Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing, Dan Furman and Nathaniel Franks of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

Thursday's Headlines

* Bush Campaign Looking for Support at Congregations

* New Missives from Kerry

* Kerry-ing on About Abortion

* Howard Dean and Ralph Nader Speak in Washington

Bush-Cheney Aims for Their Own Christian Coalition: President Bush's campaign is actively recruiting members of at least 1,600 religious congregations in Pennsylvania by organizing "Friendly Congregations" to work on his re-election effort, including distributing campaign information and registering voters.

The effort could threaten the tax-exempt status of the organizations, the AP reports. "The IRS prohibits political campaign activity, for or against any candidate, from taking place at organizations that receive tax exempt status under a section of the federal tax code -- including most churches and religious groups. Violators could lose tax breaks and face excise taxes."

The AP obtained an e-mail sent by Luke Bernstein, a former staffer for Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who now works for Bush-Cheney in the Keystone State, that read: "I'd like to ask if you would like to serve as a coordinator in your place of worship … We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation."

A Bush campaign spokesman said other states would also be targeted for "Friendly Congregation" recruitment. The spokesman, Kevin Madden, tells the AP that the campaign did not mean to imply that religious supporters actually should congregate for the president at their places of worship. But he would not say whether the campaign is taking steps to make sure they do not.

"People of faith feel strongly about the president, are people we want to be part of our campaign," Madden said. "This message is intended to be from individual to individual. This is organizing with individuals who may be members of a church who we hope to identify as supporters and be part of our efforts."

The New York Times says: "The campaign's effort is the latest indication of its heavy bet on churchgoers in its bid for re-election. Mr. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and officials of Mr. Bush's campaign have often said that people who attended church regularly voted for him disproportionately in the last election, and the campaign has made turning out that group a top priority this year. But advisers to Mr. Bush also acknowledge privately that appearing to court socially conservative Christian voters too aggressively risks turning off more moderate voters."

"What was striking about the Pennsylvania e-mail message was its directness. Both political parties rely on church leaders — African-American pastors for the Democrats, for example, and white evangelical Protestants for the Republicans — to urge congregants to go the polls. And in the 1990's, the Christian Coalition developed a reputation as a political powerhouse by distributing voters guides in churches that alerted conservative believers to candidates' position on social issues like abortion and school prayer. But the Christian Coalition was organized as a nonpartisan, issue-oriented lobbying and voter-education organization, and in 1999 it ran afoul of federal tax laws for too much Republican partisanship. The Bush campaign, in contrast, appeared to be reaching out directly to churches and church members, seeking to distribute campaign information as well as ostensibly nonpartisan material, like issue guides and registration forms."

The news of a Bush effort to woo religious congregations should come as no surprise.

USA Today uses the e-mail to the Pennsylvania churches to take a look at the growing "religious gap" in the American electorate: "Voters who say they go to church every week usually vote for Republicans. Those who go to church less often or not at all tend to vote Democratic … Forget the gender gap. The "religion gap" is bigger, more powerful and growing."

"The religion gap is the leading edge of the 'culture war' that has polarized American politics, reshaped the coalitions that make up the Democratic and Republican parties and influenced the appeals their presidential candidates are making. The debate over same-sex marriage is expected to make it wider than ever this year. Gay rights, partial-birth abortion, definitions of patriotism and other 'values' issues are likely to exacerbate the divide between the most observant and others," USA Today reports.

Kerry Announces New National Security Ideas (Free Media), New Health Care Ads (Paid Media): John Kerry gives the final of three speeches on military affairs Thursday in Independence, Mo. The speech will focus on Kerry's plans to "bolster military readiness, expand and adapt our armed forces to meet the threats of global terrorism and weapons of mass murder, and utilize our National Guard to protect our homeland."

According to excerpts received by CBS News, Kerry is expected to call the stop-loss program a "back door draft" and say, "this has happened on the backs of the men and women who've already fulfilled their obligation to the armed forces and to our country – and it runs counter to the traditions of an all-volunteer military."

Kerry is also expected to criticize the military transformation under President Bush as not going far enough. In a conference call, members of Kerry's newly announced Senior Military Advisory Group gave reporters a taste of what Sen. Kerry's transformation plans involve. These include 40,000 new troops, specifically targeted at "overstretched" areas of the military including Special Forces and civil affairs. Also in the mix are new tasks for the National Guard, specifically using their technical training to respond to a nuclear or biological attack on the United States.

In other news from Kerryland, the campaign announced a new ad that will begin running on Friday. Entitled "Country," the ad focuses on health care. Kerry is seen talking to "voters" in a town hall style setting and says, "In the richest country on the face of the planet, no American ought to be struggling to be able to have health care." The 30-second ad joins "Optimists", announced Tuesday, as part of Kerry's $18 million ad buy for the month of June. According to the campaign, "Country" will be in rotation (CBS News hears approximately 50-50) with "Optimists" in 15 states, "Optimists" will continue to run in 5 states, and a 60-second bio ad will run in one state and on African American media outlets.

Kerry and Abortion: John Kerry is getting drawn further and further into the complicated politics of abortion, exactly where he does not want to be in the swing-voter-obsessed year. As the Washington Post reports, "Sen. John F. Kerry is getting pulled, sometimes reluctantly, into the national debate over abortion as result of recent court action, church politics and some pressure from Democrats outside of his campaign."

Kerry is being forced to deal with the issue as the result of both outside events and steps of his own a confluence of events. In the "outside events" category, Roman Catholic leaders have recently warned that politicians who disagree with church doctrine (i.e. who are pro-choice) should not receive Holy Communion and a federal court recently ruled on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

On his own, Kerry waded into the dilemma in May when he told the Associated Press, "I will not appoint somebody with a 5-4 court who's about to undo Roe v. Wade…But that doesn't mean that if that's not the balance of the court, I wouldn't be prepared ultimately to appoint somebody to some court who has a different point of view." While Kerry did back away from those comments, they certainly did nothing to quiet the issue.

The result seems to be irritation on both sides of the pro-choice/pro-life debate. The Catholic leadership is clearly unhappy enough to instruct priests not to give Communion. And in the pro-choice camp, one of its leaders, Gloria Feldt of Planned Parenthood, told the AP on Wednesday, "I think John Kerry understands viscerally reproductive rights as being related to women's human rights globally…But he's got to come up with some better language to talk about it, and I think he's being poorly advised, poorly served by some of his advisers at the moment."

As for Kerry himself, this will continue to be a very complicated dance. As spokesman David Wade told the Post, "John Kerry's personal feelings about church doctrine are a private matter. He's made it clear that he's committed to upholding a woman's right to privacy, and that he wants an America where abortion is safe, legal and rare." Quite the circle to square.

Nader, Dean Take the Podium in D.C.: Howard Dean speaks on Thursday to the Campaign for America's Future, a group of liberal activists meeting in Washington. He follows Hillary Clinton and financier George Soros, who is underwriting many Democratic anti-Bush organizations this year.

One person who won't address the group is North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. His spokesman, Kim Rubey would say only that a "conflict" had come up. A source told CBS News that Edwards is at the NATO meeting in Europe — perhaps a better venue for a VP wannabe who can attract Republicans and conservative Democrats but needs some foreign policy heft.

Ralph Nader is the luncheon speaker at the National Press Club focusing on the value of challenging the two-party system and claiming that our democracy is fixed from ballot access, to debate participation to how we count the vote.

Quote of the Day: "It's the reason I should be president ... or John Kerry should be president." – Sen. John Edwards, quickly correcting himself when asked about his differences with President Bush (L.A. Times)