Washington Wrap
Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Steve Chaggaris and Clothilde Ewing of The CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.
Road Trip: It appears President Bush isn't the only one on the campaign trail, as Attorney General John Ashcroft launches his own offensive. Following a speech Tuesday at a conservative Washington think tank, Ashcroft goes on a road trip Wednesday and Thursday aimed at defending the Patriot Act, reports the Associated Press.
Ashcroft will talk to law enforcement audiences in a dozen cities, starting with Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Des Moines – notably cities in states central to the president's re-election efforts. Two of those cities, Philadelphia and Detroit, have passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act, but the Justice Department said this did not dictate Ashcroft's schedule.
The Justice Department is also taking a page from President Bush's playbook as it puts up a pro-Patriot Act Web site, and all 94 U.S. Attorneys are being encouraged to hold town hall-style meetings to stress the law's benefits.
The USA Patriot Act grew out of the September 11 attacks and has been a controversial cornerstone of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies. Democrats and civil liberties group alike have attacked the act, saying parts of it are unconstitutional. The legislation gave law enforcement agents dozens of new tools for wiretapping and following terrorism suspects and gaining access to their financial and personal records.
The Justice Department feels the Patriot Act is often misinterpreted and Ashcroft is hoping to "right" these misconceptions. But so far, his insistence that the act is on the up and up hasn't stopped legislators in Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont and more than 142 local governments from trying to repeal it.
Another NBA Owner In The Senate? Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., could be the second U.S. senator to own a National Basketball Association team.
Corzine and real estate developer Charles Kushner are attempting to buy the New Jersey Nets in a bid to keep the team from moving to Brooklyn, sources told the New York Times.
If successful, Corzine would join fellow Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., as an NBA owner. Kohl has owned the Milwaukee Bucks since 1985, three years before he was elected. While Kohl has had an active role in running the Bucks and has not put the team in a blind trust, it's unclear whether Corzine would put his portion of the Nets in a blind trust.
"Corzine is not buying into this team because he thinks he's going to make money," said an executive that has talked with Corzine and Kushner. "It's to save the (Nets) from leaving New Jersey and maybe to generate political support."
Sources told the Times that Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, and Kushner are reviewing the team's financial records and may bid on the team as early as this week.
Texas 11 Still In Albuquerque: Although largely forgotten in the shadow of the California gubernatorial recall, the Texas 11 are still holding out in Albuquerque. The group of Democratic state senators fled to New Mexico to prevent a redistricting vote that would inflate the number of GOP-leaning congressional districts in the Lone Star State.
The AP reports that Democrats are threatening legal action if Senate Republicans don't rescind the sanctions they've been imposing on the 11 since last week, when they preliminarily adopted a resolution that denied absent Democrats and their staffers such things as parking spots at the Capitol, cell phone use, purchasing privileges and floor passes.
Those sanctions come if the Democrats do not pay fines, imposed on them by their Republican colleagues, for missing daily floor sessions. The fines started at $1,000 a day and quickly moved to a maximum $5,000 a day per senator.
In a letter from New Mexico, the Democrats wrote that the punitive measures "seek to punish us, our staffs, and, most important, our constituents, because we dare to stand firm by our convictions and by our duty in the best interest of our constituents."
Republicans did not seem overly concerned about the Democrats' threat of legal action.
"We welcome a judicial determination of their claims," said Dave Beckwith, a spokesman for Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
One Republican senator tried to draw the Democrats home with a promise to remove all the sanctions – if they came back for a quorum.
"I will personally move that we dispense with all penalties, restore all privileges, both sides do away with litigation and resume the work we were elected to do," state Sen. Todd Staples told the AP.
Quote of the Day: "No one is representing the gays, the blacks or the Orientals. I'll be there for them." – Watermelon-smashing, suspender-wearing comedian Gallagher on his platform as a candidate for California governor. (Des Moines Register)