From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

WASHINGTON D.C.–Animal issues historically have little
resonance with voters, but the appearance of animal-friendliness is
all-important for U.S. Presidential campaigns, conventional
political wisdom holds.
Only three presidents have ever been elected without mention
being made of their pets, and none since 1880, according to Claire
McLean, curator of the Presidential Pet Museum in Lothian, Virginia.
Some analysts of image-making believe voters may have
preferred Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore in 2000
because Bush fed his cats on camera, in his bathrobe, presenting a
caring appearance, while Gore, in a business suit, only patted his
dog while speaking of other things.
Alexandra Kerry, daughter of Democratic nominee John Kerry,
opened her July 29 address to the Democratic National Convention in
Boston with a pet story.
“It hasn’t been easy to sift through years of memories about
my father and find those few that might best tell you who John Kerry
really is,” Alexandra Kerry began.
“So, let me begin with one July day when [sister] Vanessa
and I were kids. It’s a silly story, but it’s true, and it’s one
of my favorite memories about my father.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

SACRAMENTO–“I realized last night that I made a mistake on
the budget,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted at a
hastily convened June 26 press conference. “My daughter called me.
I have reinstated the six-day waiting period for lost animals,”
Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger spoke 24 hours after media revealed that his fiscal
2004-2005 budget included repealing the 1968 Hayden Act. Humane
organizations responded almost immediately, but irate individual
citizens were already flooding the Capitol with messages of protest.
The Hayden Act requires shelters to hold impounded animals
for at least six business days before killing them, unless they are
deemed incurably injured, ill, or vicious. The Hayden Act also
requires that impounded animals be scanned for microchip
identification, and bars animal abusers from adopting shelter
animals within three years of conviction.
Schwarzenegger had initially endorsed a December 2003
recommendation by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office that
the holding time for dogs and cats be cut back to 72 hours, the
pre-Hayden requirement, and that there be no required holding time
at all for small mammals, reptiles, and livestock. Facing a budget
deficit of $15 billion, the Legislative Analyst’s Office advised
that repealing the Hayden Act could save the state $10 million a year
in reimbursements paid to animal control shelters.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2004:

WASHINGTON D.C.– The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on March
3 “asked The Nature Conservancy to submit information about land
transactions, program fees and profits, tax advice offered by
attorneys and accounts, and salaries paid to contractors,”
Associated Press reported. “The letter unveiled a prong of the
committee’s broad investigation into donations of land, art, drugs,
automobiles, and other gifts,” Associated press continued. “It
also asks the organization to prove it followed the rules that let
nonprofit organizations and charities avoid taxation.”
In November 2003 Washington Post writers Joe Stephens and
David B. Ottaway reported that U.S. Senate Finance Committee had
become “particularly interested in the ‘valuation of land donations
and the conservation-buyer program,'” according to committee chair
Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
“The Senate inquiry began,” Stephens and Ottaway continued,
“after a Post series in May 2003 detailed how the charity had sold
scenic properties to its state trustees, who reaped large tax
breaks. Other stories disclosed that the charity engaged in
multi-million-dollar business deals with companies and their
executives while they sat on the charity’s governing board and
advisory council. The Conservancy responded by banning a range of
practices.”

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