McCain/Bush....their views on taxing internet commerce.....

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Should Internet commerce remain exempt from sales taxes to encourage the growth of online business or should it be subject to the same taxation faced by storefront companies? George W. Bush ''I support the current moratorium on Internet sales taxes and would extend it for several more years to determine the full impact of e-commerce on our society.'' John McCain ''I sponsored the law in the Senate that put in place the current moratorium on Internet taxation. The Internet continues to be the greatest engine of economic growth in America today, and we must not strangle it with new taxes. Online sales totaled $40 billion in 1999, that if taxed would have taken $2 billion from hard-working American families. As President, I will keep the Internet a tax-free zone. Studies show that taxing the Internet would reduce e-commerce by 75% - a blow that would limit growth and kill jobs.''

Source: The Associated Press

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), January 31, 2000

Answers

McCain sees S.C. vets' support as critical

By Martin Kasindorf, USA TODAY

GREENVILLE, S.C. - John McCain is pinning his presidential hopes on South Carolina voters like Ken Mobbs, a construction executive in this booming "New South" city.

Mobbs, 51, was an Air Force officer serving in Thailand when McCain, a former Navy pilot, was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Reaching military veterans is a cornerstone of McCain's strategy in the Republican primary of South Carolina, where active and retired military personnel make up a greater share of the population than any other state.

And South Carolina is the make-or-break state for the Arizona senator.

McCain is skipping the Jan. 24 nominating caucuses in Iowa. His bank balance last year was too low for him to make a strong commitment to both Iowa and New Hampshire, which has the nation's first primary balloting Feb. 1. His stand against ethanol subsidies alienates many Iowa farmers. He is concentrating on the New Hampshire primary and is leading in the latest polls there. If he wins New Hampshire and rides that momentum to victory in South Carolina Feb. 19, McCain figures he has a real shot at the nomination.

Asked this month if he could survive a loss in South Carolina, McCain replied, "Well, you know, Yogi Berra's adage applies: 'It ain't over till it's over.' But certainly, that would be a very significant setback." He called South Carolina "critical to our campaign."

For Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the front-runner in national polls, it's important to win South Carolina to douse any possible brush fire that McCain ignites in New Hampshire.

Bush may have out-finessed McCain on a controversy roiling the state: whether to stop flying the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol dome in Columbia. A segregationist Legislature hoisted the flag in 1962. Southern traditionalists want it to stay. The NAACP and some business leaders want it down.

Bush says it is "a local issue" for South Carolinians, not outsiders, to resolve. McCain initially said he finds the flag offensive as a symbol of racism and slavery. Later, he altered his language, saying he understands both sides but agrees with those who consider the flag "a symbol of heritage."

Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, says McCain lost conservatives' votes with his first response and failed to recover with his apparent change of view. Bush's refusal to take a stand "might hurt Bush somewhere else, but not in South Carolina," Black says.

Mobbs, a member of what McCain considers his natural constituency, says, "There's a lot of things about McCain that I like because I'm ex-military myself." Still, Mobbs hasn't ruled out voting for Bush.

South Carolina has proportionally more active and retired military personnel, and their families, than any other state -- 400,000 such voters in the state's population of 3.8 million. McCain and Bush, each spending nearly $1 million on TV and radio ads, are battling over those voters on the airwaves and with endorsements from prominent veterans.

McCain may not actually have to win to get the pundits' credit for a victory. If he wins in New Hampshire, he may be able to meet resulting expectations with a strong second-place finish in South Carolina, where virtually the entire GOP establishment backs Bush.

"If John loses South Carolina decisively, it's over," says Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the few GOP officeholders supporting McCain over Bush.

To do well there, Graham says, McCain will need a "bump" from New Hampshire.

In a mid-December poll, Bush comfortably led McCain in South Carolina, 54% to 21%. Candidates Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes were in single digits.

The December poll continued a trend of modest but steady gains for McCain. McCain has advanced, his aides say, because he's made more than 20 visits and has a build-up-the-military message that plays well.

Bush has responded by increasing his advertising and his presence. His father and mother, former president Bush and Barbara Bush, and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are scheduled to campaign here.

McCain can take little encouragement from the state's history in GOP primaries. George Bush in 1988 and 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996 rallied from embarrassing losses in New Hampshire to carry South Carolina and go on to win the nomination.

"South Carolina Republicans are more tradition-minded and follow their leadership more than people in New Hampshire," says Lee Bandy, veteran political reporter for The State, a Columbia newspaper.

Making an early sortie for this defense-minded electorate, McCain used the retired aircraft carrier Yorktown in Charleston for a campaign kickoff speech in September. But Bush had beaten him to the scene a week earlier with a defense policy speech at The Citadel, the state military college in Charleston.

Bush promises to raise military pay and increase Pentagon research and development. McCain says he'll improve military health care. In a debate Jan. 7 in West Columbia, McCain pointedly called it "a disgrace" that neither President Clinton nor any of his top national security advisers "have ever spent one minute wearing the uniform." The audience applauded.

Veterans say they revere McCain for his bravery during five and a half years in captivity. But he has no automatic monopoly on their votes. "The Bush family name is an honored name in military circles," Mark Salter, McCain's chief of staff, says.

Lacking McCain's heroic personal story, Bush gains points through his family name and his tax-cutting reputation. "I like Bush because he's kept state taxes low in Texas," says Robert Henderson, 40, a civilian employee at the Shaw Air Force Base bombing range.

All sides agree there is no monolithic military voting bloc. "A lot of these people consider themselves granddads first or businesspeople first or retirees first," says Heath Thompson, Bush's state campaign director.

People who join groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars are only 10% of military-connected voters, and they have a "terrible" 20% election turnout rate, says VFW state commander Jerry Pothier, a McCain ally.

Some voters think McCain is trying too hard. For every vote he draws with his focus on defense, he may be alienating someone without experience in uniform. "I like him, but he worries me a bit because he's a little too militarily based," says Dennis Wells, 21, a college student from Greenville. "In some respects, I think he would overdo things."

Contributing: Jim Drinkard

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), January 31, 2000.


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