CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Bush Ahead In Ohio, Fla. And Pa.

USA Today reports that a New USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll finds President Bush widened his advantage with likely voters in Florida, taken the lead in Pennsylvania, and maintains a small margin over Kerry in Ohio.

FLORIDA
Likely Voters
Bush 52%
Kerry 43%
Registered Voters
Bush 49%
Kerry 44%
The poll taken September 24-27 shows an improvement for President Bush from the September 18-22 poll when the President led 49%-46% among likely voters and 47%-45% among registered voters.

OHIO
Likely Voters
Bush 49%
Kerry 47%
Registered Voters
Bush 46%
Kerry 49%
The poll taken September 25-28 found a smaller lead for President Bush than the September 4-7 poll, when the President led 52%-43% among likely voters.

PENNSYLVANIA
Likely Voters
Bush 49%
Kerry 46%
Registered Voters
Bush 45%
Kerry 49%
The poll taken September 25-28 found improvement for President Bush from the poll taken August 23-26 in which the President and Kerry were tied at 47% among likely voters and Kerry led by 6% among registered voters.

The margin of error is ± 4% for all three polls. Gallup's analysis is here. It's summed up in the first paragraph:

As the presidential campaign heads into a new phase -- the period around the presidential and vice presidential debates -- new CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls show President George W. Bush leading Democratic nominee John Kerry in Florida, while both candidates are engaged in tighter races in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Third party candidate Ralph Nader only gets as much as 2% of the vote in any of those states, although he was recently removed from the Ohio ballot by a court decision. These three states could easily determine the winner of the upcoming election, as each will reward the winner with 20 or more electoral votes.

LA Times Poll: Bush by 5

The latest Los Angeles Times Poll finds President Bush has a 5-percentage-point lead over Sen. John F. Kerry among likely voters.

Likely Voters
Bush 51%
Kerry 46%
Registered Voters
Bush 49%
Kerry 45%

Including Nader increases President Bush's to 6% among likely voters and doesn't change the registered voter results.

The Times Poll, supervised was conducted September 25-28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Only In Connecticut

Some towns issue speeding tickets. Others towns issue parking tickets. In New Canaan, Connecticut they issue tickets for landing your helicopter in your backyard.

According to the Stamford Advocate, John Kjekstad, landed a chopper at home last Thursday because he did not want to deal with the traffic on the Merritt Parkway:

Kjekstad, who runs two helicopter and airplane charter companies, had planned to land his chopper at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and drive home to New Canaan. On his flight to Teterboro, Kjekstad told police he saw bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Merritt and chose to fly directly home instead.

In addition to the helicopter, Kjekstad also owns four Gulf Stream Jets that cost about $8 million each. I'm sure the $75 ticket will stop him from landing his helicopter in his yard again.

In Kjekstad's defense, traffic on the Merritt Parkway does suck.

Kerry Acknowledges 'Inarticulate Moment"

The Associated Press reports that Kerry acknowledges an inarticulate moment when he tried to explain his vote against the $87 billion for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq by saying:

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

I really disagree with Kerry on this one. That quote is one of his most articulate and nuanced statements Kerry has made in the entire campaign. People get a glimpse of the real Kerry when he doesn’t speak in semi-colons.

Kerry Flips Another Flop On Iraq

ABCNEWS.com has posted a transcript of an excerpt from Diane Sawyer's interview with Kerry which is being broadcast on ABC's "Good Morning America," Wednesday, Sept. 29, and Thursday, Sept. 30:

DIANE SAWYER: Was the war in Iraq worth it?

SEN. JOHN KERRY: We should not have gone to war knowing the information we know today.

SAWYER: If it turns out OK ... it was worth it?

KERRY: We have to succeed now that we've done. Look, we have to succeed.

[. . .]

SAWYER: I want to come back to this issue of the Bush campaign's insistence about flip-flopping, waffling on positions. And, indeed, the polls show 53 percent of the voters — a recent poll — think that you change your mind too often.

KERRY: I think their advertising, and their effort over these last months — to use that word — have been particularly successful. I give them credit for it. But it doesn't reflect truth....

On Tuesday, August 10, the Washington Post reported:

Responding to President Bush's challenge to clarify his position, Sen. John F. Kerry said Monday [Aug. 10,] that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, the Democratic presidential nominee said that his goal as president would be to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during his first six months in office through diplomacy and foreign assistance.

Three things.

First, Kerry's answer to Sawyer, "We should not have gone to war knowing the information we know today," is another flip flop from what he said in August, "that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction."

Second, Saying that his goal as president would be to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during his first six months in office is inconsistent with saying we have to succeed. I don't know of anyone other than Kerry that thinks we can succeed in Iraq in six months. If the Iraqi opposition realizes they only have to hold out for six months, success becomes even less likely during that period.

Third, regarding Kerry's "consistency on Iraq I refer back to my "Kerry: 'I Have Been Consistent All Along'" post. Kerry has only made it worse since then.

"One Down, One To Go"

SpaceShipOne completed the first of two flights needed to win the $10 million X Prize. http://www.floridatoday.com/topstories/092904xprize.htm reports:

Released from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert, SpaceShipOne and its pilot - 63-year-old Mike Melvill - rocketed straight up toward space after the craft's engine fired about 11:10 a.m. Eastern time.

Then 35 seconds into the engine firing, the stubby winged spaceship began a scary, spinning roll, prompting gasps among a throng gathered at the Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center.

SpaceShipOne rolled at least two to three dozen times before Melvill regained control of the ship, flying it to an unofficial altitude of 358,000 feet - which, if confirmed, would be high enough to qualify the mission as a legitimate X Prize flight.

