The Note: Cheap and Tawdry Political Tricks
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2004 — -- NOTED NOW
TODAY'S SCHEDULE (all times ET)
18 days until Election Day
NEWS SUMMARY
Ditto with Mrs. Heinz Kerry's tax returns.
And yet, and yet, and yet, one or both of those lovely storylines could dominate the coverage today, even as the candidates and their running mates and their spouses flood the zone of some of the Big 10 states.
Lucky for us, this is one of those rare days when The Note writes itself.
Not literally, of course, but we arrived at work this morning to find the fruits of the labor of a roomful of caged and Diet Coke-fueled Googling monkeys, and all it took was a little cutting and pasting to put together everything you need to know to face the political day.
The president of the United States, making a rare appearance in the press cabin of Air Force One yesterday, said this:
"The pundits and the spinners — they all have their opinions but there's only one opinion that matters and that's the opinion of the American people on Nov. 2. I feel great about where we are."
(Senator Kerry feels great about where he is, too.)
Then there is all of this from a remarkable Los Angeles Times story by Maura Reynolds and Edwin Chen (the Decker and Lauter of this cycle): LINK
Newt Gingrich says:
"If you don't have some anxiety you are not in touch with reality. . . . We don't understand this election. No one does."
"One senior Republican strategist not affiliated with the campaign said he began to think the Bush camp might be nervous when it launched a hard-edged ad that mischaracterized Kerry as describing terrorism as a 'nuisance.'"
"'I would describe that as almost flailing,' the strategist said. 'They went from having a very buttoned-up message where it was very defined, very provable, and it has consistently gotten more high-pitched, more shrill and less documentable.'"
"'That to me is a very defensive position, as opposed to offensive.'"
"In addition to the president's unusual appearance in the press section of Air Force One, senior Bush advisers who customarily do not return phone calls from reporters or conduct interviews are increasingly available."
"In the last two weeks, campaign strategist Karl Rove has been making nearly daily visits to the press filing center during campaign stops, not just to serve up sunny assessments of the race but to play practical jokes on reporters."
"Likewise, senior adviser Karen Hughes has frequently spent as much as 45 minutes with reporters, even while the president was talking on stage."
"'Everybody is a little on edge,' said a senior House Republican strategist. 'But I don't think they are viewing it as widespread erosion. By the middle of next week you might have a better idea.'"
From a separate Los Angeles Times story (by Janet Hook):
"The new line of attack on Kerry as a liberal represents 'a new front' and an effort to 'revive the campaign for the next three weeks,' GOP pollster Bill McInturff said." LINK
From the Wall Street Journal 's Hitt and Schlesinger (the boy versions of Calmes and Murray):
"Sources said the Bush campaign is developing television ads to raise anti-Kerry rhetoric even further. One potential development that could benefit Mr. Bush is the airing of a videotape of Mr. Kerry telling a collection of Hollywood entertainers that they represent the 'heart and soul of our country.' Those images would likely fire up the conservatives Mr. Bush needs to come out in droves. A top Republican close to the campaign suggested the tape, long sought by Bush aides, is likely to 'magically leak out' just ahead of the election."
