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
His nomination at the Republican National Convention that starts today is a foregone conclusion. But his re-election is not.
That's why President Bush won't be in New York today, or tomorrow for that matter. Or until Wednesday afternoon.
He figures his time is better spent campaigning in states indispensable to his strategy for winning a second term.
Today his targets are New Hampshire and Michigan. Both are battleground states decided in 2000 by narrow margins.
New Hampshire was one of the narrowest. Candidate Bush won the state four years ago by just 1.27% of the vote. The Bush campaign figures that's just 28 votes per ward. Definitely not a margin Mr. Bush can take for granted. New Hampshire has only four electoral votes, but in a race this tight, Mr. Bush cannot afford to lose any that were his last time around.
In Nashua, he's doing one of his "Ask President Bush" campaign events at which the questions from ardent supporters often border on the sycophantic.
Today marks his 8th visit as President to the Granite State and the 4th so far this year.
Later in the day, the president does another rally in Taylor, Michigan, outside Detroit.
Mr. Bush lost Michigan in 2000 but feels he cannot surrender it unchallenged to John Kerry. The Bush campaign argues that the economy is improving in Michigan, even though the unemployment rate is still above the national average. Further, the president's political operatives boast that they've built "an unprecedented grassroots operation" in Michigan to get supporters of both parties and independents registered and to the polls on November 2nd.
Mr. Bush spends the night in the state and heads out Tuesday morning to Nashville to address the American Legion National Convention.
Yesterday, the president was campaign in Wheeling, West Virginia. The Bush campaign sought to portray the president as best friend of coal miners and steelworkers.
At the WesBanco Arena, he met privately with a half-dozen Weirton steelworkers who support his re-election, even though their union has endorsed John Kerry. Then Mr. Bush addressed some 10,000 supporters at a rally. He was introduced by Rick Casini, the union shop steward at Weirton Steel, who proclaimed himself a Democrat who supports Bush. He said the protectionist tariffs the president imposed "saved West Virginia," even though Mr. Bush removed the tariffs halfway through their three-year run to avoid a trade war over the tariffs. Casini was joined on stage by a few other union members wearing "Steelworkers For Bush" t-shirts.
On the issue of steel, the president told cheering supporters: "I thought I needed to stand up for steel - and I did stand up for steel." He also leveled a new flip-flop charge against John Kerry on the issue of clean coal technology. Mr. Bush quoted Kerry as calling coal a "a dirty source" of energy, before voting to support Clean Coal Technology. "He shifted," said Mr. Bush. "He's out there mining for votes."
But at the same time, Mr. Bush portrayed himself as an avid angler and hunter in a state where fishing and hunting is a way of life. And he admitted that in West Virginia, "I'm hunting for votes." Really?
--Mark Knoller
SEN. JOHN KERRY, D-MASS.
Senator Kerry this week is taking the last opportunity to rest his body and his voice before the final two-month push towards Election Day.
Before arriving at his vacation home in Nantucket, Massachusetts shortly after 2 a.m., Sunday morning, he wrapped up a long week of campaigning with events Friday night and Saturday in Washington State.
Fatigue seemed to set in Friday as he began a town hall meeting in Everett, Washington - designed to be interactive between the audience and the candidate - with a windy, 49-minute opening statement. On Saturday, he addressed a rally in Tacoma where, despite at least five audience members requiring medical attention during his remarks, he spoke for 47 minutes to the crowd of an estimated 20,000 that had been standing for hours.
While Kerry is expected to lay low in Nantucket this week, with a diversion on Wednesday to Nashville to address the American Legion, on Sunday he surprised reporters by taking an unannounced windsurfing excursion near his beachfront home.
A network correspondent and camera crew were taping a segment for a story at Brant Point, about a quarter of a mile from Kerry's beachfront home in Nantucket, when suddenly several Secret Service agents, police and Coast Guard came into view. As the reporter took a closer look, he noticed Kerry on the water, struggling with the sail on his windsurfing board.
"I barely got out. I was testing my stuff," Kerry said later, after his virtually windless surfing attempt.
Assuming he'll get some wind Monday, though only 10-15 mph winds are predicted, he told reporters he'll "go out" again.
