Inside Politics

Alaska vs. Florida

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican, has seized on Sen. John Kerry’s comments last week that he would allow oil drilling off the coast of Florida.

“It is incredibly two-faced of Senator Kerry to come down to Florida and criticize President Bush’s environmental policies and then say that he would not oppose drilling off the coast of Florida,” Mr. Diaz-Balart said.

Mr. Kerry, citing environmental concerns, has fought against oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, speaking in Tampa, he said, “I support oil drilling in the right places.”

The presidential candidate added, “There is a capacity to protect what we have today — the protections for the coast of Florida — and still be able to drill in those locations where they’re already permitting, already had the environmental-impact study, they’ve already had the leases.”

The Bush administration stopped efforts to drill for oil off the coast of the Florida Panhandle in 2002.

“Kerry opposes oil drilling in Alaska, which the majority of the state’s constituents support, but he favors drilling where the vast majority of Floridians strongly oppose?” Mr. Diaz-Balart said. “Perhaps Kerry should provide a detailed map for everyone showing exactly where he considers ‘drilling in the right places.’”

Dinner question

“Will Cardinal Edward Egan try to block Sen. John Kerry from the 59th Alfred E. Smith Dinner?” New York Daily News columnists George Rush and Joanna Molloy ask.

“The annual gathering, sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, isn’t until October, but organizers are already said to be worrying about whether Egan may take a hard-line against the Democratic candidate because he supports abortion rights,” the columnists said.

“Friday, the Vatican’s Francis Cardinal Arinze said a Catholic politician who supports abortion rights ‘is not fit’ to receive Holy Communion. Bishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, for one, has said he would refuse Kerry Communion.

“Last week, we hear, members of the Al Smith Foundation met to discuss what to do if Egan takes a similar position or tries to bar Kerry from the dinner, named for New York Gov. Al Smith, who ran for president in 1928 against Herbert Hoover.

“‘They’re concerned that Egan may do something to win favor with the Pope,’ says a source. ‘Some people were nervous that the Cardinal wouldn’t recognize a Catholic who is pro-choice.’

“Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Egan was traveling in Europe but told us, ‘I haven’t heard any discussion about John Kerry and the Al Smith dinner.’ …

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