“The campaign now on hhs.gov is not purely informational because it expressly has visitors ‘affirm’ their commitment to work with congressional leaders to enact legislation this year,” Grassley said, and added that this “looks like the type of violation the law was written to prohibit.”

An online initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services has come under fire by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who believes the effort is state-funded propaganda.

At Grassley’s request, a legal opinion on the subject was issued by the American Law Division at the Congressional Research Office this week, and those officials also agree with Grassley that the HHS initiative is an inappropriate use of funds and that it may violate at least three areas that govern use of appropriated funds.

“If the expenditure for the letter writing campaign to the President, supporting the President’s position with regard to health care reform proposals, is not deemed sufficiently ‘informational’ or educational, that is, that it is not a communication with the public ‘regarding its functions, policies, and activities,’ then it may be argued that it may be in violation of the general appropriations rider in Section 720, Division D, of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 as a ‘publicity or propaganda’ campaign involving a grassroots lobbying effort directed at the President.”

According to the opinion, HHS may also be in violation of another section for the Omnibus Act that prohibits publicity or propaganda “designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress.”

Finally, the legal opinion points to a possible violation of the U.S. criminal code that denies use of federal appropriations for state campaigns that are designed to influence government officials.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius contends that the initiative allows individuals to share personal stories and ideas regarding reform.

“The ‘State Your Support’ link allows individuals to express their support for health insurance reform,” she wrote in a letter this week to Grassley. “Individual who state their support and provide contact information are then notified of updates to information on the HealthReform.gov website and are occasionally invited to health reform-related events in their area.

“…[T]he Department has been careful to comply with all legal requirements with respect to this link and its other communications with the public.”

If the sword-clattering from both sides sound familiar, its because these type of disagreements — whether or not a federal agency is engaging in propaganda or pure information distribution — aren’t unusual. The players on either side vary depending on who is in control of the agencies, and the specific topic.

For instance, four years ago House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called use of taxpayer funds for government propaganda campaigns “underhanded tactics” while chiding the Bush administration.

“Americans in rural communities have seen their premiums skyrocket and are finding it difficult, if not impossible to get the care they need,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a prepared statement. “Today’s report confirms that we cannot wait to enact comprehensive health reform.”

The report, dubbed “Hard Times in the Heartland: Health Care in Rural America,” indicates that nearly 50 million rural people face challenges both affording and accessing health care. Not only do such Americans face higher rates of poverty, they report more health problems, are more likely to be uninsured, and have less access to primary health care providers than do individuals residing in urban areas.

The percentage of diabetes patients who received all three recommended exams for diabetes is lower for patients in rural areas than in metropolitan areas (32 percent versus 42 percent). Perhaps as a result, rates of admissions for uncontrolled diabetes are higher among residents of rural areas.

Rural women are less likely than urban women to be in compliance with mammogram screening guidelines (71 percent versus 78 percent), and are less likely to have had a pap smear done within the past three years (86 percent versus 91 percent).

Rural residents are more likely to report fair to poor health status than urban residents, and are more likely to have experienced a limitation of activity caused by chronic conditions than urban residents.

Obesity is more common among rural residents (27 percent) than urban residents (24 percent), as are diabetes,19 heart disease, and high blood pressure.

“I expressed my concern last week about her connection to the abortion doctor,” he said. “Not so much just the connection, but the lack of candidness with the reporting of how much help she got from him.”

Anti-abortion groups have been lobbying Republican senators to vote against Sebelius, criticizing her support for abortion rights and her ties to a late-term abortion doctor who donated to her campaigns. Sebelius initially underreported to senators the size of those donations, though she apologized and said it was an inadvertent error.

“I’m not saying she was not trying to be candid. It might be an oversight,” Grassley said. “But it’s one thing to be for or against abortion. It’s another to be close to somebody who practices late-term abortions.”

Grassley said he has no questions of Sebelius’ qualifications for the job, but he will still vote against her nomination “to express regret about her lack of candidness.”

The Senate is still expected to approve her nomination today. The lack of a HHS director was especially noticeable Monday as the White House turned to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to help lead its response to the swine flu outbreak.

“Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?” Sebelius asked in response to a question about why the election is so close. “That may be a factor. All the code language, all that doesn’t show up in the polls. And that may be a factor for some people.”

The remark, delivered in the governor’s low key, folksy, out-from-behind-the-podium style, raised a couple chuckles but few eyebrows in the downtown Iowa City crowd, but Republicans took offense and responded in short order.

“Governor Sebelius’s remarks in Iowa City today are hurtful and divisive at best,” said Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Caleb Hunter in a press release. “With less than 50 days to go, Democrats will continue to try and change the focus away from the issues that will decide this election.”

The rest of Sebelius’ remarks in Iowa City stuck closely to the Obama campaign’s talking points.

“The bottom line question is, do you think George Bush has been a wonderful president?” she told an audience whose questions focused as much on the horse race as on specific issues.

Sebelius takes questions at the Iowa City library.

One questioner argued that Obama was under-performing in polls because young voters with cell phones were under-reported, and Sebelius agreed. “I have a 24 year old and a 27 year old and they’ve never had a land-line since they went to college,” she said. “So they don’t show up in polls. But they need to show up at the polls.”

Yet at each turn, Sebelius tried to return the dialogue to bread and butter issues, to the delight of Bob Elliott, a former member of Iowa City’s city council and a leading local supporter of Sen. Joe Biden during the Iowa caucuses.

“Lipstick can stay home! Talk about the issues!” he shouted, in apparent reference to another governor.

During a brief press availability, Sebelius said she didn’t know much about her Alaska colleague. “She’s one of our new governors, and I’ve met her at a couple of events that all the governors were at,” she said of GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.  “But we’ve really had no personal interaction. The real issue is John McCain vs. Barack Obama, and their policies could not be more different.”

Sebelius responded to criticism from Kansas Republicans about her campaign visits, and implied that the campaigning went hand in hand with her job.

“I can do a much better job as governor of Kansas, and Chet Culver can do a much better job in Iowa, if we have a partner in the White House instead of an adversary.”

For coverage of Sebelius’s visit to Cedar Rapids, click here.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius fields questions from voters on behalf of Barack Obama in Cedar Rapids Tuesday.

CEDAR RAPIDS — About 100 people gathered at the IBEW 405 Hall here to listen as Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius spoke about economic issues.

The Kansas governor took more than a few jabs at Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in her speech, but it wasn’t until the question-and-answer period before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, came up.

“You’ve listed off some questions for John McCain,” said an audience member. “What questions do you have for Gov. Palin?”

“None,” Sebelius quickly retorted.

“I say that a bit facetiously, but John McCain is running for president. What we need to do is talk to John McCain about where he wants to take this country, what his policies are and why he is in this race. I think conversations about anything else are a mistake.”

Political dialogue, she said, needs to be focused on McCain because he is the top of the ticket.

“He is now saying that he is the candidate of change,” Sebelius added. “I think there is no question about that. He has changed — he has absolutely changed a lot along the way. I think John McCain versus John McCain is an excellent conversation to have.

“Where is this John McCain that use to be the maverick? He’s gone from maverick to sidekick, and I think that’s a very good conversation.”

To kick-start such a conversation, Sebelius, who billed herself as the McCain-Palin advance team for their scheduled Thursday visit, listed five economic topics ranging from health care to taxes that McCain should discuss with voters.

“As recently as yesterday, John McCain said the economy is sound,” Sebelius said. “The economy is sound? I don’t know what parallel universe John McCain is living in, but I live in the neighboring state of Kansas. I can tell you that our economy is not sound. I don’t think the Iowa economy is sound.”

The most important thing that McCain needs to answer, according to Sebelius, is if he believes that George W. Bush is a great president.

“This is really the fundamental question,” she said. “Because if you don’t, why is it that virtually every proposal that you have about the future looks exactly like the last eight years?”

Cedar Rapids resident Jim Lahr, who posed a question on tax credits during the town hall, said he was impressed with Sebelius as a surrogate.

“She said that the business tax credits should be done as states and municipalities are doing now,” Lahr said. “That’s a good approach and I liked the answer. In other words, she said we should provide tax incentives for job creation rather than just basing them on profit income.”

