Washington Wrap

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

Friday's Headlines

* Bush Heads to Battleground W.V. as CBS Poll Shows Tight Race in Key States

* Kerry Makin' Money

* Record-Breaking Ad War Continues to Boil

* Daschle Looking Strong

* California: The Real Differences between The Arnold and The Gray

They're Called Battlegrounds for a Reason: As President Bush headed to West Virginia on Friday for a "job creation" event and to tout the new job numbers. The latest CBS News shows the race between Bush and presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry neck and neck in the 18 so-called battleground states where November's election is expected to be decided.

The survey found Bush losing ground to Kerry nationally – 48 percent to 43 percent – but in the battlegrounds, it's a different story with the president and his challenger in a statistical dead heat, 47 percent to 45 percent.

After his event in West Virginia, the president travels to the Georgia resort Reynolds Plantation, owned by Bush-Cheney national finance chairman Mercer Reynolds, for a thank-you event for big-time fundraisers. On Thursday night, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, held a thank-you barbeque at the resort.

The three-day event is for fund-raisers known as Rangers, supporters who have raised more than $200,000; Pioneers, who have raised more than $100,000; and Mavericks, contributors under 40 who have raised more than $50,000.

Over the weekend, Bush will be at Camp David.

Kerry meanwhile, is keeping a low profile over the next couple of days. Still recovering from his shoulder surgery in Boston, Kerry cancelled an appearance on Imus on Friday morning but is still planning on recording the Democratic radio address, which airs on Saturday. As for Sunday, he is planning one public appearance at Charles Street AME Church in Dorchester, Mass.

Ralph Nader continues his campaign to gather signatures to put him on state ballots in Virginia on Friday and then he will travel to Seattle and Portland over the weekend.

Kerry Has a (Very) Good First Quarter: The Kerry campaign announced Friday that it has raised $50 million in the first quarter, setting "new fundraising records for any Democrat and non-incumbent for a month and for a quarter," according to a campaign press release. While the AP reports the Bush-Cheney campaign will report similar strong figures, the presumptive Democratic nominee's first quarter haul is "smashing Democratic Party records and signaling a party-wide fundraising resurgence for Democrats," according to the Washington Post.

In a conference call with reporters, Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill called the effort, the "Largest grass roots uprising ever," and said that the campaign had raised $38 million in March alone, shattering "the $29 million non-incumbent record set by Candidate Bush in the second quarter of 1999. By comparison, Vice President Gore raised $34 million total for his primary campaign and President Clinton raised $28.5 million for his 1996 campaign."

The first quarter haul brings the Kerry camp's total receipts to $75 million and puts it well on its way to the $80 million goal set for 2004.

The Kerry largesse came from a variety of sources including direct mail, telemarketing, gala dinners and the 2004 fundraising darling, the Internet. According to Kerry's director of Internet strategy and operations, Josh Ross, $26.7 million came over the Web, with donations averaging $109 from 245,000 individual donors. The Internet operation also set a one-day fundraising record on March 4, when the campaign took in $2.6 million in a 24-hour period. And this feat was accomplished without the much-vaunted list of former candidate Howard Dean. When pressed about why the campaign had not obtained Dean's list, Cahill replied, "Our list at this point in time is much larger than Dean's and we've raised much more." Added Lou Susman, Kerry's national finance director, "Every single major fundraiser of the other primary candidates have been integrated into our fundraising," including Steve Grossman and other Dean big-money folks.

And the good money news does not stop there for the Democrats. The DNC released its own statement Friday morning saying that in "the first quarter of 2004, the DNC raised more than $27 million, beating the $26.9 million raised in the first quarter of 2000, when Democrats occupied the White House and were allowed to raise large, unlimited donations. With no debt, the DNC also has more than $26 million cash on hand."

Ads Abound: The AP reports that Bush-Cheney has spent a whopping $40 million on television and radio ads in the four weeks since it first started airing spot. That's almost seven times the $6 million the Kerry campaign spent on ads in the same time period and twice as much as all Democratic groups combined.

The AP also reports that "the Media Fund, three affiliates of MoveOn.org and, to a lesser degree, other liberal groups combined have poured roughly $14 million into ads that assail Bush in key media markets."

