Kelly Baird finds stability in soccer I 5
Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
wwiu. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 36 | Friday, October 15, 2004
★ AMERICA VOTES 2004 ★
Bush: Tm proud
of my record’
In a rally addressing approximately 20,000 supporters,
President Bush defends No Child Left Behind, Iraq war
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
& PARKER HOWELL
NEWS REPORTERS
CENTRAL POINT — President
George W. Bush depicted his presiden
cy as one of “reverence and integrity”
during a speech before thousands of
supporters Thursday evening at the
Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central
Point, casting opponent Sen. John Ker
ry as far-left-of-center.
An estimated 20,000 Bush supporters,
many of whom stood in the afternoon
heat for up to eight hours, formed a bois
terous sea of red, white and blue, chanti
ng “four more years” as the president
took the podium on the evening follow
ing the final presidential debate.
“It’s great to be in a part of the world
where the boots outnumber the suits,”
Bush said, before launching into a 40
minute speech mocking Kerry as a
“Massachusetts liberal” and promoting
his own steadfast leadership.
After Bush took the stage flanked by
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Greg Walden, R
Ore., and his wife, Laura Bush, the
president said his time in office reflects
his unwavering style of leadership.
“I’m proud of my record,” he said.
“My opponent seemed to want to
avoid talking about his.”
Bush joked about his reputation for
bumbled sentences and mispro
nounced words, but said he follows
through on his commitments.
“I sometimes mangle the English
language,” he said. “But I tell you ex
actly what I’m going to do, and I keep
my word.”
Bush said his tenure as president has
helped Oregon. He stressed that the
Healthy Forest Initiative is helping re
duce “devastating wildfires” in the
West and blasted Kerry for failing to
take a firm stance on forest policy.
“I guess it’s not only the wildfires
that shift in the wind,” he said. “My
opponent says he’s in touch with the
West, but sometimes I think he means
Western Massachusetts.”
The president also laid out his plan
for improving education, acknowledg
ing that only one in four students at
tends college. He said the key to im
proved access to higher education is
early intercession for elementary and
high school students. Bush also said
BUSH, page8A
President
George W.
Bush waves to
a crowd of
about 20,000
people at a
campaign rally
in Central Point
on Thursday
evening.
Danielle Hickey
Photo editor
Presidential TV ads try to make
quick impression on viewers
Both Bush and Kerry have spent record amounts on
advertisements that attack the other candidate
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
The race to the White House this
year could be the closest, the costli
est and the most crucial election to
Americans, with hundreds of com
mercials in support of different
camps and positions. Not
only are candidates
and Kerry’s campaign is coming
close to matching that with
$310,851,634, according to OpenSe
crets.org, a Web site that studies
funds in political campaigns and
groups. And while it’s hard to meas
ure ad spending due to the candi
date’s and his party’s personal fund
ing, advertising from the campaigns
“(It’s) the most
dirty and negative
campaign I’ve
ever seen,” said
advertising Pro
fessor David Ko
randa. “The me
dia is vying for
people’s attention in a
world that gets harder and
harder to grab attention."
Koranda added that
there is no other product
with such an intense time
frame as the presidential
race, so ads must appeal to
people quickly and in
any way possible.
Both parties have
tried to do just that,
starting the cam
paign season earlier
than in most elec
tions and also rais
ing more money
than in previous
election years. The
Bush campaign has
spent $338,341,211 so far
drawing attention,
but also the adver
tisements them
selves.
Oregon, as a battleground state
this election, aired more commer
cials than most states. The total cost
of ads from both Kerry and Bush
was $586,988 with 770 ads running.
President Bush led in both spending
and in TV ad occurrences in Oregon.
Nationwide, the total spending was
a little more than $40 million and
election commercials have run
41,522 times, according to the Cam
paign Media Analysis Group.
“1 think it’s annoying,” said fresh
man Heather Carley. “All Kerry and
Bush try and do is draw blood from
each other, so I’m ignoring the ads
and not watching TV.”
Koranda says attack ads are
the most influential because
people see the commercials and
immediately make a decision
about what they have seen, later
making rationalizations to support
that choice instead of focusing on
the facts. He said the most in
fluential advertisements
rH are the 527 groups, or
I “soft money” advertise
I ments that aren’t directly
>| affiliated with a candi
I date’s campaign, but by
groups that support a
particular party.
The Swift Boat Veterans
for Thith, possibly the most
influential 527 group
against Kerry, spent
$1,735,000 on three ad cam
paigns that denounced Kerry,
according to OpenSecrets.org.
The anti-Bush 527
MoveOn.org has spent much
more defaming Bush — ap
proximately more than
$13,440,000 in television com
mercials.
ADS, page 4A
Drought causes
EWEB to increase
prices 5.7 percent
EWEB has lost about $8 million due to a lack of
hydropower generation and stands to lose more
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
The Eugene Water & Electric
Board has raised the price of its
utilities by 5.7 percent. The price
hike, enacted on Oct. 5, increases
the average household’s monthly
energy bill by $4.51.
The hike is due to a rise in costs
of the Bonneville Power Adminis
tration, from which EWEB pur
chases electricity, and continued
low stream flow. John Yanov, the
senior rate analyst for EWEB, said
although BPA advertised lower
puues, mese
rates pertained
only to its
Block product,
which accounts
for only one
third of
EWEB’s energy
output. The
other two
thirds, bought
from BPA’s
BY THE NUMBERS
The rate increase of 5.7 percent for the
average household means about a $4.51
monthly increase, or roughly $54 a year.
More details on EWEB's utilities increase
are available in a rates brochure being
sent to customers with the monthly bill.
For EWEB's Customer Services Policies
and Procedures manual, customers can
e-mail the company at ask.us@eweb.eu
gene.or.us or call 484-2411 ext. 3399.
UilV/V. piuuuu,
was raised by $3 million.
Roughly one-third of EWEB’s
revenue from the price increase
will be spent purchasing bulk
electricity from Bonneville Power
because it increased the cost of
utilities. The other roughly 66
percent of the earnings will go to
EWEB to provide greater financial
stability during low-water years,
according to EWEB.
When told that part of the
reason the price increased was a
drought, Senior Flynne Olivarez
asked: "What drought?”
“I’m already not a fan of
EWEB,” Olivarez said. "As a
company, I don’t think they have
catered at all to its student
customers who are just getting
their first apartment and are just
beginning to pay utilities in their
lives. Raising prices on students
doesn’t help.”
However, EWEB officials say
Oregon is in its fifth consecutive
year of below-average precipita
tion and that lack
of rain and snow
has caused the util
ities company to
lose close to $8 mil
lion in 2004 from
lost hydropower
generation. In 2005,
EWEB will only use
85 percent of the
normal amount of
water available for
nyaroeiectric gener
ation, which will cut the utilities
company’s revenues by $13.5
million per year.
“All price increases are not
operation or maintenance
expenses but just power related,”
Yanov said.
Yanov said there is no way of
knowing when the drought will
end and no guarantee on
EWEB, page 4A