Washington Wrap

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

Tuesday's Headlines

* Southern Tuesday's Not So Super But It's Here

* New Interest Group Ads

* Bush and Cheney Take Swipes at Kerry

* AFL-CIO Heads to Florida

* Ashcroft and Kucinich Sidelined with Stomach Ailments

* Hillary to Martha: Your Contribution Isn't Such a Good Thing

Southern Tuesday By the Numbers:
Although the race is all but wrapped up, with Bush and Kerry running virtually unopposed at this point, here is a Southern Tuesday cheat sheet, which shows how close Kerry is to claiming the nomination. Before Tuesday's contests, CBS News estimates that Kerry holds 1,754 delegates, while 2,162 are needed to win the nomination. 465 Democratic delegates are at stake today and Kerry would have to get 408 of them to go over the top.

Florida (177 Democratic delegates, 112 Republican delegates)
Polls open/close: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. (EST)
Who can vote: Closed. Limited to voters already registered as Republicans or Democrats.
Polls: St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll shows Kerry leading Bush 49 to 43 percent. Three percent would vote for Nader and 5 percent were undecided. (March 2-4)
Ads: Bush - $900,000 on TV; Kerry - none

Louisiana (60 Democratic delegates, 45 Republican delegates)
Polls open/close: 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
Who can vote: Closed. Limited to voters already registered as Republicans or Democrats.

Mississippi (33 Democratic delegates, 38 Republican delegates)
Polls open/close: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. (EST)
Who can vote: Open. Any voter can participate in either primary.

Texas (195 Democratic delegates, 138 Republican delegates)
Polls open/close: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. (EST)
Who can vote: Open. Any voter can participate in either primary

Media Fund, NDN, Citizens United Enter the Ads Fray: If there were any doubt that the general election campaign has started, three interest groups are gearing up to wage intense ad campaigns.

Starting Wednesday, the Media Fund, a 527 organization headed by Democratic Bigfoot Harold Ickes and funded in part by George Soros, will go on the air with the first of its anti-Bush television advertisements. The initial buy will be for $4.5 million and will in 17 swing states for two weeks, CBS News has learned. CBS News sources say that the ad will not focus on the war in Iraq but instead will criticize the president on jobs and health care. The ad buy is the opening salvo of a $40 million program to air ads before the Democratic National Convention in July, reports the Associated Press.

Also on the air criticizing President Bush is the New Democrat Network, a Hispanic group that aims to increase participation in the election. NDN went on-air on March 6, with a $5 million buy targeted at Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada and expanding to Florida after its primary on Tuesday, reports the Los Angeles Times. The NDN buy features two ads, both in Spanish. "One of the commercials portrays Democrats as friends of the Latino community. The other attacks Bush's record on education," reports the Times.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Citizens United, now headed by David Bossie who has a long history of negative campaigning against Democrats, is attacking John Kerry on air. The ad apes the MasterCard ads and concludes, "Another rich, liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he's a man of the people. Priceless." The group will not release the size of its advertising buy, but CBS News has learned that the ads will run "in every region of the country" and the buy "may expand" after the primaries on Tuesday.

All of the 527 ads begin before new, potentially more stringent rules are set by the FEC. President Bush's campaign will file a complaint with the FEC alleging that the Media Fund is "violating a broad, new ban on the use of 'soft money' -- corporate, union and unlimited contributions -- for federal election activity," according to the AP. In addition, reports Roll Call, the 527 battle is "headed for a potential showdown in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee on Wednesday, when opponents of the groups are slated to square off with lawmakers favoring a hands-off approach to the controversial entities." As the ads begin airing more widely and both sides begin complaining more loudly, look for the 527 fight to stay front and center.

Bush and Cheney Double-Up on Kerry: President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both took aim at presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry by name yesterday in a pair of speeches criticizing the Massachusetts senator for a 1995 proposal to cut intelligence funding by $1.5 billion.

The two-pronged attack on Kerry came as a new Washington Post/ABC News poll showed Bush trailing Kerry in a general election match-up, 53 percent to 44 percent. With independent Ralph Nader in the mix, Kerry's lead was a far-narrower 48 percent to 44 percent. A CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey shows Kerry leading Bush 50 percent to 45 percent in a two-man race and 47 percent to 45 percent when Nader is included.

The Post reports that, "a majority of Americans -- 57 percent -- say they want their next president to steer the country away from the course set by Bush, according to the survey. Bush's standing hit new lows in crucial areas such as the economy (39 percent support him), Iraq (46 percent) and the budget deficit (30 percent)."

The poll showed Bush with a 50 percent approval rating, the same as last month, which marked the nadir of his presidency.

The poll did show six in ten Americans backing the president's performance in the war on terror, which could explain, in part, the focus by Bush and Cheney on the issue on Monday.

