*KERRY'S REGIME CHANGE: Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful John Kerry (Mass.) is ratcheting up the anti-Bush rhetoric after saying he would curb his criticisms of the White House once the war in Iraq began. Speaking April 2 in Peterborough, N.H., Kerry decried President Bush's refusal to base the protection of the U.S. on the whims of the United Nations, calling it a "breach of trust" against the international community. Appealing to the anti-war, anti-Bush wing of his party, Kerry went on to state, "What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States." Perhaps what we really need is a regime change in the Massachusetts senatorial delegation.
*HEY, BIG SPENDER: Sen. John Edwards (D.-N.C.) may not be setting the world on fire as a Democratic presidential candidate, but he is turning on some donors. According to his campaign, the senator has so far raised $7.4 million for his White House bid-or in the neighborhood of what George W. Bush ($7.6 million) or Al Gore ($8.9 million) had raised at this point four years ago. The $7.4 million does not include any transfers from his Senate re-election piggy bank, which stands at $1.4 million but still has $6 million in debts, according to the Federal Election Commission. (All candidates were required to file their first quarter reports last week, but the documents were not immediately available.)
*LIGHTWEIGHT, DEEP POCKETS: Edwards' fundraising puts him in first place in the Democratic presidential money primary-even though Washington pols consider him a lightweight with little chance of winning the nomination. Still, Edwards' money lead is an embarrassment for Kerry, whom the media has perceived as the early Democratic frontrunner. Kerry reportedly raised close to $7 million in the same quarter. Aides to Rep. Dick Gephardt's (D.-Mo.) campaign claim the former House Minority Leader has brought in somewhere between $4 and $6 million. Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D.-Conn.) reportedly raised $3 million, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean raised $2.6 million.
*SHACKING UP: Lieberman, long portrayed as a highly religious man, continues the move to the moral left he began as Al Gore's running mate. The presidential hopeful announced March 31 that he will push for a bill to grant marital benefits such as health insurance and retirement pay to the partners of homosexual federal employees. The bill would also grant benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples. "If it doesn't get done in the next two years, I intend to introduce and sign it as President of the United States," Lieberman said in a speech to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
*GREGG GOING? With the announced retirement of Sen. Zell Miller (D.-Ga.) next year, speculation mounts that New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg will be the next senator to say he's calling it quits in '04. Two-termer Gregg, whose father managed the elder George Bush's 1980 presidential primary campaign against Ronald Reagan, reportedly wants an appointment to one of the vacancies on the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Should Gregg be tapped before his term is up in '04, New Hampshire GOPers note, their party's ranks in the Senate will not be diminished since Gov. Craig Benson would name a fellow Republican to succeed Gregg.
*BUYER HELD BACK: Rep. Steve Buyer (R.-Ind.), a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserve, served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War as an Army lawyer interrogating Iraqi officers at a prisoner-of-war camp in Saudi Arabia. The next year he was elected to the House. Two weeks ago, without objection, the House approved his request to resume his duties with the Army-in Iraq. But last week the Army said it did not want a sitting congressman in the field. "The Army appreciates your willingness to serve the nation in Operation Iraqi Freedom," said a notice from the Pentagon received by Buyer. "However, due to your high profile status as a United States representative we are concerned that your presence would put in jeopardy your safety and the safety of those serving around you, given the current security environment in the theater of operations."
*REPUBLICAN RESERVES: There are six members of the House and Senate in military reserve units: Buyer, Representatives Roger Wicker (R.-Miss.), Mark Steven Kirk (R.-Ill.), John Shimkus (R.-Ill.), Joe Wilson (R.-S.C.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-S.C.). All are Republicans. No Democrat in either the House or Senate serves in the reserves.
*APRIL FOOL, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: On April Fool's Day, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio), in all seriousness, advocated an immediate end to the war against Iraq. "Mr. Speaker, stop the war now," the presidential candidate said on the House floor. "As Baghdad will be encircled, this is the time to get the UN back in to inspect Baghdad and the rest of Iraq for biological and chemical weapons. . . . This war has been advanced on lie upon lie. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for any role al Qaeda may have had in 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for the anthrax attacks on this country. Iraq did not try to acquire nuclear weapon technologies from Niger. This war is built on falsehoods." Kucinich also said, "Stop this war now. It is wrong, it is illegal, it is unjust, and it will come to no good for this country." As he spoke, U.S. forces were making their final preparations to destroy the Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad.