From a Washington Post Minnesota post-debate focus group — the words of lifelong Democrat Sandy Cohn: "Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, Cohn said, she has seen Bush as she sees herself — a bond that was not weakened by an occasional fumbling answer but was strengthened when she heard him talk about his values or his determination to protect the country. 'My gut tells me it has to be Bush,' she said. 'I just feel that he's sincere. I [recall] how he made me feel on 9/11. I mean, I was scared out of my mind. And he just made me feel that, Sandy, it'll be okay.'" LINK If you're like us and you take your coffee with the 6:30 am ET AP news digest, you'd get the sense world and national headlines are creating a negative news environment for the incumbent President — the kind of news environment that IF the president were to lose, his aides will cite as an albatross-shaped anchor they just couldn't overcome, even against John Kerry. After a Zimbabwe headline, AP reports that marines are pounding Fallujah "a day after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." AP next writes that "Green Zone bombings demonstrate the tenacity of Iraq's insurgency." Later, it Notes that barrels of oil are "hugging" the $55 "milestone a day after a decline in the U.S. inventory of heating oil roiled a market already on edge over tight supplies." Earlier, the monkeys had glanced at the 9:00 pm ET news digest, and they Noticed it lead with the Green Zone bombing and teased "BC-Debt-Limit," a writethru about "Treasury using accounting procedures to avoid hitting $7.4 trillion debt limit," after reporting that "The federal deficit surged to a record $413 billion in 2004." And then there are these dueling Washington Post columns: George Will says: "This election is the last before the boomers begin retiring in 2008. It will be won by either a reactionary liberal, whose plan for coping with the demographic deluge consists of complaining about any changes in the welfare state's entitlement menu, or an activist conservative who Wednesday night tartly told his opponent that 'a plan is not a litany of complaints.'" LINK Richard Cohen (who previously had bet that the president will be re-elected) says: "Bush, though, has been hobbled by artifice. The natural has been turned into just another synthetic pol. His only good moments came when he talked about his faith and his family, tapping into a wellspring of emotional truth. Other than that, he was only rarely the politician he used to be — crushed, not empowered by incumbency. If I could, I'd wager differently. The man I bet on no longer exists." LINK Finally, Kit Seelye's must-read New York Times story on Whither Nader. LINK President Bush criticizes Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopping liberal with few accomplishments in the Senate at rallies in Cedar Rapids, IA at 2:50 pm ET and in Oshkosh, WI at 6:10 pm ET. Senator John Kerry talks jobs in Milwaukee, WI at 12:45 pm ET, attends a KE'04 "Brat Fry" in Sheboygan, WI at 6:00 pm ET and holds a rally in Appleton, WI at 8:45 pm ET. Vice President Cheney delivers remarks at a coffee in Berrien Springs, MI at 9:00 am ET, holds a town hall meeting in Kalamazoo, MI at 12:10 pm ET and holds a rally in Grand Rapids, MI at 4:25 pm ET. Senator John Edwards campaigns in Mentor, OH at 2:15 pm ET and Arnold, MD at 6:00 pm ET before raising money at a private residence at 7:00 pm ET. Teresa Heinz Kerry is in Davenport, IA today, where she discusses domestic violence at 1:30 pm ET. Elizabeth Edwards discusses health care in Cedar Rapids, IA at 10:30 am ET. Will any of those people keep the Mary Cheney story alive through their comments or in response to questions? Only time will tell. The federal amendment banning same-sex marriage has stalled in Congress. But voters in 11 states will vote on state amendments to ban same-sex marriage on Nov. 2. At noon ET today, "thousands of people" rally on the Mall in Washington, DC to preserve marriage as the union between a man and a woman. A similar rally held in Seattle back in May attracted more than 20,000 people, USA Today reports. LINK On the economic front, the average price for gasoline is "almost certain to top $2 a gallon and the average could hit a record over the weekend or early next week as fuel prices rebound much faster and appear headed much higher than experts had predicted," USA Today reports. LINK Happy birthday, Richard Leland Berke — enjoy your last boring DC birthday, before your Gotham life envelopes you in pure fun. ABC News Vote 2004: Bush vs. Kerry: The Wall Street Journal 's Greg Hitt and Jake Schlesinger: "The presidential campaign battleground is narrowing to about 10 states in the final weeks before Election Day, as the rival