Kerry Takes a Break As Convention Nears

AP: Kerry Takes a Break As Convention Nears

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is taking a two-day break from campaigning and will spend the time at his wife’s country estate preparing for his party’s national convention next month.

Just four weeks remain before the July 26-29 convention in Boston, during which Kerry is expected to accept the Democratic nomination for president, and his choice for a running mate is much anticipated. He crossed paths with two potential candidates while campaigning Tuesday, though aides said he did not meet with either one.

Al Sharpton to Host 'I Hate My Job'

AP: Al Sharpton to Host ‘I Hate My Job’

“I’m the working man’s (Donald) Trump,” Sharpton said. “He brings people into the penthouse. We bring them into the house.”

Since his campaign ended, Sharpton has been aggressively seeking out media jobs and has signed a deal with CNBC as a commentator, and possibly develop a talk show.

An ordained Pentecostal minister, Sharpton isn’t abandoning politics, however, and scoffed at the idea that being the featured player in a reality show is somewhat undignified for a once and perhaps future candidate.

His campaign for president attracted more attention after he was host of “Saturday Night Live.”

“A lot of politicians don’t do it because they can’t do it,” he said. “I can do it.”

Gephardt Not A Hit With MO Party Leaders

Of 11 randomly selected Democratic Party county heads, only 2 chose Gephardt for VP. 8 selected John Edwards.

Gephardt’s popularity and influence among Missouri Democrats is not strong outside of St. Louis. Many rural voters distrust big-city politicians. He has never run for statewide office and lacks the profile and rapport that grows from traveling its back roads.

“I mostly know Gephardt from seeing him on ‘Meet the Press,’” said Charles Christy of Columbia, longtime Boone County Democratic Committee chairman. “That John Edwards is a fresh face and exciting.”

In southwest Missouri’s Lawrence County, party chairman Jim Kabell recalled traveling seven times to Iowa to knock on doors for Gephardt — but being dazzled by Edwards and the excited new voters he drew to a rally in Springfield, Mo.

“The person I like best and I hear the most buzz about for VP in our area is John Edwards,” Kabell said.

Democrats outside St. Louis were indifferent about Gephardt and, in candid moments, slightly resentful.

It should be noted that this may not be an indication of how the entire state feels about Gephardt, but it does not augur well for Gephardt ending up as Kerry’s VP choice.

CBS/NYT Poll: Statistical Dead Heat

The latest CBS News/New York Times poll indicates that the presidential race has really tightened up recently, with the two leading candidates just one percentage point apart.

Despite concerns about his handling of Iraq, and an overall approval rating of 42%, George W. Bush is still running neck and neck with Democrat John Kerry as the choice of registered voters. Growing public optimism about the nation’s economy has helped lift support for the President.

Kerry is the choice of 45% of registered voters, Bush the choice of 44%. This is a sharp turnaround for the Bush campaign in the span of just one month; in May, Kerry had opened up a wide 8-point lead over Bush. The race has been close since April.

KERRY VS. BUSH: CHOICE IN NOVEMBER
(Registered voters)

Now
John Kerry 45%
George Bush 44%

5/2004
John Kerry 49%
George Bush 41%

4/2004
John Kerry 46%
George Bush 44%

Note: Poll results did not account for “third-party” candidates.

Kerry Announces Education Goals for Low-income, Minority Students

Today, John Kerry announced his pledge of assisting low income and minority students, with a fivefold increase in money encouraging students to study math, science and technology. The total would be increased from the current $20 million per year to $100 million per year.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says if he’s elected president, 1 million more students will graduate from college during his first five years in office and he will bring a special focus to boosting opportunities for low-income and minority students.

Kerry’s campaign says nearly half the hike in graduation rates will come from population increases, and he’ll achieve the other half by bringing down the cost of education and creating other incentives to bring students to college and keep them there.

“We need to move toward the day when four years of college is as universal and affordable as a high school education is today,” Kerry told the Rainbow-PUSH Coalitio. He said although college graduates will earn $900,000 more over their careers, less than a third of all Americans and less than a fifth of black Americans have a four-year degree.

Kerry has also proposed $10 billion in assistance to states, to keep tuition rate increases at or below inflation rates.

Republican Convention to Feature McCain, Giuliani

REUTERS: Republican Convention to Feature McCain, Giuliani

Featured speakers at the Republican convention in New York will include John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger, party officials said on Monday, while Boston’s Democratic convention will spotlight party icons Bill Clinton and Edward Kennedy.

McCain, the Arizona senator who has clashed frequently with President Bush, and Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who won praise for his leadership after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will highlight the opening night on Aug. 30, officials said in releasing the list of key speakers.

With the convention beginning barely more than a week before the third anniversary of the attacks, the Republican speaking schedule emphasizes Bush’s leadership and role in their aftermath.

In addition to Giuliani on the first night, New York Gov. George Pataki will be featured on the convention’s final night before Bush accepts the nomination.

Kabul Garden Party for Kerry

With 7-8 million expats overseas, and the importance of overseas ballots in Florida in 2000, the 2004 campaign has spread to any country where Americans live. In Kabul, US expats held a party for Kerry.

In a handsome Kabul garden Franklin the Democrat Donkey gamely posed with the aid workers, UN staff and business people who had gathered to explain why they were backing the Massachusetts senator.

The Kabul event is one of many taking place outside the United States.

Iraq and Cambodia are amongst more than 70 countries where expat Democratic party supporters are organising to help Mr Kerry reach the White House.

Clinton, Kennedy to Speak at Convention

AP: Clinton, Kennedy to Speak at Convention

Former President Clinton and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts will have prime speaking slots at the Democratic National Convention in Boston next month.

…

Clinton is scheduled to speak July 26, the opening night of the four-day convention, and Kennedy will address the audience the second day, Democratic officials said Monday. The vice presidential pick will speak July 28, and presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry will close the convention July 29 with his acceptance speech.

Kerry’s former rivals plus Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Al Sharpton, who remain in the primary race, will have a role at the convention, although officials haven’t decided what that will be.

Kerry Cancels Meeting Because of Picket Line

REUTERS: Kerry Cancels Meeting Because of Picket Line

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry canceled plans on Sunday to address a U.S. mayors conference this week at a hotel that is likely to be ringed by picketing police officers.

“I don’t cross picket lines. I never have,” Kerry said at Our Lady of Good Voyage church in South Boston, where he attended Mass on Sunday evening.

Asked if Kerry and representatives of the U.S. Conference of Mayors would meet somewhere that police were not picketing, Kerry spokesman David Wade said: “We don’t have any information on that yet.”

Kerry had been scheduled to speak on Monday morning at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, where police officers — who have been working without a contract for two years — had a picket line on Saturday. Kerry would upset unions across the country if he crossed a picket line.

Nader Criticizes Dems

AP, through MSNBC.com, reports on Ralph Nader’s fight to remain on state ballots, despite attempts to keep him off. Nader also criticizes Democrats for ignoring their “own failures.”

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, working to get the 1,000 signatures needed to get on the Washington ballot, told supporters Sunday the Democrats trying to get him out of the race are overlooking their own failures.

“They’re heavy into scapegoating,” Nader said. “They’re not looking at their own decay.”

Chastising party leaders for not mounting a tougher challenge to the Iraq war, tax cuts and other Bush administration policies, Nader said, “The least worse approach to elections is that every four years the parties get worse.”

Jason Kafoury, one of Nader’s national field coordinators, said volunteers had gathered more than 1,100 signatures for Nader in Washington and that more would be gathered Sunday night. It was not clear how long it would take the Secretary of State’s Office to determine whether Nader gets on the ballot.

Setting The Record Straight

I am extraordinarily tired of people accusing me of intentionally running the Command Post as a blog “heavily biased toward the right” (i.e. Lakhim, in comments to this post). Everyone out there who is too muddle-headed to have figured this out by now, or too foggy-eyed to have seen it the first 47 times I’ve written it:

I AM NOT AN ARCH CONSERVATIVE. NEITHER IS MICHELE. (Although, by her own admission, she is more to the right than she was prior to 9/11). OUR VOTING RECORDS MIGHT VERY WELL SURPRISE YOU. NEITHER SHE NOR I SELECT NEWS ITEMS FOR POSTING ON THIS SITE BASED ON OUR OWN POLITICAL BIASES. WE HAVE, FROM THE BEGINNING, ATTEMPTED TO RUN THE COMMAND POST NEWS PAGES AS STRAIGHT NEWS ONLY, WITH ANY EDITORILIZING LIMITED TO OUR OP-ED PAGE. YES, MANY OF OUR CONTRIBUTORS ARE FROM THE RIGHT. MANY, ALSO, ARE FROM THE CENTER AND LEFT. THE SYSTEM IS NOT PERFECT … AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, WE HAVE TO EDIT A POST, DELETE A POST, OR REMIND A CONTRIBUTOR ABOUT EDITORILIZING ON THE NEWS PAGES AS A RESULT OF OUR COMITTMENT TO KEEP THEM AS STRAIGHT AS POSSIBLE.