Lahr said that he took the full year leading up to the Iowa caucuses to shop the presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle.

“I took that full [caucus] period to listen and talk to all the candidates,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to spend time with many of them in small group settings — anywhere from two to four participants up to about a dozen. I found Obama to be the most intelligent. He listened. He had already thought about many of the questions I asked — things that the other candidates had yet to consider. I was very impressed.”

Lahr said that he now considers himself to be a strong supporter of Obama and plans to cast his ballot in November.

Although a few members of the Cedar Rapids audience said they have tickets to the McCain-Palin event here on Thursday, none would commit to asking the GOP candidates the Kansas governor’s questions.

Video clips of Kathleen Sebelius in Cedar Rapids

She told the Hutchinson (Kans.) News that she campaigns mostly on the weekends:

Sebelius campaigns on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket, with out-of-state travel – sometimes on commercial flights, sometimes by private plane – “entirely paid for by the campaign,” she said.

Mostly, campaigning occurs on weekends, said Sebelius, scheduled to go to Indiana and Ohio this Friday and Saturday.

To which the Kansas GOP blogged:

Wrong. Most of Sebelius’s campaigning occurs during the week – during the time she is “working” for the people of Kansas.

If not, then apparently today, tomorrow and the next day are weekend days! In that case, I want to follow the Governor’s schedule.

Seriously, the Governor must think the people of Kansas are stupid …

Kathleen Sebelius is not only lying to the media when she says she campaigns for Obama “mostly on the weekends” but she is disregarding her #1 priority: BEING GOVERNOR OF KANSAS!

The Kansas governor, a two-term winner in one of the reddest states, will be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and West Burlington.

Sebelius was believed to be in the VP mix until the last days, as a possible map-changer who could have carried her state. She is term-limited out of office in 2010 and is considered likely to run for the Senate seat now held by former Republican presidential contender Sam Brownback. Kansas has not elected a Democratic Senator since 1932.

With time running out before next week’s Democratic national convention, this could be a hint that Sebelius is off the list, since she’d presumably need to appear at a big roll-out rally with Obama if she were selected.

Or, to take another approach to the tea leaf reading and Kremlinology of vice presidential selection politics, could the Iowa stops be auditions?

Not likely. The three stops Thursday are relatively small events, and a running mate appearance is usually big. Sebelius will talk pay equity at a Des Moines lunch, hold a meet and greet at an Indianola deli, and campaign in Waukee with 4th Congressional District candidate Becky Greenwald.

Obama, who announced his candidacy in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln and who is pledging a governing style straight out of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s landmark Lincoln book, “A Team Of Rivals,” will look in predictable places for his running mate but may surprise the nation with an unknown, or dare we say, perhaps even a Republican.

Having followed Obama closely for more than a year, here is my Top 10 list of vice presidential candidates Obama should consider:

1. Chris Dodd. I have had the theory that Dodd would make a strong running mate for Obama should the Illinois senator get the Democratic nomination — even though this would run counter to conventional wisdom about picking a vice presidential candidate from a key state (Florida or Ohio) or going with a Southerner or Latino.

As I reported earlier, Dr. Steven Kraus of Carroll observed something several weeks ago at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner: Dodd, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, and Obama clearly have respect for each other.

Dodd is simply a classy senator who can answer questions with reliable competency. Yes, the Southwest likely will determine the 2008 election, and sure, a Richardson vice presidential nomination makes sense because of this. But Dodd is fluent in Spanish as I saw firsthand when Lorena Lopez of La Prensa and I conducted a joint interview with him. If Obama gets the nomination, Dodd complements him in a number of ways as a running mate — including his ability to campaign in Spanish.

Dodd won’t make mistakes out there and with his reassuring white hair, the elder statesman would be a nice balance for Obama. Youth and wisdom. Age and experience.

2. Richard Lugar. Yes, Lugar is 76, and obviously, he is a Republican. But Obama mentions him frequently as Lugar, a Hoosier State senator, has served as something of a mentor to Obama, 30 years his junior. With serious foreign policy credentials and ice-veined competence, Lugar would signal that Obama is governing in the here and now — or the “fierce urgency of now,” a quote he often borrows from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Obama could reach to the GOP and independents with the argument that he’s not looking to set up succession for the party.