campaigns make tough choices about where to target resources. Florida and Ohio are the most closely fought states. But President Bush appears to be less optimistic about capturing Michigan and New Hampshire, while Senator John Kerry is scaling back in Missouri, West Virginia and Arizona. In the past week, the senator canceled plans to visit West Virginia this weekend. Still, the endgame plans include surprises. Mr. Bush is making a play for heavily Democratic New Jersey — dominated by terrorism fears — and planning a visit there Monday. Aides say he retains hope of stealing Democratic-leaning Oregon, where he campaigned late yesterday." LINK The Washington Post 's Dan Balz and Jim VandeHei offer up a great look at the campaign's closing themes, particularly the main one: disconnect. As they barnstorm about a dozen states in the run-up to election day, both Bush and Kerry are attempting to paint the other side as disconnected and out of touch; Bush saying Kerry's disconnected from the mainstream as a Massachusetts liberal, and Kerry saying Bush is disconnected from Americans on the issues and reality on Iraq. Both campaigns agree that Kerry had the most to gain from the debates — and did — and will spend the next 18 days hammering each other on jobs, health care, taxes, and immigration. The duo also touch on the internal war of morale in the camps. LINK It's only a couple more weeks, but they are busy weeks indeed. After explaining what happened yesterday, Anne Kornblut and Patrick Healy of the Boston Globe set up the endgame for us. Exhausting schedules, surrogates everywhere, rallies, speeches, and more. LINK Finnegan and Barabak of the Los Angeles Times on the next phase of the campaign: "Each campaign has mapped out a rigorous travel schedule for its candidate over the next 2 ½ weeks, with Kerry planning three to four events a day and Bush expected to return to the White House just a handful of times between now and the election." LINK Janet Hook of the Los Angeles Times explores the Bush campaign's attempt to portray Kerry as an out-of-the-mainstream liberal. LINK "A broader look at Kerry's record in the Senate and his promises in campaign speeches reveal a more complex picture. His generally liberal profile is leavened by doses of centrism in his support for free trade, welfare reform, tax cuts for the middle class and a healthcare plan that is more incremental than many liberals have advocated in the past." Are people better off than they were four years ago? The New York Times ' David Rosenbaum dons the green eye shades: "The truth seems to be that, on average, Americans may have more money at their disposal. But more people are worse off than are better off. The trick is in the word 'average.' Average income — all the income in the country divided by the total number of people — has gone up because of the large increase in after-tax income enjoyed by the very wealthy. But median income — the point at which half the people have more and half less — has dropped. 'If rich people get richer, it makes the average go up but not the median,' said Joel Slemrod, an economist at the University of Michigan." LINK As anyone who dons the shades finds, a lot of the absolute dollars from the Bush tax cuts went to the wealthiest Americans. The New York Times ' Robert Pear looks at the Lewin report, which Bush cited at Wednesday's debate as evidence that Kerry's health care plan would be expensive, and Notes "the study also said that Mr. Kerry's proposals would do more to expand coverage, providing health insurance to 25.2 million people who do not have it. By contrast, it said, Mr. Bush's proposals would cover 8.2 million people." LINK Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe points out how both presidential candidates have very vague plans when it comes to Social Security. If there is anyone out there who doesn't understand what Social Security issues are facing this county, read this article. LINK The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Hammonds talks to both Brookings and Heritage and concludes neither candidate can do much about affordable housing given the deficit, but he does Note their ideas … though they probably won't work. LINK The Boston Globe 's Yvonne Abraham looks at the NRA's aggressive campaign against Kerry. "By Election Day, the group will have spent $20 million on television spots, billboards, radio advertising, leaflets, and district-by-district voter mobilization in the hopes of convincing the NRA's 4 million members — and the rest of the 4 in 10 Americans who own guns — that a Kerry administration threatens their Second Amendment rights." LINK The Washington Post 's Jon Jeter looks at Latino voters in Melrose Park, IL, where registration and get out the vote