The caps are intentional. I am shouting.

Here’s some casual evidence of what I type: so far this year, we have TURNED DOWN advertising revenue from three congressional candidates, because we don’t want to “officially” endorse a particular political point of view (all three, incidentally, were conservatives). We have TURNED DOWN advertising revenue from four different companies wanting to sell trinkets (T-shirts, mugs, etc.) because we thought they were offensive to people holding a particular point of view (all four, incidentally, were conservative-aligned and made fun of liberals).

I get even more annoyed by comments like this, from “Get Real,” in the same comment thread:

When did Alan or Michele post ANYTHING positive about Kerry?
IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED.

Well, first, there are 119 people with contributor permissions to the 2004 page, and Michele and I are not the only ones who post items here (although, God knows we try to police those who do). But “When was the last time you posted anything positive about Kerry?” Well, given that my posting methodology is to post what’s in the news, I guess the answer is “the last time Kerry had positive press,” which is quite recently.

See … this question from Get Real illustrates the issue: the misguided perception that Michele and I are sitting here thinking “OK, now … what can I post that is positive about Kerry / Bush or negative about Kerry / Bush,” when what we’re doing is trolling news items, thinking “what’s newsworthy / what’s not newsworthy.”

So let’s set the record straight, Get Real … please read through the past year’s worth of 2004 archives … the month-by-month breakdown is over there in the left-hand column … to see the full history of my posts to the 2004 page. Mine are the ones that say “Posted by Alan.” Then tell me where my “anti-Kerry” bias is. And as a direct answer to your question of “when was the last time you posted anything positive about Kerry,” I’ll submit the following posts from April-June (note that my last news post on 2004 was June 15th, due to travel):

Kerry Pushes Bush On Stem Cell Research

Kerry the Realist: “This year’s presidential election so far offers a choice in foreign policy, between a neo-Wilsonian who has made the promotion of democracy and human rights a central tenet and an old-school realist who believes it more sensible to focus on managing concrete threats to U.S. security. But here’s the hook: Sounds familiar: Only the realist is not a hard-nosed Republican standing up to a fuzzy-headed Democrat, but John F. Kerry challenging George W. Bush.”

Kerry Leads In Minnesota

Kerry: U.S. As Optimists: “The State.com / AP report that a new flight of Kerry campaign ads “deliver the upbeat message that the United States is ‘a country of optimists,’” and that this is a contrast to Bush’s ads that primarily criticize Kerry.”

Unity Among Democrats: “CBS News reports that in addition to record spending and intensity, this year’s campaign may also have something else: an “unheard of” levels of unity and cooperation among Democrats.”

Battleground Polls Give Electoral College to Kerry

Poll: Kerry Leading In Battlegrounds

Latest Poll: Kerry Leads (By A Hair)

Now, are there stories I posted in the same time frame unflattering to Kerry? Of course there are, because there were unflattering stories in the press. But do the following posts also count, or in reading them, will you accuse me of a strong left-wing bias?

Dutch & Dubya: A link to a LA Times comparison of the Reagan and Bush management styles unflattering to Bush.

Set of Retired Diplomats and Military Officials Oppose Bush

Bush Push May Cost Churches Tax Breaks

Bush May Need Broader Campaign

WaPo: Bush Campaign Has “Unprecedented Negativity”

Soft-Money Group Promotes Ties to GOP Leaders Despite Warnings

Bush Approval Rating At All Time Low

GW And The Texas Press: Is The Honeymoon Over?

Bush’s Approval Rating at All-Time Low (again)

Dick Morris: “Dubya In Trouble”

Now, we have some contributors that use the 2004 page to push their agenda. And that’s something Michele and I are trying to deal with, and we will.

But in the meantime, why don’t we ask the critics to put some skin in the game: Lakhim and Get Real, I am offering you both contributor positions at Command Post. You’ll have full posting privileges for all the pages. The only condition: you have to abide by our terms and conditions for use, same as everyone else (which, BTW, are simply legal limitations of liability and use, and the admonishment to keep personal biases on the Op-Ed page or one’s home blog).

So … interested in signing up? Or is your preference to simply sit on the sidelines and criticize?

New CP Poll

In the right-hand column of the main 2004 page I’ve re-posted (with reset statistics) the same 2004 Command Post poll question we asked last month:

If the presidential election were held today, for whom would you vote?

This wording is identical to that in the Gallup tracking poll, and we have Nader in the race (because he is). We have last month’s results stashed away, and I’ll show the trend among readers of this page once the poll has had several days to run.

DNCC RSS Feed

A feature that some of our more savvy readers use with frequency is the candidate RSS feeds over in the right-hand column of the main 2004 page. It pulls the 5 most recent titles from the Bush and Kerry blogs, so you can watch the spin when you check in at the Post.

Now that the DNCC has created a convention blog, I’ve added its RSS feed as well. When/if the RNC has a convention blog running, I’ll add its feed to the list, too.

Credentialing Update

We’re still waiting to hear if we’ve been credentialed for the conventions. The DNC is blogging quite a bit about the role of blogs at the convention … see the official convention blog for more; just begin at the bottom and read up. I also see that Eric Schnure and Kos were on CNBC’s Bullseye talking about blogventioneering, so the meme continues to spread.

(Not that it counts for anything, but Michele and I were both offered that same interview spot and turned it down … neither of us are too keen on national television appearances. But it’s nice to know we were asked.)

I also read at the DNC blog that:

It is not the DNCC’s intention only to credential bloggers who tow the party line. We haven’t finished the credentialing process, but we’re still evaluating blogs, their communities, and what they write about. The quality and the topicality of the writing as well as the readership of the blog is relevant here, not necessarily one’s political viewpoint.

We hope so, and we hope they consider Command Post in context of the unique role the site has played as a news blog that happens to have an opinion page (Op-Ed), as opposed to an opinion blog that considers the news.

After all: how many other applicants can say they’ve had two sub-sites inducted into the Library of Congress MINERVA permanent historical collection (as we have with Iraq and GWOT)?

Greens Reject Endorsement for Ralph Nader

AP: Greens Reject Endorsement for Ralph Nader

The Green Party nominated Texas attorney David Cobb as its candidate for president Saturday, dealing a blow to independent Ralph Nader’s campaign.

Nader, the party’s candidate in 1996 and 2000, had hoped for the party’s endorsement and access to the ballot Greens have in 22 states and Washington, D.C. Instead, he will have to find another way to get on the ballot in those states, including Wisconsin and California.

Nader told party officials months ago he would not accept the party’s nomination for president, openly courting their formal endorsement instead.

But 408 delegates voted for Cobb on the second ballot to give him the nomination. Maine radio personality Pat LaMarche was the party’s nominee for vice president.

Cobb has walked a line between praising Nader and questioning what his candidacy as an independent offered the Greens as they try to expand their status as a third party.

Fox: Bush 7 Points Ahead Of Kerry

A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll finds that, in a three-way race with Ralph Nader, President Bush is now leading Sen. John Kerry by seven percent.

In addition, Fox reports:

…(T)he poll shows President Bush — who was trailing Kerry in the 15 battleground states two weeks ago — now tied with Kerry, with President Bush beating Kerry in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In the Rasmussen Reports daily polling, President Bush was a single point - 46 percent to 45 percent - ahead of Kerry in the horse race. Rasmussen has generally found the race neck-and-neck for much of the past two months.

OpinionJournal.com’s running Electoral College Calculator shows Bush leading Kerry in the Electoral vote sweepstakes - 190 to 168 - with Electoral Votes from number of states too close to call. A candidate needs 270 Electoral Votes to win.

Oregon Republicans Turn Out For Nader

The Oregon Family Council and Citizens for a Sound Economy are calling for their members to rally to Nader this Saturday to help him get on the ballot.

In April, Nader held a Portland convention that failed to attract the 1,000 registered voters required to put him on the November ballot. Democratic activists picketed the event and urged voters not to support Nader.

Nader plans to try again at 5 p.m. Saturday in Portland’s Benson High School, and this time he has openly courted conservatives as well as voters who oppose Bush on such issues as the environment and the war in Iraq.

