State Democratic Convention "shies away" from issues

The South Dakota Democratic Convention was held this weekend, according to an AP story headlined "Democrats wrap up state convention." Excerpt:

Democrats ended their state convention Saturday by adopting a political platform that shies away from direct support for a state income tax, abortion rights and gay marriage.

Delegates decided instead to stick with generic platform language that covers hot-button issues for which there was uncertain consensus, fearing that being more specific will make unnecessary targets of Democratic candidates.

Very typical. You can read more about the convention HERE. Tom Daschle was conspicuously absent from the convention. According to a blurb by David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, in yesterday's edition of the Argus Leader, Daschle was "unable to attend because of leadership responsibilities."

According to a Reuters story headlined "US Senators Visit Baghdad Before U.S. Handover" Daschle was in Iraq today. Excerpt:

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators paid a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday to discuss the June 30 handover of power with top U.S. and Iraqi officials, a spokesman said.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina traveled to Baghdad and Kuwait in a show of support to U.S. soldiers in the region.

"It is a rescheduled trip to show bipartisan support for the soldiers and to meet with (U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority) and Iraqi officials before the handover," said Todd Webster, spokesman for Daschle. The trip was originally planned for April.

Daschle was supposed to go to Iraq with Senator Bill Frist earlier this month, but backed out at the last minute because "the itinerary was uncertain." Frist went to Iraq without Daschle, and met the new Iraqi prime minister. (See the AP story here.) When Frist came back from Iraq, he criticized the media for giving the impression that Iraq is "falling apart." Senator Bennett, who was part of the Frist delegation visiting Iraq, made the same observation. It will be interesting to observe whether Daschle makes similar comments.