Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing, Sean Sharifi and Katie Dyer of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

Friday's Headlines

* Poll Watch: One More Super Tuesday Survey

* National Journal: Kerry Most Liberal Senator

* Courting the Deaniacs

* Cheney Brings in the Big Bucks

* Hillary Clinton Takes on "The West Wing"

* Debate Preview

Poll Watch: Maybe Maryland is a Southern State After All: With only a few new polls to guide the candidates heading into the weekend, a new survey in Maryland from American Research Group (conducted Feb. 23-25; margin of error 4 percent) shows John Kerry has a surprisingly small lead in that Super Tuesday state. The poll has Kerry up over John Edwards 42 to 35, the smallest margin between the two in any of ARG's polls, which earlier in the week showed Kerry with an 8-point lead in Georgia.

Maryland (69 delegates)
ARG – MD 2/22-25 (600 interviews)
Kerry 42
Edwards 35
Sharpton 2
Kucinich 1
Undecided 15

Georgia (86 delegates)
Zogby 2/23-24 (395 interviews)
Kerry 39
Edwards 23
Sharpton 9
Kucinich 1
Undecided 21

ARG- GA 2/23-24 (600 interviews)
Kerry 45
Edwards 37
Sharpton 4
Kucinich 1
Undecided 11

New York (270 delegates)
Marist College 2/25 (417 interviews)
Kerry 64
Edwards 22
Sharpton 5
Kucinich 2
Undecided 7

ARG – NY 2/22-24 (600 interviews)
Kerry 54
Edwards 21
Sharpton 8
Kucinich 2
Undecided 11

Ohio (140 delegates)
ARG – OH 2/22-24 (600 interviews)
Kerry 47
Edwards 26
Kucinich 11
Sharpton 1
Undecided 12

California (370 delegates)
Field Poll 2/18-22 (958 interviews)
Kerry 60
Edwards 19
Kucinich 3
Sharpton 2

Los Angeles Times 2/18-22 (560 interviews)
Kerry 56
Edwards 24
Sharpton 4
Kucinich 1

Kerry Really is a Massachusetts Liberal: In a story that surely brought smiles to the entire Bush-Cheney staff, National Journal reports that John Kerry's voting record is the most liberal in the U.S. Senate. The other main Democratic alternative, John Edwards, ranks fourth.

National Journal's Richard Cohen reports: "Of the votes that Kerry cast in the two categories in which he did not receive scores in 2003 -- social policy and foreign policy -- he consistently took the liberal view within the Senate. Edwards did not receive a score in the foreign-policy category; he sided with the liberals on five votes in that area, and with the conservatives on one vote. On foreign policy, Kerry and Edwards -- both of whom supported the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of military force against Iraq -- last year joined most Senate Democrats in voting that half of the U.S. reconstruction aid to Iraq be provided as loans, a provision that ultimately was dropped.

"To be sure, Kerry's ranking as the No. 1 Senate liberal in 2003 -- and his earning of similar honors three times during his first term, from 1985 to 1990 -- will probably have opposition researchers licking their chops. As shown in the accompanying chart, Kerry had a perfect liberal rating on social issues during 10 of the 18 years in which he received a score, meaning that he did not side with conservatives on a single vote in those years. That included his 1996 vote, with 13 other Senate Democrats, against the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited federal recognition of states' same-sex marriage laws. Along the campaign trail, Republicans likely will remind voters of Kerry's stance on that issue."

Meanwhile, The New York Times takes a look at Kerry's attempt to portray himself as in-tune with workers and average Americans. "Kerry is talking nonstop about job losses, about the 'haves and have-nots,' about hardship and heartache in the industrial heartland. He is even surrounding himself with mill workers to prove his point — and retelling their stories about as often as Mr. Edwards mentions that he grew up in a textile town and saw the broken spirits of those whom global trade left behind," The Times reports.

"Mr. Kerry's transformation into an empathetic candidate with a decidedly blue collar on his navy pinstriped suit began months ago as he struggled to connect with audiences put off by his patrician manner and emotional distance."