3. Ed Rendell. The Democratic governor of Pennsylvania makes sense from several strategic angles. He’s in a swing state. He’s an effective campaigner so he could knock heads around while Obama stays on the high road. Then there are the optics. With a paunchy countenance and the old-school girth of gut, Rendell, who is white, is the perfect counterbalance to Obama. Finally, Rendell has a major advantage over many white potential VPs. He understands racial politics as he has experience dealing with Philadelphia and large cities with high minority populations so he is less likely to walk into a racial minefield (or take Obama into one) than, say, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who just didn’t have that much experience dealing with diversity.

4. Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha is 76, but as the economy becomes a bigger issue, why not select the smartest guy in the room when it comes to money? Buffett is beloved by Republicans (for helping make them money) and liberals (for giving his away). Late last year, Forbes magazine reported that Buffett was worth $52 billion. This means that if he didn’t get funding for one of his initiatives he could conceivably just do it himself … which raises issues both fascinating and troubling.

5. Kathleen Sebelius. The two-term governor of Kansas (that’s “What’s The Matter With Kansas” Kansas) has done well with Republicans and independents. She’ll deliver the response to George W.’s State Of The Union speech on Jan. 28. There’s a personal angle here that’s intriguing. Obama’s family is from Kansas — on his mother’s side. The full circle element of Obama selecting a Kansas woman as his running mate is a marketing dream. Plus, an Obama-Sebelius team would be a ticket of true change — as well as one that is Plains States-Midwest friendly. Look for this pick to move higher.

6. Wesley Clark. When the retired general was in Carroll, Iowa, stumping for Hillary Clinton a few weeks ago, I spoke with him for about 45 minutes. He should have campaigned here in 2004. He likely would be president now if he had. Clark is as whip smart as Obama and has the foreign policy and military credentials to burnish this ticket. The only issue: they are both similar in personality. Could clash.

7. John Edwards. Could he do for Obama what he couldn’t for John Kerry? You have to keep Edwards on the list if for no other reason than a future political (FDR-Truman-like) deal may make this selection a quid pro quo. Both Edwards and Obama are saying no to PAC money and could run as a ticket not wedded to special interests. Edwards also seems to relish the role of attack dog, and surely will not make the same mistakes he did in 2004 when he was easy foil for Dick Cheney.

8. Bill Richardson. Isn’t he vice president already? He’s been referenced so many times that Richardson could be forgiven for adding this to his resume. Yes, the Latin vote is vital, and the election may be decided in the Southwest. Can America accept a black man and an Hispanic on the same ticket? I think the answer is yes. He’s great on the stump and appeals to white rural voters. I see that up close and personal here in Iowa. He’s also damned funny.

9. Ken Salazar. Continuing on the Latino angle, we have to include U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, a Democrat who can appeal to white rural voters. (He ranches). He’s a former state attorney general and could make an excellent point man on the environment.

10. Bobby Jindal. The new Republican governor of Louisiana, at only age 36, is the son of Indian immigrants and the first Indian-American elected as governor. He has been compared to Obama for the obvious barrier-shattering reasons but also because of his intellect and spectacular educational pedigree. He is much more likely to be Obama’s opponent (should there be an Obama presidency) in four years than a VP now. But the possibilities are intriguing should Obama reach out to a Republican. This ticket would excite young voters, win over never-before voters, draw in Republicans and independents — and very likely do a great deal for Obama with Latinos. If I’m Jindal, though, I spend the next decade rebuilding my state and then run for the presidency myself, on my own terms.

Still, this is the most thought-provoking selection to consider.

Here is what The New Orleans Times-Picayune says about Jindal:

Every inauguration begins with lofty language but few hold as much promise as Gov. Jindal’s. The 36-year-old, Oxford-educated chief executive is a new generation of leader. Unlike most recent governors, he is not a product of the Legislature. He has worked inside state government but has been in Washington representing the 1st Congressional District.

  And a Yahoo message board dealt with the potential of him running as a Republican VP candidate.