efforts are focusing on immigration issues, and few voters are on the fence about their chance to vote. LINK "Democrats say they want our votes . . . Why don't they want our children?" The Washington Times looks at commercials playing on black urban radio stations in key states with ads that accuse Democrats of "promoting abortions among blacks and siding with homosexual couples rather than married heterosexuals." LINK Evangelical religious leaders are in a full-court press to get out the vote, the Washington Post 's Alan Cooperman reports. "White evangelical Protestants, who are leaning 4 to 1 toward Bush in opinion polls, make up 20 to 25 percent of the electorate, or about 50 million potential voters. But like other Americans, nearly half do not vote." LINK "In a rare confluence, the U.S. presidential election falls within the holy month of Ramadan. That timing, coupled with anger among some American Muslims over the Patriot Act and other anti-terrorist measures by the government, has Islamic leaders organizing voter registration drives, giving politically inspired talks and constructing voter databases, all geared to get Muslims to the polls," writes the Los Angeles Times' Lobdell. LINK More: "A database of more than 500,000 Muslim voters has been developed for the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida and will be used to help elect Senator John Kerry, said Muki Hossain, president of the Muslim American Political Action Committee. And on Monday, a coalition of 10 Muslim organizations is expected to make its presidential endorsement." "John Kerry is a fundamentally weak presidential candidate," opines the Wall Street Journal 's Henninger, "but about half the electorate is uncertain whether it is able to sign up for all the risk and uncertainty implicit in the next Bush presidency." The Wall Street Journal 's ed board thinks the "conservative incumbent is proposing more change than the liberal challenger." ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect: The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank writes (quoting among others, a skeptical Tony Fabrizio) that the Bush campaign's success earlier in the cycle at portraying Kerry as a liberal flip-flopper may have set the bar too low, leaving the challenger with expectations he easily exceeded in the debates and allowing voters to get more comfortable with the John Kerry who showed up. LINK "It is no small irony that Bush finds himself on the losing end of the expectations game. Ever since he started his first presidential campaign in 1999 by dubbing his airplane "Great Expectations," he and his aides have skillfully managed public expectations so that the proverbial "bar" was set at a lower height for Bush than for his opponent." The Washington Post 's Mark Leibovich on Bush returning to his "base" in Las Vegas after the debate: "This is one of those Bush/Cheney invitation-only lovefests where the president could walk out in his boxer shorts and speak in pig Latin and the crowd would still chant "four more years." LINK The Philadelphia Inquirer's Parmley writes an advertising must-read explaining the incredible amounts the Bush-Cheney machine/campaign has spent on advertising and how they target via "market segmentation." LINK The 747 version of Air Force One will land in Appleton, though the rally will take place in Oshkosh. "The Appleton touchdown will require a 20-mile-long rush hour motorcade on a Friday, road closures and, possibly, more taxpayer-funded security details. The Bush-Cheney campaign has not reimbursed Oshkosh for more than $13,000 in security costs the president's July 15 motorcade buzz through downtown racked up," reports the Oshkosh Northwestern. LINK The media are picking up on the president's sporty use of the word "sprint" to describe the last days of the campaign. LINK Bush's plan to aid forests through salvage logging draws criticism in Oregon, the Washington Post 's Blaine Harden reports. LINK This is the kind of state-specific issue that Karl Rove is the master of mastering. Senator Kerry's home-state Gov. Mitt Romney is headed out on the trail for President Bush. "Romney and his traveling companions, Governors Kenny C. Guinn of Nevada and Mike Johanns of Nebraska, will be stumping strictly for Bush in Missouri and Michigan." LINK ABC News Vote 2004: Kerry-Edwards '04: The Washington Times observes "Kerry seemed to adopt Mr. Bush's recent style of peppering his speech with barbed jokes at his opponent's expense." Yesterday he joked "that a big lottery tote board he'd seen driving into the city and clicking higher and higher was actually 'the Bush gasoline prices that are going up.' And later, attacking Mr. Bush for telling most Americans not to get flu shots during Wednesday's