On Friday Kerry tries to move the debate onto a part of his record that he likes, giving a speech in L.A. on terrorism and national security, the AP reports.

The Dean Factor: Howard Dean may have dropped out of the presidential race, but the race to win over his supporters means he's still a factor. In Minnesota, where 72 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, both Kerry and Edwards believe winning over Dean's followers will put them on the path to victory, reports the Associated Press.

According to CBS News Reporter Eric Salzman, about 100-200 Dean grassroots leaders met on Thursday night at Carpenter's Hall in Minneapolis, where representatives from both the Kerry and Edwards campaigns spoke with them. According to the Edwards campaign, two-thirds of the former Dean supporters voted "overwhelmingly" to support Edwards in Tuesday's caucus and also agreed to help with a massive get out the vote campaign for March 2.

Meanwhile, The Boston Globe questions whether the grassroots movement the Dean campaign created was about its leader or its creator. The question is becoming an issue as both, Dean and his former campaign manager, Joe Trippi, go after the campaign's many grassroots supporters for their new projects.

According to Dean's weblog, he will announce plans for a new organization on March 18th and he hopes to have his army of supporters by his side. "We are determined to keep this organization as vibrant as it was throughout our campaign -- and your involvement is crucial to success," he writes.

Meanwhile, Trippi has launched a website "Change for America" (similar to Dean's "Dean for America") and urged Dean's former supporters to come along. After writing that supporters need to continue the work "we were doing at Dean for America," he goes on to say, "the work is too important – and the community we built is too valuable – to end with the primaries."

Bringing in the Big Guns: The weather may still be cold in South Dakota but the senatorial race is heating up. Former Republican Rep. John Thune will hold a fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney on March 8, reports The Argus Leader. The fundraiser will consist of a $4,000-per-couple reception and a $100 general event to follow. Thune's race against incumbent Democrat Tom Daschle will be one of the most closesly watched this fall. Regardless, some people, like Republican state party chairman Randy Frederick, are hoping that visits from big names like Cheney will put South Dakota on the political map. "In and of itself, the fact that the vice president is coming here shows the significance of the role South Dakota can play in U.S. politics," said Frederick.

Both candidates anticipate spending upwards of $10 million in a state with a population of less than 800,000. Daschle recently raised $2 million at a Washington fundraiser featuring Bill Clinton and singer John Mellencamp. Daschle and Thune will also put some money toward running possible primary campaigns to be held on June 1. Cheney campaigned for Thune in the 2002 Senate campaign against Sen. Tim Johnson.

A Baseless Drumbeat: The line between fiction and reality blurred yesterday when Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., wrote a letter to fictional character Josh Lyman of NBC's "The West Wing." On Wednesday's episode, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman (played by actor Bradley Whitford) receives a briefing about military base closings from a "General Stanley," who says, "First on the list is Fort Drum in Upstate New York."

In response to the recommendation made in the fictional episode, Clinton and McHugh sent a letter addressed to "The West Wing of the Bartlett White House" requesting that the base not be closed. They write, "As members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees who also have the honor of representing Fort Drum, we want to make sure that such a recommendation doesn't make it into another West Wing scene. It is important that all White House advisers have the most current information to respond to such flawed proposals for the future of U.S. military facilities."

The Bartlett White House is "taking all facts into consideration" before making its final decision.

Debate Preview: CBS News, WCBS, the CBS-owned station in New York, and The New York Times will host "Countdown to Super Tuesday: The Democrats Debate," on Sunday. Edwards, Kucinich, Kerry and Sharpton have agreed to participate in the live debate from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 Noon, ET. Dan Rather will moderate the one-hour debate, and questions will be posed by Rather, CBS 2 political reporter Andrew Kirtzman and New York Times White House Correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller. More than 75% of the CBS stations have committed to carrying the debate. A list of these stations is available at cbsnews.com, which along with cbsnewyork.com, will webcast the event live.

Quote of the Day: "He's got more support there than Bush got in this country." – Sen. Tom Harkin on why U.S peacekeeping forces should be dispatched to Haiti. (Des Moines Register)