Washington Wrap

Dotty Lynch, Beth Lester, and Clothilde Ewing of the CBS News Political Unit have the latest from the nation's capital.

* Swift Boat: Day 21

* Not Really on Vacation in Crawford

* Kerry's Choice

* Edwards To Get Attacked, Too

* The Other War

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: Day 21: On Day 21 of the controversy (Matt Drudge started telegraphing the story on August 4 and the first SBVfT ad began airing August 5), John Kerry tried to turn the page during remarks at Cooper Union in New York City. The Democratic nominee tried to simultaneously change the subject and tie the Bush-Cheney campaign to the SBVfT saying, "The Bush campaign and its allies have turned to the tactics of fear and smear because they can't talk about jobs, health care, energy independence, and rebuilding our alliances — the real issues that matter to the American people. They have no plans, no positive vision and no understanding of an urgent and undeniable truth — a stronger America begins at home."

Even as Kerry tries to change the subject (sort of), there are other developments sure to keep the story on the front pages. The Dallas Morning News reports that, "Houston home builder Bob Perry, a key bankroller for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is listed as the co-host of a New York City fund-raiser next week for the Harris County GOP, whose guest list includes President Bush's top political adviser." Perry tells the News that he did not authorize the use of his name but the revelation does add fuel for those who believe Bush-Cheney is behind the attacks. The Bush-Cheney camp released a statement from Gov. Mark Racicot saying, "We call on John Kerry to join us in condemning all political activity by 527 groups."

The SBVfT themselves say they are only going to widen their attacks on Kerry. As the Boston Globe reports, one of the group's leaders, John O'Neill (who once debated Kerry on the Dick Cavett show as a representative from President Nixon), says, "Our media strategy is to follow him." Sean McCabe, a spokesman for the group (which started with $200,000 from Perry), tells CBS News that it now has more than 25,000 individual donors and has raised more than $1.5 million.

On the upside for Kerry, a new, sympathetic film by Paul Alexander called "Brothers in Arms," that features several of Kerry's crewmates will debut Friday in New York. According to a statement from Alexander, "A group of men who did not serve directly with John Kerry in Vietnam recently published a book maligning Kerry's military service. Over the last eighteen months, I have talked to and interviewed the veterans who actually did serve directly with Kerry in Vietnam ... If anyone knows the truth of what happened to John Kerry in Vietnam, they do. Brothers in Arms is their story."

John McCain, who called the original ad "dishonorable" and "dishonest" and called on the Bush-Cheney campaign to condemn it, has been in Europe for the past few weeks and unavailable for comment. He returns to DC, and possibly to the SBVfT fray, on Tuesday night.

Bush Not Really on Vacation in Crawford: President Bush is still on the ranch but not really vacationing. On Tuesday, he does "pre-convention" interviews with Time and People magazines. On Monday, he had a wider audience, as CBS News' Mark Knoller reports:

Knoller Nugget: You really had to study the president's wording to see what he was saying about those attack ads and the groups behind them. Questioned by reporters Monday at his ranch, Mr. Bush said he's against all the ads by so-called "527" groups, and against the unregulated contributions those groups get.

He didn't mention Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group behind the ad portraying Kerry as unfit for commander in chief and questioning his war record in Vietnam. But the president said he meant "that ad (and) every other ad."

He said he was denouncing "all of the stuff ... on TV" by 527 groups. And he was careful to distance himself from attacks on Kerry's service in Vietnam. "I think Sen. Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record," said the president.

But he called on Kerry to join in calling for those 527 groups to be put out of business. He said he thought the campaign finance bill he signed barred their operations.

None of this was enough for the Kerry-Edwards campaign but it is probably all it will get from Mr. Bush. The president feels himself to be the really aggrieved party, as the target of $63 million of attack ads from left-leaning, privately funded political groups.

During a 13-minute session with reporters, Mr. Bush was asked what we might expect from the speech he'll give at the Republican Convention next week. He didn't want to give anything away but, pressed by reporters, he spoke volumes:

"I'm looking forward to giving it. I want to talk about what I intend to do. We've got a great record, when you think about it — led the world and the war on terror; the world is safer as a result of the actions we've taken; Afghanistan is no longer run by the Taliban; Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell; Muammar Qaddafi has gotten rid of his weapons; Pakistan is an ally in the war on terror. There's more work to be done in fighting off these terrorists. I clearly see that. I understand that we've got to use all resources at our disposal to find and bring these people to justice.

"When you think about domestic politics, we've faced a recession, had tax cuts that encouraged economic growth and vitality. We've helped reform an education system with the No Child Left Behind Act. We've reformed Medicare, first administration ever to get Congress to move forward on Medicare reform.

"We got trade promotion authority; it opened up more markets for U.S. entrepreneurs and farmers and manufacturers.

"We've had a great record. But the only reason to even talk about the record is to say, give us a chance to move the country forward. We're people who can get the job done. We've proven to you we can get the job done, and there's more work to be done. And I'll talk about that in the convention. In other words, it's going to be a forward-looking speech."

The president also denied an Internet report that he was planning a quick trip to the Olympics. But he was coy about it. Asked if was going to Athens this week, he replied, "Athens, Texas?" Lone Star humor.

