Washington Wrap

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

According to the AP, the campaign will send out its first solicitations early next week and Ken Mehlman, the White House political director, will move to the campaign payroll on Monday. RNC Chair Marc Racicot is still the favorite to be campaign chair but "that selection will not be announced until a replacement can be found."

Debate-O-Rama: With forum and debate invitations from interest groups and news organizations piling up fast and furiously, Sen. Joe Lieberman's campaign manager Craig Smith sent a letter to the eight other Democratic presidential campaign managers suggesting that they all agree to participate in one nationally-broadcast debate per month beginning in July. These debates would be "media-sponsored neutral debates" which have the "potential to reach the widest audience."

Typically, public letters like this are PR stunts that don't go anywhere, but the Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt, Dean and Kucinich campaigns have all indicated some interest in the idea. Jim Jordan, campaign manager for John Kerry told the Boston Globe: "Like most other campaigns we're beginning to worry about the proliferation of invitations we're receiving, scores to date and many more sure to follow."

Other campaigns treaded lightly on the idea, not wishing to offend various interest groups like the League of Conservation Voters, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, etc., who are trying to use the forums to publicize themselves and their ideas. Jennifer Palmieri, spokseswoman for the Edwards campaign, told the Globe that Edwards camp liked the idea but that, "we would not do them to the exclusion of the other debates."

However, Democratic Party sources told CBS News that they are concerned that the proliferation of debates will ratchet up the infighting and be hurtful to the eventual nominee. The DNC plans to try to coordinate the debates during meetings next week with campaign representatives at party headquarters.

Another reason for Lieberman getting out front on the debates is so that he can have a say on the scheduling to prevent big events from being held on the Sabbath. This Saturday Lieberman will be unable to participate in a debate sponsored by AFSCME in Des Moines (he is sending a video). John Kerry, who has a shot at being endorsed by the group, will participate via satellite from New Hampshire, where he is giving a commencement address.

On Tuesday, at least six of the candidates (Edwards, Dean, Gephardt, Lieberman Kucinich, and Braun are definite. Graham is a no. Kerry and Sharpton are TBD) will be in DC at a forum sponsored by Emily's List, the organization that raises money to elect Democratic women to office. They are expected speak for about ten minutes each. No Q&A is planned unless the candidates invite questions.

Another Day, Another Health Care Plan: The roll-out of health care reform plans by the Democratic presidential candidates continues on Friday with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts' proposal, which he says "breaks new ground" by lowering overall costs and providing affordable coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans.

"We cannot make health care affordable by tiptoeing around the edges … hoping to make progress without raising the wrath of the guardians of the status quo," Kerry said in prepared remarks. "This issue is part of the great unfinished business of our society – and central to the purpose of my candidacy for the presidency."

Kerry unveiled his proposal in Des Moines, Iowa, one day later than originally planned due to Thursday night's tax cut vote in the U.S. Senate. His health care plan would be paid for by scrapping many of President Bush's tax cuts for wealthier Americans.

The centerpiece of Kerry's proposal is a massive reduction in the costs associated with health care, particularly the administrative costs, which the junior Bay State senator estimates at $350 billion annually – a figure his plan would cut in half by cutting costs through technological advances like computerized medical records. Kerry says his plan also would lower the spiraling cost of prescription drugs by making it easier for generic versions to make it to market and for states to get discounts from drug companies, among other things.

Kerry's plan also addresses medical malpractice suits and their effect on the rising cost of insurance for doctors and hospitals. While Kerry said he opposes capping jury awards in malpractice cases, his plan would make it harder for frivolous cases to be filed and would prohibits punitive awards except in cases of gross negligence, intentional misconduct or reckless indifference to life.

Kerry said his plan would cover 95 percent of all adults and almost 100 percent of children. Under his plan, the federal health care plan available to Congress would be available for all Americans and people between the ages of 55 and 64 could buy into Medicare. In addition, people "in between jobs" could buy into the federal system with a tax credit subsidy.

Of course, Kerry's plan was barely out-of-the-box before it was smashed by his Democratic presidential rival Dick Gephardt, who last month unveiled his ambitious $218 billion plan, setting off a race among the other campaigns.

Gephardt's campaign released an "analysis" of Kerry's plan and – shockingly – found it wanting, particularly on the notion universal coverage. "Kerry's plan is not only piecemeal, it is incremental – meaning no solution to the health care crisis in this country for years," the analysis determined. (Gephardt himself has a conference call with reporters on Friday to critique Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's plans.)

The Kerry camp fired back on Friday, saying that his plan covers "nearly 96 percent of Americans-Gephardt's covers 97 percent-hardly a difference except that it doesn't waste money on wealthy corporations."

Be sure to tune into CBS News' "Face The Nation" on Sunday morning, where Kerry will be Bob Schieffer's guest.

Dissension During The Celebration: As Senate Republicans cheered the passage of their $350 billion tax cut late Thursday night, with one senior aide telling the Washington Post it was "a masterful accomplishment," some conservatives were not so celebratory.

A major element in the bill, the phasing out of dividend taxes for a few years, has upset some economic conservatives, according to The New York Times. The bill is set up to cut the tax in half next year, and then eliminate it through 2007. But the Heritage Foundation's Norbert Michel told the Times that formula is "such an incredibly bad idea."

"Phasing it in and then sunsetting it so quickly will eliminate all the economic benefit. And then when it doesn't work, your enemies will just say it produced no growth, so why should we pass it again," Michel said.

Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute went even further, calling the provision "one of the most patently absurd tax policies ever proposed."

Meantime, traditionally pro-GOP business groups such as the Tax Relief Coalition and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are livid with the Senate for putting around $90 billion in "offsets" – or tax increases – to get the cost of their bill down to $350 billion, reports CQ Today.

"It raises taxes. It will not create jobs, improve the economy, improve corporate governance or restore confidence in the stock market," Richard Hunt, head lobbyist for the Securities Industry Association told CQ. Lobbyists spent the week "in a frenzy trying to get the offsets stricken," CQ reported.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, was one that pushed for the offsets to keep the overall cost down and his office tried to play down their significance. "Don't buy this line that these are tax hikes," Voinovich press secretary Scott Milburn told CQ.

In the end, when House and Senate negotiators get together to work out the differences in their bills, lobbyists are being assured that a lot of the offsets will disappear. As for the dividend tax cut, that will prove to be a big part of the discussion.

The $550 billion House bill lowers the tax rate on dividends and capital gains, instead of permanently eliminating the tax like the president wants or temporarily ending it as the Senate version does.

As for reconciling the $200 billion difference between the House and Senate bills, it remains to be seen how long that will take. Republicans were hoping to get a bill to the president by the end of next week. But there are reports that negotiations may not even begin until after Memorial Day.

Georgia GOP Senate Race: U.S. Rep. Mac Collins officially jumped into the race for the 2004 GOP Senate nomination in Georgia, pitting him against his fellow Georgia congressman, Johnny Isakson, to fill the seat of retiring Democrat Zell Miller.

There could be a third Republican running for the nomination as well: Rep. Jack Kingston. On the Democratic side, possible candidates include Rep. John Lewis, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Collins, a former Democrat and state senator, was elected to the House in 1992. He was re-elected in 2002 with 78 percent of the vote.

Quote of the Day: "They understand the visual as well as anybody ever has … They watched what we did, they watched the mistakes of Bush I, they watched how Clinton kind of stumbled into it, and they've taken it to an art form." - Michael K. Deaver, Ronald Reagan's chief image-maker, on the Bush administration's political theatrics. (New York Times)