Officials from two groups that have been calling members — the Oregon Family Council and Citizens for a Sound Economy — said they had no qualms about trying to help Nader despite opposing most of what he stands for.
…
“Ralph Nader is undoubtedly going to pull some very crucial votes from John Kerry, and that could mean the difference in a razor-thin presidential election,” reads a script used by Citizens for a Sound Economy in its phone calls. “Can we count on you to come out on Saturday night and sign the petition to nominate Ralph Nader?”

In Center City Philadelphia yesterday, Libertarians were gathering signatures for ballot access and having little luck. The signature gatherer’s tactic with resistant voters in this heavily Democratic city?

“It’ll take votes away from Bush”

(Hat tip to Don for the OR story in the comments to this story)

Kerry's Vietnam Remarks Coming Back to Haunt America, Lawmaker Says

CNS News Service:

A Republican lawmaker says Sen. John F. Kerry should apologize for his 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Vietnamese government is now using Kerry’s 1971 comments to question America’s treatment of Iraqi prisoners.

In a one-minute speech on the House floor Wednesday, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) noted that the Vietnamese government has weighed in on the Iraqi prison scandal.

“But the official communist Vietnamese news agency isn’t citing the Geneva Convention or the U.N.,” Pitts said. “It’s citing testimony given by John Kerry in 1971.”

At that 1971 hearing, Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a recent investigation in Detroit, where more than 150 Vietnam veterans “testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia — not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command….”

According to Kerry, some of the 150 veterans admitted they “had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam…”

Vietnam News, which the Republican National Committee describes as an arm of the official Communist Vietnam News Agency, is now repeating John Kerry’s 1971 comments to make the point that Americans “perpetrated well-documented atrocities in Vietnam, both at the individual and mass levels.”

But, Vietnam News added, “despite these abuses, the Vietnamese did not reciprocate in kind; instead, they treated captured US troops humanely.”

The full transcript of Kerry’s remarks are at CSPAN.

The Vietnam News Service story is here, although the Vietnam internet name service (DNS) has numerous outages.

Dems Suing to Keep Nader Out in AZ

Arizona Democrat activists are trying to keep independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader off of the state ballot. Some, however question legality of the action. Nader is, expectedly, defiant.

The suit underscores the determination of the Democrats to try to frustrate Nader’s efforts to qualify for state ballots. It is a shift from four years ago, when party officials and the campaign of Vice President Al Gore generally ignored Nader, who was running as the Green Party candidate, in the hope that his campaign would not attract support.

The suit, filed in superior court in Maricopa County in Phoenix, charges that, of the 21,512 signatures on Nader’s petitions, only 6,045 are valid. State law requires Nader to submit 14,694 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Although state law prohibits a political party from filing or financing such suits, the state party provided space in its office for volunteers and staff members working on their own time to review the signatures.

“We did this on our own,” Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson said. “I hasten to say we’re not taking action on behalf of the Democratic National Committee or the Kerry campaign.”

Nader called the suit “potential harassment” and said if Democrats persist, he will revise his campaign strategy. “We will concentrate only on the close states.”

‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ runs afoul of McCain-Feingold?

Ads for Michael Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ may violate McCain-Feingold campaign-finance laws, The Hill reports:

Michael Moore may be prevented from advertising his controversial new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” on television or radio after July 30 if the Federal Election Commission (FEC) today accepts the legal advice of its general counsel.

At the same time, a Republican-allied 527 soft-money group is preparing to file a complaint against Moore’s film with the FEC for violating campaign-finance law.

In a draft advisory opinion placed on the FEC’s agenda for today’s meeting, the agency’s general counsel states that political documentary filmmakers may not air television or radio ads referring to federal candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election.

Inside a GOP Fundraiser

It reads a bit like the society page, but Philadelphia Inquirer has a look inside yesterday’s Philadelphia-area fundraiser (registration required), hosted, oddly enough, by a Democrat.

He started under a white tent in the yard, and addressed all the contributors before the more private luncheon. Those who attended the affair said Bush stood at a podium with the presidential seal and spoke for an hour about his philosophy on leadership, while guests snacked on turkey baguettes, vegetables and cocktails.

“He said, ‘You’re going to get many campaign speeches. I will talk about the office,’ ” said John Templeton, a Bryn Mawr surgeon, recounting the speech.

Bush never mentioned Kerry’s name. Along with some words about Iraq and the economy, he talked about how the presidency demands a decision-maker, not a micromanager, guests said. Bush even revealed one of his first presidential decisions: picking out the rug for the Oval Office.

Michael Meehan, general counsel of the Philadelphia Republican Party, said Bush appeared relaxed as he spoke off-the-cuff.

“I wish he could take his message like that to the people all the time,” Meehan said. “These guys are so cautious, but the contact with voters is so important.”

Bush leads Kerry in Pennsylvania fundraising, though it is unclear in the story if the totals are from the same time-frame.

Pennsylvanians have donated more than $3.89 million to Bush’s campaign since May 2003, the 12th-largest amount in the country, according to Dwight L. Morris & Associates, a nonpartisan campaign-finance service. Since declaring his candidacy, Kerry has raised $3.1 million from Pennsylvania, records show.

Bush raised up to $1.5 million for the GOP’s Victory 2004, a get-out-the-vote initiative for battleground states.

Poll: Pennsylvania Tied

Pennsylvania remains locked in a statistical tie.

Kerry had the backing of 44 percent, Bush 43 percent and independent candidate Ralph Nader 7 percent in the Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

In May, Kerry had 44 percent and Bush 41 percent — a statistical tie. Bush had a slight lead in the state in April.

In a two-way matchup, Kerry leads Bush 49 percent to 43 percent in the state with 21 electoral votes.

The economy is the most important issue for Pennsylvania voters, with just over four in 10 saying it is their top issue. Just over a fourth said Iraq, and another fourth said terrorism.

Voters feel Kerry would do a better job on the economy by 50 percent to 43 percent. Bush and Kerry are virtually tied on who could best handle Iraq. Bush has the advantage on terrorism by 53 percent to 38 percent.

Nader: Support Me, Vote Kerry

In an NPR interview, Ralph Nader encouraged supporters to attend his rallies, but feel free to vote for Kerry, especially if it looks close.

Nader says he is running for the office as a way to steer the Democratic Party toward an agenda he advocates. The longtime consumer advocate wants would-be supporters to attend his rallies, but he says he wants them to feel free to cast their votes for Sen. John Kerry once they enter the voting booth — especially in swing states where their vote might help defeat President Bush.

Nader's Pick For Kerry Veep Candidate

John Kerry is giving advice and everyone, but this one is probably the least expected.

In an open letter sent Wednesday, the independent presidential candidate urged Kerry to choose John Edwards (search) as his running mate, saying the North Carolina senator and former trial lawyer has been thoroughly vetted and is committed to protecting the right of consumers to sue corporations that harm them.

“(Edwards) has already gone through a primary campaign and has his rhythm and oratory (the two Americas speech) all well-honed,” Nader wrote to Kerry. “After a slow start, Sen. Edwards closed fast and has won praise from the media.”

Edwards, the last Democrat to bow out after Kerry’s series of primary wins, won several large verdicts before he was elected to the Senate. Nader said Edwards is committed to preserving a civil justice system that is under attack by “corporate supremacists.”

Kerry with Slight Lead Over Bush in NJ

A new poll has Kerry leading Bush, only slightly, in the Democratic leaning state of New Jersey.

Democratic challenger John Kerry has a slight lead over President Bush in New Jersey, a state Al Gore won by 16 percentage points in 2000, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Kerry had 46 percent and Bush 40 percent, while independent candidate Ralph Nader had 7 percent in the Quinnipiac University poll. In May, Kerry was at 46 percent and Bush at 43 percent.

Bush Visits Philadelphia

President Bush made a campaign stop at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in North Philadelphia to highlight his $15 billion plan to fight AIDS.

President Bush, on a fund-raising trip to Pennsylvania, said Wednesday he will commit more money to a program for delivering medications to people with HIV and AIDS. The administration said it would make an additional $20 million available immediately for the drug program.

he announcement was made as Bush flew in to visit the Greater Exodus Baptist Church and to raise money for the Republican Party. It was his 29th visit as president to Pennsylvania, a crucial state in his fight for re-election.

The administration also announced it was making Vietnam the 15th country in its $15 billion plan to fight AIDS.

While India and other countries have larger populations with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes the disease, the administration opted to add Vietnam to its global AIDS focus because it was on the brink of an AIDS epidemic, with cases predicted to rise from 130,000 currently to 1 million by 2010, officials said.

Vietnam is the first country outside Africa and the Caribbean to be included in the five-year AIDS fighting plan that Bush unveiled in 2003.

The administration said Bush also would propose renewing the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funds domestically to help people with HIV and AIDS who have low incomes and no insurance. The law expires next year.

