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

You really had to study the president's wording to see what he was saying about those attack ads and the groups behind them. Questioned by reporters Monday at his ranch, Mr. Bush said he's against all the ads by so-called "527" groups, and against the unregulated contributions those groups get.

He didn't mention Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group behind the ad portraying Kerry as unfit for commander in chief and questioning his war record in Vietnam. But the president said he meant "that ad (and) every other ad."

He said he was denouncing "all of the stuff ... on TV" by 527 groups. And he was careful to distance himself from attacks on Kerry's service in Vietnam. "I think Sen. Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record," said the president.

But he called on Kerry to join in calling for those 527 groups to be put out of business. He said he thought the campaign finance bill he signed barred their operations.

None of this was enough for the Kerry-Edwards campaign but it is probably all it will get from Mr. Bush. The president feels himself to be the really aggrieved party, as the target of $63 million of attack ads from left-leaning, privately funded political groups.

During a 13-minute session with reporters, Mr. Bush was asked what we might expect from the speech he'll give at the Republican Convention next week. He didn't want to give anything away but, pressed by reporters, he spoke volumes:

"I'm looking forward to giving it. I want to talk about what I intend to do. We've got a great record, when you think about it — led the world and the war on terror; the world is safer as a result of the actions we've taken; Afghanistan is no longer run by the Taliban; Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell; Muammar Qaddafi has gotten rid of his weapons; Pakistan is an ally in the war on terror. There's more work to be done in fighting off these terrorists. I clearly see that. I understand that we've got to use all resources at our disposal to find and bring these people to justice.

"When you think about domestic politics, we've faced a recession, had tax cuts that encouraged economic growth and vitality. We've helped reform an education system with the No Child Left Behind Act. We've reformed Medicare, first administration ever to get Congress to move forward on Medicare reform.

"We got trade promotion authority; it opened up more markets for U.S. entrepreneurs and farmers and manufacturers.

"We've had a great record. But the only reason to even talk about the record is to say, give us a chance to move the country forward. We're people who can get the job done. We've proven to you we can get the job done, and there's more work to be done. And I'll talk about that in the convention. In other words, it's going to be a forward-looking speech."

The president also denied an Internet report that he was planning a quick trip to the Olympics. But he was coy about it. Asked if was going to Athens this week, he replied, "Athens, Texas?" Lone Star humor.

There are no public appearances on Mr. Bush's schedule on Tuesday. Two last days at the ranch before returning to the campaign trail on Thursday.
--Mark Knoller

SEN. JOHN KERRY, D-MASS.

Monday afternoon, the press corps was summoned to the head of the Charles River in Boston to wait for the candidate to ride by on his Harley, giving the media its only opportunity to lay eyes on him. However, after riding his motorcycle around the block where he has it parked, he chose to not go for a full-fledged ride after all, figuring he just didn't want to deal with the near-rush hour traffic on Storrow Drive.

Meantime, as the rest of the country talked about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against him, Kerry let his surrogates focus on the issue. Between a new ad released Sunday, repeated remarks from John Edwards, his fellow friendly veterans and even his campaign spokespeople, they seemed to cover all the bases in his defense.

A handful of veterans, including Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., held a conference call denouncing the anti-Kerry swift boat group calling them "destructive" and "hypocritical" and saying their allegations are "gross distortion(s)."

Later, when President Bush stopped short of condemning the SBVfT ad, Kerry's camp was incredulous that the president did not outright denounce the group. "He's a coward," said Kerry spokesman David Wade. "The president's a coward."

--Steve Chaggaris

SEN JOHN EDWARDS, D-N.C.

John Edwards was in the news again Monday for speaking out on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads that question Kerry's service in Vietnam.

At his town hall event in Racine, Wisc., running mate-turned-attack dog Edwards demanded the president say three "magic" words: "stop these ads." When Mr. Bush failed to do so at his Crawford, TX press availability, Edwards responded with a prepared statement upon landing at Oshkosh's regional airport.

"Today George Bush faced his moment of truth and he failed. He failed to condemn the specific attacks on John Kerry's military record," he said on the tarmac in front of his campaign plane. Calling Bush's response a "politician's answer," Edwards declared the swift boat ads would "continue to be an issue" until the president outright asks the 527 sponsoring the ads to pull the plug, almost guaranteeing the controversy will remain in the news in the days to come.

Following his statement to cameras, Edwards traveled to the Delta Family Restaurant (serving Oshkosh since 1986) to speak with voters on issues like healthcare and the economy. Neither Edwards nor the participants ate during the event, but the restaurant proved to be a fine place for the national press to file their swift boat ads stories: the conversation in the Oshkosh institution went largely unnoticed.

In his third event of the day in the Badger State, Edwards rallied several thousand residents of La Crosse on the banks of the Mississippi River. As the senator was introduced by Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold and daughter Cate, Edwards watched as a large boat covered in Bush/Cheney signs cruised back and forth behind the rally, its passengers using a bullhorn to shout out their decidedly pro-Bush, anti-Kerry/Edwards messages.

When Edwards took the stage, he acknowledged the distraction. The audience quickly went from jeers to cheers when the senator noted, "It's going in circles. It sounds very familiar, doesn't it?"

Edwards heads to yet another battle ground state Tuesday, when he travels to Ohio to address the Ohio AFL-CIO convention and attend an evening fundraiser in Cleveland.
--Bonney Kapp