The test pilot-turned-astronaut then plunged back through the atmosphere as Melvill guided the spaceship to a safe landing at 11:34 a.m. EDT on the same runway it departed about 80 minutes earlier.

"Now that was fun," Melvill said shortly after landing. "Right up at the top, I really got a surprise when it did a victory roll."

The SpaceShipOne team plans to launch its second X Prize flight next Monday.

"One down, one to go," said Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation.

The Associated Press provides a less sensational report:

The first private manned rocket to reach space soared toward the edge of the atmosphere again in an unexpectedly bumpy ride today in the first half of a bid to earn a $10 million prize.

SpaceShipOne, with astronaut Michael Melvill at the controls, dropped away from its mother ship above Mojave Airport, fired its rocket and pulled into a vertical climb. The ship appeared to roll severely for a time but then steadied as it apparently reached its intended altitude. It then began a gliding descent and landed at 10:33 a.m. CDT, about an hour and a half after it left.

Official confirmation on whether SpaceShipOne reached the required altitude won't be known until later in the day.

UPDATE CNN reports that while it is not clear why the craft lost control, Pilot Mike Melvill had to shut down the engine 11 seconds before it would have cut off automatically:

"Probably, I stepped on something too quickly and caused the roll," said Melvill, who appeared to shrug off the incident. "It's nice to do a roll at the top of the climb."

According to CNN, if SpaceCraftOne's altitude is confirmed, it will also have beaten the X-15's top altitude of 354,200 feet (67 miles) set on August 22, 1963.

Laser Injures Airliner Pilot

A pilot flying a Delta Air Lines jet was injured by a laser that illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft. The incident as the airliner approached Salt Lake City International Airport last week. According to the Washington Times the plane's pilots reported that they saw a laser beam inside the cockpit.

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating, trying to determine the cause of the incident.

This not the first time an airliner pilot has been exposed to a laser while flying:

John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said commercial pilots have been exposed to laser illumination.

"The Air Line Pilots Association has received reports in the past of incidents where lasers penetrated cockpits and, in at least one case, caused injury," Mr. Mazor said.

Several years ago, a pilot flying into a Western airport was hit by a light from a laser light show. The causes of the other incidents are not known, he said.

Military pilots have also been subjected to laser light:

In one case, Naval Lt. Cmdr. Jack Daly and Canadian helicopter pilot Capt. Pat Barnes suffered eye injuries hours after an aerial surveillance mission to photograph a Russian merchant ship that had been shadowing the ballistic- submarine USS Ohio in Washington state's Strait of Juan de Fuca.

During congressional testimony in 1999, Cmdr. Daly warned of laser threats to pilots:

"Numerous documented cases regarding the use of lasers against aircraft, civilians and military personnel exist, as well as does an all-too-lengthy list of the injuries that have resulted from the accidental and intentional misuse of these devices," Cmdr. Daly told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

He noted that incidents of lasers being directed at commercial airliners during takeoff and landings have raised fears that "this in fact may be a new form of terrorism."

A "Debate Briefing Book" For Kerry

The Los Angeles Times reports that yesterday the Bush campaign sent former New York Mayor Giuliani to Spring Green, Wisconsin with a Debate Briefing Book for Kerry:

After summoning Kerry's traveling press contingent to a motel five minutes from the resort where the Democrat was rehearsing for his Miami encounter with Bush, Giuliani offered reporters a "debate briefing book" for Kerry. Drafted by the Bush campaign as a spoof, it cites conflicts between "your current position" and "your record" on Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Israel and other national security topics.

The Debate Briefing Book looks at several issues and includes Senator Kerry's current position on them. The book then lists Senator Kerry's record and then suggests an attack that he could use against President Bush during Thursday's debate.

Regarding Iraq the briefing book suggests that Kerry "pretend like no position you have ever taken matters.... Nobody knows what you really believe anyway."

The Debate Briefing Book covers:
Iraq
Diplomacy
Intelligence
Troop realignment
Afghanistan
North Korea
Israel
Cuba
Patriot Act
Homeland Security

You can access the Briefing Book here (pdf).

Friday's News Today

At the Weekly Standard Mike Murphy predicts, no reminds us, that on Friday morning the mainstream will report that the presidential race is tightening:

The media's Kerry comeback will unfold in earnest after this Thursday's debate. What actually happens in the debate, barring a highly entertaining Tourette's style meltdown by one of the candidates, really doesn't matter.

Murphy calls the decision to bet the entire Kerry campaign on a debate over the Iraq war, a strategic suicide note.

Kerry's mistake is that it is impossible to have a serious campaign-winning political victory over the administration without a serious policy difference between the two. Howard Dean had a policy difference with the Bush administration on Iraq; Kerry essentially does not.

All his squirming and wiggling aside, Kerry essentially supported the war. Quibbling over details and promising to deliver a world where large French and German forces cheerfully deploy to Iraq and take daily causalities in the place of American troops is campaign silly talk...

Silly talk indeed.

A Clear And Present Danger

The Washington Times reports that a top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border:

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans -- mostly gang members -- into the United States.

[. . .]

El Shukrijumah, born in Saudi Arabia but thought to be a Yemen national, was spotted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, having crossed the border illegally from Nicaragua after a stay in Panama. U.S. authorities said al Qaeda operatives have been in Tegucigalpa planning attacks against British, Spanish and U.S. embassies.

El Shukrijumah sounds like a first rate evil doer. According to the Washington Times, authorities said El Shukrijumah was in Canada last year looking for nuclear material for a so-called "dirty bomb."
He is also a former southern Florida resident and pilot thought to have helped plan the September 11 attacks.

Tell me again why we can't control the nation's borders. The alternative is not acceptable. We must control who and what crosses the border.