the race.

"I personally traveled with Alan Keyes across Iowa, and we met scores of Keyes voters. It's totally unfair these citizens' votes are now being withheld from the public," said Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt. "This is tantamount to election fraud."

"I voted for Alan Keyes," said Siena Hoefling of Calhoun County. "It's ridiculous they didn't report my vote. Each precinct could have easily called or emailed the vote tallies to headquarters, so they should have been counted by now."

"County election officials showed me a ballot list of 'suggested' candidates, but Alan Keyes' name wasn't on the list," said Hoefling. "When I asked them if they would include Alan's name, they said they'd have to write it in."

One election official apologized to Hoefling that Keyes' name was omitted, saying "these are just the names we were given by [Iowa GOP] headquarters."

Duaine Bollwitt of Monticello said, "Alan Keyes was not on the list of Republican Presidential candidates. My vote for Alan Keyes was treated as a write-in. I thought that was odd, but what do I know."

"A presidential preference poll reporting procedure was given to me, explaining how to report the votes to headquarters," said Michael Walsh, a precinct permanent secretary for Windsor Heights. "When we called in the vote tallies by telephone, an electronic voice asked for the number of votes, candidate-by-candidate."

Whether the electronic voice prompt collecting the votes offered Alan Keyes as a choice is unclear.

Tom Youngwirth, recorder for his Windsor Heights precinct, said, "Now that I think of it, I didn't hear Alan Keyes' name on the voice prompt. But John McCain's name was on the voice prompt."

"I know for sure we reported votes for Alan Keyes to headquarters," said Ron Granzow, precinct chair for Windsor Heights. "I don't know why they wouldn't report his votes to the public."

"This resembles a 'communist-style' approach to electoral politics," said Stephen Stone, chairman of Alan Keyes for President. "In the former Soviet Union, political officials limited voters' choices in a way that created merely the illusion of democracy, without the reality. Any undue interference with free and open elections, of the sort we think we just witnessed, is un-American."

Added Stone, "Alan Keyes has been an announced candidate for president since Sept. 14. Yet the state GOP chose to exclude him from the caucus process, claiming he 'announced too late' to be included, so that his name was not even mentioned on official lists of candidates or in reporting instructions. This disenfranchises Iowa voters."

Thompson's Retail Politics

by Martha Zoller

“Normally, lack of money is a problem but in the Iowa caucus, lack of money has forced Thompson to do retail politics, which is what he’s best at. He’s getting a surge from it. In this case, lack of money may make the difference.” -- Steve Gill

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24222

Bloggers on McCain

Union Leader: John McCain: A Trusted Leader
By kmorrison(kmorrison) John McCain for President by the Boston Herald, Boston's conservative newspaper, is so good we wanted to be sure our readers could see it for themselves. We reprint it here, edited for length, with permission. ...New Hampshire 4 McCain - http://nh4mccain.blogspot.com/

John McCain, true Masculinity
John McCain is a true mature man. This is a person who has managed a life as a warrior and a humanitarian. He is a man of solid values. A man of strength and resolve. A man of compassion. A man of the world. And a man of common people.Digg / upcoming - http://digg.com/

Defrost Ted Williams, voter asks McCain
By Claudia Parsons LACONIA, NH - US presidents are pretty powerful but this was the first time White House hopeful John McCain was asked to defrost a dead baseball legend who was placed in cryonic suspension. Voter Jack Polidoro appealed to McCain to have ...Tales from the Trail: 2008 - http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08

On The Nature Of John McCainO
ver the last few weeks, people have been focusing heavily on Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee while giving John McCain a pass. During that time, he has managed to get back into contention and now has an excellent chance to...Right Wing News - http://www.rightwingnews.com/

John McCain News Roundup

McCain leading Republican field
The Australian - Sydney,Australia
MAVERICK former prisoner-of-war John McCain has revived his once moribund presidential campaign and now leads the Republican field in the crucial state of ...

The Secret Anti-War McCain
Atlantic Online - USA
Ramesh Ponnuru makes the case that the GOP would be in better shape had they gone with John McCain in 2000. That seems plausible to me. ...

ON THE ROAD
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
JOHN McCAIN: He and wife Cindy campaigned in New Hampshire, contrasting his leadership with what he called Mr. Romney's "managerial experience. ...

McCain Rises in NH And National Polls
CQPolitics.com - Washington,DC,USA
By CQ Staff John McCain has rebounded in New Hampshire to make it a close race on the GOP side in the nation’s first primary, and he has also made a big ...

McCain backers hit Romney
Boston Globe - United States
John McCain -- or at least his surrogates and endorsers -- continued the assault on Mitt Romney today. Lindsey Graham, McCain's US Senate colleague from ...

