Washington Wrap

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

Thursday's Headlines

* It's Tax Day for Voters, Not to Mention the Presidential Campaigns

* Bush Campaign Goes Back to the (Ad)War

* Kerry Flashes Web Viewers

* Republican Governor Says Iraq is "A Mess"

* Controversial NARAL Ads and Air America Off the Radio

* Veep Watch: Edwards' Dancing With Kerry Next Week

* Kerry Names officials to DNC

Tax Day: Sign your tax forms, put a stamp on the envelope and brace yourself for an April 15 chock full of "our plan is fabulous, yours will ruin the country" tax rhetoric from the Bush and Kerry campaigns.

President Bush travels to battleground Iowa for an official event where he'll tout the benefits of his tax cuts. The AP reports that this is the second April 15 that Bush has spent in Iowa (a state he narrowly lost in 2000 to Al Gore) since taking office. Bush has not been to Iowa since November 2002, and took months of relentless beating there by the Democratic presidential candidates during the caucuses.

Kerry, meanwhile, jets down to Washington's Howard University from New York for a midday event to discuss his plan to lower college costs. Kerry's "Compact with the Next Generation" promises to make higher education more affordable and to encourage public service through education funding enticements. This week's line from the Kerry campaign – "The Misery Index" – argues that rising costs of health care and education, among other things, have made most Americans feel insecure financially.

The Kerry campaign released analysis arguing their tax plan would save middle class families three times as much money as the current tax structure promoted by President Bush.

The Bush campaign also revives its "Tax Gap" line from a few weeks back, criticizing what it says is the differential between Kerry's spending proposals and his revenue-increasing proposals. Spokesman Steve Schmidt: "He has been making promises on the campaign trail for months, and his reckless spending proposals will land on the back of the American taxpayer."

Bush-Cheney also dispatched volunteers to 60 sites in key states to hand-out fliers criticizing Kerry's record on taxes, including the ballyhooed "tax gap." The volunteers will be handing out the fliers, among other places, at post offices where voters will be mailing their returns.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, gets into the tax back-and-forth with a new game on its Web site called "Tax Invaders," a spoof on the old classic, "Space Invaders." The RNC says the game includes the opener: "Only YOU can save America from John Kerry's Tax plans. Defend the country against John Kerry's Tax raises. If you choose to accept this mission, complete the form below and get ready to play 'Tax Invaders!'"

Bush-Cheney Ads: Bush-Cheney announced on Thursday that it would end all other ads and

The campaign denied suggestions that the cutback in ads overall was because the first round of $45 million had not been effective. In fact, Matthew Dowd, Bush strategist Dowd said, the election has gone from a 5-point Kerry advantage to a tie or a small Bush lead in national polls.

Dowd also said that a rollback was always planned as voters began paying less attention to politics after the Democratic primaries. "We have always said there would be ebbs and flows" in terms of ad buys, Dowd said, arguing that the ads Bush-Cheney has been running since March 3 have been effective, but that the public could grow weary of seeing ads so far from Election Day.

"The public does not have eight-month appetite for the intensity of a campaign," Dowd said. "This is not in response to a specific event."

Kerry Campaign Launches New Flash Ad: On Thursday, the Kerry campaign launched a new flash advertisement on its Web site, viewable at JohnKerry.com. The ad features a nuclear family – mom, dad, girl, boy – looking through mail that has just arrived in the mailbox. The family discovers letters bearing bad tidings that highlight Kerry's recently released Misery Index: higher college tuition and health care costs, lower wages and more jobs lost. As the family views its mail, the sky turns ominous, clouds roll in and thunder rolls.

The ad's climatic dénouement shows a postcard from John Kerry that reads, "It's time for a chang," as the skies clear, the sun returns and the family smiles again.

As Kerry's campaign launches this flashy new misery ad, Kerry himself heads to Washington, D.C. He begins his day in New York with a $2.4 million breakfast fund-raiser for the DNC and then heads to D.C. for a campus event at Howard University. Later, he meets with Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, the Archbishop of Washington. The campaign says the meeting with McCarrick is "private" but it follows McCarrick's words on Fox News on Easter Sunday that he did not think a pro-choice Catholic should be automatically barred from the sacraments.

This follows on Kerry's spectacularly successful Wednesday night, at which 3,000 donors helped him raise $6.5 million in New York City. The supporters, including former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Alec Baldwin, Chevy Chase, Kathleen Turner and Christie Brinkley, donated $6 million at a Sheraton gala, $2 million more than President Bush raised at the same hotel. Later at Crobar, young professionals ponied up $500,000 in the presence of Kerry stepson Chris Heinz. Among the hip attendees were Natalie Portman, Tom Delonge from Blink 182, John McEnroe, Moby, Steve Buscemi and Marisa Tomei. It sure looks like the Kerry Cashes In tour is having a very good week.

