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Today's Top Stories
Kerry Wins 5 of 7 States; Edwards Scores Big Win in SC, Clark
Takes Oklahoma, Lieberman Drops Out
Is Bush Covert Operative Behind Sharpton's Campaign?
Bush Accused of Undermining Iraq WMD Inquiry From the Beginning
"My Innocence Keeps Me Strong" - Kevin Cooper Speaks
From Death Row
Today's Headlines
Ricin Scare Shuts Three Senate Buildings
Rep. Tauzin To Quit To Take Drug Lobbying Job
Pakistani Nuke Scientist Admits He Sold Secrets
Halliburton To Repay Gov’t $27M For Overcharges
Iraq Criticized For Limiting Al Jazeera Coverage
Settlers Threaten to Bring Down Sharon Gov’t
Kerry Wins 5 of 7 States; Edwards Scores Big Win
in SC, Clark Takes Oklahoma, Lieberman Drops Out
Sen. John Kerry continued his dominance of the Democratic
presidential race last night winning contests in Missouri,
North Dakota, Delaware, Arizona and New Mexico. Sen. John
Edwards easily won his native South Carolina and Wesley Clark
claimed a narrow victory in Oklahoma. Sen. Joe Lieberman quit
the race after finishing a distant second in Delaware and
Howard Dean finished the night without a victory.
Sen. John Kerry continued his dominance of the Democratic
presidential race last night, decisively winning five of the
seven states holding primaries and caucuses and rolling up
far more of the 269 delegates at stake than any of his rivals.
Sen. John Edwards easily won South Carolina and Gen. Wesley
Clark claimed a narrow victory in Oklahoma. Sen. Joe Lieberman
quit the race and Howard Dean finished the night without a
victory.
Kerry got at least half the vote in Missouri, North Dakota
and Delaware, and won by about 15 percentage points in Arizona
and New Mexico. The Massachusetts senator demonstrated his
strength across the range of Democratic voters, winning big
among Hispanics in Arizona and all racial and income groups
in Missouri - the two states with the most delegates.
North Carolina Senator John Edwards easily won the first
primary in the South by rolling up a big victory over Kerry
in South Carolina. Edwards won 45 percent of the vote, with
Kerry coming in second with 30, while the Rev. Al Sharpton
won 10 percent.
Edwards won voters across the board, leading Kerry among
both men and women and in every age group and income category.
This according to the Washington Post. He had a huge margin
among white voters, but had only a slender advantage among
African Americans - who make up more than 40 percent of the
electorate in South Carolina.
Gen. Wesley Clark proved he was still in the race with a
narrow victory over Edwards in Oklahoma and second place in
three states: Arizona, New Mexico and North Dakota.
Clark claimed victory in Oklahoma after a seesaw battle with
Edwards that saw the lead change hands several times. With
all of the precincts reporting, Clark and Edwards both won
30% of the vote with Clark edging out Edwards by less than
1,300 votes. After his victory Clark told CNN "I've won
a state, and I'm thrilled."
Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut quit the race after
finishing a distant second behind Kerry in Delaware and running
poorly in other states. Lieberman, who had staked his hopes
on a win in Delaware captured just 11% of the votes there,
finishing far behind Kerry's 50% and just a handful of votes
ahead of Edwards and Dean. After announcing his pulling out
he said to supporters "Am I disappointed? Naturally.
But am I proud of what we stood for in this campaign? You
bet I am."
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean finished the night without
a victory and with very few delegates, running third or lower
everywhere. He remained defiant and vowed to stay in the race
saying he will "keep going and going and going and going
and going, just like the Energizer Bunny."
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who put his emphasis on South Carolina,
finished a distant third behind Edwards and Kerry but told
supporters last night that, after having finished ahead of
Clark, Dean and Lieberman in the state, "we started a
movement that will transform the Democratic Party."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich finished well out of the money but vowed
to continue, saying "We are barely into this primary
season." Kucinich predicts the race will go all the way
to the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer.
The results of the night put Kerry in a commanding position
in the Democratic race and the race now turns to Michigan,
Washington and Maine this weekend, Tennessee and Virginia
next week and beyond.