In May, the administration announced a new initiative to speed up the approval process for new combination AIDS drugs that will bring cheap, easy-to-use treatment to millions of people in Africa and the Caribbean.

Another local affiliate, CBS 3, has more information on the church and the pastor, showing that Bush is finding support in heavily Democratic Philadelphia’s African-American neighborhoods.

The Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, pastor of the Greater Exodus Baptist Church and its sister charity, People For People Inc., has been an ardent supporter of Bush even before he became president. Lusk now hopes that Bush’s work to help inner-city religious groups get federal funding will win over black voters this November.

“This is one urban center and one urban church in America that welcomes the president with open arms,” Lusk said Tuesday. “Typically, African-American churches have been Democratic in their support. It is my hope and prayer that is going to change, because I think, personally, President Bush is worthy of the African-American vote.”

“It’s hard to say that this man has no heart for black people and people of color,” Lusk said.

NYT: 865 South Figueroa vs. 146 Central Park West

Glen Justice of the New York Times has pinpointed the exact location of the fundraising battle between Bush and Kerry:

The office building at 865 South Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles is a fairly typical high-rise, but inside the plain reddish-brown tower is the headquarters of an investment management firm that handles roughly $90 billion in assets.

By contrast, the San Remo, at 146 Central Park West in New York, is a dazzling two-tower building with captivating views of the park that has been home — or at least one home — to people like Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, Demi Moore and Steve Jobs.

These two disparate buildings across the country from each other may not seem to have much in common. But more donations to President Bush and Senator John Kerry and their parties, respectively, have come from the two buildings than from any others in the United States through April, according to an examination of Federal Election Commission records by The New York Times.

In these days of sophisticated databases it is possible to crunch numbers and find out not only who gives how much, but where they live, in what ZIP codes — even in what buildings. And after scouring the nation for the two most generous addresses for presidential donations, what turn up are 865 South Figueroa and 146 Central Park West.

FEC complaint filed against " America Coming Together"

AP’s Sharon Theimer reports that three groups have filed a complaint with the FEC against “America Coming Together,” the 527 run by former Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan:

A pro-Democratic group that opposes President Bush in its fund-raising solicitations is the target of a complaint by campaign finance watchdogs who argue the organization is spending illegally on its mailings.

America Coming Together should be using limited “hard money” donations, not unlimited contributions known as soft money, to pay for the fund-raising letters, the three groups said in the complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

The groups are Democracy 21, the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Legal Center.

ACT has financed the mailings - possibly up to $1 million worth through March - with soft money, the groups say. Such unlimited donations can come from any source, including unions and corporations, but aren’t supposed to be used for federal election activities.

Kerry to return donation from son of former S Korean president

According to John Solomon and Sharon Theimer of the Associated Press:

John Kerry’s campaign collected a maximum $2,000 check from the recently arrested son of South Korea’s disgraced former president, and some of its fund-raisers met several times with a South Korean government official who was trying to organize a Korean-American political group.

The Kerry campaign said it did not know about the $2,000 donation from Chun Jae-yong or his background until informed by The Associated Press and has decided to return the money to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

“We are sending the check back,” spokesman Michael Meehan said.

South Korean government officials told the AP that a top official in its Los Angeles consulate office returned home last month amid “speculation” he had engaged in Democratic politics, but they do not believe any laws were broken.

Chun Jae-yong was arrested in February by South Korean authorities on charges of evading taxes on $14 million in inheritance money. His father, former president Chun Dooh-hwan, was convicted in 1997 on bribery charges.

Chun Jae-yong was business partners last year with Rick Yi, one of Kerry’s major fund-raisers in the Asian-American community. Yi acknowledged soliciting the donation from Chun last summer before learning of his legal problems.

The Hill: Log Cabin Republicans on the fence

The Hill reports:

The nation’s largest Republican gay-rights organization is still weighing whether to sit out the 2004 presidential campaign and not endorse President Bush.

Log Cabin Republicans’ political director Chris Barron said the group will wait until after the Republican convention in August to decide whether to endorse Bush based on the party’s stance on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Bush said earlier this year that he would support such a ban.

The organization endorsed and raised $500,000 for Bush in 2000 and supported Bob Dole in 1996, the first time it endorsed a presidential candidate.

Patrick Guerriero, the Log Cabin Republicans’ executive director, said he is “disappointed and truly angered” over Bush’s position, which has caused the group’s membership to double to more than 10,000 in recent months. But Barron ruled out the possibility of endorsing Kerry, saying the group will endorse Bush or no one this fall.

The 27-year-old group is planning to hold a “big tent” reception honoring politicians who support gay rights just before the Republican convention begins in New York on Aug. 29 from 2 to 5 p.m. in Bryant Park. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hosting the event; Govs. George Pataki (N.Y.) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.), as well as former Govs. Bill Weld (Mass.) and Christine Todd Whitman (N.J.), are invited. A New York Times event discussing the group’s role in the upcoming elections will be held on Aug. 27 at the New School.

Kerry Has Secretive Meeting With Edwards

AP: Kerry Has Secretive Meeting With Edwards

Sen. John Kerry held a brief, secretive meeting with potential running mate John Edwards, a spur-of-the-moment session in the Capitol that capped an unusual day of hurry-up-and-wait in the heavily scripted life of the Democratic presidential candidate.

The two men met Tuesday in the President’s Room, whether they knew the name or not, an ornate sitting room just off the Senate chamber, and they declined to speak with reporters afterward. While the brevity of the session indicated it was less than a full-fledged vice presidential interview, it came roughly a month before the opening of the Democratic National Convention, and at a time when Edwards is frequently mentioned as a potential running mate.

“Senator Kerry has made clear that he wants that whole process to be quiet and confidential, which I think is the correct way to do it,” Edwards told reporters earlier in the day. “Because of that I’m silent.”

Nader Again Refuses Dems' Request He Quit

AP: Nader Again Refuses Dems’ Request He Quit

Ralph Nader had a testy meeting Tuesday with black members of Congress and rejected their request that he quit the presidential race. At the same time, Arizona Democrats prepared to challenge Nader’s qualifications to appear on that state’s ballot as an independent candidate.

The developments reflect Democrats’ increasing frustration with Nader and his potential to woo liberal votes away from John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Shouts could be heard from inside the meeting with more than a dozen Congressional Black Caucus members, including Nader’s voice, in what proved to be a rancorous session. One female shouted, “You can’t win,” to which Nader shot back an inaudible response.

“It became abundantly clear to us that this was about Ralph Nader and we were sorely disappointed,” caucus chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md, said afterward. “If nothing else we believe we’ve had an impact on his conscience. Now we pray he’ll synchronize his conscience with his conduct.”

Nader dismissed the shouting as an “exciting exchange” between two sides with the same goal — the defeat of President Bush — but with different strategies for achieving it.

Nader: US should disengage from Israel

JERUSALEM POST: Nader: US should disengage from Israel

No diplomatic plan can be acceptable unless it allows for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and a full Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders, a spokesman for US Presidential candidate Ralph Nader told the Jerusalem Post.

Nader, an independent presidential candidate, also disagrees with Israel’s construction of the security fence, its targeted killings of terrorist leaders, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan, his spokesman said.

“Too often the United States walks lockstep with the Israelis; it needs to think for itself,” Nader’s spokesman added.

Nader's running mate?

CNN: Nader’s running mate?

Finally, the day we’ve all been waiting for. At 1 p.m. ET Monday, we’ll learn his choice for vice president.

Ralph Nader’s choice, that is. Who, we assume, won’t be John McCain.

Nader unveils his running mate at the National Press Club after an 11:45 a.m. ET meeting, notably perhaps, with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Pick me! Pick me! Pick meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

AP: Nader Taps Green Activist As Running Mate

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader selected longtime Green Party activist Peter Camejo to be his running mate on Monday, a move sure to boost his chances of winning the Green Party’s endorsement this week and its access to ballot lines in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

Camejo, an investment adviser from Folsom, Calif., had been one of two leading contenders for the Green Party’s presidential nomination.

Green Party to Make Its Presidential Pick

REUTERS: Green Party to Make Its Presidential Pick

The Green Party holds its presidential convention in Milwaukee this week to decide whether to field a candidate or go without one and endorse the independent bid of Ralph Nade, who headed its White House ticket in 2000.

Nader is not seeking the Green nomination this time, and it is unlikely he will attend the June 23-28 meeting, but he is seeking the party’s endorsement.

To win that, he will have to get past Green Party activist David Cobb, a California lawyer actively seeking the party’s nomination. He leads its national delegate count by a clear margin and has spent the last eight years visiting 40 states, working at the grass-roots level to build ties between its environmental and labor wings.

