Washington Wrap
Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, and Clothilde Ewing of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.
Thursday's Headlines
* Republicans Announce Convention Plans
* Kerry Goes After the Swift Boat Veterans
* One Swift Boat Vet's Claims Are Questioned
* Prominent Catholic Resigns from Bush Campaign
* Counting President Bush
Drum Roll Please: In what appeared to be an attempt to get under Democrats' skin, Republican officials announced that Sen. Zell Miller, the senior Democratic senator from Georgia, will deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City on Wednesday, September 1. The choice of Miller, who leads a committee of Democrats for Mr. Bush, is an interesting decision and won't be the first time that Miller will be on the national stage. In fact, in 1992, Miller was chosen to keynote a convention at the very same place, but for the Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.
In a conference call with reporters, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the RNC and Mark Wallace, deputy campaign manager of Bush-Cheney, said they had been working on the schedule for the last several weeks and that they chose to name him for the benefit of the many Democrats who are very uncomfortable with where John Kerry is taking their party.
"Senator Miller's support is indicative of the broad support the Republican Party has earned under President Bush's compassionate conservative leadership as Americans reject the 'out of the mainstream' direction of John Kerry's Democratic Party," Gillespie said.
As for the rest of the agenda, convention planners hope the four-day event will pay tribute to the nation's courage, hope, and compassion and herald the opportunities available in the country. Each day Monday through Thursday, the Republican National Convention will focus on a key element of the goal: building a safer world and a more hopeful America, or so convention planners hope.
Swift Boat Controversy Continues: In the never-ending saga of John Kerry's military service, Thursday morning brings new salvos. After a week of non-engagement, the Kerry campaign went after the anti-Kerry 527 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. CBS News' Eric Salzman reports:
Trail Byte: Speaking to the International Association of Fire Fighters in his hometown of Boston Thursday, Senator Kerry raised the debate over his service in Vietnam to a new level. Kerry chose to address directly a controversial ad by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth - a group largely funded by Republican money-man Bob Perry of Houston, TX.
"When you're under attack, the best thing to do is turn your boat into the attacker. And that's what I intend to do today," Kerry said leading into his planned remarks about the ad.
"Over the last week, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been attacking me. Of course, this group isn't interested in the truth -they're not telling the truth," Kerry said.
The ad in question features a number of Vietnam veterans questioning Kerry's war service as well as the truth of how he described his post-war service. The funding for the ad comes from an independent group not affiliated with the Bush campaign, but Kerry clearly sees a connection.
"They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign," he said. "And the fact that the President won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know-he wants them to do his dirty work."
The campaign was well prepared once again to make Vietnam the issue of the day. Aides provided the press with bound copies of Kerry's military records - records which have been available for months on the candidate's website.
The campaign also announced a new ad buy with a spot rebuking the Swift Boat Veterans ad. The 30-second television ad features Kerry crewmate, Jim Rassmann "testifying to John Kerry's heroic and honorable service in Vietnam." The ad will run in Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, the same states where the Swift Boat Veterans ad initially aired.
Despite speaking about a variety of plans that would have great impact on the firefighters assembled, among them health care and funding for firefighters nation wide, Kerry made clear his belief that his service in Vietnam, and President Bush's lack thereof, could be the winning issue for his campaign.
"Of course, the President keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that," Kerry said. "Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on."
Later Thursday, Kerry visits New Hampshire for a front porch event. It's his first time back since 94 year-old Doris Haddock - aka Granny D - became the state's Democratic nominee for Senate. But it's unlikely the two will meet, as such joint appearances are generally saved for campaign rallies, not front porch events.
Swift Boat Claims?: As the Kerry campaign goes on the offensive, there is news about the claims made by one of the Swift Boat Veterans. One of the main anti-Kerry claims, made repeatedly by fellow swift boat commander Larry Thurlow, is that Kerry was not under fire "during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day," the Washington Post reports. But Thurlow's military records, just obtained by the Post, "contain several references to 'enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire' directed at 'all units' of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat 'despite enemy bullets flying about him.'"
In an affidavit from Thurlow released to buttress the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claims, Thurlow swore that Kerry was "not under fire," and that Kerry's version of events was "totally fabricated." The affidavit, obtained by CBS News, also includes the fairly unambiguous phrase ""I never heard a shot." But Thurlow's Bronze Star citation reads that his efforts, "took place under constant enemy small arms fire which LTJG THURLOW completely ignored in providing immediate assistance" to the crew.
When reached by the Post, Thurlow said, "It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case…My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting."
Stay tuned: this controversy isn't going anywhere
Nice to Meet You: When Senator Edwards toured a jobs training center in downtown New Orleans, only a press pool was allowed in due to tight quarters. CBS News' Bonney Kapp has this:
Trail Byte: Although things were cramped, reports forwarded from the press pool provide elaborate details about the event. In fact, the details include how many times Edwards said "Nice to meet you." (Eleven-twelve if you add the word "very")
Thankfully, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who walked with the senator through the center, provided some more insight. Calling Edwards a "rock star," the mayor revealed that, "He was walking around and of course all the ladies wanted to talk to him, touch him, get his autograph."
