(Red Oak, IA) Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush last month named “Jesus Christ” as his favorite political thinker, but when pressed on Friday in Iowa, Bush named his father as his number one “role model.”

“I’ve got a series of great role models, I’ll start with the role model that’s closest to me. I would say my dad is a great role model,” Bush said in response to a question from the crowd gathered for a campaign rally in the Montgomery County fairground’s auditorium.

Bush said he’s often asked if he seeks his father’s advice. [Read more...]

(Johnston, IA) The republican presidential candidates agree the Ten Commandments should be posted in schools, but they quibbled sharply over their competing tax plans during Saturday’s six-way debate, their last joint appearance before Iowa’s Caucuses.

Frontrunner George W. Bush began by attacking rival John McCain’s moremodest tax cut, questioning why McCain proposes eliminating businessdeductions for meals, travel and training.

“If you get rid of the employer-related benefits, the workers are going to have to pay taxes. It’s a $40 Billion tax increase,” Bush said.

“Well, the first thing I’d say to the single mom is that I’ve got a tax cut for you and Governor Bush doesn’t,” McCain replied. [Read more...]

(Johnston, IA) Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley used less than a minute of his speech at a suburban Des Moines high school to urge Iowans not to “settle” for his rival, Al Gore.

“Now is not the time to settle. Now is not the time to settle for nibbling around the edges with health insurance. Now is not the time to settle by doing virtually nothing for family farmers for three or four years and then recognizing there’s a crisis and trying to respond in the last minute,” Bradley said.

Bradley’s campaign complains about a new Gore campaign ad which features Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who says in the ad that Gore was the “only democrat running for President” to act to provide flood relief to Iowa farmers in 1993. [Read more...]

(undated) As republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes readies for a Saturday debate with his rivals for the G.O.P. nomination, he sharpened his attack on frontrunner George W. Bush’s tax
record.

“George Bush broke a pledge on taxes when he was Governor and his tax proposal now keeps the I.R.S. as we know it,” Forbes aid during a telephone interview on KSCJ radio in Sioux City.

Forbes proposes abolishing the I.R.S. and instituting a 17 percent “flat tax” on income.

“I think people want real solutions and real reform. I think they’re tired of just trimming around the edges and going along with politics as usual,” Forbes said. [Read more...]

(Newton, IA) Long-shot G.O.P. candidate Orrin Hatch Thursday lashed out at the media for the way it’s characterizing the presidential race.

“The eastern liberal press is telling everybody in Iowa who they should support,” Hatch said during an interview on KCOB radio. “They’re saying this race is only among Bush, McCain and Forbes and I’ll tell you something, if the people of Iowa want to set them back and let ‘em know they’re not going to be dictated to by the eastern liberal press, then they ought to vote for me.”

Hatch, a 23-year member of the U.S. Senate representing Utah, launched his bid for the White House late, in July and has raised little cash for the cause when compared to the fundraising prowess of front-runner George W. Bush. Hatch said Bush is courting the “fat cat elites.” [Read more...]

(Des Moines, IA) Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes continued to hammer at G.O.P. frontrunner George W. Bush’s rhetoric on abortion.

Forbes’ 1996 campaign focused almost exclusively on abolishing the IRS and establishing a 17 percent “flat tax,” but Forbes in 2000 has stakes out conservative ground on social issues. In his latest Iowa campaign swing, Forbes accused rival Bush of being unwilling to guarantee the Republican party’s platform include a call for abolishing abortion on demand.

“And if he can’t even defend a plant that’s been in the platform for 20 years, I think that underscores that his heart isn’t really in the thing,” Forbes said during an interview. [Read more...]

(Atlantic, IA) Former President George Bush spoke to a packed house in Atlantic Thursday at a schoolhouse rally organized by his son’s presidential campaign, and the elder Bush offered an assessment of his son’s character.

“We support our son, not on issues, but on his character, what I know of him as a dad. My belief that he is qualified and competent to lead this country based on my own experience as President, but much more, based on my experience as a father,” Bush said.

In December, critics charged Bush’s son, George W., was a mental lightweight and not up to debating his challengers. That dig has died down a bit, but daddy Bush sought to squelch it. [Read more...]