The Larry Kane Report

Batten down the hatches.

You will see a barrage of ads, headlines, direct mail, and telephone campaigning in the next week that will dazzle even the most dedicated political observer. And all this may very well determine who controls the U.S. Senate for the next few years.

From insiders in the two key Senate races affecting our area, I have learned the following information.

Strategists in the Bob Casey campaign for Senate say the apparent frontrunner will take nothing for granted and offer an ad blitz that could set a record for the final week of a campaign. Casey’s focus will be on Rick Santorum, but you can expect some more mellow advertising in the final days. Prior to this, the Casey campaign has focused on Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, but Casey’s campaign will blitz statewide.

Insiders in the Rick Santorum campaign cite that Santorum has always been a strong closer and they feel they are narrowing the gap. Santorum is said to be happy with the final theme in his campaign called “gathering storm”, where he accents the war on terror. Experts, like Terry Madonna, the pollster, suggest that he is bucking a tidal wave of resentment over the war in Iraq. Madonna told this reporter, ” I don’t quite understand why he would take this tack when it is something other Republican are running away from. I can’t figure it out.” Madonna’s Keystone Poll from Franklin and Marshall College will be released on Wednesday.
In New Jersey, strategists for both parties in South Jersey are pleading with the Senate candidates to spend more time in the Southern counties. In key statewide races in the past, the South Jersey counties haver made a real difference. If Tom Kean, the Republican, and Robert Menendez, the Democrat, are that close, the southern counties could make a difference.

The theory holds that the two will split the nothern counties, and duke it out in the south. South Jersey voters are less inclined to be part of party machinery, and are known for their fierce independence.

One Democratic operative told me, “Whoever takes South Jersey will win this election.”

Cash on hand is very important in these Senate races. Both Casey and Santorum have two million dollars plus. Numbers from Kean and Menendez are unclear, but national party “soft money” groups are pouring on the commercials for both sides.

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KBR. It is not a network although some of you might think it is a network of intrigue when you check the facts out. KBR might be considered AWOL as far as the military is concerned.

Hidden beyond front page headlines is the latest episode of clandestine ripoffs from KBR, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Company. By its own account, the Pentagon has declared that the civilian contractor has overcharged the government in Iraq and Kuwait by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now, government auditors report that the company, in its report on how it is billing the Petagon, is claiming that the information is too secret to reveal to the public. This latest move means that competition is stifled, and once again, Donald Rumsfeld looks the other way as his own investigators tell him there is a problem.

Note: This is the same company that failed to purify the water for our troops in Iraq; the same company that fixed oil driling stations already fixed by Iraqi crews; the same company that charged 30, 40, sometimes 100 dollars to do a load of laundry for the troops.

Examples of over billing are so rampant that when  all the bills are counted, some lawmakers expect this to be the biggest ripoff scandal in the history of the government utilizing private contractors.

I’ve been following this mess for about a year, and I am horrified by the reports from former workers for KBR and the apparent indifference by the Department of Defense.

When I think of the sacrifices being made by our forces in Iraq, and I keep learning about Halliburton’s excesses, i winder how this company gets off the hook.

If you want a real eye opener, do an internet search for KBR. You’ll get a fast education on how billions of your tax dollars have been spent.

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Speculation is rising that American generals in Iraq will soon be cited for mistakes of strategy that have cost lives and apparently worsened the situation on the ground. Specifically mentioned is General John Abizaid, the man who replaced General Tommy Franks, the man credited with the successful invasion of Iraq and blamed for the war after the war.

Fueling this speculation are a variety of magazine and journal reports that are obviously being “sourced” from the White House. It is common knowledge that the Generals have been asking for more manpower for several years and that this war has been micro-managed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the most arrogant defense chief in the last five decades.

So, will some of the Generals be replaced? No question that after the election, there will be changes. The only hope is that the man who is leading the chain of command will recognize his mistakes of judgment and vision and his absolute intolerance of input. Rumsfeld should quit. This is Donald Rumsfeld’s war, and it is astounding to anyone watching the daily dispatches to comprehend why he is still in office. His very presence is a morale problem for our brave forces and the gut and courage they have to deal with every day.

