*DUKE'S PLEDGE: Columnist Bob Novak reported that Rep. Duke Cunningham (R.-Calif.) "taunted" Rep. Nick Smith (R.-Mich.) for voting against the drug bill, vowing to donate to the primary opponents of Smith's son, Brad, who is running to replace his father (see "Stalwarts Fought Drug Bill 'Til Dawn"). Asked about the incident by HUMAN EVENTS, Cunningham (202-225-5452) responded with a written statement.
"Every once in a while members of Congress have an extraordinary opportunity to make a real difference in people's lives," said Cunningham. "The vote to reform Medicare and provide prescription drugs for our seniors was one of those opportunities. After Congressman Smith voted against prescription drug coverage for seniors, I let him know that I would oppose anyone who would vote against providing prescription drugs to seniors in need. In the same way, I would oppose anyone who does not support a strong national defense, tax relief for hard-working Americans or improving education for our children."
*RIGHT-TO-LIFE DRUGS? A few days before the drug vote, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) announced it might score the vote on its congressional scorecard. The NRLC said it wanted senators and House members to vote for it.
Pro-life conservatives in Congress were outraged. How, they asked, could it possibly be a pro-life vote to support a drug program that would increase government control over health care and benefit many of the same pharmaceutical interests that support legalized human cloning? NRLC's Burke Balch gave his group's rationale: a minor provision buried in the massive new entitlement would allow patients to pay additional sums to doctors who wouldn't otherwise take Medicare patients. This, argued Balch, will be a hedge against euthanasia. Go figure.
*DEAN STILL SURGING: A brace of new polls in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary show that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is still surging in that state, building what may be an insurmountable lead.
A poll of 600 likely primary voters (margin of error, +/- 4%) released by American Research Group (ARG) on December 4 showed Dean leading Sen. John Kerry of neighboring Massachusetts, 45% to 13%. This was an increase of 7 points for Dean, and a drop of 4 points for Kerry, from the ARG poll completed only two weeks earlier. Similarly, in a poll of 503 likely primary voters (margin of error, +/- 4.5%) released by Zogby International on December 3, Dean led Kerry 42% to 12%.
*HIS TRACK CAREER: Long before Dean started running for President, he ran from the draft. The key to his success in that race was an old high school track injury-that caused the "back pain" that kept him out of Vietnam.
"I figured I was going to get drafted," Dean said on MSNBC's "Hardball" last week. "I knew I had a back problem. I had it for four years because I had back pain during my track career in high school. So I went down to the draft physical in 1970. So I failed my draft physical."
*COULDN'T TELL A LIE: Dean did not go to this draft physical unarmed, however. As reported by the New York Times, he brought along his own set of X-rays and a letter from an orthopedist.
"Hardball" host Chris Matthews asked Dean: "But did it bother you that some kid from the wrong part of town was taking your place?" Dean said: "No, because they wouldn't take me. It wasn't like I was trying to dodge the draft. All I did was say, hey, look, here is my information. Do with me what you will. And they did." Matthews asked: "Do you think they would have drafted you if you hadn't brought that material with you?" Dean countered with a rhetorical question: "If I had concealed my condition and lied to them about my back pain?"
*ASPEN, NOT SAIGON: "In the 10 months after his graduation from Yale, time he might otherwise have spent in uniform," reported the New York Times, "Dr. Dean lived the life of a ski bum in Aspen, Colo. His back condition did not affect his skiing the way the rigors of military service would have, he said, nor did it prevent him from taking odd jobs like pouring concrete in the warm months and washing dishes when it got cold. Even the candidate's mother, Andree Maitland Dean, said in a recent interview about his skiing after receiving a medical deferment, 'Yeah, that looks bad.'"
