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Primaries Held in Nine States
The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Discusses New Report That
Shows U.S. Falling Behind Rest of World in High-Speed Internet
Access
Primaries Held in Nine States
Nine states held primaries on Tuesday, the last day of primary
battles before the November elections. Among the results,
Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee fended off
a challenge from Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey and Minnesota
state legislator Keith Ellison won the Democratic Congressional
nomination in the state's fifth district putting him on a
path to become the first Muslim member of Congress. We discuss
some of the races with John Nichols of The Nation. [includes
rush
transcript]
Nine states held primaries on Tuesday, the last day of primary
battles before the November elections. Voters went to the
polls to decide party nominees for Senate, House of Representatives
and governor's offices.
The most closely-watched contest was in Rhode Island, where
Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee fended off a challenge from
Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey. The race was seen as crucial
to Republican hopes of retaining Senate control in November.
In New York, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton won a renomination
over anti-war challenger Jonathan Tasini. Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer won the Democratic nomination for governor.
In Minnesota's fifth district, Keith Ellison, a state legislator,
won the Democratic Congressional nomination defeating three
rivals to put him on a path to become the first Muslim member
of Congress.
In Maryland, results were coming in slowly after election
problems early in the day. Some polls opened late, and voters
were turned away at others. The latest results put Democratic
Congressmember Ben Cardin ahead of rival Kweisi Mfume in the
battle to replace retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes. The winner
will face Republican nominee Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele
in November. In the state's 4th Congressional District, veteran
activist Donna Edwards is closely trailing incumbent Albert
Wynn in her Democratic primary challenge.
Parties also picked candidates in Arizona, Delaware New Hampshire
and Wisconsin and Washington DC.
- John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The
Nation magazine and runs a blog on their website called
The Online
Beat. Nichols is also a contributing writer for The
Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor
of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison Wisconsin.
The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century
Journalists Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten discuss their
new book, "One Party Country: The Republican Plan for
Dominance in the 21st Century." In it, they reveals how
the Republican party owns a clear advantage in the fundamentals
of campaigning and has built up a series of structural advantages
that make it increasingly difficult to beat. [includes rush
transcript]
Tuesday's primaries set the stage for November's battle
for control of Congress. Democrats are trying to pick up the
six Senate seats and fifteen House seats that will give them
majorities in each chamber.
In the face of Republican scandals, growing public disapproval
over the Iraq war and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
a number of analysts are predicting a shift in power on Capitol
Hill come November.
So will the Democrats succeed in the upcoming elections?
A new book shows how the Republican party may still have the
edge. It's called "One Party Country: The Republican
Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century." It reveals how
the Republican party owns a clear advantage in the fundamentals
of campaigning and has built up a series of structural advantages
that make it increasingly difficult to beat.
- Tom Hamburger, investigative reporter for the Los Angeles
Times, specializing in the White House and executive branch.
He is co-author of the book, "One Party Country: The
Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century."
- Peter Wallsten, covers the White House and national politics
for the Los Angeles Times. He is co-author of, "One
Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the
21st Century."
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Discusses New Report
That Shows U.S. Falling Behind Rest of World in High-Speed
Internet Access
A new report by media activist group Free Press shows that
the U.S continues to lag behind the rest of the world when
it comes to affordable and accessible broadband service. We
speak with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps about the report.
[includes rush
transcript]
The U.S continues to lag behind the rest of the world when
it comes to affordable and accessible broadband service according
to a new report [Download
pdf] by the media activist group Free
Press, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers
Union. The report also finds that contrary to the picture
painted by the government, there is no sign that the digital
divide in this country is closing.
The author of the report, S. Derek Turner said yesterday
that, "President Bush set a goal of bringing universal,
affordable high-speed Internet access to every household by
2007, We're nowhere close to reaching that goal. Yet the Federal
Communications Commission seems content to ignore the problem,
manipulate the data, and pretend we're moving forward."
Meanwhile on Tuesday the FCC held re-nomination hearings
for FCC Chair Kevin Martin. Martin was appointed by President
Bush in 2001.
- Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner.
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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