VOLUME No: 58 Issue No:1

Washington, D.C. - Feb 6, 2004

Muslim and Arab-American Votes Crucial in Michigan Primary

With a Muslim and Arab-American population estimated at 518,000, their projected votes are integral to the outcome of the Michigan primary to be held on Saturday, 7 th February. The Muslim and Arab-American vote still remains a largely untapped campaign resource to all political candidates.

Sen. John Kerry will be the only Democratic candidate to advertise in Michigan , largely due to the fact that other candidate hopefuls are facing severe budget restraints. This is unfortunate, as there are 128 Democratic delegates at stake. Winning their votes would put other candidates on a more equal footing with front-runner Sen. Kerry.

Zogby.com released a poll early Thursday predicting Kerry to win the primary with 47% of the vote. Howard Dean placed second with 10%, Sen. John Edwards third with 8%, and Gen. Wesley Clark in forth with 4 per cent.

Michigan has one of the densest populations of Muslims and Arab-Americans in the country.

Edwards, Clark Win Their First States

Tuesday's election results show last week's front-runner, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass) still well ahead of the other candidate hopefuls, having won five of the seven primaries that took place on Tuesday. Of the 2,162 delegate votes needed to win the Democratic Party nomination, Kerry weighs in with an impressive two hundred and forty-eight. In a far second is Howard Dean with one hundred and twenty-one.

General Wesley Clark took Oklahoma , beating out Sen. John Edwards by 1,700 votes. Sen. Edwards, in turn, took his native state of South Carolina . Both victories have added much needed morale to both campaigns. Sen. Edwards is ranked third with 102 delegate votes, and Clark in fourth with eighty-one.

Sen. Joeseph Lieberman ( Conn ) dropped out of the race Tuesday night after failing to win Delaware , where he had invested much time and money into his campaign. When asked about his feelings on quitting, he replied, “Am I disappointed? Naturally. But am I proud of what I stood for in this campaign? You bet I am."

Al Sharpton, with 5 delegate votes, failed to capture South Carolina , where he hoped to win a large portion of the African-American vote.

Zogby Poll Nearly Hits the Mark

The results of a poll released by Zogby.com early Tuesday were uncannily similar to the actual results of four of the seven primaries that took place on Tuesday in Arizona , Delaware , Missouri , New Mexico , North Dakota , Oklahoma , and South Carolina .

Zogby's polls predicted Kerry to win Arizona with 42% (final results showed Kerry's win with 43%), and Missouri with 56% (final results: 51%). Sen. John Edwards (SC) was predicted to win South Carolina with 36% (final results: 45%). Gen. Wesley Clark was pegged to win Oklahoma with 31% (final results: 30%). In addition to predicting the winners, the polls also predicted the second and even third place winners of some of the primaries, missing by a margin of 1-3 per cent.

The polls, conducted by Zogby, opened on January 27 th and ran through February 1 st . To achieve the final results, Zogby took the liberty of adding the ‘leaning' votes to the averages of candidates and completely eliminating the ‘undecided' vote. The results were then rounded up.

Massachusetts to Allow Gay Marriages

Beginning on May 16, 2004 , eligible gay and lesbian couples will be allowed to obtain a marriage license, according to a ruling made by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court . The ruling, which was made official on Wednesday, May 4 th , 2004, decided not to choose an option put forth by the Massachusetts Senate, which would have given ‘civil union' benefits to gay and lesbian couples.

The original ruling was passed on November 19 th , 2003 , and was met with objections from the Massachusetts Senate. Under the final ruling, the newly married couples will be eligible for the same benefits accorded to same-sex partners, mainly in the form of legal protections (health insurance benefits, child custody disputes, inheritance, hospital visitation rights, etc). The ruling will not infringe upon religious authority in any way.

The Massachusetts law is unorthodox in that it differs from earlier rulings by the states of Hawaii and Vermont . In 1993 Hawaii declared that marriage laws were discriminating, and Vermont offered ‘marriage-like' benefits to same-sex couples in 1999.

In a poll released last September by ABC News, 55% of Americans did not agree with allowing marriage rights to gays and lesbians, and 37% said they were not opposed to the idea.

NFL Halftime Show Generates Massive Email Volume

The recent press coverage of Sunday's Super Bowl Halftime Show has generated a lot of communications traffic between the public and members of the FCC, NFL, CBS, and MTV. If you have an opinion, either way, here is some contact info:

Chairman Powell

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/powell/mkp_email.html

Kathleen Q. Abernathy

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/abernathy/mail.html

Michael J. Copps

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/copps/mail.html

Kevin J. Martin

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/martin/mail.html

Jonathan S. Adelstein

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/adelstein/mail.html

CBS

www.sportsline.com/help/contactus