“David Cobb has a long history with the party,” says Ben Manski, a third-year University of Wisconsin law student and co-chairman of the Green Party of the United States. “He’s a democracy activist centering around election reform and fighting corporate power. His appeal is that he is charismatic, articulate, working-class, and he’s a Green.”

Bloggers to Attend Political Convention

AP: Bloggers to Attend Political Convention

A handful of scribes publishing in a newer medium will join the thousands of newspaper, magazine and broadcast journalists at this summer’s political conventions. They’ll be blogging.

The Democrats are holding true to their “party of inclusion” billing vis-a-vis the online chroniclers, whose Web logs have leapt in popularity this year as political junkies increasingly get their fix with mouse clicks.

Democrats say they’ll offer media credentials to a handful of bloggers. The Republicans say they’ve yet to decide what to do about them — credentialing deadlines passed with no announcement on whether bloggers could even apply.

GOP spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said details are still being worked out, but some analysts believe the party is wary of bloggers, who tend to be less predictable than mainstream journalists.

Michele Catalano of The Command Post, a mostly news-as-it-happens blog, said she’ll cover the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 convention at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan from outside if necessary.

(Now why does that name sound familiar?)

And by the way…

“To compete with the regular media, it’s important to be where the media is,” the 31-year-old East Meadow, N.Y., blogger said.

(Shhhhhhh! Next thing you know, they’ll say you’re 21. Enjoy it, eh.)

Political Expert Sabato: Kerry Is Narrowly Ahead...And It'll Be Close

In his latest version of his highly acclaimed eletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics, sees Kerry with a narrow lead as “the electoral college goes to summer school.”

This time Sabato offers readers a map readers can click on to get analytical state breakdowns. The map and content about each state will be periodically updated, and Sabato and his staff provide you with data from 2000, the Congressional delegation, party breakdown and margin of victory in the last race.

To read his whole piece and get state-by-state breakdowns by clicking on the map go here.

And how does it look so far for 2004? “If the election were held in June 2004, Kerry would narrowly defeat President Bush by 274 to 264 electoral votes,” he writes. However, he writes, “it’s ESSENTIAL to note” this (all of these are from his report):

“1. This is CLOSE. Anyone who believes that the election could not go either way is too partisan to be helped.

2. A June map is NOT predictive of the November results. The world will turn over several times between now and Election Day (137 times, to be exact).

3. While the electoral total is a squeaker today, we caution that the November results may not be nearly as tight. This election could break clearly in one direction come fall, or even (as in 1980) during the last week of the campaign because of late-unfolding events.

4. Notice how many big, important states are balanced on the fencepost. These include: Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

5. Since every electoral vote might matter, please also note that there are more than a dozen smaller states which are reasonably competitive and could flip allegiances from the 2000 vote.

6. At least at the starting gate for the general election, the 2000 results have proven to be amazingly durable in drawing up today’s likely Electoral College picture.

7. AS OF JUNE, three small states carried by George Bush four years ago appear to be leaning ever so slightly to John Kerry: Nevada, New Hampshire, and West Virginia. There is no Gore state from 2000 currently leaning to Bush, though Wisconsin seems to be the President’s best bet. Bush is also unmistakably in the hunt for prizes such as Pennsylvania, and maybe Michigan.
The Crystal Ball will update the map at regular intervals—and more frequently with the onset of Labor Day.”

“REMEMBER ABOVE ALL: Where we begin does not predict where we will end. Buckle your seat belts and prepare yourselves for a ride so wild that no amusement park could insure it. “

If we click on the map (and we can’t control ourselves) we get data such as this on Florida (we have edited this down to just the main data not all the elected officials etc since it has lots of detail):

Leans Republican….Does everyone have the same spine-tingling fear when they see all the recent polls showing the Sunshine State tied? Please God, not 2000 all over again! It’s very possible, but our current guess is that this is Bush’s low water mark, and that only if Kerry is winning the White House handily does he get Florida, too. It may be Jeb to the rescue for his big brother once again.

Another swing state, Michigan:

Leans Democratic ….Here’s another barnburner. Early polls have shown this huge Midwestern state to be close, and in 2000, Gore managed to win by only 217,000 votes out of well over 4 million cast. Should Bush pull out of his tailspin and soar in the fall, Michigan will be in contention. But the state fairly consistently leans Democratic, and the Democrats control the governorship and both U.S. Senate seats. It will be hard for Bush to wrest this prize from the Kerry column.

The great thing about the analyses of Sabato and his staff is how they step back and assess from a distance, rather than from a partisan cheerleading session, so you feel you’re getting data that’s as objective as possible.

Visit it and click on the states…and you won’t want to stop…as you read the Crystal Ball’s state-by-state political status reports.

Keeping an Eye on Bush's Market Value

Polls aren’t the only way to election watch. Markets are quickly becoming viable ways to predict real events. Take a look at Intrade for an example. Here’s a quick link to Bush’s reelection chances.

Al Gore Back In Action Again

At a fundraiser in New Hampshire, former Vice President Al Gore blasted the Bush administration’s Iraq policies. pointed a finger at President Bush on allegations of torture, and said the admininstration has imposed a “backdoor draft” by not letting people in the service leave when their hitches are over.

His attacks seem to get more pointed with each speech. An intriguing question is whether this is Al Gore speaking for himself or via some kind of surrogate arrangement with the Kerry campaign. Most likely he’s speaking for himself — not indulging in political nicities due to lingering resentment over the 2000 campaign.

Bad sample in LA Times poll?

Drudge reports:

Sen. John Kerry “has taken big lead,” according “to an L.A. Times poll.”

But the Times poll that showed Kerry “beating Bush by 7 points” has created a controversy over whether the poll’s sample accurately reflects the population as whole, ROLL CALL reports on Tuesday.

“Not counting independents, the Times’ results were calculated on a sample made up of 38 percent Democrats and 25 percent Republicans — a huge and unheard-of margin,” ROLL CALL claims.

Intentional or accidental?

League of Women Voters Refutes AP

Received this today from the League of Women Voters … working to find the AP story:

STATEMENT BY LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE U.S. ON VOTING MACHINES

“Today’s Associated Press story entitled “League of Women Voters Drops Support of Paperless Voting Machines” is misleading.

The LWVUS has just concluded its 46th biennial national convention. The delegate body in attendance, representing 47 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, adopted a resolution that revises the LWVUS stance on voting machines.

The new resolution reads, “In order to ensure integrity and voter confidence in elections, the LWVUS supports the implementation of voting systems and procedures that are: secure, accurate, recountable, and accessible.”

The League continues to support voting systems that are well-managed and meet the above four criteria, including electronic voting systems. Each voting system should be looked at on a case-by-case basis to ensure that it meets each of these four criteria and that the operational and management systems supporting it will be well-run.”

The Bush-Clinton White House Lovefest

Bill Clinton returned to the White House to be there for the unveiling of his official portrait — and heaping handfuls of praise hurled at him by President George Bush. (To see one artist’s view of Clinton click here. )

Here’s just a small part of it (we won’t use more because we don’t want to get diabetes):

GWB ON CLINTON: “”The years have done a lot to clarify the strengths of this man. As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal appeal.” And on Hillary:”Listen, New York politics is a serious business — it’s rough business. It takes an extraordinary person to campaign and win the United States Senate. She has proven herself more than equal to the challenge.”

CLINTON’S COMMENTS:”I’ve just been doing some interviews in connection with my book, and I told Mr. Rather yesterday, I said: ‘You know, most of the people I’ve known in this business, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, were good people, honest people, and they did what they thought was right. And I hope that I’ll live long enough to see American politics return to vigorous debates where we argue who’s right and wrong, not who’s good and bad.”

Then they all hugged (we guess..)

Kerry Won't Fight Clinton's Press Appeal

Top Democrats have for months been discussing the wisdom in the timing of the Clinton book release. The Trib is reporting that Kerry is willing to take a few days off if the attemtion on the former president becomes too much.

Stage Set For Another Florida Voting Mess

Watch Florida. The stage is being set there for yet another vote-counting controversy, this time over new electronic voting machines versus the punch ballots that gave the U.S. electorate a crash course in such quaint phraes as “hanging chads” (which sounds like a high school mass suicide).

Various reports out of Florida paint the picture of a pre-election skirmish over the machines that seemingly lays the groundwork for both sides to justify their position in a new controversy. Like this one from the Tallahassee Democrat:

Despite all of the problems in the 2000 presidential election - or more likely, because of them - Florida is now considered one of the leaders in election reform.

But with five months remaining before voters again cast their ballots for president, a cloud of uncertainty is obscuring what could be one of the smoothest elections ever.

