Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, Clothilde Ewing, Nathaniel Franks, Cody Kucharczyk and Dan Furman of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

Wednesday's Headlines

* Republicans Wonder When Bush Will Unveil 2nd Term Plans

* The Numbers Are In

* Trail Bytes: Kerry Says Farewell to Nantucket

* Bush-Cheney Campaign Gears Up for Boston

* GA Primary: Republicans Have Nominee, Democrats Have Runoff

Does Bush Have a Plan? Amid complaints that President Bush still has not laid out plans for a second administration, his advisers are struggling to craft a domestic agenda the Wall Street Journal reports

"In his stump speech, Mr. Bush often says, 'Tell your friends: I have a plan. I know where I want to take this country.' But both Republicans and reporters increasingly have been asking Bush aides just what that plan is, beyond the president's reiterations about making his tax cuts permanent, fighting terrorism and other proposals."

White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett dismisses complaints, saying Bush hasn't been under the same pressure to quickly unveil a campaign agenda as he was in 2000. "The president was a challenger then, the lesser-known candidate. He had to demonstrate he was ready to be president," Bartlett said.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Bush will hit the campaign trail on July 30, the day after Kerry accepts the Democratic nomination, for the start of what aides describe as a month of intense campaigning. Aides also say that after months of repeatedly attacking Kerry, Bush will change direction and begin offering ideas for what a second Bush term would look like.

One particular change of direction is changing from a self-described "war president" to a "peace president." "The enemy declared war on us," Bush told a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids. "Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president... The next four years will be peaceful years." Bush, incidentally, used the words "peace" or "peaceful" a total of 20 times, reports Reuters.

Money Numbers Are In: With the June over and the fundraising numbers in, a CBS News analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows there is good news for Democrats across the board.

In the presidential arena, John Kerry outraised Bush-Cheney for the fourth month in a row, raising $37.6 million to Bush's $13.1 million. Kerry remains behind Bush in cash on hand ($37.2 million to Bush's huge $64.2 million), but the gap between the two in terms of total funds continues to narrow. As of July 1, the Kerry campaign had raised $186.2 million to Bush's $227.9, a massive improvement over the 50 to 1 advantage Bush enjoyed when Kerry clinched the nomination in March.

In the Senate, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised its Republican counterpart over the first six months of the year, $26 to $24 million, FEC data shows. And, as the Washington Post reports, "While House Democrats were outraised by Republicans, they bested the majority party in June for the first time this election cycle."

As the Post notes, "For the first time since 1992, the Democratic candidate and the national and congressional fundraising committees combined to outraise their GOP counterparts over a six-month span of an election year…From Jan. 1 through June 30, Kerry and Democrats raised $292 million, compared with $272 million for President Bush and Republicans."

Off the Trail Bytes: CBS News' Allison Davis describes Kerry's last day on Nantucket:

Senator Kerry spent his last day on Nantucket in the water and fending off questions about former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.

Decked out in a royal blue surf shirt with red and white swimming trunks, the candidate caught some air in the Nantucket Sound surf. Kerry spent over an hour kite surfing as a television producer attempted to ask from a distance, "What about Berger?"

Later, traveling press secretary David Wade released a Kerry statement about the embattled former national security advisor. "Sandy Berger is my friend, and he has tirelessly served this nation with honor and distinction. I respect his decision to step aside as an advisor to the campaign until this matter is resolved objectively and fairly."

Kerry concluded his final pre-convention island evening dining (for the second consecutive night) at the posh American Seasons restaurant. He and Teresa arrived thirty minutes late but did not lose their reservation.

The culinary redux prompted one local to comment, "I heard he ate here last night. He's going to eat here two nights in a row?!"

The senator travels to Boston Wednesday for a round of interviews before flying to Detroit to spend the night. On Thursday, Kerry will address the National Urban League Conference before heading on to Colorado.

Boston Here We Come: In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman discussed their response to the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Gillespie and Mehlman discussed plans for Republican communications during the convention as well as a new website, www.DemsExtremeMakeover.com.

According to a press release sent after the call, the GOP response will include the launch of a "truth squad," a communication center near the Fleet Center. It will feature equipment for satellite feeds and live uplinks. The campaign's response will also feature a daily press event at 10:00 am that will include speeches by Republican Senators, Representatives and Governors. Rounding out the plan of attack, radio feeds including sound bites from Republican surrogates will be distributed to talk radio shows along with materials detailing Kerry's voting record that will be sent to other media outlets.

A major point of the call included the attempt to portray the convention as a "cosmetic" attempt to spruce up Kerry's leftist image. Charging that he is out of the mainstream of America, Gillespie asserted that Kerry was even to the left of colleague Sen. Ted Kennedy. In the press release, Mehlman also joined in, contending that Kerry flip-flops on issues would create a question of trust.

Although the Republican response will not be in full gear until the start of the convention, plans are already being created for speakers to rebut and, at times, preempt Democratic remarks at the convention. The New York Post reports that former mayor Rudy Giuliani will make remarks to reporters on July 29, "hours before Kerry's address" to the convention. Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and Senator John Cornyn will join Giuliani in making comments.

And there are reports that while President Bush is laying low in Crawford, Vice President Cheney will be leading the attack on the hustings.

GA Primary: Republicans Have Nominee, Democrats Have Runoff: Georgia's 6th District Congressman, Johnny Isakson, described by one of his opponents as a "certified moderate," became the GOP's nominee Tuesday to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Isakson easily defeated his two opponents, businessman Herman Cain and Georgia's 8th District Congressman Mac Collins, receiving 53% of the vote to Cain's 26% and Collins's 21%. Under Georgia state law, any primary candidate who receives a 50% plus one vote majority wins the party nomination and avoids a runoff.

The Democratic nominee will not be decided until a runoff election August 10th when 4th District Congresswoman Denise Majette, who received 41% of the vote, will square off against entrepreneur Cliff Oxford, who received 21% of the vote. The Associated Press reports that if Majette wins her party's nomination, she would be Georgia's first African American Senate nominee.

Cain challenged Isakson's position on abortion – Isakson does not favor a constitutional amendment banning abortion – and Georgia Right to Life promised "to defeat Isakson by forcing him into an expensive and unpredictable primary where only the most conservative Republicans would be likely to vote," but the strategy did not resonate with primary voters. Cain has put the primary campaign aside and pledged to "throw [his] support behind President Bush and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate."

Georgia Right to Life says it remains committed to defeating Isakson, but their chances of success were lessened when no Democratic nominee emerged Tuesday. Isakson spent $4.5 of $5.5 million he raised to offset conservative attacks during the primary, leaving him with only $1 million in the bank. But now that the two leading Democratic candidates must engage in a potentially expensive three-week battle for their party's nomination, Isakson may have dodged a bullet.

Quote of the Day: "I want people to get their head up out of their mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote." --Linda Ronstadt, praising Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." The singer was booed off the stage and thrown out of a Las Vegas Hotel after her remarks. (Los Angeles Times)