Pawlenty of Trouble with Iraq: When Democrats speak out against President Bush's Iraq policy it is often brushed off by the administration as partisan sniping. But when Republicans speak out against his policy, and particularly a Republican governor of one of this year's battleground states, it's a whole different matter. After attending the funeral of a Minnesotan who was killed in Iraq, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, usually a Republican ally of President Bush, said Iraq is "a mess" and that voters are rattled, the AP reports.

"People are becoming unnerved by it," said Pawlenty, who is co-chairman of Bush's state campaign. "Minnesota communities are strong and tough, but people do want to know, 'What's the end game here?'"

Pawlenty, who will attend a second soldier's funeral this week, strongly supports Bush's policy in Iraq and urges him to keep making the case that much good has been accomplished there.

A Change in the Air: Wednesday was a bad news day for liberal media. Controversial ads from NARAL were pulled in Baltimore and the liberal talk radio of Air America was replaced by Spanish-language broadcasting in Chicago and Los Angeles.

A Baltimore radio station, WWMX-FM Mix 106.5, has pulled commercials that support an abortion-rights rally later this month in Washington after receiving calls from some angry listeners who objected, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Program director Steve Monz pulled the ad on April 7 after receiving 10 complaints from listeners. "We've really conditioned our audience to know we're a safe haven on the radio," Monz said. "We're family friendly, kid-safe. ... Our barometer is if our listeners have to explain to their kids what an item is, and they're uncomfortable with that, we're uncomfortable with that."

The NARAL Pro-Choice America spot contains the words "rape" and "abortion," reports the Washington Post.

Listeners in Los Angeles and Chicago who tuned in to Air America on Wednesday to hear comedian Al Franken dissect President Bush's news conference got entertainment gossip instead - in Spanish, reports the LA Times.

Multicultural Radio Broadcasting dropped the show and replaced it with Spanish programming after Air America "bounced a check" says Multicultural chief executive Arthur Liu. David Goodfriend, Air America's general counsel and executive vice president says payment on the check was stopped after airtime purchased on Multicultural was resold to a Spanish-language broadcaster.

A judge will decide which party is in the wrong as Air America filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in New York, accusing Multicultural with breach of contract. Air America has asked for an injunction forcing the company to put the network's shows, "Morning Sedition," "The O'Franken Factor" and "Unfiltered" back on the air.

Dancing in the Dark: Since dropping out of the presidential race six weeks ago, Sen. John Edwards is now carefully positioning himself to be John Kerry's running mate. The Raleigh News & Observer reports that Edwards is rallying his campaign donors to Kerry's cause and has made a half dozen national television appearances in support of Kerry. All of this and Edwards has yet to publicly acknowledge that he is even interested in the job. Historically, appearing too eager is viewed as a liability.

"It's a delicate dance," says Lou D'Allesandro, a state senator from New Hampshire. Many analysts believe that pressing too hard for the job could be risky in this election year. "I don't think John Kerry is a candidate who likes to have his hand forced," says Democratic consultant Jenny Backus.

Edwards, who retires from the Senate in January, will appear by Kerry's side at two Florida fundraisers on Tuesday. Though his political future is uncertain, aides acknowledge that if Kerry selects another running mate and wins, Edwards would be a contender for a cabinet position. And if Kerry loses, Edwards may be the "the early front-runner" of the 2008 White House race according to Chuck Todd, editor of The Hotline.

Members of Congress Named to DNC: John Kerry "is expected to name two Midwestern Members of Congress to senior level posts at the Democratic National Committee in the coming days to help him raise money and amplify his message on the campaign trail," Roll Call's Mark Preston reports. The two members are Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, about whom a Kerry advisor told Roll Call, "It is important to the Kerry campaign to have these two Members play important leadership roles not only because of the leadership they display in their key states, but their national leadership as well."

While neither Durbin nor Jones' office would confirm the decision, Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said, "Senator Kerry has talked publicly about Senator Durbin playing an increasing role in the campaign." According to the Kerry official, the various camps "are negotiating specific roles and titles with Kerry's presidential campaign staff." Many have advised Kerry to get more faces from outside Massachusetts on TV, especially faces from the key states in the Midwest.

Quote of the Day: "President Bush released his tax returns yesterday. He listed the economy as a liability so he gets to write that off." --Jay Leno (Tonight Show).