Much of that uncertainty centers on the security of the new electronic voting machines.

With no paper ballots to analyze for voter intent, skeptics ask, how is it possible to do recounts

The machines have also become a high-profile controversy here in California. And, the story notes, while the Women’s League of Voters’ national group has endorsed the machines, local chapters in Florida and California are opposing it.

Gov. Jeb Bush has often characterized the controversy as being fanned by Democrats trying to anger voters into coming to the polls to defeat his brother, President George W. Bush. Indeed, lawsuits against the systems in Florida have come from Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton.

But the entry of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters into the fray - as well as recent delays by some states in implementing the technology until questions are answered - indicates the issue goes beyond partisan politics.

Indeed, Robert Wexler is an effective partisan for his voters and party…but he is above all a partisan. His credibility with Republicans is equal to Tom Delay’s credibility with Democrats. He’s one of those politicos who instantly polarizes the other side and does absolutely zip to win over those in the middle (who know where he is coming from).

But the prominent role of a partisan doesn’t offset increasingly publicized views of groups such as the Women’s League of Voters.

The paper quotes one of our favorite analysts, the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato, for an outsider’s view:”“A lot of it comes from the computer science and academic fields. It’s being asked all over the country,” Sabato said. “Is there a partisan edge to it? Of course. Democrats, by and large, believe they were cheated out of the presidency in 2000, so they are suspicious - suspicious to the point of paranoia.”

The paranoia has been fed by the truly poor — and dumb — choice of words by a bigwig for one of the biggest companies producing the machines. Read this and see — even if you are a Republican — why Democrats who are distrustful to begin with don’t trust the machines:

Of the major touch-screen system vendors, Diebold, of North Canton, Ohio, has been especially controversial. That is partially because its CEO, Walden O’Dell, is a Bush “Pioneer” who has raised more than $100,000 for the president’s re-election campaign.

The Florida Division of Elections certified its first electronic system by Diebold Elections Systems last month - just as California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned a Diebold system in four counties and asked for a criminal investigation because Diebold changed its computer codes without notifying the state.

“I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year,” O’Dell wrote in a 2003 memo inviting Bush supporters to a fund-raiser.

O’Dell has since said he meant he would personally support the president, not through his voting-machine company, adding that would be a “treasonous felony atrocity.”

Diebold spokesman David Bear told the Tallahassee Democrat the company changed some codes in California to reflect a new voting category of “undeclared voter” after it was created by state law, but didn’t change any coding that’s fundamental to tallying ballots.

If you think about it, O’Dell’s comments are what’s spurring much of this controversy on. In America’s 21st Century Polarized Political World, some beliefs on the right and left start with a suspicion that festers.

If a comment or action — no matter how big or small — emerges to even minutely confirm that suspicion, people run with it and the suspicion becomes reality in their perceptions.

The bottom line: look for electronic voting to be looked at with intense distrust and any questions over it turn into huge political and legal issues. The people superivising and installing electronic voting machines are going to have to act to remove even the slightest doubts about the accuracy and legitimacy of the new machines — or by 2005 the cynacism seen in 2000 may one day be seen as a mere raindrop in a skeptical ocean.

Clinton Explores How To Use Book Tour To Aid Kerry

The NY Times also reports that:

As former President Bill Clinton prepares for a barrage of publicity and a cross-country tour to promote his memoirs, his political advisers are consulting with the Democratic Party and Senator John Kerry’s campaign about ways that Mr. Clinton can lend a political hand in the process.

But The Senate Likes Edwards

Vilsack not withstanding, here the NY Times reports that members of the US Senate are pressing John Kerry to name John Edwards to the VP slot, primarily because they believe doing so would help Dem Senators in five tight races in the South this fall.

Vilsack For Veep?

The LA Times reports that Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa, is on Kerry’s short list for running mate.

Dutch & Dubya

The LA Times discusses comparisons of the Reagan and Bush leadership style here.

Still Not Good Enough?

WaPo reports that even though Kerry has shattered fundraising targets and is leading in several polls, some Democratic supporters—and even members of his staff—still express ambivalence, and even “angst,” about their candidate.

Kerry Pushes Bush On Stem Cell Research

WaPo reports that:

John Kerry endorsed Nancy Reagan’s efforts to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and yesterday challenged the Bush administration to relax restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research to pursue potential cures for that and other illnesses.

Set of Retired Diplomats and Military Officials Oppose Bush

The State posts an AP story which leads:

Angered by Bush administration policies they contend endanger national security, 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers are urging Americans to vote President Bush out of office in November.

The group calls itself “Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change.” The group does not officially endorse Kerry, and is holding a press conference Wednesday to launch its campaign. Members include:

retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the administration of Bush’s father; retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., ambassador to Britain under President Clinton and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Reagan; and Jack F. Matlock Jr., a member of the National Security Council under Reagan and ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.

New Poll: What If McCain Is In The Race?

I had a conversation with Michele yesterday that went something like this:

Me: Reagan. Wow. Left or right, it seems like people are recalling his leadership, if not his policies, with almost a “good ol’ days” tenor.

Michele: Yeah.

Me: I was thinking in the car last night, ‘who today has some of those same qualities … the optimism, the ability to articulate and stand on principle. Nobody.’

Michele: Yeah, nobody.

Me: Except John McCain.

Michele: What? Hmmm …

So I’m curious … not stating my position here, just curious: If the election were held today, and McCain was in the field, for whom would you vote? Forget the comments … I’ve created a new poll question, it’s below, as well as over in the right hand column.

I find this a compelling question, so if you’re a blogger and want to contribute to the poll, feel free to post it on your own site … just also please link back to Command Post in the process.

Here’s the code. I’ve replaced the “<" and ">” characters with “[” and “]” so it doesn’t render, so be sure to change them back before you paste the code into your own page.

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Nader Had Campaign Office at Charity

WASHINGTON POST: Nader Had Campaign Office at Charity

Since October, Ralph Nader has run his campaign for president out of the same downtown Washington offices that through April housed a public charity he created — an overlap that campaign finance specialists said could run afoul of federal laws.

Tax law explicitly forbids public charities from aiding political campaigns. Violations can result in a charity losing its tax-exempt status. In addition, campaign law requires candidates to account for all contributions — including shared office space and resources, down to the use of copying machines, receptionists and telephones.

Records show many links between Nader’s campaign and the charity Citizen Works. For example, the charity’s listed president, Theresa Amato, is also Nader’s campaign manager. The campaign said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that Amato resigned from the charity in 2003. But in the charity’s most recent corporate filing with the District, in January, Amato listed herself as the charity’s president and registered agent.

The office suite housing the campaign, the charity and other sub-tenants had a common receptionist for greeting visitors.

And Federal Election Commission records show the campaign paid rent to Citizen Works and Citizen Works’ landlord. Nader said the campaign has taken over the charity’s lease on its coveted location on 16th Street NW.

“There is nothing, no wrongdoing here,” Nader said Friday.

TCP Poll: It's Awfully Close

The results of our in-house TCP 2004 Election Poll, which used the same question format as Gallup:

Much closer than I expected, given that our readership leans right (of course, I’d like for our readership to run the spectrum, so maybe this is good news on that point). And folks could only vote once, so no complaints that people were spamming the results. We’ll run it again in a few weeks, and thanks to everyone who voted.

McCain Rejects Kerry's VP Overture

Republican Sen. John McCain has personally rejected John Kerry’s overtures to join the Democratic presidential ticket and forge a bipartisan alliance against President Bush, The Associated Press has learned.

Kerry has asked McCain as recently as late last month to consider becoming his running mate, but the Arizona senator said he’s not interested, said a Democratic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because Kerry has insisted that his deliberations be kept private. A second official familiar with the conversations confirmed the account, and said the Arizona senator made it clear he won’t change his mind.

Both officials said Kerry stopped short of offering McCain the job, sparing himself an outright rejection that would make his eventual running mate look like a second choice.

The 51st State

Expatica has an interesting article on the role of a hidden minority in this year’s election that could have a critical swing vote in a close election … not the Nader vote, but American expats overseas.

King George / John

Here’s something you probably didn’t expect to read today:

Whoever wins the race to the White House this year, the president of the United States is sure to be a direct descendant of the ancient rulers of Bohemia, according to one researcher.

Read more at the Prague Post (via ED).

Trouble In Boston?

The New York Times reports that Boston faces an increasing level of disruption as the DNC nears from Boston unions who are using the convention as an opportunity to pressure management:

With six weeks to go before the Democratic National Convention starts in Boston, the city on Tuesday entered a new phase of convention-related disruption as picketing union members forced a delay in the start of renovations on the convention.

