From the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on survey results on criminal justice issues from the presidential candidates (pdf):

In mid-October, 2003, the NACDL national office sent a short list of questions to the Bush-Cheney campaign and to the nine declared Democratic candidates in the upcoming presidential primaries. The candidates were asked for their views on the death penalty, DNA evidence, indigent defense, judicial discretion, the war on terrorism, white collar crime and corporate compliance. This survey was conducted for the benefit of our members; NACDL does not rate or endorse candidates for political office.

We received responses from five of the Democratic candidates; the Bush-Cheney election committee responded that the President and Vice President have not yet declared their candidacy for office, and it is not responding to these sorts of surveys at this time. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark, former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean, and U.S.Senators John Edwards (NC), John Kerry (MA) and Joseph Lieberman (CT) all responded by late December, in line with our request. Reps. Richard Gephardt (MO) and Dennis Kucinich (OH), and candidates Carol Moseley-Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton did not respond to phone calls and e-mails to their headquarters.

The same questions were sent to all candidates. The responses, in alphabetical order of the candidates’ names, follow each question.— Ralph Grunewald, Publisher, The Champion

Here are some of the questions the candidates answered:

Via Drug War Rant:

With the Iowa Caucuses coming up, it's a good time to review the candidates again. Today, I'd like to remind you about the Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana Voter Guide. The Granite Staters have gone through voting records (and other actions) and public speeches regarding medical marijuana and graded each of the candidates. Go to their site for detailed analysis, but here are the quick current grades. (Remember this is specifically for medical marijuana and may not reflect other drug war issues)

Dennis Kucinich A+
Al Sharpton A
John Kerry A-
Wesley K. Clark B+
Howard Dean D-
George W. Bush F
John Edwards F
Dick Gephardt F
Joseph Lieberman F

Just over 24 hours to go to Iowa results. It's a horse race. It's exciting. Follow the storm with your favorite candidate. Here's how as to our favorite top three, in alphabetical order:

BloggerStorm (Howard Dean) (P.S. Great to see Judy Dean campaigning beside her husband today. She's lively and has a smile that doesn't stop. We'd like to see more of her.)

John Edwards Campaign Blog

John Kerry Campaign Blog

Kicking Ass is the offical blog of the DNC

Get real time Iowa results here.

For the best analysis, there's no beating Daily Kos. Get the latest news here.

Here's Wesley Clark's blog--he's not in Iowa, but campaigning like crazy in New Hampshire. George McGovern showed up to endorse him today at a pancake breakfast.

And some good news--the latest CBS/New York Times poll shows Bush's support among independents is slipping.

The Iowa race is not only up for grabs, it looks like an upset may be in the works. Did Dean peak too soon?

John Kerry and John Edwards were bunched in the lead with Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt still within striking distance, according to a new copyright Iowa Poll published in The Des Moines Register just one day before Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses.

Twenty-six percent of the 606 Iowans polled Tuesday through Friday supported Kerry as their first choice for the Democratic presidential nomination. Edwards, who was in single digits in an Iowa Poll taken two months ago, was the first choice among 23% of the respondents, for his highest finish in any media poll so far.

Twenty percent of the respondents named Dean as their first choice, while 18% picked Gephardt.

Kevin at Lean Left predicts Kerry will win. Several Daily Kos contributors are providing continual updates and analysis of the polling numbers. Bush Wars tells us what the Dems should have learned from Iowa.

Via Atrios, here is where you can get the Iowa results in real time

Steve Perry and Mark Gisleson have been debating Howard Dean vs. Wesley Clark as well as the Iowa primary over at Bush Wars--go check out the exchanges. Both are Iowa natives, now based in Minnesota.

Jay Caruso at Classless Warfare sticks up for Howard Dean on critics' charges that he had no African-Americans in his cabinet. He makes a good point.

Kos over at Daily Kos tracks the latest Iowa poll numbers, and tries to make sense of them. It's a little difficult to figure out who's really on top --to us that means it's an open race and up for grabs. The LA Times says its the state's closest presidential race in memory.

The cliff-hanging finish has energized the candidates and their supporters and pleased Iowa's civic leaders, who always seem a bit self-conscious with all those eyes of the world watching. They forecast a record turnout Monday night, possibly topping 125,000 participants, or more than double the number who took part in the Democratic caucuses four year ago.

Update: John Edwards predicts an upset.

Carol Mosely Braun will drop out of the presidential race and back Howard Dean. Kind of a non-event in our minds, since Braun's campaign never registered with the public --but some may find it newsworthy.

Iowa looks like it's still an open contest:

Iowa's largest newspaper endorsed North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for the Democratic presidential nomination while three other Iowa newspapers went for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in weekend editions

Atrios has the transcript of a Paula Zahn-Joe Trippi interview on Howard Dean in which Ms. Zahn (incorrectly) asserts that Dean said Bush had prior knowledge of 9/11. Trippi makes her read from her transcript of Dean's statement to show he mentioned that a rumor to that effect had been floating around, and he disagreed with it. From the Zahn-Trippi transcript (no way to judge the tones without having seen it,) we say advantage Trippi.

Update: In other Dean news, Tom Harkin (Iowa) will endorse Dean . We like Harkin. He and Wellstone were true Senate liberals. And the latest New Hampshire poll numbers are here. Kerry is falling big, Clark is gaining, Dean still has a solid lead. [links via Political Wire.]

Two Iowa aides of Howard Dean have been fired for trying to infiltrate John Kerry's campaign.

In a letter to the Kerry camp, Jeani Murray, Dean’s Iowa campaign manager, said the two were terminated after an investigation prompted by complaints by John Norris, who is running Kerry’s Iowa effort.

Norris complained in a letter to Murray earlier in the day that the two men claimed to work for Dean and approached the Massachusetts senator’s Creston, Iowa, office, earlier in the week asking about the operation. Norris said one of the men, Mitch Lawson, admitted Thursday to being employed by Dean and said they were trying to get their hands on “calling scripts.”

Also, Thursday, Gephardt made accusations against Dean alleging that he intended to have out of state workers come in to vote in the Iowa primary, a charge Dean flatly denied.

It's likely to get nastier as the primary gets closer. We don't think anyone benefits from dirty laundry.

Update: The NY Times reports voters in Iowa are having second thoughts about Dean, but not enough to throw the primary into disarray.

A new national poll has Wesley Clark closing the gap on Howard Dean.

Update: The New Republic has just endorsed Joe Lieberman. Kos at Daily Kos has numerous posts on why the New Republic is not a liberal publication. From his latest:

Remember, TNR is a publication that bills itself of the Left, while owned by a hard-core Republican and Zell Miller Democrat who just donated $2,000 to Bush-Cheney 2004. Whose interests do you think those guys have in mind?

So they have injected themselves into the Democratic primary process, like wolves in sheep's clothing, advertising on progressive blogs and perpetuating the myth that they are a journal of the left.

They endorsed Lieberman. Good for them. I've been trying to make the argument that The New Republic lacks any relevance within Democratic Party circles. They've just made the case for that better than I ever could.