Washington Wrap

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

According to the Des Moines Register, on Saturday in Iowa, Rep. Dick Gephardt accused both Sen. John Kerry and Howard Dean of supporting trade policies that cost jobs and reduced workers' rights. Gephardt made the remarks at a meeting of the machinists union, which had endorsed his candidacy.

In a press release to the group, Gephardt says he is responding to Kerry on trade. "Yesterday John Kerry put out a flyer that had my trade policy on it and I'm glad he did because we need to have a debate on this issue," Gephardt said. "But there was one omission I was for another trade treaty, the U.S.-Jordan Trade Treaty … Senator Kerry and Governor Dean, who I respect, supported NAFTA. They thought it was the right thing to do. Just understand that when I'm President I will work against and I will never sign a trade treaty of any kind that will send our jobs our money and our welfare off to the highest bidder."

"My opponents in the race may say they'd do the same but you have to check the record. Because the record counts. When the chips were down where was everybody?" Gephardt told the anti-NAFTA union.

Campaign workers for Kerry and Dean suggested to the Register that Gephardt made the remarks because he was concerned that Kerry and Dean were creeping up on him in the polls.

On Friday night at a forum put on by the National Organization of Women, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, traded some barbs with Dean. "I'm from the universal-health-care wing of the Democratic Party. I'm from the Roe v. Wade-litmus-test wing of the Democratic Party. I'm from the abolish-the-death-penalty wing of the Democratic Party. I'm from the gun-control wing of the Democratic Party," Kucinich told the liberal crowd.

Dean followed, saying, "I'm from the let's-beat-George-Bush wing of the Democratic Party." He added that "maybe the press will stop writing that I'm too liberal to get elected," referring to remarks by Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun and Rev. Al Sharpton to the group.

Dealing With Drug Defectors: House Democratic leaders are still reeling after nine of their own voted for the Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill that passed last month by only two votes, reports Roll Call.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., isn't going to punish the defectors by taking extreme measures such as stripping their committee assignments, sources told the newspaper, but she does plan on making an example of them and even possibly denying them some caucus perks.

"These members will not suffer the same consequences they would in the Republican Conference if they had bucked the leadership," a Democratic leadership aide told Roll Call. "But the Leader made it abundantly clear that committing to [the] president over the Democratic leader undermines the entire Caucus."

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., who was one of the nine voting with the GOP, realizes his vote may have irked those in his own party, but he explains he was thinking of his constituents – and his swing district - with his vote.

"The Caucus recognizes people will make their own decisions on representing their districts," Pomeroy said.

He added that he hasn't heard many complaints from his colleagues, though there have been rumblings that some may not contribute to his campaign because of the vote.

"If anyone has anything to say to me, I expect them to say it to my face," Pomeroy said. "I certainly understand their disappointment, but there's been no suggestion of a personal or professional fallout."

Another Democrat who voted with the Republicans, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said his position shouldn't have been a surprise to party leaders. "I campaigned on this issue," he said.

"This issue elected me to Congress and, to a large extent, my re-election requires me to be consistent on this issue. … I voted the same last year."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, meanwhile, is using the prescription drug vote as a platform for its first issue ad of the 2004 cycle. The ads, which started airing Friday and are slated to continue through this week, are targeting Reps. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Max Burns of Georgia, Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Steve Pearce of New Mexico, Sam Graves of Missouri, Charles Bass of New Hampshire, Bob Beauprez of Colorado and Clay Shaw of Florida. Greg Speed, the DCCC press secretary, would not give specifics on the size of the buys, but tells CBS News: "It's big enough that they will be felt in each of these Republican districts."

IRS Alert!: Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton is in the hot seat. According to the AP, a report filed with the Federal Elections Committee has Sharpton under the magnifying glass of the Internal Revenue Service as he faces a civil audit.

Sharpton's lawyer, Michael Hardy, said he did not know what provoked the audit, which will cover several years in the 1990s. In a phone interview Friday with the AP, Sharpton said, "We don't know what the result will be. They could owe me."

