Washington Wrap

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

Thursday's Headlines

* Back on the Trail

* Felons for Democrats?

* Schwarzenegger Impresses Even Skeptics in Latest Role

* Greens Meet in Milwaukee

* Coors Suggests Lowering Drinking Age

* Legalization of Marijuana in Nevada?

Back on the Trail: After procedural maneuvers by Senate Republicans kept John Kerry from voting Tuesday on a veterans' health care amendment, Kerry spent Wednesday on the West Coast raising cash and questions about the Republicans' conduct.

Kerry attended three fundraisers and one political rally in the Bay Area, taking the opportunity each time to needle his Senate colleagues. At the historic St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Kerry's 8:15 a.m. remarks included enough vitriol for a much later hour. "Not in this Senate, not with these people," he said. "Once again, it's 'my way or the highway,' shut the door, lock people out, don't let them take part in the democracy, don't respect the institution, don't show the common courtesies that actually bring people together to find the common ground."

From the St. Francis, Kerry headed to a decidedly less posh (but perhaps more politically important?) event: speaking to the Service Employees International Union's national convention. Kerry focused on health care in the speech but still found time to mention the Republican procedures saying, "These people are so petty, so sad, so political that all they could is spend the whole day finding a way not to let John Kerry vote."

Kerry also took the opportunity to work in some questionable metaphors. Reports CBS News' Steve Chaggaris, Kerry used an oft-told story about how he and his Vietnam crewmates were from different backgrounds and different parts of the country but they were "literally all in the same boat." Kerry added, "And I want an America where we are literally in the same boat," without explaining how he could literally fit 270 million Americans in one vessel.

Kerry ended his day in San Jose where a playful candidate told a series of only-funny-on-the-stump jokes at two different fundraisers. Joined by singer Carole King and Archie Bunker's favorite Meathead (Rob Reiner), Kerry tried his best. Among the one-liners were: "Over 150 years ago, thousands of prospectors came here looking for silver and gold. And I've come here tonight doing the same thing folks." And another: "I'm told we've got about 2,000 people out here. All the rest of the Democrats are at the Clinton book signings." And there were more, but we'll spare you.

Kerry also returned to his theme of the day: going after Republicans. He told his gilded guests, "All the years I've been in public life, I've never seen a group of people less interested in real governance, less interested in solving problems, finding the common ground, less interested in bringing people together and trying to solve problems."

Leaving the Bay Area behind, Kerry will address AFSCME's international convention in Anaheim on Thursday night and then attend the fund-raising gala concert in Los Angeles that was postponed due to the death of Ronald Reagan. Performers include: Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson and Billy Crystal. The event is one of two concerts - the other is in New York on July 8 - that reportedlywill bring in $10 million for Kerry and the DNC.

Felons for Democrats?: America Coming Together (ACT), an independent Democratic group that supports John Kerry's presidential bid, has paid convicted felons to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three battleground states, reports the AP.

The Associated Press has determined that ACT used felons, including some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary in Florida, Missouri, and Ohio, which ACT has confirmed, but it is possible that they were also used in another fourteen battleground states in which ACT is active. One concern is that these volunteers can gather personal information such as driver's license and Social Security numbers depending on state rules for registering voters.

Said Mo Elleithee, a Washington-based spokesperson for ACT: "We believe it's important to give people a second chance...The fact that they are willing to do this work is a fairly serious indication that they want to become productive members of society." Elleithee told reporters that ACT would never hire violent criminals for door-to-door work, but declined to explain what the group considered violent. "The bottom line is we would never hire anyone who we felt was a threat to anyone else," said Elleithee.

One of the ACT employees was an Ohio woman convicted of "gross sexual imposition." She completed her parole twelve years ago and has not had any problems with the law since. Said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Correction, "If she was still on parole that job wouldn't have been approved… People who have been out of prison and haven't had any other problems with law enforcement, they should be given that second chance to be viable citizens."

The Missouri Department of Corrections removed ACT from its potential pool of employers for parolees in April because they "didn't want offenders to be in a situation where they would be handling that information," and "officials also were concerned the door-to-door campaign would put felons at greater risk of false accusations," said a department spokesman.

Although Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican Party, called the policy "disturbing" and questioned whether it was a good idea to have felons "go house to house and handle sensitive personal information," Elleithee cited a Monday speech in which President Bush, "applauded government, religious and community-based programs that give a helping hand to felons after they are released from prison," reports The AP.

Schwarzenegger Confounds Even Critics: It seems like California won't be enough for actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who tells The New York Times that he expects a high-profile role at the Republican National Convention in August.

In a glowing profile of Schwarzenegger's tenure thus far as California governor, the Times dubs him, "a global celebrity who has emerged as perhaps the most intriguing new Republican face of the political season," who "has dazzled California with a string of legislative victories in his first months in office (and) shown that he may well be a political master after all."

Of his potential role at the convention, to be held at the end of August in New York, the never-humble Schwarzenegger says: "Whether I'm speaking, I'll leave that up to them... If they're smart, they'll have me obviously in prime time."

Schwarzenegger told the Times, however, that outside of the convention, he does not expect to stump for Bush beyond the Golden State. "It could backfire big time," he said, saying Californians elected him to run the state not be a national political player.