There are no public appearances on Mr. Bush's schedule on Tuesday. Two last days at the ranch before returning to the campaign trail on Thursday.

On Monday, Kerry went for a brief ride on his Harley while others dealt with Vietnam. CBS News' Steve Chaggaris is with Kerry:

Trail Byte: With the discussion still focused on criticism of Kerry's Vietnam record, the senator spent the day Monday away from reporters, shunning his only chance to be on camera after deciding he'd rather just stay inside.

Monday afternoon, the press corps was summoned to the head of the Charles River in Boston to wait for the candidate to ride by on his Harley, giving the media its only opportunity to lay eyes on him. However, after riding his motorcycle around the block where he has it parked, he chose to not go for a full-fledged ride after all, figuring he just didn't want to deal with the near-rush hour traffic on Storrow Drive.
Meantime, as the rest of the country talked about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads against him, Kerry let his surrogates focus on the issue. Between a new ad released Sunday, repeated remarks from John Edwards, his fellow friendly veterans and even his campaign spokespeople, they seemed to cover all the bases in his defense.

A handful of veterans, including Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., held a conference call denouncing the anti-Kerry swift boat group calling them "destructive" and "hypocritical" and saying their allegations are "gross distortion(s)."

Later, when President Bush stopped short of condemning the SBVfT ad, Kerry's camp was incredulous that the president did not outright denounce the group. "He's a coward," said Kerry spokesman David Wade. "The president's a coward."

So far, Edwards has been petty much unscathed and has been spending his time defending Kerry. CBS News' Bonney Kapp reports:

Trail Byte: John Edwards was in the news again Monday for speaking out on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads that question Kerry's service in Vietnam.

At his town hall event in Racine, Wisc., running mate-turned-attack dog Edwards demanded the president say three "magic" words: "stop these ads." When Mr. Bush failed to do so at his Crawford, TX press availability, Edwards responded with a prepared statement upon landing at Oshkosh's regional airport.

"Today George Bush faced his moment of truth and he failed. He failed to condemn the specific attacks on John Kerry's military record," he said on the tarmac in front of his campaign plane. Calling Bush's response a "politician's answer," Edwards declared the swift boat ads would "continue to be an issue" until the president outright asks the 527 sponsoring the ads to pull the plug, almost guaranteeing the controversy will remain in the news in the days to come.

Following his statement to cameras, Edwards traveled to the Delta Family Restaurant (serving Oshkosh since 1986) to speak with voters on issues like healthcare and the economy. Neither Edwards nor the participants ate during the event, but the restaurant proved to be a fine place for the national press to file their swift boat ads stories: the conversation in the Oshkosh institution went largely unnoticed.

In his third event of the day in the Badger State, Edwards rallied several thousand residents of La Crosse on the banks of the Mississippi River. As the senator was introduced by Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold and daughter Cate, Edwards watched as a large boat covered in Bush/Cheney signs cruised back and forth behind the rally, its passengers using a bullhorn to shout out their decidedly pro-Bush, anti-Kerry/Edwards messages.

When Edwards took the stage, he acknowledged the distraction. The audience quickly went from jeers to cheers when the senator noted, "It's going in circles. It sounds very familiar, doesn't it?"

Edwards heads to yet another battle ground state Tuesday, when he travels to Ohio to address the Ohio AFL-CIO convention and attend an evening fundraiser in Cleveland.

The group kicked off with a national conference call and announced its Advisory Board, which includes Ventura; Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and founder of the Alliance for Security; Paul Bucha, a Medal of Honor recipient and the former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society; and David Chasteen, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, who is a registered Republican.

Jesse Ventura said, "I think it comes down to really the word truth — and today we don't get much truth in government in my opinion. And I think that it's about time that we starting getting some truth on the Iraq War and Afghan War, and the way that you're truly going to get the truth is to talk to the soldiers on the ground that are fighting it."

Paul Rieckhoff, who is a registered independent, began forming Operation Truth soon after returning from Iraq to find no organization in America representing the troops' point of view. "I started Operation Truth because I desperately believe the troops and the public need to join together to hold our leaders' feet to the fire on issues facing the military," said Rieckhoff. "I'm mortgaging my entire future on this, but if it bridges the gap between troops and the public, it will be worth it."

The group also unveiled a new website, www.optruth.org, a feature of which is the ability for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to create a profile and bring their stories and concerns straight to the American people.

The Bush campaign and the RNC, meanwhile, are also trying to turn attention back to Kerry and Iraq by using Kerry's own words. "The moment of truth for John Kerry has come and gone hundreds of times, and he has passed up every opportunity to condemn efforts by his campaign and supporters to divide America by who served and how — something that John Kerry said we should never do when he declared during the 1992 campaign, 'We do not need to divide America over who served and how,'" Racicot, Chairman of the campaign, said in a prepared statement. RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to unveil additional content at www.kerryoniraq.com.

Quote of the Day: "We wanted to neutralize his campaign by forcing him to spend money and resources defending these things. But much to our astonishment we've actually been more successful than we thought we'd be in stopping him from getting on at all." Former Nader Raider and Connecticut Rep. Toby Moffett, who co-founded Ballot Project Inc., which is assisting Democratic challenges to Nader's ballot drive. (Washington Post)