Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, Allison Davis, David Berlin, Alexandra Cosgrove and Allen Alter from the CBS News Political and Campaign '04 Units have the latest political news from Washington and from the trail.

Poll Watch: Down to the Wire

National Polls
ABC/Washington Post
Bush-Cheney 49%
Kerry-Edwards 48
Nader-Camejo 1
Undecided 2
Poll conducted October 24 through 27 among 1747 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 3 percent

State Polls
Colorado
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 47%
Kerry-Edwards 48
Other 3
Undecided 3
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Florida
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 48%
Kerry-Edwards 47
Other 3
Undecided 3
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Iowa
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 44%
Kerry-Edwards 45
Other 4
Undecided 7
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Michigan
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 47%
Kerry-Edwards 45
Other 1.6
Undecided 6
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Detroit News
Mitchell Research
Bush-Cheney 42%
Kerry-Edwards 47
Other 1
Undecided 10
Poll conducted October 21, and 25 through 26 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4 percent.

South Bend Tribune
Research 2000
Bush-Cheney 46%
Kerry-Edwards 50
Other 1
Undecided 3
Poll conducted October 25 through 27 among 600 people, margin of error plus or minus 4 percent.

Minnesota
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 46%
Kerry-Edwards 45
Other 3
Undecided 6
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

New Mexico
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 49%
Kerry-Edwards 43
Other 3
Undecided 5
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Nevada
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 50%
Kerry-Edwards 45
Other 1.5
Undecided 4
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Ohio
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 44%
Kerry-Edwards 47
Other 3
Undecided 7
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Pennsylvania
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 47%
Kerry-Edwards 47
Other 1.7
Undecided 5
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Wisconsin
Zogby
Bush-Cheney 46%
Kerry-Edwards 49
Other 1.2
Undecided 4
Poll conducted October 25 through 28 among 601 likely voters, margin of error plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Senate Watch: Oh So Close

South Dakota is one of the more interesting Senate races this election cycle as the current Senate Minority Leader, Tom Daschle, fights to keep his job. A new poll (conducted 10/19 to 10/21) for the Argus Leader newspaper shows Daschle holding a small lead over former Representative John Thune with 49 percent to Thune's 47 percent. CBS News has been told that Daschle's own polling shows the same two-point lead.

Thune ran for the Senate in 2002, losing by an extremely narrow margin. He has name recognition throughout the state and is campaigning on the notion that Daschle's agenda is more about Senate Democrats and less about issues of concern to South Dakota residents.

Daschle, on the other hand, is talking about his record and experience as a leader in the Senate. There are only 491,415 registered voters in South Dakota and while both candidates focus the next four days on getting out the vote, there will most likely be just over 300,000 voters in South Dakota. The money has been astronomical for this small state. As of 10/13 Daschle had raised $19,011,509; Thune, $13,992,749.

With all these close races, which party controls the Senate may not be decided until after Nov. 2. Louisiana has a tight race between Republican Congressman David Vitter and Democratic Congressman Chris John, but the state's voting system is such that their primary is on Nov. 2 and there are other Democrats competing with John for the Democratic nomination. If no candidate receives a decisive majority on Nov. 2, there will be a run-off election for this open Senate seat on Dec. 4.

As the Washington Post reports Friday, "the outcome may not be known until Louisiana finishes voting, more than a month after the polls have closed everywhere else. And if the outcome is close and Sen. John F. Kerry is elected president, the wait could be even longer -- possibly until late spring -- when a new Massachusetts law provides for a special election to choose Kerry's successor.

Parties Wrangle in Court over Crucial Ohio Voters

In the crucial battleground state of Ohio, Democratic and Republican lawyers faced off Thursday to dispute the rights of thousands of Ohioans to vote reports The New York Times. Ohio Republicans are specifically challenging 23,000 new voter registrations in 62 counties.

The move comes after Judge Susan J. Dlott of the Cincinnati Federal District court temporarily blocked hearings for those challenging in six counties that include Cuyahoga and Franklin-- the two largest counties in the state. Republicans have appealed the ruling and hope to proceed with hearings on Friday and throughout the weekend.

In Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, more than 17,000 challenges have been filed but election officials fear that there is not enough time for all of them to have hearings. Other counties, which were not covered under Judge Dlott's order, went ahead with hearings Thursday.

Last week Republicans started challenging more than 35,000 voters after suspecting possible voter fraud. Approximately 12,000 challenges have been dismissed or withdrawn so far. Democrats say that most challenges were against legal voters including some in the military.

In Franklin County, thousands of people have come forward with documents to prove their claims of residency. Election officials say that they have copied the documents and plan to dismiss challenges against those people. Republicans, however, say they will monitor polling stations on Election Day to challenge some people when they show up to vote, especially in Democratic urban areas. But many of the voters whose challenges were dismissed have been granted Election Day immunity by election officials.

The Columbus Dispatch also reports that the Delaware County Board of Elections voted last night to dismiss all challenges filed last week by the Republican Party. The board said that the Republicans evidence of voter fraud was simply not enough. When asked for additional evidence, David Timms, an attorney for the Ohio Republican Party, told the board he was not prepared to answer. He asked for an extension but was told he was out of time.

Kerry With Bruce Again; Bush Gains a Son but Loses A Pitcher:

John Kerry campaigns today at rallies in Orlando, West Palm Beach and Miami -- again joined by Bruce Springsteen. President Bush campaigns in Manchester and Portsmouth, N.H., but special guest Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has been sidelined with a bad foot. The president is joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for rallies in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio. His campaign put out a video on his campaign website in which he is introduced by his daughters and talks about their dog Barney, "the son I never had."

John Edwards campaigns at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse; and in Muskegon, Michigan, and Raleigh, North Carolina joined by Jon Bon Jovi. And then he goes to vote early North Carolina before heading off to stay in Marietta, Ohio for the night.

Vice President Cheney rallies in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Diamondale, Michigan and Montoursville, Pennsylvania. He is warming up for the biggest prize of all. He is the designated hitter to go to Hawaii, a state that looks to be competitive in the last days of the campaign. Al Gore and Kerry daughter Alexandra campaign there to try to keep it in the Democratic column..

Trail Bytes

Here are reports from CBS News reporters in the field:

CBS News' Steve Chaggaris is with the Kerry campaign:

Kerry Trail Byte:

With polls showing John Kerry and President Bush running close in Hawaii and word that Vice President Dick Cheney is going to campaign there, the Kerry folks decided on the fly Thursday they couldn't ignore the usually solid Democratic state.

As Kerry landed in Orlando, Florida, reporters were told that his daughter Alexandra was en route to the Aloha state to campaign Friday for her dad. KGMB, the CBS affiliate in Honolulu, reports that former Vice President Al Gore will join her at Farrington High School before Kerry splits off and helps "get out the vote" by holding signs on a roadside with supporters.

Alexandra Kerry's visit comes just after the Democratic National Committee began running ads on Kerry's behalf, and one day after former President Bill Clinton did a round of satellite interviews with Honolulu TV stations from his Chappaqua home.

On Friday, Kerry is campaigning in a much larger warm-weather state, Florida, where he delivered a speech that was basically a "best of" his stump points. Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry described it as "the summary of the summary, the summary of the closing arguments, the Cliff Notes version of the closing arguments."

He also holds rallies in West Palm Beach and Miami -- where Bruce Springsteen has been added to the schedule -- before heading to Appleton, Wisconsin for a rally on Saturday. In addition to Wisconsin, he'll visit Iowa, Ohio and New Hampshire this weekend before heading back to Florida.

Meantime, no matter how many times Kerry tries to sound like an "average Joe" (he loves to replace "must" with "have to" and "will" with "gotta" in his speeches) he consistently tends to revert back to his 'highfalutin' vocabulary using such terms as "palpable" and "nanosecond."

An example of this was at Ohio State University on Thursday as he was thanking The Boss for his opening remarks and songs. The way Kerry sang Springsteen's praises definitely raised a few eyebrows.

"This guy is one of the most eloquent, you heard him, one of our sort of minstrel poets, if you will, of America," said Kerry to the crowd of largely college students who probably never have thought of the "Born in the U.S.A." singer as a "minstrel poet."

