Washington Wrap
Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing and Jessica Shyu of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.
Monday's Headlines
* Big Week for Bush and Cheney
* McCain Just Says No (Again)
* Kerry Takes the Misery Index on Tour
* Dean Tells Supporters Not to Vote For Nader
Bush Gets Back to Work: President Bush kicks off a busy week with a press conference Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Crawford, Texas.
Bush returns to Washington on Monday night after almost a week at his Prairie Chapel ranch – an Easter sojourn that has caused some grumbling from Republicans and Democrats alike in several none-too-flattering newspaper articles about whether the president's sending the right signals while the situation in Iraq filled the front pages.
(A new Newsweek poll shows Bush losing to John Kerry in a general election match-up, 50 percent to 43 percent. Even with Ralph Nader thrown into the mix Kerry beats Bush, 46 percent to 42 percent, with Nader getting four percent. While Bush's job approval remains steady at 49 percent, Newsweek found that just 36 percent of Americans are satisfied with the "way things are going in this country.")
Bush is down on Tuesday so he'll have time to watch Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Robert Mueller and former FBI Director Louis Freeh testify before the 9/11 commission.
On Wednesday, when CIA Director George Tenet testifies, the president meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House and holds a joint press appearance afterwards. On Thursday – tax day – Bush heads to Des Moines, Iowa for an official event sure to be long on making-the-tax-cuts-permanent rhetoric.
On Friday, Bush and British PM Tony Blair meet at the White House to discuss, among other topics, the situation in Iraq. The pair plans to hold what promises to be a closely-watched joint press conference on Friday.
Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, continues his Asian tour for much of the week. On Monday, Cheney is in Japan. On Tuesday, he travels to China. He returns to Washington on Friday, but takes almost no down time before hitting the campaign trail.
On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Cheney will head to Pittsburgh where he'll speak to the National Rifle Association's convention. The NRA convention, dubbed "Freedom's Steel" after Pittsburgh's famed past as a steel-producing center- starts on Friday and continues through Saturday.
While guns have not yet emerged as a driving issue in the presidential race, if the political past is any kind of prologue, they will. (Images of John Kerry bird hunting in Iowa in caucus season, in his L.L. Bean best of course, provided plenty of evidence of the political importance of the gun control issue.)
Although the NRA hasn't endorsed Bush or Kerry yet, the group's executive director, Wayne LaPierre, left little to the imagination in an interview with the Post-Gazette when asked his feelings about Kerry.
"We understand who John Kerry is," he said. "A lot of people [in the NRA] don't want to go back to Clinton-Gore. In terms of firearms, he's out of step with most of the country on this issue."
McCain Dismisses Veep Rumors (Again): Dealing a blow to the hopes of many Democrats who spent Easter praying for a Kerry-McCain ticket, the Arizona senator on Sunday dismissed the possibility that he would join fellow his Vietnam vet on the Democratic ticket. Although McCain has repeatedly said he would not be a candidate, his past personal support of Kerry has left many wondering how strong that resolve really is.
But on "Meet the Pressm" McCain said, "When my kids were smaller my wife wore a t-shirt that said "What part of the word no don't you understand?' I'd like to start wearing that T-shirt myself: No. No. No. I will not leave the Republican Party."
McCain went on to say, "I cherish the ideals and principles of [Theodore] Roosevelt, [Ronald] Reagan. I will not be vice president of the United States, under any circumstances."
McCain also reiterated his support for President Bush, saying, ""Not only vote for him, I have and will campaign for him." McCain said however that, in hindsight, the August 6 report should have rung an alarm bell. Wading into the battle, Bush senior advisor Karl Rove told the El Paso Times on Monday, "It's a sign of the Kerry campaign's tactical weakness and shortsightedness if they keep talking about McCain, because it raises expectations that they are serious about him -- and what happens when it turns out that it wasn't serious at all? He (McCain) would never accept it in a million years, anyway." Here's betting that none of this will quiet the chattering classes.
Misery Appeals to College Kids?: On Monday, the Kerry campaign will release an economic study that shows a "misery index" which has "worsened dramatically for middle-income families" during the Bush Administration's tenure, reports the Los Angeles Times. The study, conducted by several advisors including former Clinton administration officials Roger Altman and Gene Sperling, "analyzed data on median household incomes, college tuition, healthcare, gasoline and other factors, and concluded that, under President Bush, the middle-class misery index has worsened by 13 points."
The Bush-Cheney campaign quickly disagreed with the study's findings. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt told the Associated Press, "John Kerry has made a calculation that if he talks down the economy, it will benefit him politically." Schmidt went on to say that the economy is growing, "at its fastest rate in 20 years." In the past, the Bush-Cheney campaign has said the growth is thanks in large part to the tax cuts passed by President Bush. The Kerry campaign's study argues that the higher cost of health care, education and gas "far outstripped any financial gain from a series of Bush-sponsored tax cuts."
Bringing its message to those young enough to have missed President Carter's misery index and malaise, the Kerry campaign will also start its "Change Starts with U: Kerry Campus Tour 2004." According to a campaign press release, the tour will "highlight the new direction he offers America's youth and outline his 'Compact with the Next Generation," Kerry's vision for the country and challenge to the next generation of Americans to invest themselves in their communities." The tour kicks off at University of New Hampshire on Monday, where rock band Guster will join Kerry and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, and then continues to University of Rhode Island on Tuesday, City College of New York on Wednesday, and the University of Pittsburgh on Friday. The University of Pittsburgh stop will feature an appearance by Jon Bon Jovi. No word on whether Bon Jovi, age 42, will help explain the concept of a misery index to Guster, whose members were in pre-school when Carter was President.
Dean Urges Supporter to Stand Together: For at least the second time in a week, Howard Dean urged his supporters not to vote for Ralph Nader. Last week he urged his Oregon backers to stay away from Nader and on Monday he has an op-ed piece in the New York Times, "For Ralph Nader but Not For President." He writes, "Democrats are motivated to defeat the president this year. They've seen firsthand what three years of Bush administration policies have done to America. Many Democrats also admire Ralph Nader's achievements, as I do. But if they truly want George Bush out of the White House, they won't vote for Ralph Nader in November," he continues.
After explaining the "remarkable legacy" Nader built as a consumer advocate, Dean goes on to say that voting for him for president not only threatens that legacy, but could also threaten some of his achievements. "But I don't believe that the best way to do justice to Ralph Nader's legacy is to vote for him for president. Re-electing George Bush would undo everything Ralph Nader has worked for through his entire career and, in fact, could lead to the dismantling of many of his accomplishments," he says.
"Ralph Nader once said that your best teacher is your last mistake. Too many of us learned the consequences of not standing together four years ago. This November, we can elect a president who fights for average Americans. But we can achieve this goal only if we join together — and don't repeat our last mistake."
Nader also has an interview in Monday's edition of Salon.com, the liberal on-line magazine. Nader tells Democrats to "stop whining and get back to work."
Quote of the Day: "FYI, The PDB Doesn't CYA" -- The liberal-leaning Center for American Progress' take on the release of the August 6 Presidential Daily Brief.