debate, Mr. Kerry said, 'That sounds kind of like his health care plan to me — hope and pray you don't get sick.'" LINK Charles Krauthammer slams Edwards for promising a cure to paralysis. LINK ABC News Vote 2004: debates redux: The New York Times ' James Bennet and Jim Rutenberg distill the meaning of the debates: "The two men entered the debates with all attention centered on Mr. Kerry, on whether he had the character to be president. But over the course of the debates, the focus shifted to traditional ground: the record of the incumbent and the question of whether he had earned a second term. In the end, Mr. Kerry proved steady and sonorous. He committed few lasting gaffes, apart from recruiting Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, a lesbian, for an answer Wednesday to a question about homosexuality. Mr. Bush's far more erratic performance supplied the more memorable lines and gestures, from his frequent scowls and wearied allusions to "hard work" in the first debate to discussion of the "Internets" in the second to his fixed smiles and remarks on faith in the third." LINK The Wall Street Journal 's John Harwood and Jeanne Cummings: "In the 2000 presidential race, debates were where George W. Bush seized the momentum. In 2004, debates are where it escaped him." LINK "The third debate between President Bush and John Kerry drew an estimated 51.2 million viewers, capping a series of political match-ups that have drawn the largest television audiences in a dozen years," the Wall Street Journal on-line reports. The Washington Post 's John Harris and Rich Morin spent some time with undecided voters in a focus group that watched the third presidential debate. "The debates cumulatively illuminated Kerry's strengths — a command of facts, a steady bearing, an ability to frame an argument — in ways that left participants more inclined toward him. . . . The debates, at least for these voters, just as clearly illuminated Bush's weaknesses. . . . But none of these weaknesses managed to erode what these people regard as the president's core strength, which is that he is a leader who strikes them as decisive and on the level." LINK The New York Times ' Bumiller and Halbfinger fact check Bush's claim that Kerry said a global test "makes sense" during Wednesday's debate. Kerry is described as "sounding confident after a third debate Democrats believe he won handily." Bush is described as holding "fast to his position that the debates had given voters a distinct choice." LINK Johnny Apple gets debate reaction from college kids — most of whom wanted clearer answers. He leads with Chelsea Tirrell of Western Michigan. She says that she works with kids who were the products of "incestuous rape" and "they are good kids." She adds: "I see no reason they should not be allowed to live." LINK The Media Tenor Institute for Media Analysis has issued a report that finds ABC, NBC CBS, FOX and PBS portrayed Mr. Kerry more favorably in their post-debate analysis. LINK NOW PAC President Kim Gandy gave the Democratic nominee rave reviews for his debate performances. "Senator John Kerry answered our call." LINK The Washington Post 's E.J. Dionne on the debates: "The debates altered the campaign in Kerry's favor because Bush could no longer run and hide from his own record and cast Kerry as a cardboard character. The debates showcased Kerry as presidentially consistent. Bush kept changing his act. He scowled in the first debate. He practically shouted in the second. He pasted a strange smile over the scowl in the third." LINK Errol Lewis writes in the New York Daily News There's something about Mary … : Basic question: does this story have legs? Does it continue to dominate cable news' frame of the debate? Or does it go away? Judging by somewhat day-bound newspaper coverage, the latter option looks to be winning, but we'll see. Los Angeles Times headline blares: "Kerry's reference to Mary Cheney hits a nerve." LINK The New York Times ' David Stout on the "political tempest" over Kerry's comments regarding Mary Cheney. Gay rights groups are described of "generally supportive" of Kerry's comments. Gary Bauer tells the New York Times : "I think it is part of a strategy to suppress traditional-values voters, to knock 1 or 2 percent off in some rural areas by causing people to turn on the president." Kerry supporters describe it as an effort to distract attention away from a debate that they say Bush lost. Stout Notes that Cheney thanked Edwards for his "kind words" when Edwards referenced his daughter's sexual orientation during the VP debate. LINK The Washington Post 's Michael Laris and Mike Allen: "Kerry's decision to point to Mary Cheney stirred a firestorm among activists in both parties. Some Democrats said that