Presidential candidates must disclose the details of their finances to the FEC. Sharpton's FEC files report earnings of at least $381,900 though various enterprises, including $120,000 from Rev. Al Productions for speeches and sermons; $78,000 from the National Action Network, Sharpton's nonprofit social justice organization; $75,000 for a book deal with Kensington Publishing; and $25,000 from PepsiCo as a member of the company's black advisory board.

Files, including sources of honoraria paid to Rev. Al Production and records for some consulting work, were destroyed in January when an electrical fire destroyed Sharpton's main business office in New York and were not listed in the reports. The Sharpton campaign told the FEC that it may have to file corrections.

Don't Count Your Chickens: After a weekend of haggling, six of the presidential candidates, including Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry will attend the NAACP convention Monday in Miami. Also attending are Carol Moseley Braun, Howard Dean, Bob Graham, and Al Sharpton.

On Saturday, Kweisi Mfume, NAACP President, called their potential absence an "affront" to the country's largest civil rights organization and on Sunday a deal was sealed between the Edwards and Kerry camps to get them to attend.

Rep. Dick Gephardt, Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep Dennis Kucinich are sticking to their original plans not to attend. On Sunday evening Sen. Graham got a standing ovation from the group, which is meeting in his home state. He was hoping that a deal among the other candidates to limit their joint appearances and skip the convention might earn him center stage.

"Maybe by the end of this process," Graham told the Miami Herald, "that agreement will cause them not to be part of the process."

On Monday, Mfume continued his criticism of Gephardt, Lieberman and Kucinich for skipping the forum and each time he mentioned their names an organ master played a death knell chord to the 1,000 people gathered in the auditorium, according to the AP.

Political Week Ahead:

Mon. 7/14 – Howard Dean has breakfast with the National Council of La Raza in Austin, Texas, and then travels to Florida.

Mon. 7/14 – Dean, John Edwards, Bob Graham, John Kerry, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton attend NAACP Presidential Candidate Forum at the Miami, Florida Convention Center.

Mon. 7/14 – Dennis Kucinich campaigns in Iowa.

Mon. 7/14 – Joe Lieberman fundraises in N.Y.

Tues. 7/15 – Braun, Dean, Dick Gephardt, Kerry, Kucinich, Lieberman and Sharpton attend Human Rights Campaign Presidential Candidate Forum at the International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Tues. 7/15 –Edwards holds a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H.

Wed. 7/16 – Edwards campaigns in New Hampshire.

Wed. 7/16 – Kerry gives remarks on security issues in NYC.

Wed. 7/16 – Graham lunch and greet at the historic farmers market; meet and greet at the Winners Circle at NASCAR shop and a fundraising reception later in the day in Roanoke, Va.

Wed. 7/16 – Lieberman campaigns in Charleston, S.C.

Wed. 7/16 – Sharpton holds summit for ministers to strategize how they can get involved in the presidential campaign in NYC.

Thurs. 7/17 - President Bush meets with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and takes part in joint presser that evening.

Thurs. 7/17 – Dean campaigns in Iowa.

Thurs. 7/17 – Braun attends Junior Statesman Foundation at Northwestern University.

Thurs. 7/17 – Lieberman campaigns in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Fri. 7/18 – Dean campaigns in Iowa.

Fri. 7/18 – Edwards speaks at Arizona Education Association leaders' Conference in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Fri. 7/18 – Kerry campaigns in Iowa.

Fri. 7/18 – Lieberman campaigns in New Hampshire.

Fri. 7/18 – President Bush attends a Bush-Cheney fundraiser in Dallas.

Sat. 7/19 – President Bush attends a Bush-Cheney fundraiser in Houston.

Sat. 7/19 – Edwards campaigns in New Mexico.

Sat. 7/19 – Kerry campaigns in Iowa.

Sat. 7/19 – Sharpton campaigns in South Carolina.

Quote of the Day: "That was a great admission. One of the nicest things that's happened in recent years." - Former President Gerald Ford on Sen. Ted Kennedy's concession that his pardon of Richard Nixon helped heal the country. Ford celebrates his 90th birthday today. (Hartford Courant)