The AP adds: "In June 2000, the first month of advertising for that year's general election, Bush and the Republican Party and Al Gore and the Democratic Party spent a combined $10 million - one-fourth of what Bush alone spent in his first month on the air this year, according to the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison."

The spending continued this week with new ads from Kerry, Bush, the Media Fund and the AFL-CIO hitting the airwaves.

Kerry's new spot, "10 Million Jobs," slams the president on his economic record. The spot will run in Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Washington and Ohio. In the ad, an announcer says: "While jobs are leaving our country in record numbers, George Bush says sending jobs overseas 'makes sense' for America. His top economic advisers say 'moving American jobs to low cost countries' is a plus for the U.S. John Kerry's proposed a different economic plan that encourages companies to keep jobs here. It's part of a 'detailed economic agenda' to create 10 million jobs. John Kerry. A new direction for America."

Campaign aides deny that Bush's latest spot, "Troubling," is a direct response to Kerry's ad, which was unveiled earlier on Thursday. But the campaign did accelerate its rollout to counter what it called the "inaccurate" Kerry spot. The Bush ad will run in the same states as Kerry's as well as national cable outlets. In it, an announcer says: "John Kerry's record on the economy: Troubling. He opposed tax relief for married couples 22 times. Opposed increasing the child tax credit 18 times. Kerry supported higher taxes over 350 times. He even supported increasing taxes on Social Security benefits. And a 50-cent a gallon tax hike for gasoline. Now Kerry's plan will raise taxes by at least $900 billion his first 100 days. Kerry and the economy: Troubling."

The new Media Fund ad, "87 Billion," criticizes the Bush administration for prioritizing Iraq over domestic problems. The $2 million buy will run in the same battleground states. In it, an announcer reads: "We could build 10,000 new schools. Or hire almost 2 million new teachers. We could rebuild our electric grid. We could make sure every child has insurance. George Bush is spending $87 billion more in Iraq. But after three years, where's his plan for taking care of America? Shouldn't America be his top priority?"

Daschle Leads in South Dakota: The latest Zogby Poll shows three term incumbent South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle leading his opponent, three-term Republican Congressman John Thune, by 5.6 points seven months before the election. 48.2 percent of those polled said they were likely to vote for Daschle, while 42.6 percent said they were likely to vote for Thune. Of the 501 who were polled, about 8 percent were undecided and 1 percent said they would not vote for either candidate.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Thune's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, said he is "ecstatic" at the numbers, mostly because Daschle polled below 50 percent. Daschle's deputy campaign manager, Dan Pfeiffer, described the numbers as "a very good place for Sen. Daschle to start this campaign."

The Daschle folks are pushing the fact that he is "outperforming partisanship in the state by 10 points." He has the support of 1 in 5 Republicans and a job approval rating of 46 percent among Republicans, making it hard for Thune to make the case for change. With only 71 percent support among his fellow Republicans, Thune is struggling to consolidate his base and cut into Daschle's bipartisan support.

Golf V. Chess: Following the infamous California recall, former Gov. Gray Davis picked up some acting tips from his successor before making a guest appearance on prime-time television. But, as Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee writes in his blog, more than a Hollywood paycheck separates the two. When it comes to hobbies, Gray is a golf man and Arnold loves chess, which explains their different governing styles.

Look at Davis' decision-making style at the height of the energy crisis in January 2001: "In golf, they teach you to hit one shot -- and you don't think about anything but that shot. And then you go to the next shot, and hit that shot ... My natural reaction is caution. I take life a step at a time."

But Schwarzenegger's decision-making style, as evidenced in an interview with the Orange County Register in March of this year, is strategic: "In my head, everything is clear. You see, the thing you have to understand is, I have to look at it - to be smart about this - to look at the whole picture. Which means that you have to look at all the problems that are potentially coming up. And all the things that you're negotiating with the legislators. You have to look at the whole thing. Workers' comp is one thing. The budget is another thing. Then there's energy ... We have to look at the overall picture...Everything falls into place if you look at the overall picture. If you just piecemeal it, you just look at one at a time really close and you don't look at the other things, with blinders on, that's when you start making mistakes and start scrambling. And you don't want to scramble."

Quote of the Day: "The only way I'm going to run is if I'm willing to tolerate the consequences of having two ex-wives. And I'm not!" -- former Sen. Bob Kerrey explaining why he's not going to be on the Democratic ticket this year (New York Daily News)