their liberal friends at debate-watching parties gasped at what they considered a gratuitous reference by Kerry. Republicans said they considered it an underhanded way for Kerry to portray Bush as hypocritical for supporting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, as well as to try to hurt the president with his base of religious conservatives." LINK Maureen Dowd writes that dragging Cheney's "gay daughter back into the debate" was a "dead-wrong thing to do." LINK An anecdotal sampling of News Yorkers yield anecdotal conclusion "gay daughter off limits." LINK The Boston Herald goes with the angry mommy and daddy angle: LINK The Wall Street Journal 's ed board sees a possible "subterranean" motive to Kerry and Edwards bringing up the sexual identity of Mary Cheney: "depressing voter turnout, specifically among Christian and other cultural conservatives." Not really subterranean — this was Rush's principle theory yesterday and is what all the conservative opinion meisters we've read believe — not to mention several gay rights activists who've e-mailed us in dismay. LINK Tom DeFrank in the Daily News has the inside scoop: "'People understand the invasion of privacy of a family,' a top Bush campaign adviser said. 'They are going to pay a price for this.'" LINK "There's little argument that the gambit of making Mary Cheney's lifestyle a high-visibility issue is what the adviser calls 'obviously highly calculated.'" '"Some cutesy person over there like [Kerry senior strategist Robert] Shrum must have got the stupid idea that they can undercut our base because Cheney has a gay daughter,' the adviser said. "The theory is that homophobes in Bush's base may recoil after learning the veep they adore has a homosexual daughter." "It also, the source agreed, lends an aura of hypocrisy to Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage — an amendment Cheney personally opposes." "Camp Kerry insiders who participated in the senator's debate prep insist their man's comments were "off-the-cuff" and not part of their debate plan. But one aide said of the GOP response: 'This issue makes them uncomfortable, because they use the issue politically.'" The Singer spin on the scuttlebutt is this: "The fact that the Bush camp is making such an issue about this is an attempt to talk about anything but the debate," reports the Washington Times . LINK Newsday samples the reaction of gay people: LINK More clips: LINK and LINK and LINK Gay marriage amendments are on the ballot in 11 states. "Thousands of people are expected at a rally today on the National Mall in Washington in favor of marriage between a man and woman. A similar rally in Seattle in May attracted more than 20,000 people," USA Today reports. LINK There's something about Mary … on morning TV: On "Today" former White House Press Secretary Dee Myers admitted that "In all honesty I don't think it was Kerry's finest moment, but I take him at his word that he was trying to say something good about the families." Myers then asked, "Why aren't we talking about the issues Americans care about? . . . There were 269 other minutes in the three debates . . . clearly the campaign is trying to distract from all of that." Tad Devine on CNN and Chad Clanton on Fox News used verbatim the exact same defense of Kerry's statement: "John Edwards during the Vice Presidential debate said almost the same thing and the Vice President thanked him." The two went on to accuse the president's campaign of running away from his record. On "Today," Mary Matalin called Kerry's Mary Cheney reference "outrageous and over the line. Mary Cheney is a behind the scenes person, she doesn't talk to the press … She is not 'fair game" as Kerry's campaign manager said. She added later, "I mean, who are these people? I just don't get it." On "Good Morning America," Tucker Carlson said "taken in isolation, it's just weird and uncomfortable. If he had said that at a dinner party, everyone would cringe and look at their plates. But taken in combination with John Edwards' comments the week before, it's a strategy." Paul Begala responded "Yes, I don't like raising somebody else's kid. But spare me your righteous indignation," he said to his "Crossfire" sparring partner. And Begala then repeated the official advisers' lines, saying that "when John Edwards said some things about how they love their daughter, Vice President Dick Cheney didn't express indignation, he said thank you very much." In an interview with CBS' Harry Smith, Bob Schieffer said he was "not surprised" that the Cheneys took offense to Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney, calling the debate exchange as "raw." (Schieffer also quipped that the only debate day nightmare were backstage. ABC News Vote 2004: casting