In another interesting language moment, Kerry seemed to have a momentary Vietnam flashback earlier in Toledo as he took a sharp turn when complimenting the crowd, which had taken to stomping their feet loudly in approval of his remarks.

"That thunder sound, it sounds like rolling thunder... those of us who were in Vietnam, rolling thunder was this bombing campaign and it is eerily, it eerily sounds similar to what we used to hear," Kerry said, sounding a little too serious for the occasion. However, he immediately lightened up adding, "As long as it's directed in the right place, folks, it's OK."

CBS News' Mark Knoller is out with the Bush campaign:

Knoller Nugget:

There was this understatement of the day Thursday evening from President Bush: "We're coming down the stretch. There's not many days left."

To say the least. And for that reason each day counts more than ever.

Friday takes candidate Bush to New Hampshire and Ohio. He won both states four years ago, and needs to keep them in his win column. But with five times the four electoral votes of New Hampshire, Ohio is in a league of its own. Also, no Republican has won the presidency without Ohio in his column. This visit is the president's third visit to the state in as many days.

In the evening when he campaigns in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Bush will be joined by movie star Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A dozen years ago, Schwarzenegger campaigned for Bush's dad when he was running for re-election in the New Hampshire primary against Pat Buchanan. In his best Terminator voice and borrowing a line from the movie, Schwarzenegger told cheering crowds "I have a message for Pat Buchanan: Hasta La Vista, Baby."

Wouldn't you love to see a poll on whether these celebrities have any affect whatsoever on the election choice of any voters?

That's the slogan the Republican National Committee uses at the campaign rallies it sponsors for the president. And it was also the issue Mr. Bush tried to use against John Kerry on Thursday.

At a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, the president portrayed himself as steady and true, while casting Kerry as indecisive, inconsistent and unfit to serve as leader of the free world. "Senator Kerry has taken a lot of different positions but he rarely takes a stand," said Mr. Bush. "He's run a campaign of contradictions. I think it's fair to say consistency is not the Senator's strong suit."

The president slammed Kerry for what he said was a demonstrated willingness "to say anything he thinks will help him politically."

"The senator's willingness to trade principle for political convenience makes it clear that John Kerry is the wrong man for the wrong job at the wrong time."

Later, at a rally in Westlake, Ohio, retired Army General Tommy Franks joined the fray, delivering a blistering attack on Kerry.

"I don't know John Kerry's plan for victory but I do know that his criticism of military conduct of our global war on terrorism denigrates, disrespects our troops."

The blast was in response to Kerry's recent assertions that the U.S. military had Osama bin-Laden in its sights and failed to get him.

Franks made no effort to conceal his lack of confidence in Kerry serving as commander in chief. "I also know that he cannot lead troops to victory in a war, when he has made it perfectly clear he does not support the cause."

Retired from active duty, Franks was free to make clear whom he's supporting in the election.

"I'm not a politician but I know what a commander in chief looks like and there's only one on the ballot and that's George W. Bush."

It was a four-star blast from a retired four-star military officer.

CBS News' Bonney Kapp reports from the Edwards campaign:

Edwards Trail Byte:

Senator Edwards rallies on Friday in Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina, where he'll be joined again by rocker Jon Bon Jovi. Later, Edwards and his wife Elizabeth will join early voters in Raleigh, as the first of the four principles to cast a ballot.

The celebrity factor is all part of an effort to generate excitement and increase momentum to Election Day. That's why Edwards shared the stage with superstars this week, blurring the lines between celebrity and politics. Supporters waved signs reading, "Iowa loves John, John, and Jon," as Jon Bon Jovi sang in Iowa for the all John ticket. Teenage girls screeched as hard for the Senator as they did for the rock star.

Movie star Jake Gyllenhall missed his cameo with John Edwards in Duluth, Minnesota Thursday because of fog that delayed his flight. Instead, daughter Cate Edwards introduced her father and got more personal than any celebrity. She called her dad "the guy who loves the beach and who I turn to for advice and completely embarrasses me every time he tries to dance."