McCain addresses age issue
Boston Globe - United States
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff PEMBROKE, NH -- John McCain is 71 years old, but the issue of his age comes up only occasionally at his town meetings. ...

New Poll Shows Tight Races in NH
The Associated Press - John McCain are tied. McCain, who is focusing heavily on New Hampshire, has gained recently at the expense of former New York Gov. ...

John McCain on a roll
Guardian Unlimited - UK
At a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Merrimack, crowds are being turned away an hour before John McCain appears. The interior of the post is packed ...

McCain packs venue
Portsmouth Herald News - Portsmouth,NH,USA
John McCain speaks at the home of Bill Gilmore in Rye Monday evening. McCain spoke about earmarks, climate change and the war in Iraq as part of his visit ...

McCain Tours Friendly New Hampshire
FOX News - USA
by FOXNews.com John McCain is polling third or fourth in Iowa, with very little chance of overtaking Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee in Thursday’s caucuses, ...

Mike Huckabee News Roundup

Huckabee's Last Laugh
Yahoo! News - USA
The Nation -- DES MOINES -- There is nothing quite so amusing as the media's struggle to wrap its head around the campaign of Mike Huckabee. ...

Huckabee plans quick foray from Iowa to Leno show
Reuters - USA...
comedian Jay Leno's studio in Burbank, California, Republican Mike Huckabee's upstart presidential campaign was taking a roundabout route on Wednesday. ...

Candidates enter last full day of campaigning
MSNBC - USA
On the Republican side, two former governors, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, are vying to finish first in Iowa. ...

Huckabee leaves Iowa to visit Leno
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne,IN,USA
SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa – On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will trade jokes with Jay Leno on NBC’s “Tonight Show. ...

Tactics clash in Huckabee camp
Seattle Times - United States
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee greets bloggers at the Blogger Bash in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday. ...

Huckabee Insists No Trick With Ad
The Associated Press - CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee insisted he wasn't trying to pull a fast one when he played a negative TV ...

Huckabee's Web site continues to host comments posted by ...
Salt Lake Tribune - United StatesMike Huckabee Battling Romney for GOP ticket DES MOINES, Iowa - Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee personally apologized to rival Mitt Romney previously ...

Huckabee and Consultant Form an Uneasy Alliance
New York Times - United StatesBy DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK About three weeks ago, Mike Huckabee received an unexpected e-mail message from the veteran political consultant and television ...

Hollywood Huckabee
Austin American-Statesman - Austin,TX,USA
By Ken Herman Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 06:55 PM GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s schedule for Wednesday, the day before the Iowa caucuses, ...

Huckabee's Final Publicity Push
TIME - USAMike Huckabee's campaign manager, Chip Saltsman, stopped shaving last week, like a superstitious quarterback not wanting to jinx the big game. ...

News Roundup

Paul, Hunter Force Leading GOP Candidates to Pay Attention
FOX News - USA
... considered a darkhorse, second-tier position to frontrunner status in Iowa; he has become the most talked about Republican candidate in the field. ...

Candidate Bloomberg's Task: Explaining Denials
New York Sun - New York,NY,USA
The ad accuses Mr. Romney of lobbing false attacks against Mr. Huckabee and another Republican candidate, Senator McCain. The chairman of the department of ...

Blog Talk: Why Iowa?
New York Times - United States
Bloggers were split about Republican candidate Mike Huckabee’s decision not to show on Iowa TV an ad negative toward rival Mitt Romney – but call a news ...

Networks Face Candidate Rebellion in NH
Mother Jones - San Francisco,CA,USA
Ron Paul supporters are up in arms over the expulsion of their candidate from a Fox Republican candidate forum two days before the New Hampshire vote. ...

All to play for as first votes cast in race for White House
Scotsman - United Kingdom
REPUBLICAN candidate Mitt Romney has lately seized a campaign theme from the Democrats: the promise to bring change to Washington. ...

Road to Nowhere
New York Times - United States
If any Republican candidate is going to win this year, he will have to offer a new brand of Republicanism. But Romney has tied himself to the old brand. ...

Candidates talk of war, but it’s not only issue
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) - Minneapolis,MN,USA
The campaign in Iowa is in the final stretch, and Republican candidate Mitt Romney literally hit the ground running as he led the way to a house party in ...

Mormon candidate under attack from Protestants
Irish Independent - Dublin,Ireland
By Toby Harnden in Iowa
Evangelical Protestants are campaigning against Republican candidate Mitt Romney as he vies to become the United States' first ...

Republican candidate Ron Paul's message is up in the air
Enterprise-Record - Chico,CA,USA
By LARRY MITCHELL-Staff Writer
OROVILLE — A Butte County company has a role in the new year's first presidential primary at the Iowa caucuses on Thursday. ...