and counting: "The Justice Department is ill prepared to handle a large influx of complaints about voting rights violations in the Nov. 2 presidential election, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office," the Washington Post 's Jo Becker reports. LINK USA Today 's Drinkard and Kiely write, "Complaints from both parties, routine in election years, have reached a fever pitch earlier and in more places than usual. From Oregon to Florida, shenanigans with voter registration forms are being alleged, and authorities are looking into the charges." LINK Score one for the Democrats of Ohio. A federal judge ruled Secretary Blackwell's directive on provisional ballots in violation of federal law. Blackwell filed an immediate appeal with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. LINK Here's your provisional primer, courtesy of the Columbus Dispatch: LINK "Gov. Ed Rendell plans to put hand-picked state officials at county election offices during the Nov. 2 presidential election to watch for any problems in this battleground state," the AP reports. LINK The St. Petersburg Times reports on the 66-page KE election day manual leaked yesterday and includes a Democrat who says that at least one phrase within was a poor choice of words. LINK There is nothing in the memo so far that leads us to believe that Democrats are actually encouraging anyone to make something up, but the manual will give plenty of evidence to the view that both parties have to implement elaborate public relations plans in order to ensure that their worldview is incorporated in the media coverage. "Vote-tampering is the inevitable result of a Republican Party culture in which dirty tricks that distort the vote are rewarded, not punished," opines the New York Times ' Paul Krugman. LINK (But why throw this phrase in — "may also reflect deliberate vote-tampering"?) "Secretary of State Donetta Davidson has in the past week blamed other officials for not updating her on fraud investigations and failing to keep felons from voting," writes Susan Greene of the Denver Post. LINK The AP reports Colorado has all the makings of a perfect election day mess. In this week alone the secretary of state has confirmed 6,000 felons are registered to vote on Nov. 2, she is publicly at odds with the attorney general, there are many unanswered questions about voting rules and topping it all off, Amendment 36 is already being challenged in court. LINK "Democratic hopes dim for snatching four of Colorado's nine electoral votes through a state constitutional amendment providing proportional allocation of the state's presidential vote, instead of usual winner-take-all. A blow for the amendment's already waning chances of passage was Democratic Senate candidate Salazar's decision to join Republican Gov. Owens in opposition," reports the Wall Street Journal 's Jackie Calmes in Washington Wire. "A coalition of liberal groups committed to defeating President Bush has spent more than $100 million orchestrating the largest voter-registration drive in U.S. history, raising concerns of widespread voter fraud in 14 battleground states," ledes the Washington Times , Noting Democrats are gearing up for "pre-emptive strikes," by lining up lawyers who will assist with legal challenges. LINK This story would be funny it not for the possibility that actual voters would be disenfranchised: returning Broward County's absentee ballot costs about $.83 cents, but the instructions ask the voter to affix only $.60. Washington Post 's Michael Shear. LINK ABC News Vote 2004: the Big Four battlegrounds: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin: Which presidential candidate called (or will call) Bishop Griffin first to congratulate him on his tenure and wish him good health? LINK The Columbus Dispatch looks at how registration is way up in counties with large universities and wonders if the youth vote "tip the presidential election" in the Buckeye State. LINK And here's a handy dandy graphic to go with it: LINK This Cincinnati op-ed writer voted for Clinton twice and Gore in 2000, but this time he's voting for President Bush. LINK Dick Gephardt went to Cincinnati to drum up the union vote and declared Ohio the decisive state in this election. LINK Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel delivers an absolute must-read exploring how Wisconsin got on the very short list of coveted states. (And be sure to Note Karl Rove calling the state "dead even.") LINK The Los Angeles Times checks in on the divided voters of Tampa, FLA. LINK The St. Pete Times previews the next few days in presidential campaigning. LINK ABC News Vote 2004: the battlegrounds: Walter Shapiro watched the last debate at a party in Des Moines with some undecided voters and a