Leonardo DiCaprio spoke at Edwards' Indianola, Iowa rally prior to the candidate's arrival, prompting Lynne Cheney to comment at her husband's event. "Who needs Leonardo DiCaprio when we got Norm Coleman? This is the kind of symbolism I like here; the Democrats are campaigning with the guy that went down on the Titanic," she said to cheers.

Veteran rock star and Kerry campaigner Bon Jovi hopped on the Edwards plane after singing three songs to a gym full of mostly college students at Simpson College in Indianola. "It's a very important election, as we all know," he said at a rally later Thursday night at North High School in Davenport. "There's great differences between the two candidates and this evening, I'm fortunate enough because of this to be with you folks up here, but on November 2nd, you have the microphone, remember that. The world's going to be listening."

While celebrities made it interesting, Edwards was in the news Thursday in a face-off with Rudy Giuliani over the missing 380 tons of explosives in Iraq. The back and forth began when Giuliani declared, "No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really rests with the troops who were there," on NBC's "Today Show."

Edwards called Giuliani Bush's "chief surrogate" and declared, "Our men and women in uniform, our military, they did their job. It was George Bush, the commander in chief who didn't do his job." He added, "When George Bush is going to have his friends out there blaming the troops, then he ought to have the evidence to go with the claims." Edwards said the President failed to accept responsibility and "it is time for him to step aside."

Giuliani responded with a statement issued by the Bush/Cheney campaign, saying his remarks were taken out of context. "If John Edwards is looking for someone who is blaming our troops without the facts, he need look no further than his running mate, John Kerry."

This likely won't be the last time Edwards and Giuliani go head to head as two who may be waging their battle in '08 or '12.

CBS News' Josh Gross is with the Cheney campaign:

Cheney Trail Byte:

If you are lucky enough to be invited to a coffee roundtable with Vice President Cheney, it is likely that you will hear at least one of several topics discussed. Usually it's a question based on 'No Child Left Behind' or rising health care costs or small business costs asked by a teacher or health care professional or small business owner. Participants are handpicked to stack the questions toward standard, everyday domestic issues.

But every once in a while, you get something different. Like a question about MILC.

MILC is the Milk Income Loss Contract, a part of the 2002 Farm Bill that subsidizes the cost for milk producers if dairy prices drop below a certain level. It is very popular in states like Wisconsin, where the vice president started his day on Thursday.

While the majority of the farm bill is set to expire in 2007, the section pertaining to MILC will end in 2005. The rumor around the state is the Bush administration has no plan to extend the program. Where would a rumor like this come from? The Internet, of course.

According to the johnkerry.com, "Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry Monday criticized the president for not coming clean and being straight with the American people, including keeping secret his reported plan to abandon America's dairy farmers after the election by doing away with the MILC price support and raising taxes on dairy farmers." Democrats have also suggested that the White House has leaned on lawmakers to keep the issue out of legislative discussion.

Fueling the speculation, Democratic supporters in Schoefield, Wisconsin had a 30-foot inflatable cow outside the Log Cabin Coffee House, where Cheney was holding his event. They booed and jeered as the vice president's motorcade arrived.

After brief remarks on the war on terror and a question about gun rights, a local dairy farmer asked the vice president to clarify the subject.

"The fact is the president is the one who signed it into law as part of the '02 farm bill, Cheney said bluntly. "It's slated to be phased out next year, at the end of next year, so it will have to be extended, but the president has made a commitment to work with Congress to do exactly that."

It wouldn't be a campaign stop, though, without a swipe at the Democrats. "John Kerry on the other hand, his past involvement in these issues, is not consistent with the interest of Wisconsin dairy farmers, but I'm convinced the program will be extended, the administrated is committed to that," Cheney continued. "We are going to work with Congress to see to it that we get the job done."

Then after some back and forth with those at the table, the vice president added, "Somebody needs to go let the air out that cow across the street over there. I don't want to suggest violence now...." he trailed off, possibly alluding to the gun owner rights question he just answered.

Quote Of The Day: "Yes, absolutely (I would like to be eligible to run for president). Why not? With my way of thinking, you always shoot for the top." --California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, on Sunday's "60 Minutes." (CBSNews.com)