The AP reports that "At a re-election fund-raiser Monday, Bush contrasted the Massachusetts senator's oft-stated support for intelligence gathering as a crucial component of the war on terror with his support - two years after a deadly 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center - for cutting intelligence funding by $1.5 billion."

"Once again, Senator Kerry is trying to have it both ways. He's for good intelligence, yet he was willing to gut the intelligence services," Bush told 1,100 donors at a Houston event that raised $1.5 million for his campaign. "And that is no way to lead our nation in a time of war."

While in Texas, Bush also squeezed in another fundraiser in Dallas that netted the campaign $1.5 million and a cattle show in Houston.

The AP says, "The salvo was the result of a methodical mining by the Bush campaign of the long trail of votes and speeches from Kerry's 19 years in the Senate. Bush didn't limit himself to national security issues, and also criticized Kerry's shifts in position on the Patriot Act, trade legislation and an education reform bill."

For his part, Cheney said of Kerry at a fundraiser in Iowa for a GOP congressional candidate: "One side argues that we should treat the attacks on our nation by terrorists primary as matters for law enforcement. That's what the Democratic nominee for president has said, among many other things. John Kerry embraced the strategy of the 1990s which holds that when we are attacked we ... put them on trial … President Bush moved us beyond the inadequate strategy of the '90s. To keep America safe he determined that we would go after the terrorists with all the means at our disposal."

On Thursday, Bush heads to Ohio – shaping up as one of the key states in November – for an event touting women's entrepreneurship.

AFL-CIO Meets to Plot Election Strategy: Facing what Terry O'Sullivan, president of the Laborers Union International of North America said was the "election of a lifetime," the AFL-CIO begins its winter executive meeting Tuesday in Bal Harbour, Fla. According to the AP, "Union chiefs are planning labor's largest multimillion-dollar effort to mobilize working Americans they say have been left behind in a Bush economy, in support of Democrat John Kerry."

Among the decisions that will be made at the winter meeting is the budget that labor will use to try to unseat Bush. The specific issue at stake, according to the New York Times, is whether to add a 4-cents-a-month increase on the AFL-CIO's members. This would bring the total budget to $44 million, to fight what John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president says is "one of the most important political campaigns that the labor movement has ever been involved in."

The winter meeting comes in the midst of a difficult political season for labor. Early in the primary season, the member unions of the AFL-CIO split between Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean. Gephardt and Dean's union support failed miserably in Iowa and beyond. In late February, the AFL-CIO came together to endorse John Kerry, but it faces some internal problems trying to unify itself and help its chosen candidate overcome President Bush's huge war chest.

Stomach Pains Sideline Ashcroft and Kucinich: Attorney General John Ashcroft will undergo surgery today to remove his gallbladder in order to prevent him from suffering a recurrence of gallstone pancreatitis, USA Today reports. Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio was forced off the campaign trail as a stomach ailment landed him in a Cleveland-area hospital, the Plain Dealer reports.

Ashcroft has been in the intensive care unit at The George Washington University Hospital since Thursday when he began complaining of severe abdominal discomfort. Ashcroft was diagnosed with gallstone pancreatitis, "an inflammation of the pancreas caused by a gallstone that blocks a passage leading from the pancreas to the beginning of the small intestine."

The surgery is scheduled for noon and will be done laparoscopically. However, Dr. Bruce Abell, the surgeon leading the decision to remove the gall bladder, "is prepared to switch to the more conventional open surgery if necessary, and said it should take about two hours." Ashcroft is expected to remain in the hospital four to five days after the surgery.

Kucinich suffered from stomach pain Sunday on the way to Selma, Ala., for an event commemorating a civil rights march. After being urged by his doctor to return to Cleveland, tests revealed he has gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines often caused by food poisoning.

Kucinich is a strict vegan who refrains from meat and dairy products. His aides would not speculate on what might have triggered the illness, nor would they disclose where he is being treated, citing "privacy concerns."

His congressional aide, Doug Gordon, said Kucinich told him he "hopes to be up and running by the end of the week and maintaining a full schedule." Kucinich is expected to be hospitalized another two to four days.

Martha's Money: The New York Post reports that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will donate Martha Stewart's $1,000 campaign contribution to charity. Prior to her conviction, Clinton insisted that she would give her friend "the benefit of the doubt" and keep the money.

Fellow contribution recipients, however, are not following Clinton's example. Stewart has given $157,000 to Democrats, the DNC and panels to elect Democrats to the House and Senate, and all plan to keep the money that was donated pre-scandal. DNC spokesman Tony Welch said, "The donations were legal and lawful and three years ago, and there's no reason to return them."

Quote of the Day: "Here, Barney" -- The White House press corps calling President Bush's dog, Barney, in an attempt to get the president to come over to retrieve the Scottish terrier and answer some questions. (US News, Washington Whispers)