There will be a search for scapegoats when the election is over. The Generals may be misguided, but they have certainly been stifled by their commander who reports to the Commander-in-Chief.

Months ago this issue would have been viewed as partisan political war. That has changed. The reign of the Defense boss has been villified by Democrats and Republicans. No one can claim partisan infighting anymore.

If we are to somehow succeed or find a careful way out of Iraq, the nation will need a fresh view to extricate us from the mess or change tactics.

A final note: The comments by the Iraqi Prime Minister, who has been propped up by our military might that he is “not America’s man in Iraq”, are an undeniable blow to the President’s commitment to him. His comments were designed to bolster his support for the wave of anti-Americanism in Iraq. But in the end, the public here will lose more confidence in the war effort.

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Word has it that the Rick Santorum campaign has asked Arlen Specter to help out in the final days of the campaign, especially in the Philadelphia area. The only question posed by most political experts is why the Senator has waited so long to ask. Specter has reportedly offered his support, but his offer was politely refused earlier in this campaign.

Another mystery - why did Santorum pull his ads off of over-the-air TV (as opposed to Cable) this past week? Is he saving it for the end? Or perhaps stashing it away for another campaign at another time? And why has he decided to suddenly push national security as a main campaign theme, when all the polls show that Republicans are not scoring on defense issues anymore, especially with the Iraq mess ? Maybe he’s appealing to his conservative base, especially in central Pennylvania, where Casey is running strong.
I am puzzled. But I guess that is why I’m a reporter, not a highly paid campaign mogul. And who am I to say? I’ve never been elected to anything.
On the Casey side: it took the campaign forever to promote the one difference between Casey and Santorum on the pro-life agenda - Casey supports contraception and the morning after pills, which Santorum mainly opposes it.

Both candidates have large and great families. Families are good politics. Where are they?

No warm and fuzzy moments in this campaign, where the candidates, as I have learned, really don’t like each other.

Finally, another note on Rush Limbaugh. The Republicans might have a better chance of holding on to control if they ask Rush to take a vacation till November 8th. He is doing a wonderful job of helping the Democrats.

In fact, come to think of it, his ratings might go up if the Democrats win. He needs someone in power to bash. And things have not been the same for Limbaugh since Bill Clinton left office.

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I’m going to be a Friday morning quarterback.

Donald Rumsfeld, the sarcastic, angry and insensitive Defense Secretary, has damaged the nation again with his remarks that critics of iraq policy should “back off.” His news conference yesterday was an embarrassment to the administration he serves and an insult to the courageous men and women who are fighting his mistake-laden war. Rumsfeld hates the press because he worries that the truth will come out, as it has for the six horrible year of his tenure. The same man who originally refused to personally sign letters to next of kin of fallen soldiers, is a man whose history will be marked as a chapter of incompetence and rage.

And as a man who believes in the two party system,I believe his anger at the press conference certainly didn’t help struggling Republican candidates.

Hopefully he will go after the election.

On to Philadelphia City council, which approved by an 11 to 3 vote, a bond issue for funding for cultural and arts groups. Culture is critical to Philadelphia’s life, but the money is too late from a mayor that has ignored the arts for almost seven years. I just wish Mayor Street and Council had the same passion for education than they suddenly do for the arts.

The mayor blasts the school commission for having a 76 million dollar deficit. A day later he gets his bond program passed for arts and culture.

Where are the priorities?

Finally, I wonder just how low political commercials will go. Especially nasty is the Jim Gerlach versus Lois Murphy race for Congress. Democrat Murphy charges Gerlach with “kicking back” funds to Tom DeLay. Gerlach’s ads claim that Moveon.org, the liberal group is anti-semitic, and that is guilt by association because it supports Murphy.

Do these candidates and their spin doctors think we are stupid?

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