Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Steve Chaggaris, Clothilde Ewing, Nicola Corless, Smita Kalokhe and Joanna Schubert of The CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

"If the strategy doesn't work, I'm mature enough and have been in this business long enough to say you don't close off other options," Boxer told the Mercury News. "We'll know in the next five, six, seven days."

The embattled (not to mention uncharacteristically animated) Davis, meanwhile, told a cheering crowd of union supporters that the recall is "a bunch of B.S. – and we're going to let them know it," the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Davis also said that if he wins the recall fight, he would not have the state reimburse his campaign's costs, as is permitted by law. Davis called on the GOP challengers for his job to pay back the state for the cost of the recall vote should they lose.

Next week, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York will campaign for Davis in the Bay Area and San Diego. Former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore are also expected to campaign for Davis in the coming weeks.

One Democrat who thinks the Davis-only approach won't work is porno king Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine. Flynt, 61, has taken out papers to run should Davis be recalled, the Chronicle reports. Flynt, who's made a fortune in the adult entertainment industry, says he's a registered Democrat who's "known for more than pornography." (He also owns a chain of strip clubs.) He says he'd "do a better job balancing the budget than those bureaucrats in Sacramento."

If nothing else, Flynt's campaign posters should be interesting.

For more recall news – including Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to announce his decision on running on late-night TV and a pledge by DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe and California Democratic Party chair Art Torres that popular Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not appear on the Oct. 7 ballot – click here.

Polls And Taxes: Voters in the first-in-the-South primary state of South Carolina haven't exactly chosen a front-runner, but Sen. Joe Lieberman still leads the pack at 13 percent, according to a new Zogby International poll released Friday. Behind Lieberman are Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt and Rev. Al Sharpton at 8 percent, with Sharpton doubling his number from the last poll conducted in March.

Despite hopes to pick up his birthplace and neighboring state, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards finds himself tied with Sen. John Kerry at 5 percent. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is at next 4 percent; followed by Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Carol Moseley Braun, both at 3 percent; and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich with 0.2 percent. But there might be room for improvement, since the survey of 501 likely voters in the Feb. 3 Democratic primary found that 42 percent of South Carolinians were undecided.

"With numbers like those in South Carolina, Al Sharpton can make a real name for himself. With just 5 percent and from a neighboring state, John Edwards has got to be thinking about the Senate seat he currently holds," John Zogby said in a release, perhaps making a bit more out of the tiny numbers than is warranted.

But there's a consolation prize for Edwards today on the tax issue. After the Washington Times revealed Thursday that Edwards was four months delinquent in paying property taxes on his Georgetown home, there's word that two other Democratic candidates also failed to pay their taxes on time. The Washington Post reports that John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, owes more than $10,000 from the Heinz family trust for overdue taxes and interest on a property in Nantucket, Mass. (The bank in charge of the trust is paying the bill Friday.) And Howard Dean has been late in paying his taxes twice, but he just owes the paltry sums of $61 and $52 in fines for missing the Vermont deadlines by a couple of weeks.

Brotherly Love Goes Only So Far: In an unlikely move, Jeb Bush criticized his brother's administration on Thursday, following a White House decision to return 12 boat-hijacking suspects to Cuba. The Florida governor condemned the verdict in an interview with the Miami Herald.

"Despite the good intentions of the administration to negotiate the safety of these folks, that is an oppressive regime, and given the environment in Cuba, it's just not right," said Gov. Bush. After negotiations with Cuba, the Bush administration agreed to return the suspects. Upon their return to Cuba, the 12 suspects' lives would be spared, although they could face up to 10 years in prison.

The governor's remarks come at a particularly vulnerable time when the president and the GOP are facing diminishing support among Cuban American exile leaders. Nonetheless, Jeb stood by his comments saying, "There's an expectation that I'm going to be in lock step with the administration, and that tends to happen. But from time to time I have to disagree, and this is one of them."

Hoping to avoid any further political fallout, the Florida governor made haste to praise the Bush administration's overall record on Cuba.