The candidate then transformed a roundtable at the jobs facility into a venue to discuss an issue near and dear to the Democrats' heart: Halliburton. The company was in the news again when it was discovered it was keeping payments originally intended to be withheld by the government.
"Did somebody make a phone call? I don't know whether that happened, but something happened," Edwards said, indicating the company could have gotten some help from Vice President Dick Cheney. "Halliburton's getting their money, but the jobs centers aren't getting theirs." Segueing back into jobs, the intended issue of the day, he continued, "Now how 'bout somebody making a call for the jobs centers and the career centers?"
And while the senator can't fix unemployment one job at a time, he can offer campaign jobs to at least a few. Bessie Cunningham, a well-educated and unemployed participant described being turned down for work because she is "overqualified," and ignored when she sent her resume to Senator Kerry. "Give me your resume today and I'll get you an answer," Edwards told her. Look for a new name on the Kerry/Edwards payroll soon.
Edwards stopped by New Orleans' Loews Hotel for a $600,000 fundraiser before returning to Washington, DC for two days with no public events scheduled.
GOP Drive for Catholics Hit a Bump: Deal W. Hudson, the publisher of the conservative Roman Catholic journal Crisis and the man behind the Republican effort to court Catholic voters, is resigning as an adviser to the Bush campaign because of a Catholic newspaper's investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct involving a female student at a college where Hudson once taught, reports the New York Times.
The Times reports: "At Fordham University, a Jesuit school in New York where Mr. Hudson taught from 1989 to 1995, a university spokeswoman confirmed that the episode had led to Mr. Hudson's resignation…A person involved with the university's investigation said that a freshman in one of Mr. Hudson's classes reported to the university that, after she had become drunk at a bar, Mr. Hudson made sexual advances toward her. After a period of weeks, she charged him with sexual harassment."
"No one regrets my past mistakes more than I do," Hudson wrote in a column posted yesterday on the online edition of National Review announcing his resignation.
"At the time, I dealt with this in an upright manner, and the matter was satisfactorily resolved long ago," he wrote, without specifying the accusations. Mr. Hudson, 54, said he had been happily married to his current wife for 17 years.
Hudson, who converted to Catholicism at the age of 34, has been an influential adviser to President Bush and a close friend of Karl Rove since the late 1990's
Hudson signed on as an adviser to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and for the last four years, he has been a prominent participant in a weekly conference call held by the Republican National Committee each Thursday with influential Catholic supporters.
Counting President Bush: In exactly two weeks, President Bush will accept the Republican Party nomination for a second term. Some would say he's been his party's nominee since his inauguration. And for more than a year, Mr. Bush has been politicking with an intensity that reflects his campaign's deep-rooted fear that his re-election will be denied. CBS News' Mark Knoller has this look at the campaign.
Knoller Nugget: Just this month, candidate Bush has spent 13 days campaigning in 18 states. Some of them more than once (see list below).
Most of them are so-called "battleground states" that he won or lost by narrow margins in 2000. And most of them are deemed must-win by the campaign. More than anything else, the stops are intended to energize his grass roots operation and to get supporters and potential supporters registered to vote.
In Hudson, Wisc., on Wednesday, Bush's plea to his political activists could not have been more blunt: "Get them headed toward the polls. Tell them if they want the country safer, stronger and better, put old George Bush and Dick Cheney back in."
It has already been a grueling August for Bush and, once the GOP convention is done, he'll be campaigning practically non-stop. His presidency and his legacy are at stake. A defeat could be seen as a judgment by voters that he took America to war based on flawed intelligence. For that reason, Bush defends his decision at every stop. "Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision. I firmly believe America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell."
President Bush is now taking a week-long hiatus from the campaign trail. He arrived at his beloved Texas ranch Wednesday evening where he'll stay for about a week.
Spokesman Scott McClellan says he "certainly expects" Bush will spend part of the time working on the acceptance speech he'll deliver in Madison Square Garden on September 2. But McClellan concedes Bush will also use the ranch visit for "a little bit of down time" prior to the home stretch of the campaign. "Down time" is the phrase of choice for the White House. It's self-conscious about the word "vacation," saying a president is never really on vacation because the burdens of office are his to bear wherever he goes.
Our CBS News tally shows this is the President's 38th visit to his ranch since taking office. And as of Thursday, he has spent all or part of 254 days there. That's nearly 20% of his presidency.
States where President Bush has campaigned in August:
Texas; Iowa (2); Minnesota; Ohio (2); Michigan (2); New Hampshire; Virginia; Florida; New Mexico; Arizona; Nevada; California; Oregon; Washington; Pennsylvania; West Virginia; Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Quote of the Day: "I'm much more practiced, frankly, because my husband's been president for four years." --First lady Laura Bush, on giving journalists a piece of her mind. (Washington Times)