Trail Bytes
As the presidential race heads into the home stretch, CBS News reporters are out on the road traveling with the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns.
Read their dispatches and keep up with the latest campaign news in Trail Bytes, updated daily on CBSNews.com
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
In a speech Monday morning to the VFW convention in Cincinnati, President Bush will announce a major reassignment of American troops overseas.
A spokesman calls it the most comprehensive restructuring of U.S. military forces since the Korean War.
Upwards of 70,000 or more American military personnel now stationed in Europe and Asia will be affected. A good number of them will be brought back to the U.S., though it is not clear when. Others may be stationed elsewhere.
The realignment does not affect the American deployment in Iraq, which now numbers about 140,000.
With the Cold War long over, the action is intended to strengthen America's ability to respond more quickly to current threats against the US.
The president today also campaigns in Michigan, addressing a rally in Traverse City.
Mr. Bush lost the state four years about by just over 5 percent of the vote, but is waging an aggressive effort to win it in November.
Today marks his 19th visit to Michigan as president and his seventh visit there this year alone.
--Mark Knoller
SEN JOHN EDWARDS, D-N.C.
In a whirlwind weekend, Sen. Edwards attended a front porch visit a stone's throw and a whiff away from a hog farm in Belle Plaine, Minn., rallied the folks in Fargo, N.D., and returned to Iowa, the birthplace of his political superstardom.
"I feel at home here," he confided to Des Moines voters during a day-long campaign swing that felt more like a homecoming. "Lord only knows how many times I've been to Des Moines," he said, before adding that he and John Kerry know the state "like the back of our hand."
Boasting his familiarity with the state and its people, Edwards declared he and his running mate know more about the problems and concerns of Iowans than their opponents because they "basically lived here for a year and a half." A claim Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin later reinforced when he pointed out Edwards was the first on a national ticket to campaign in all 99 of the state's counties.
At an AME church in Waterloo, Edwards reminded the congregation that this was a mutual relationship: "The people in Iowa know John Kerry and myself very well, probably better than other states."
This rapport, according to the candidate, translates to a Kerry/Edwards platform that reflects Iowan's values. All those stops Edwards made while trying to secure his party's nomination were "very, very helpful for both of us in putting together our plan about what needs to be done," he said at his Waterloo front-porch visit.
But Edwards' Iowa confidence may have inadvertently come off as dismissive when the candidate stopped by the state fair Sunday afternoon. Gary Slater, the fair's CEO, began explaining to Edwards exactly why the event was the "granddaddy of all the fairs" after the candidate entered the front gate.
"It's my third year in a row here, so I know your fair," Edwards interrupted. "Good to see you," he said as he headed towards the mob of fairgoers waiting to greet their "native son."
The candidate shouldn't be overly self-assured in Iowa, however. As the Edwards entourage and the press corps made its way through the 4-H barn, one young man wondered aloud if all the hubbub was surrounding "American Idol" star Clay Aiken, who was set to perform at the fair later that night.
Edwards capped off his weekend in Missouri, where more than 7,000 people —his largest crowd to date as headliner — gathered to hear him in Springfield.
--Bonney Kapp
SEN. JOHN KERRY, D-MASS.
Thursday afternoon, Kerry and his traveling cabal played the waiting game at the airport in Long Beach, Calif., as the group spent over an hour frolicking on the tarmac, while his wife Teresa wrapped up a series of personal meetings.
Kerry spent most of the time tossing a baseball and, later, a football around with staffers and reporters.
Realizing he had more time to kill, he headed over to the hangar and chatted with several California Highway Patrol motorcycle cops, telling them he spoke with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday - on the phone - and ribbing them for riding BMW bikes instead of Harleys.
The cops replied that it was a contract issue and that the BMWs were the only motorcycles that had the kind of brakes stipulated in the contract.
Prior to Kerry's arrival at the airport, one of the VIPs who was standing by on the tarmac to greet him wound up breaking her leg as she stepped of the stairs to the jet.
Long Beach City Councilmember Bonnie Lowenthal was put in an ambulance and moved several hundred feet from the plane. When informed about Lowenthal's injury, Kerry ambled over to the ambulance in an effort to boost her spirits.
Spokesman David Wade, who always seems to be on message, explained the situation by playing off one of Kerry's slogans.
"When John Kerry arrived at the airport," said Wade, "help really was on the way."
--Steve Chaggaris
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY
Vice President Cheney likes the "town hall" style campaign stops and enjoys the Q&A sessions. He's done three of them recently sitting by himself in the center of several hundred people. On Wednesday, though, he made it a family affair.
He was introduced by his daughter Liz Cheney Perry to the audience in Joplin, Missouri, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in this hotly contested state.
"On the way here on the plane I asked my Mom and Dad, 'You know, I'm going to be introducing you. Do you have any words of wisdom?" she opened. "They came up with this very loving parental advice: 'Liz, Missouri is so important, please don't screw this up.'"
The crowd laughed but soon erupted in cheers as the vice president and Lynne took the stage, grabbed the two mics and sat down. They let everyone know that they were both there to answer questions.
"This is really fun for us because, you know, it's kind of unpredictable, unexpected," she said.
Both of Cheney's daughters and his wife have taken active rolls in the campaign this election year. Lynne often introduces the vice president before rallies, treating the audience to cute stories about how the two met or their early dating life back in Wyoming forty years ago.
Cheney's daughter Mary is part of his staff and at times can be seen pacing just offstage as her father addresses supporters.
But it's his eldest daughter Liz that literally brings a little special something to this week's campaigning. Philip Richard Perry, the vice president's five-week-old grandson is participating in his first election. Liz carries him on and off Air Force Two in his infant car seat, and he was spotted offstage today, enjoying a bottle during his grandpa's speech.
It didn't matter that it was the vice president of the United States speaking: it was time for Philip's fill-up.
--Josh Gross