ports

Yes, yes, no front-paging of Presidential politics. But, I think you will find that this is different.

In the summer of 2001, when much of the Republican and Democratic policy community was obsessed with missile defense, Edwards urged more attention to terrorism. The North Carolina senator had such limited luck pitching an OpEd article on terrorism to major newspapers that the piece, warning of poor cooperation among federal and local law enforcement, ended up in the weekly Littleton Observer, circulation 2,230 -- four weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Would Liddy Dole and Richard Burr go on a flight out of Charlotte/Douglas or RDU if only 5% of the passengers had been screened? Not likely. So why in the world would they vote to continue allowing only 5% of the goods in our ports to be scanned?

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl joined other Senate Republicans, a few Democrats and the business lobby in defeating a plan that would have required security scans of all imports at U.S. ports.

Business groups opposed a proposal favored by New York Sen. Charles Schumer that would have a required all shipping containers coming into U.S. ports be scanned.

Democrats favoring the bill said it would help protect against dangerous and hazardous materials being shipped into the U.S. by terrorists, and would improve port security.