- Sen. John Kerry, speaking in Seattle, Feb. 3, 2004.
- Sen. John Edwards, speaking in South Carolina, Feb. 3,
2004.
- Howard Dean, speaking in Washington State, Feb. 3, 2004.
- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in Delaware, Feb. 3, 2004.
- Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking in South Carolina, Feb. 3,
2004
- Jeremiah Luria Johnson, reporter covering elections for
KUNM community radio based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor for the Nation and
a national correspondent for Salon.com. His most recent
book is "Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative
Journalism in America." He has been reporting from
South Carolina this week.
Is Bush Covert Operative Behind Sharpton's Campaign?
An explosive piece in the Village Voice by investigative
reporter Wayne Barrett reveals how the Rev. Al Sharpton's
presidential campaign is financed, staffed and orchestrated
by conservative, Bush-backing Republican Roger Stone.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, finished third in South Carolina's
primary last night - far behind senators John Edwards and
John Kerry. Edwards won 45 percent of the vote, with Kerry
coming in second with 30, while the Rev. Al Sharpton, who
had put much emphasis on the South Carolina, won 10 percent.
Speaking to supporters last night, Sharpton said, "We
started a movement that will transform the Democratic Party."
Well maybe in more ways than one. An explosive piece in the
Village Voice entitled "Sleeping
With the GOP: A Bush Covert Operative Takes Over Al Sharpton's
Campaign" shows how Sharpton's presidential campaign
is financed, staffed and orchestrated by conservative, Bush-backing
Republican Roger Stone who led the effort that shut down the
Miami-Dade County recount in 2000 and helped make George W.
Bush president.
Bush Accused of Undermining Iraq WMD Inquiry From
the Beginning
President George Bush this week confirmed an outside investigation
into intelligence failures on Iraq. But the promise of an
independent, bipartisan commission came under immediate attack,
with critics accusing the White House of trying to undermine
the inquiry from the start. We speak with one of those critics:
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).
Last week's admission by David Kay - the chief U.S. weapons
inspector in Iraq - that he had found no concrete evidence
of any Iraqi nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs
has backed many members of the Bush administration into a
corner.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told the Washington Post
this week that he does not know whether he would have recommended
an invasion of Iraq if he had been told it had no stockpiles
of banned weapons.
Powell is widely perceived to have placed his credibility
on the line last Feb. 5 when he appeared before the United
Nations Security Council and offered a forceful and detailed
description of the U.S. case that Hussein possessed weapons
of mass destruction. In that appearance, Powell told the council:
"What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based
on solid intelligence."
President George Bush this week confirmed an outside investigation
into intelligence failures on Iraq. But the promise of an
independent, bipartisan commission came under immediate attack,
with critics accusing the White House of trying to undermine
the inquiry from the start.
One of those critics joins us on the phone: Rep. Sheila Jackson
Lee, Democratic congresswoman from Texas.
- Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democratic congresswoman from
Texas.
"My Innocence Keeps Me Strong" - Kevin
Cooper Speaks From Death Row
Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of a quadruple homicide
in 1983 but has long maintained his innocence, is scheduled
to die next Tuesday amid much controversy and protest. We
hear an exclusive interview that Kevin Cooper did from death
row recently with Leslie Kean of the KPFA program Flashpoints.
Outside the gates of the San Quentin prison in California
four activists were arrested Tuesday as they protested the
scheduled execution of Kevin Cooper. They were calling for
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to reconsider his decision
last week to deny clemency to Cooper.
Cooper was convicted of a quadruple homicide in 1983 but
he has long maintained his innocence.
He is scheduled to die by lethal injection just after midnight
next Tuesday.
Full-page advertisements also appeared in California newspapers
asking, "Does the state of California have the wrong
man?" It was signed by dozens of members of the California
Legislature, including Senate President Pro Tem John Burton,
D-San Francisco.
Also signing the letter was Lanny Davis. He is the former
special counsel to President Bill Clinton and a member of
Cooper's defense team. He joins us on the program today.
- Kevin Cooper, speaking from death row with Leslie Kean
in exclusive interview on KPFA's Flashpoints.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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