couple of guys who remind us of the Muppet Show's Statler and Waldorf (LINK). LINK Thomas Beaumont of the Des Moines Register reports that John Kerry called the possibility of a draft if President Bush is re-elected "a great potential" during an interview yesterday. LINK Jonathan Ross of the Des Moines Register covers the rally held by Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in front of 15,000 supporters, during which Kerry brought out his new Muhammad Ali line, asking repeatedly, "Is that all you've got, Mr. President?" during his otherwise normal stump speech.LINK Henry Brean of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on "Nevada's biggest day in campaign history," where Bush emphasized Kerry being an extreme liberal in front of two rallies in Nevada with crowds of 8,500 and 16,000.LINK Erin Neff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal covers John Kerry's speech to the AARP where he ripped on the Bush health care plan and attempted many new lines of humor including "The best bet today is single deck blackjack, the worst bet is the Bush health plan." LINK Ray Routhier of the Portland Press Herald reports on three companies that are pulling their ads from the local Sinclair owned station in response to Sinclair's decision to preempt normal programming with an anti-Kerry documentary in prime time just two weeks before the election. LINK Nader-Camejo: The New York Times ' Kit Seeyle writes that Ralph Nader is emerging as the threat Democrats feared. "Polls show that he could influence the outcomes in nine by drawing support from Mr. Kerry. They are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin." Nader was recently removed from the ballot in Pennsylvania and he is still in litigation to be on the ballot in Ohio. Seeyle Notes Kerry has adjusted his message to appeal to Nader voters in two ways: by casting Bush as a "tool of rich and powerful 'special interests' and by sharpening his critique of Bush's handling of Iraq. In a telephone interview, Nader tells the New York Times that Kerry is "not his own man" and that he "takes the liberals for granted" something that "doesn't show much for his character." Seeyle also notes that this is a "change from May" when Nader met with Kerry at his campaign headquarters and praised him afterwards as "very presidential." LINK The AP reports Ralph Nader's lawyers plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court today in a last-ditch effort to reverse a ruling this week that barred Nader from Pennsylvania's presidential ballot. LINK Ralph Nader could still possible appear on the Pennsylvania ballot, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, but it would have to be as a write-in — and that ain't easy. "According to Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes and local election officials, a proper write-in vote for Nader must include not only Nader's name and that of his running mate, Peter Camejo, but all 21 electors as well." Nader spokesguy Kevin Zeese calls the process, "an affront to voter choice" that "undermines the vibrancy of democracy." LINK Former Clinton/Gore adviser Peter Knight spoke to Cornell University students about the Nader factor. "I have no idea why he's running." LINK A new poll has Nader at two percent support in Michigan with 48 percent support for John Kerry and 43 percent for President Bush. LINK Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik is raising funds for a new national advertisement that is planned to begin airing shortly across the nation in all states. "There is a surge of interest growing in Badnarik and we anticipate an even larger growth when these ads air," the campaign says in a release. LINK So far they have raised $61,307 for national airtime. LINK ABC News Vote 2004: the Senate: "The national committee that helps elect Republican U.S. Senate candidates is spending a quarter of the amount on television ads to get Pete Coors elected as its Democratic counterpart is spending on Ken Salazar, records show," reports the Denver Post. LINK Big Casino budget politics: Less than a day after President Bush implied that Senator John Kerry lacked "fiscal sanity," the Bush Administration said on Thursday that the federal government had hit the debt ceiling set by Congress and would have to borrow from the civil service retirement system until after the elections. LINK The Washington Post 's Jonathan Weisman reports: "The federal government reached its $7.4 trillion debt ceiling yesterday, forcing Treasury Secretary John W. Snow to delay contributing to one of the federal employees' pension systems to avoid running out of cash and possibly defaulting on government debt." LINK The politics of Iraq:
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