And making sure to formally invite the press to his next outing, he then added, "You can come."
--Steve Chaggaris
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, D-N.C.
Sunday morning, Edwards' staffers were unfazed by the fact that Tropical Storm Gaston was brewing in the Carolinas despite the fact that the beach town of Wilmington, N.C., was the campaign's destination. As press and staff waited on board the campaign's 727 for what was supposed to be a 3:30 p.m. departure, the flight crew warned there would be a significant delay.
When the takeoff time came and went, the press deplaned and piled into vans for a new destination: Sen. Edwards' Georgetown home. The on-camera statement Edwards was to deliver on the tarmac of D.C.'s Reagan National Airport turned into a gaggle with reporters on the sidewalk of Edwards' four-story brick home on P Street.
After a 16-second sound bite blasting President Bush's revelation to Time Magazine that the Iraq war was a "catastrophic success," the senator invited questions for the first time in 15 days to a stunned press corps. Three follow-up questions later, press secretary Mark Kornblau threw out the "thank you" that indicates time is up.
"We can do one more," the senator said as the press eeked out two more questions.
Edwards then walked back into his home, but not before one more question was thrown out. A reporter who had been sitting on the idle airplane joked that the traveling press corps could stay for dinner. Laughing, the senator replied, "If we're going to have dinner here, I'd like to know that."
Edwards' plane took off from D.C., three-and-a-half hours after it was set to leave. Passing some impressive clouds along the way, the flight landed without incident at Wilmington's tiny airport.
Edwards will step away from his stump speech focusing on "hope" to deliver a speech on foreign policy Monday, the first day of the Republican National Convention. In a press release, the campaign wrote: "Stripping away the slogans, failed policies and personal attacks swirling around New York this week, Edwards said the Bush administration has led America down the wrong path in the wake of September 11th, and that only a new president and a new approach can make America as safe as it can be."
--Bonney Kapp
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY
A man bringing his family to Ellis Island in search of work and a prosperous future is not an uncommon image considering the history of the New York Harbor landmark. Having the governor, a former mayor, a Cabinet member, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and a cheering crowd herald this arrival is certainly unique.
Vice President Cheney arrived on the island Sunday to deliver a speech that kicked off Republican National Convention. Accompanied by his wife Lynne, his daughters and grandchildren, Cheney's brief speech drew heavily upon Ellis Island being the locale that thousands of immigrants passed by on their way to becoming Americans.
It was impossible, though, to ignore the fact that the backdrop for the speech was also a New York City skyline that more notable for what it was missing than what was actually behind the vice president and across the harbor. The audience's line of sight was drawn over the water to Lower Manhattan, the spot where the World Trade towers once stood.
Cheney did not avoid the subject. Referring to the terrorist strikes on 9/11, he said, "They have attacked our nation and they wish to do us further harm, and it is from them that we must protect our children, our country, and our future."
He continued by stating why he's staying in New York for the entire convention.
"My job here this week and in the two months ahead, is to tell people all across America about how strong and steadfast our president is -- how compassionate and concerned. He is exactly the leader we need for these times. And we need him for four more years."
In the city, this is a very touchy subject. Many protesters feel the Republicans are taking advantage of 9/11 tragedy for political gain. Beware the convention delegate who wears any overtly GOP clothing or paraphernalia or they could be subject to jeers and threats.
Delegates could be seen scurrying back to their hotel rooms in Times Square as they are told to go home or even accused of having the blood of 9/11 victims on their hands and consciences.
Later in the day, the vice president toured the main stage of Madison Square Garden. He and Lynne both checked the sound system by reading sections of the Gettysburg Address and made sure the blockish podium and teleprompters were at the right height. Both husband and wife will speak Wednesday night.
Asked if he had any surprises for the speech, the vice president laughed it off and said, "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."
It is expected that the speech will draw on many of the same themes Cheney has used on the campaign trail in the past few weeks, especially the war on terror and security. He'll draw a distinction between the president's actions over the past three years and the perceived weaknesses of John Kerry's campaign proposals and Senate voting record.
--Josh Gross