Transit authorities will also soon begin random searches of passengers bags on subways and commuter trains.

Kerry By 51:44 : LA Times Poll

From The Australian :

US Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry leads President George W Bush 51 per cent to 44 per cent among American voters in a two-way race for president, according to a Los Angeles Times poll published today.

Mr Kerry’s margin of seven percentage points shrinks only slightly to 6 percentage points, 48-42, in a three-way race with independent candidate Ralph Nader, poll results show.

More than a third of those surveyed said they didn’t know enough about Mr Kerry to decide whether he would make a better president than Mr Bush.

Asked who was more likely to flip-flop on issues, they chose Mr Kerry by two to one.

But by 56 per cent to 16 per cent, voters felt Mr Bush was “too ideological and stubborn”.

They gave Mr Kerry better marks for ideas for strengthening the economy, building respect for the US around the world, and handling the problems of cost and access to health care.

The telephone poll surveyed 1,230 registered voters nationwide from Saturday to Tuesday. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.

Campaign Pause To Honor Reagan

The SF Chronicle reports that both campaigns will pull ads on Friday out of deference to the Reagan funeral events. Thank you, Dutch. Even after your death you relieve our depression.

Unexpected Help

The Hill speculates that the Bush campaign will get “a Reagan bounce.”

Dennis Kucinich ...

… still alive and on the trail! Via WaPo.

Kerry the Realist

WaPo writes:

This year’s presidential election so far offers a choice in foreign policy, between a neo-Wilsonian who has made the promotion of democracy and human rights a central tenet and an old-school realist who believes it more sensible to focus on managing concrete threats to U.S. security.

But here’s the hook:

Sounds familiar: Only the realist is not a hard-nosed Republican standing up to a fuzzy-headed Democrat, but John F. Kerry challenging George W. Bush.

Kerry Jokes About VP Choice

The Associated Press reports that Kerry was just joking when he told a Detroit radio station on Friday that he’d name his running mate “in a matter of days:”

In an interview with WJR in Detroit, Kerry was asked who he was considering for vice president.

“Yeah, we’ll have that done very, very shortly. We’ve really got most of them in place and we’re on the short list and we’ll have it done in a matter of days,” Kerry replied.

Asked if he would announce the choice on he show, the senator said sarcastically: “Yeah, absolutely. That was my plan, and let me see now, I’ll run through the list.”

Kerry Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter explained:

Senator Kerry was just making a joke after the radio host asked if he’d make his announcement on the radio show.

There is no announcement imminent. And we won’t have more to say on the subject until Senator Kerry makes a decision on who is the best possible running mate.

Kerry's Vets

Reuters reports that Kerry launched his effort to seek support of veterans by suggesting that many in the U.S. military would prefer him as commander in chief over President Bush:

“You’d be amazed at the number of active duty personnel who are coming up at events around the country, greeting me in ropelines or coming to rallies and telling me how important it is for us to stand up and fight for those who are not able to speak out for themselves right now for obvious reasons,” Kerry said.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee added: “But the numbers of active duty people quietly coming and saying we need a change, we need to build a modern military, we need to do the things necessary to protect our troops, we need to have all our allies on the ground in Iraq … that’s what this race is about.”

[. . .]

There are more than 26 million veterans in the United States and their vote usually goes Republican. In a CBS poll released on Friday, Bush got 54 percent, of the veterans’ vote while Kerry had the support of 40 percent.

From California Yankee.

Dems on National Security in Louisiana this Weekend

Here’s some news that’s gone wholly unnoticed in press coverage of Election 2004: The Democrats’ “Interactive Platform Tour” will stop in Baton Rouge June 5 to discuss National Security.

I’m not exactly sure how “interactive” this meeting is gong to be. The notice says that there will be “experts” and veterans there, but I have yet to see any listing of who the “experts” are.

Despite the barrage of rhetoric, I’m not sure I see any obvious differences between Kerry’s brand of foreign policy and the status quo, except for heightened use of buzzwords “multilateralism” and “less arrogance.”

Sandy Berger outlined Kerry’s brand of foreign policy in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, but it’s pretty empty of substance.

I’m shocked — SHOCKED — that the Liberal (or “Progressive,” if you want to use the new word for it) wing of the Democrat Party has allowed this to happen. Yes, yes, I know that there’s a noticeable ABB mindset settling in, but the firebrands of the Dean crowd did not strike me as particuarly eager to “buy in.”

(Then again, some Deaniacs are still reluctant to suport Kerry, as the Boston Globe wrote.)

I’d like to know — are there any liberals out there who are actually angry about Kerry’s foreign policy views? Or is everyone on board. Does anyone have any thoughts about the Platform meeting? Did anyone even know about the the Platform meeting?

Finally, does anyone know who the Platform “experts” will be? Anyone want to take any guesses? Maybe Zinni will pause his book tour to participate.

Glum And Glummer

The Associated Press is offering some advice to Kerry and Nader about the tone of the campaign:

As John Kerry and Ralph Nader compete for votes in their common cause of beating President Bush, they risk coming across not just as agents of change, but as Glum and Glummer.

The America that John Kerry sees is weighted by millions of job losses, millions of people without health insurance, a “wage recession” for those who do have work, schools begging for money, exploding gas prices and “poisoned” alliances worldwide.

Then there’s the America that Ralph Nader sees. It’s in really bad shape.

He talks about foul air, impure food, 13 million hungry children, corporate domination, “mindless” SAT scores “controlling our definition of intelligence,” kids who need love being put on antidepressants instead, corrupt political parties, a government that hasn’t had a good idea in 30 years, and a president who acts like an “out-of-control, West Texas sheriff.”

[. . .]

Opponents of an incumbent president need to tell people what’s wrong, so they don’t just re-elect him, but must do so in a way that does not sink their spirits, say students of political rhetoric. And Kerry’s indictment of Bush fills many of his speeches on the stump.

[. . .]

“You have to be optimistic and hopeful,” she says, “without being happy with the way things are going.”

Ronald Reagan personified the upbeat, his vision of morning in America attractive even to many with a hard life. Bill Clinton, the “man from Hope,” couched his criticisms of the first President Bush’s economic record with an infectious, can-do-better energy.

“The message that gets out to the public in digested form can’t be, ‘everything’s wrong,’” Jamieson said. “It has to be, ‘I’m optimistic about what change I can produce.’”

From California Yankee

Kerry Seeks Veteran Vote

Kerry seeks the traditionally conservative-leaning veterans’ vote. The Associated Press reports:

Kerry was to announce volunteer veterans coordinators in all 50 states who will try to recruit current and former soldiers to his campaign. The goal is to sign up 1 million veterans to help get out the vote for Kerry in what they say would be an unprecedented veterans organization in a presidential campaign.

John Hurley, the national director of Veterans for Kerry, says veterans will be motivated to vote for Kerry because of his war experience and their anger at diminished services from the Veterans Administration and Bush’s handling of Iraq.

[. . .]

The Bush campaign also has a band of volunteers to seek out veterans. Retired Lt. Col. Joe Repya said veterans are concerned about Kerry’s votes to cut military pay, weapons systems and funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during his nearly 20-year Senate career.

From California Yankee.

Edwards Looking Out for No. 2?

I’ve been certain Edwards would be the VP candidate since I proclaimed as much in our chat room the night of the New Hampshire primary. Today the LA Times offers more proof for my pudding:

John Edwards’ schedule looks a lot like the travels of a man chasing higher office, with stops in political battlegrounds such as Ohio, Minnesota and, soon, Florida.

Events Forcing Abortion Issue on Kerry

WaPo reports that recent court actions, church politics, and party pressures are increasingly pulling Kerry into the national debate over abortion … a debate into which he’s been at times reluctant to enter.

Bush Push May Cost Churches Tax Breaks

The Chicago Tribune / AP reports that the Bush campaign is trying to enlist supporters from 1,600 religious congregations in Pennsylvania … an effort that could cost those churches their tax status.

Admittedly, if those congregations choose to be involved … well, it’s a choice, isn’t it?

F 9-11 Coming 6-25

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 will hit US theaters June 25th. Miramax picked up the rights; read more at the NZ Herald.

Update: Poor morning-typing on my part: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and IFC Films, major players in the arena for independent movies, will release Moore’s movie to theatres. Thanks to VoR for the fact-check in the comments.

Bush AFA Speech

Read the text of the President’s Air Force Academy commencement speech here.

Kerry Uses Big Word ... Bioterror

In a wise foreign policy shift Kerry seems to be leaving Iraq behind for the moment. His new argument? Bush hasn’t done enough on Bioterror and nuclear proliferation. In Florida (perhaps the key state again this year) today, Kerry reportedly argued that:

Hospitals are overburdened, Kerry said, and essential drugs and vaccines have not been adequately developed. He said his plan to make health insurance more affordable and accessible will reduce lines in emergency rooms, relieve pressure on state budges, and sharpen the focus on bioterrorism and other health issues.

