Barack Obama tried to steal some of John Edwards' thunder with a poverty plan of his own yesterday. His $6 billion a year poverty plan would be funded by ending the Iraq war, reports the Washington Times' Brian DeBose.
Taking another page from Edwards, Obama invoked Robert Kennedy and then proceeded to swipe his Democratic rival. "This kind of poverty is not an issue I just discovered for the purposes of a campaign, it is the cause that led me to a life of public service almost 25 years ago. I was just two years out of college when I first moved to the South Side of Chicago to become a community organizer," he said.
The plan would first replicate successful anti-poverty programs in 20 cities that currently exist in New York City and Washington, D.C. Second, it would provide greater financial support to unwed fathers who raise children and crack down on absentee fathers. Third, the plan would expand a program that delivers registered nurses to the homes of low-income and expecting mothers. Fourth, $1 billion would be budgeted for job placement and training programs. Fifth, a trust fund would be established to add up to 112,000 housing units in "mixed-income neighborhoods" and deliver capital to inner-city businesses. Finally, the minimum wage would automatically rise every year according to the cost-of-living index.
However, the story that's likely to overshadow Obama's poverty plan were his comments that it's right to provide "age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools," apparently including kindergarten, reports ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson. When asked to clarify, the Obama campaign pointed to an October 2004 statement Obama made about legislation he supported in the Illinois legislature. The bill would have mandated sex ed standards to be updated with "medically accurate" information, basically not allowing teachers to tell students babies come from a stork. The legislation wasn't enacted.
Following up on the Hillary Clinton vs. Elizabeth Edwards story, the San Francisco Chronicle's Zachary Colie reports Clinton didn't fire back against Edwards but simply defended herself against charges she doesn't speak about women's issues. "I am running because I believe I am the best qualified person to do this job. I have worked very hard for most of my life on behalf of women and children and families and I'm very proud of my record -- before I was in public life and now as a senator."
A lawsuit against Clinton's pollster Mark Penn was dropped yesterday, but not before right-wing legal group Judicial Watch filed suit against Clinton to gain access to her calendars, phone logs, and office diary as first lady.
Meanwhile, the Wilmington News Journal's Nicole Gaudino reports that Joe Biden has written an autobiography that "portrays some of his darkest moments -- the loss of his wife and daughter, the collapse of his 1988 presidential campaign amid plagiarism charges and the struggle to regain his health after near-fatal brain aneurysms." Biden writes he considered suicide after his wife's and daughter's death in a 1972 car accident.
On the Republican side, John McCain's campaign continues to claw its way back from the edge. Former "eCampaign" director Christian Ferry has returned as deputy campaign manager after leaving a few weeks ago, reports Hotline On Call's Shira Toeplitz. McCain was on Capitol Hill yesterday with Charlie Black trying to shore up Congressional supporters who are being lured by Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, reports The Hill's Alexander Bolton.
In Iowa yesterday, Giuliani clarified his positions on energy and judicial appointments. A prospective judicial nominee's position on abortion or Roe v. Wade won't be considered by a Giuliani administration, he said. In the same day, Giuliani said the U.S. must build more ethanol plants, nuclear reactors, oil refiners and power transmission lines to be less-reliant on foreign sources of oil.
The New York Times' Jo Becker confirms that billing records from the Arent Fox law firm confirm Thompson did work for National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association in 1991 and 1992. Thompson spoke to the association's president 22 times and with Bush administration officials for a total 3.3 hours.
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