The Times reports that, "By any measure, Mr. Schwarzenegger has pulled off a remarkable series of victories since routing Mr. Davis. He repealed an unpopular increase in the car tax, rescinded a law granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, pushed a workers' compensation package through the Legislature and persuaded the voters to approve $15 billion in new borrowing to help balance the budget. This week, he signed an agreement with five Indian tribes that will bring the state more than $1 billion in casino revenues immediately and hundreds of millions more in the future. Next week, he confidently predicted, the Legislature will deliver to him the first on-time state budget in 19 years. He has managed all this while keeping his firm pledge not to raise taxes."

The Times also reports that Schwarzenegger – who has built himself a "Bedouin-style smoking tent" in the courtyard of the state capitol in Sacramento – has not lost his sense of humor as chief executive of the nation's most-populous state.

"No one has ever accused Mr. Schwarzenegger, no matter what role he is in, of lacking self-confidence, and the governor himself knows that both his celebrity and his superhero screen image are at the core of his distinctive and so far successful political style. Asked to describe his governing philosophy seven months after toppling Gray Davis in California's recall election, he said, 'Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women.' He stopped himself. 'Wait a minute, that's Conan,' he said. 'I stepped out of character here for a second.'"

Greens Take Milwaukee: This week many Democrats have turned their sights to Milwaukee for the Green Party nominating convention to see if and how it will affect Ralph Nader's candidacy. Ralph Nader has insisted he will not accept the party's nomination, because he does not want to be aligned with any one party, but he would happily accept its endorsement (along with the 23 ballot lines that could come with it).

California attorney David Cobb has emerged as Nader's chief rival. That drama will be resolved Saturday, when delegates vote, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Peter Camejo, a popular Green, who Ralph Nader recently chose as his running mate, will speak at the party's convention, urging his colleagues to support a compromise in which the party would endorse both Nader and Cobb – allowing the states to ultimately chose which one to support. "The American people are tired of having to vote against a candidate instead of for one," Camejo has said.

Although Cobb says he will support whatever decision the delegates make, he sees Camejo's plan as an attempt to circumvent the national convention and eight months by other candidacies, such as his own. "I don't think it's a good idea and nor do I think endorsing Nader as an independent is a good idea," Cobb tells CBS News. "I don't understand how endorsing an independent who is endorsed by the Reform and Populist party is going to help the Green Party," he continued.

The two will square off Thursday night at a presidential forum along with several other candidates and then will get an opportunity to address convention delegates on Saturday morning before voting begins.

Coors Wants Drinking Age Lowered: Colorado beer mogul and now Republican Senate candidate Peter Coors urged lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 in his home state. "We got along fine for years with the 18-year-old drinking age," Coors said according to the Washington Times.

He reaffirmed his position Wednesday ata debate with former Rep. Bob Schaffer at a Republican Senate breakfast forum sponsored by the Arapahoe County Republican Men's Club. Coors was asked if his position has changed since 1997 when he told USA Today that he felt lowering the drinking age would encourage young people to be more responsible.

The drinking age was originally raised after a federal law was passed instructing the Department of Transportation to withhold highway maintenance fund if states did not raise their legal drinking age. Schaffer responded that he thought lowering the age was a terrible idea. Rocky Mountain News reports Coors saying the drinking law at 18 was kind of like a learner's permit in driving. He also tried to frame the debate in a the large context of states' rights verses federal supremacy that might resonate more with republican voters.

"We should reopen the debate and let the citizens decide, without bureaucratic intervention," Coors said. Schaffer retorted, "I think (the current drinking age) has saved a lot of lives."

By most standards Coors and Schaffer agree on practically everything. The drinking age is one exception that Schaffer has tried to make very obvious. The debate got mixed responses from spectators. A few thought Coors's position was a little self-serving; others agreed with him.

The primary will be held in on August 10 and the polls suggest a tight race.

Nevada: What Petitions, Man? A political consulting firm in Nevada is attempting to place an initiative on the ballot this November that would ensure voters in that state could both smoke and, indeed, inhale marijuana for non-medicinal purposes. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana submitted signatures by the June 15 dateline, only to discover that no one remembered to turn in a box containing 6,000 signatures. Ooops.

Specifically, this initiative seeks to legalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. To place this initiative on the ballot this coming November, the firm must first submit enough signatures to qualify the petition in 13 of the state's 17 counties. Each county varies in the number of required signatures; however, Clark County has come under close examination due to the discovery of the forgotten signatures.

Organizers in Clark County submitted approximately 35,000 signatures, just eclipsing the required amount of 31,360. As a general rule, 70% of signatures turn out to be valid. Proponents now have their fingers crossed that a sufficient amount of signatures will prove to be valid, without the inclusion of the forgotten signatures. If enough signatures are not validated in this county, the petition must qualify in the 13 other counties validating signatures to be placed on the ballot this November.

As for the box itself, Billy Rogers, president of the political consulting firm seeking to qualify the petition, contacted the Clark County Registrar to ask if he could submit the signatures in the box. Although Rogers pled with officials, the law mandates that all signatures be submitted by the deadline. Advocates of the petition will be holding their breaths until all signatures are validated by the state. "They're really cutting it close," said Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state.

Quote of the Day: "I will vote for whoever the viable candidate is who can defeat George W. Bush." -Ron Reagan, saying that the U.S. "lied our way" into war in Iraq. (Larry King Live)