This is probably the first politically sagacious move the Kerry camp has made in a while. The rhetoric shift presents Kerry as an alternative to Bush in that he will fight terrorism at home rather than abroad. The problem with attacking Bush on Iraq is that there was really no way for Kerry to put forth a coherent alternative.

Full Story at Yahoo!News

"Bush May Need Broader Campaign"

That’s the headline at Boston.com, in an article which notes:

Despite President Bush’s sagging approval ratings at a national level, strategists have long maintained he would make up the difference by working the Electoral College system in targeted battleground states — the 18 or fewer states where the 2004
presidential race is likely to be decided.

Unfortunately, the article continues, the Bush campaign appears to be sagging in those same states.

New From RNC: "Kerryopoly"

The Boston Globe reports of a new online game hosted by the the Republican National Committee: “Kerryopoly.” In it, the RNC “roasts the Democratic presidential candidate with an online satire of his well-heeled lifestyle.”

A screen shot is below … landing on “Georgetown” tells you the price of Kerry’s Georgetown home and the amount you’re in debt for buying it presuming you make $40,000 a year (additive as you move around the board to different spaces), while Pink Floyd’s “Money,” plays in the background.

Go here to play. Be sure to read the sources, and judge source credibility for yourself. Seems to me the DNC can play this sort of game as well …

Kerry: U.S. As Optimists

The State.com / AP report that a new flight of Kerry campaign ads “deliver the upbeat message that the United States is ‘a country of optimists,’” and that this is a contrast to Bush’s ads that primarily criticize Kerry.

Reading this reminded me of something I posted several weeks ago, and which I’ll repost below.

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The Narrative Form

Mother Jones asks, “Stories make the world go around. So how come liberals can’t tell one?” Well, that’s a bit strong. But consider this:

It’s plain why this [the Bush] story works as well as it does. It presents a classic hero and a journey that reaches down through the brain into the gut. And Republicans can translate it into simple, clear lines of action: Wage war and don’t stop. Cut taxes. Put bad guys in jail, or to death.

Many on the left harbor the delusion that Republicans can be dislodged by criticism of this story. There are two main styles of critique. The first is ironic and humorous (see Al Franken). The second style is serious and raging, bordering on caustic (see Tim Robbins’ “Embedded.”)

But, by definition, critics are at the margins. However loud they shout from the sidelines, they’ll never get in the game. The game is for those who can tell a story.

Rush Limbaugh knows this. He’s no critic. Sure, he rips into Democrats and liberals, but his point is always to describe the enemy — cowardly and pessimistic — in order clarify the attributes of his hero — courageous and optimistic. Every anecdote, every opinion, feeds into his story. That’s why he convinces so many people and that’s why he makes so much money. And that’s why he has helped engineer a profound change in the culture of the country’s government.

On the other hand, the advent of “Air America” illustrates the left’s deluded love affair with criticism. The debut ad campaign features photographs of right-wing bugaboos, with smart-ass lines plastered over their faces (“We Pump Irony” over Schwarzenegger and “All the Caffeine and None of the Oxycontin” over Limbaugh). These are clever, but 100% content-free. The most revealing of the ads is a picture of Ralph Nader. “Mocking the Far Right and When We’re Tired of that The Far Left.”

The network is all criticism, all the time. Franken’s show is hilarious and brilliant. But it’s one thing to convince me that the right is full of big fat idiot liars. It’s quite another task to articulate the character of a movement, which can show itself in times of opposition, and in times of leadership.

The essence of the narrative form: setting, sympathetic hero, unsympathetic antagonist, conflict, resolution (one in which, typically, the hero changes in a fundamental way). You’ll notice that critique is not mentioned … and when you’re criticizing the other guy’s story, you’re not telling your own.

Cease And Desist

A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to John Kerry’s presidential campaign demand Kerry remove a photograph that appears in one of his television advertisements. CNN reports:

In Tuesday’s “cease and desist” letter, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth called on Kerry’s campaign to stop what it said was the unauthorized use of the images of some of them in a 60-second biographical spot titled “Lifetime.” The ad began running nationwide in early May.

The U.S. Navy photo in question depicts 20 officers, including Kerry, and was taken January 22, 1969, on the island of An Thoi in Vietnam. The ad shows only a portion of the picture — not all of the men are visible — and is displayed for two seconds.

But even the men who are not in the ad have a right to demand the picture not be used, said Alvin A. Horne, a Houston attorney who served on a swift boat in Vietnam in 1969-1970. He is giving legal advice to the group. Eleven of the 20 men in the picture oppose their images being used in the campaign ad, he said.

“The use of the 11 images in this political campaign wrongfully and incorrectly suggests their present endorsement of his candidacy for president of the United States of America,” said the letter, which Horne wrote.

[. . .]

The letter, sent to campaign general counsel Marc Elias, says the campaign neither sought nor obtained consent from the fellow veterans to use their images in the ad. It asked them to stop using the picture within 10 days.

From California Yankee.

Four Million Thank Yous

Tonight we passed four million unique visits to Command Post since March 20th, 2003:

If we could track each person down and send a thank you note, we would. Since we can’t, thanks for your loyalty and you support, and as always, thank you for reading The Post.

On to the next million!

Boston: We've Applied For Credentials

Just a heads up that Michele and I have applied for two credentials to the 2004 Democratic National Convention Press Gallery in Boston. We won’t know for some time, but keep your fingers crossed that we’ll be credentialed, and we’ll hope to be credentialed for the RNC as well.

We Do Requests

We were asked in an email today:

Yours and Michele’s creation has introduced a lot of people to the world of Blogging. I was wondering if y’all might ever have the patience to sit through a “Ask the Command Post” Thread.

We do. And while we normally avoid anything that might smell of self-promotion, if you really DO have questions we (probably) have answers. We’re doing this on the Op-Ed page … so go there to learn more and ask that burning question. (Like, for example, “Is Michele hot?” She is, by the way.)

Interactive Electoral College Calculator

The Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal has launched an online Electoral College vote calculator, which allows you to see electoral histories and the current landscape. And for the truly geeky: you can create and save scenarios, exploring how the election might unfold as the election polls to November. See the calculator and its backstory here.

Due dilligence: cross posted here.

Kerry "gives the finger" to a Vietnam Veteran on Memorial Day

How very Presidential: John F. Kerry “gives the finger” to a Vietnam Veteran on Memorial Day … in front of a group of school children.

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And he wants to be President? He doesn’t deserve to be dog-catcher. What a jerk.

Via Little Green Footballs and NewsMax.

Um - where’s the outrage in the mainstream press? Oh right - I forgot…

Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, runs the Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry organization.

This is a duplicate of the original post on the nikita demosthenes website.

WaPo: Bush Campaign Has "Unprecedented Negativity"

The Washington Post:

It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine.

Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry “has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all” and said the senator from Massachusetts “promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office.”

On Tuesday, President Bush’s campaign began airing an ad saying Kerry would scrap wiretaps that are needed to hunt terrorists.

The same day, the Bush campaign charged in a memo sent to reporters and through surrogates that Kerry wants to raise the gasoline tax by 50 cents.

On Wednesday and Thursday, as Kerry campaigned in Seattle, he was greeted by another Bush ad alleging that Kerry now opposes education changes that he supported in 2001.

The charges were all tough, serious — and wrong, or at least highly misleading. Kerry did not question the war on terrorism, has proposed repealing tax cuts only for those earning more than $200,000, supports wiretaps, has not endorsed a 50-cent gasoline tax increase in 10 years, and continues to support the education changes, albeit with modifications.

Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented — both in speeches and in advertising.

Here is one portion of the Bush response, via former Command Post contributor Patrick Ruffini.

Stranger In The South?

The Star Tribune reports that even though the campaign has been intense to date, John Kerry is still a stranger in much of the south. Can anyone say “Edwards on the ticket?” I knew you could!

Gas <>= Votes

Dick Polman of the Seattle Tribune argues that while everyone expects high gas prices to translate into action at the polls, that’s simply not the case.

Kerry Leads In Minnesota

TwinCities.com reports that Kerry holds a three-point lead in the land of a thousand lakes.

Unity Among Democrats

Posted this on the wrong page earlier. Apologies.

CBS News reports that in addition to record spending and intensity, this year’s campaign may also have something else: an “unheard of” levels of unity and cooperation among Democrats.

New Command Post Poll

Over in the right-hand column. We’ll see hour our readership compares to Zogby and others.