Daschle's Summer Blog: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., plans to do something a little different during this year's August recess: he'll still be riding around South Dakota but this year he'll be wired.

Every year, Daschle spends the month making unscheduled stops in most of the state's 66 counties. During his stops, he heads to local businesses and government buildings, and chats with constituents. This year, at the urging of his staff, he'll be writing about his experiences in a daily Web diary, influenced by the growing popularity of Web logs, or "blogs."

"Every year, my annual driving tour is filled with interesting experiences and amazing people," Daschle said. "I have been looking for a way to share those experiences with the people of South Dakota. And a web log seems like a great way to accomplish that goal – it lets people follow along with me as I travel the state."

"He always comes back with stories from these trips," Daschle spokesman Dan Pfeiffer told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. "This an opportunity to share those with everyone else."

Daschle's aides say this shouldn't be much of a stretch for him since he normally updates his staff daily via e-mail while he's on these tours.

His driving tour starts in Rapid City next Thursday, as will the daily blogs that can be accessed on Daschle's Web site.

This is just another way for Daschle to be in touch with voters as he begins a really tough re-election campaign in 2004. And it's not a bad one at that, considering South Dakota is the "most wired state in the nation," according to the state's economic development office.

Weekend Ahead: On Friday, Dick Gephardt heard some good news from the Teamsters who had a conference call to make their endorsement official, although he won't be appearing on stage with them until August 9, after Tuesday's big candidate forum at the AFL-CIO meeting in Chicago.

This weekend, the candidates are saying enough with the big city. After getting poked and prodded at Bethesda Naval on Saturday, President Bush heads to Crawford, where he will set up base for the next month. Howard Dean campaigns in Maine and New Hampshire, before heading to fundraisers in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Bob Graham and Carol Moseley Braun are in Iowa. Dennis Kucinich campaigns in Nebraska and California. Joe Lieberman hits New Hampshire on Friday morning, is down for the Sabbath on Saturday and takes Sunday off as well. John Edwards is out of the public eye with no events scheduled all weekend.

Friday 8/1:
Howard Dean attends rally with supporters in Bangor, Maine. Bob Graham attends economic roundtable and dessert reception with Truman Club in Sioux City, Iowa. John Kerry meets with college students at Suffolk University in Boston and attends the opening ceremony for the Pan Mass Challenge Bike Ride in Sturbridge, Mass. Dennis Kucinich takes part in Forum on Proposed New Mini-nukes in Omaha, Neb. Joe Lieberman takes "Joe's Jobs Tour" to Manchester, N.H. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., campaigns on behalf of Dick Gephardt at a campaign reception in Albuquerque, N.M. Other: American Constitution Society's First National Convention begins in Washington, where Sen. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak at the opening lunch.

Saturday 8/2:
President Bush has check-up at Bethesda Naval and then heads to Crawford for a month (the first week will be down time and then there will be frequent campaign travel and official engagements for the next three weeks). Dean attends a meet the candidate breakfast at the American Legion in Salem and then attends a house party in Nashua, N.H. Graham attends workday at Little Sioux Ethanol Plant and has dinner with beef producers and then attends meet and greet with county leaders and the public at the Kossuth County Fair in Iowa. Kucinich attends receptions in La Canada and Sherman Oaks, Calif. and then attends a "Conversations with Dennis" affair in Brentwood.

Sunday 8/3:
Carol Moseley Braun participates in Sen. Tom Harkin's "Hear It From The Heartland" series in Waterloo, Iowa. Dean attends fundraisers on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Grahamcampaigns in Mason City and Fort Dodge, Iowa. Kucinich attends a reception in Long Beach and then an Orange County Kick-Off Rally and Reception in Santa Ana, Calif.

Quote of the Day: "If they do the trashy campaign on Dick Riordan ... I think there are going to be prominent Democrats that will defect and just say, 'We're tired of that puke politics. Don't you dare do it again or we're just going to help pull the plug.'" - California Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer (Sacramento Bee)